• Address

    Abegg-Stiftung, Werner Abeggstrasse 67, Postfach, CH-3132 Riggisberg, Switzerland, Telephone: 0041 (0)31 808 12 01, Fax: 0041 (0)31 808 12 00, info@abegg-stiftung.ch

    Opening hours

    Closed during winter

    Permanent and special exhibition

    28 April to 10 November 2024, daily from 2 pm to 5.30 pm

    Villa Abegg

    28 April to 10 November 2024, daily in the afternoon, advance reservation by telephone recommended

    Getting here by car

    Motorway A6, exit Rubigen/Belp, free car park available

    Getting here by public transport

    Regional train to Toffen, postbus from Toffen to Riggisberg
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Special exhibition archive

The Delights of Dining – Historical Linen Damasks, 25 April to 7 November 2021

Patterned table linen has adorned festive dining tables ever since the Late Middle Ages. These pure white tablecloths, napkins and hand towels are patterned with discreet, but artfully drawn pictorial compositions and coats of arms. Used in conjunction with fine silverware, linen damasks served as a status symbol in both princely and bourgeois households. The textiles that have survived are valuable testimony to historical dining culture. Press Release  | Close up

SA2021 1
From linen to damask Linen is extracted from the stalks of the flax plant. Its fibres are processed in several stages to produce fine threads. These are woven into damasks on a drawloom. The pattern in the all-white fabric arises solely out of the change from warp- to weft-faced areas of the same weave and is especially visible in raking light. │ Flax bundles in different processing stages
Places of manufacture Almost all linen damasks of the sixteenth and seventeenth century were made in the Spanish Netherlands or the United Provinces and from there exported all over Europe. The early centres of linen weaving were the Flemish cities of Mechelen and Kortrijk. Haarlem also stood out as a major centre of production in the seventeenth century. │ Napkin with a hunt scene against the background of a pomegranate pattern, Spanish Netherlands, Kortrijk (?), 1520–1530, linen damask, inv. no. 4572
Pictures with borders Tablecloths, napkins and hand towels were woven in lengths with a regular pattern repeat. They were much larger than today’s table linen and had a rectangular picture field in the middle. The borders contained matching or related motifs. │ Napkin with ships, United Provinces, 1640–1650, linen damask, inv. no. 3193
As you like it The picture fields feature an abundance of different images: historical events and people, scenes from the Bible or ancient mythology, motifs from everyday life, and flowers. The patterns could even be personalized for a particular client through the insertion of a family coat of arms. │ Napkin showing the joy of winter sports, United Provinces, 1662, linen damask, inv. no. 3846
Dining culture The participants in a festive banquet saw the images woven into the tablecloth spread out before them. A napkin with the same motifs was provided for them to wipe their hands. The only cutlery commonly used in seventeenth-century Europe north of the Alps was a knife.│ Detail of the painting «Bankett der St.-Georg-Schützengilde» by Frans Hals, 1616. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, inv. no. os I-109. Photo: Frans Hals Museum (Margareta Svensson)