16世紀 - 17世紀 リード 布製のシール (No reserve price)

16th–17th Century Lead Cloth Seals

Culture / Period: Post-Medieval, Dutch
Date / Period: 16th–17th century
Material: Lead
Dimensions: 15–26 mm
Condition: Good condition

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Provenance information:
Object Registration ID: 964

The current owner (S.N.J. S.) purchased the group of cloth seals from IL vd BC in Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.

The previous owner, IL vd BC from Zoetermeer, stated that the objects had been in his collection since the 1990s.

According to the previous owner, the objects had previously been in a private collection in The Netherlands since the 1990s.

No further information concerning the earlier ownership history of the objects was available from the previous owner.

Background Information:
Lead cloth seals, known in Dutch as lakenloden, were attached to textiles as part of the organised systems of production, inspection and trade that developed in the early modern period. Depending on their type and function, their stamped designs could indicate information relating to origin, quality, dimensions, inspection or the people involved in producing and marketing the cloth.

This varied group preserves a range of stamped devices, including letters, numerals, symbols and heraldic or emblematic designs. Such marks could represent official inspection marks, civic symbols, merchant or house marks and other identifiers used at different stages of textile production and commerce. Without documented archaeological contexts or securely identified parallels, the individual seals should not be attributed to particular towns, workshops or merchants solely from their surviving designs.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, textile manufacture was a major element of the economy of the Netherlands. Important centres such as Leiden supported highly specialised industries involving spinners, weavers, fullers, dyers, finishers, inspectors and merchants. Dutch textiles were distributed through extensive commercial networks reaching markets throughout Europe.

These small lead seals were therefore practical components of a sophisticated system of manufacture, quality control and commerce. Originally attached to valuable lengths of textile, they travelled with the cloth until eventually removed or discarded. Today, they form tangible evidence of the craftsmen, inspectors and merchants behind the flourishing textile economy of the 16th- and 17th-century Netherlands.