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This 76" x 20" hand-loomed trousseau panel with red cross-stitching and soft gray-blue details on each end, finished with a hand-knotted 5" fringe on each side, hails from Hungary.
This is one of those pieces of antique fabrics with which you can set your imagination free, as it could be re-purposed for pillows, window treatments, and/or a bed-skirt. The motifs inside the octagons are reminiscent of snowflakes, calling to mind the crisp, clean air of the Carpathian Mountains, which medieval Hungarians used to call Snowy Mountains.
Embroidered with the date May 7, 1900, the creator’s mark is U.A. When we find these treasures, we are always more than a little curious who was the woman behind the initials, and we are quite thrilled to be able to allow her artistry to live on. Thinking about the number of contented hours she would have put into stitching this precious fabric puts the value of this piece into perspective, doesn’t it?
This is but one of many luxurious one-of-a-kind antiques we have in our Pensacola atelier, as we have row upon row of textiles that include everything from antique French heirloom linens and primitive Austro-Hungarian Empire textiles to Art Deco and Bohemian specimens—at last count two million one-of-a-kind linens of the finest quality.
If you see a beautiful specimen on this site that you would like to see in person and you cannot visit us but you are a regular at either Round Top or the High Point Market, we will happily bring it to one of these shows so you can see for yourself how remarkable it is. See our Calendar of Events page for fair dates and let us know if we can bring our sumptuousness to you.
In the not too distant past, brides-to-be eagerly curating household linens for their soon-to-be homes went through a process that brought extreme excitement to a young woman about to become a newly-minted wife. Though the custom is still being followed during our contemporary times, the percentage of future brides giving it as serious a focus as it was given “once upon a time” is much smaller. If you are interested in learning more about trousseau linens, visit our post on the Pandora de Balthazár Experience blog.