Tapestry buying trip to Gent, Belgium
Today I joined a group of American women on a day trip to Gent. It's a lovely historic city at the confluence of two rivers. It has a long history in shipping, and in the 13th century was one of Europe's major cities with a population of about 65,000. It's not a major tourist attraction in Belgium, being upstaged by Brugges, and yet it offers everything from medieval castles to classic Flemish, Roman, Gothic, and Baroque architecture. It has markets and squares, belfries and churches, watchtowers and guild houses, and lots and lots of unique and interesting shops.
One of the American women has cultivated a relationship with the owner of a tapestry shop. Belgium is renowned for its tapestries, a reputation it developed during the middle ages. Belgian tapestries hung in castles, palaces, and chateaus across Europe and were commissioned by popes for the Vatican. Today the tapestries are no longer handwoven but are still made in Belgium. The shop in Gent featured tradtional and more modern designs on wall hangings, pillows, handbags, runners and and luggage. The owner of the shop offered our group a special discount and also arranged for a tour guide to acquaint us with the town's historic landmarks.
I'm not particularly into tapestry, but I was eager to get together with some women friends. E has been interested in acquiring a tapestry as a souvenir of Belgium and so I shook him down for euros and combed through the shop. Most of the wall tapestries feature classical images--medieval scenes, castles, ladies in gardens, flowers, maps, etc. While many of them were nice, they just weren't me. I couldn't imagine where I would hang them. I didn't want to have yet another piece of wall art languishing in a box somewhere. I am always buying art, and I don't have many places to hang wall art in our Belgian home.
I was, however, interested in the table runners. I have a few antique pieces that have cheap crocheted lace dresser scarves covering the imperfections on their tops. Over time, the lace has become stretched out and droopy and I've been plotting to replace it but didn't know what to replace it with. Buying tapestry table runners for these chests and dressers seemed a perfect solution and a practical way to satisfy E's yen to bring a bit of Belgian tapestry into our home.
There were loads and loads of throw pillows with all sorts of scenes, images, and patterns, ranging from the traditional, to reproductions of famous paintings, to whimsical themes. As much as I liked some of them, I kept resisting because no matter how attractive I might find decorative pillows, I hate having to find a place for them every time I want to sprawl on the sofa or clear off the bed at night.
Still there was one pillow in the shop calling my name.
Yeah, I know it's cutesy and sentimental, but I have three good reasons for buying it.
Reason number one is Petey.
Reason number two is Amy.
And this is just one of six bookcases in the house--reason number three.
Now you know why the pillow belongs in my home (notice, it also matches the sofa!).
April 27, 2007
Reader Comments (7)
I did get the table runners too. E liked everything, though I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually buys a tapestry on his own. I think he's secretly holding out for something with a grand medieval scene so he can indulge his "a man's home is his castle" fantasies.
The table runners I bought were relatively simple, trimmed with a pattern of deep green foliage on the edges and "wreaths" in the center against a khaki background. I did buy one with a dark red background and a traditional oriental rug kind of floral pattern.