Pattern and Loom

John Becker was a Danish damask weaver with a lifetime's practical experience in his craft and an intimate knowledge of weaving techniques that allowed him to decipher, experiment and interpret original techniques from small remnants of surviving material. With his death in 1986, a fine, old Danish weaving tradition, with its roots in the 1800s, died out and the historical study of material culture lost a great practitioner.

Preface ix Introduction 1 Part I: Patterned weaves of Han China, 206 BC - AD 220 7 1. The monochrome patterned weaves 16 2. Gauze weaves 35 3. The polychrome silks, jin 55 Part II: Patterned Weaves of Early Western Asia 81 4. Western Asia 83 5. Weft-faced compound twill or samitum 111 Part III: Patterned weaves of the Mediterranean region 145 6. Lampas 147 7. Double-faced weft weaves 196 8. Patterned double cloth 221 9. Damask 248 Part IV: The eclectic pattern weaves of Tang China 287 10. The eclectic pattern weaves of Tang China 289 Part V: Weaving implements 309 11. The development of mechanical patterning: 'The' drawloom 311 12. Our drawloom - some weaving implements 346 Bibliography 363 Index 376