Tristan Quilt Circa 1360–1400
The Tristan Quilt, sometimes called the Tristan and Isolde Quilt or the Guicciardini Quilt, is one of the earliest surviving quilts in the world. Depicting scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde, an influential romance and tragedy, it was made in Sicily during the second half of the 14th century.
There are at least two extant sections of the quilt, one of which is displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Medieval and Renaissance Galleries, and the other in the Bargello in Florence. The Tristan Quilts are the only known surviving intact examples of medieval quilts.
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| The Tristan Quilt |
The quilt is made from two layers of linen, stitched together with wadding in between. Backstitch in cream and brown linen thread defines a series of pictures with captions that have been brought into relief by inserting rolls of cotton stuffing to raise sections of the design, a technique known as trapunto.
The stuffing could have been introduced during the quilting process, or because the backing layer is looser in weave, its threads could have been parted to introduce the stuffing. Some elements are done using cord quilting.
Dimensions
The Victoria and Albert Museum's quilt measures 10 feet 6 inches high by 9 feet 5 inches wide. These measurements were verified in 2006 when it was prepared for display in the new Medieval and Renaissance Galleries. The Bargello quilt measures 8 feet 1 inch high by 6 feet 9 inches wide.
Imagery
The imagery on the quilt resembles the narrative of chapters 17–19 of a 14th-century novella, La Tavola Rotonda o L'Istoria di Tristano, which describes the oppression of Cornwall and the battle of Tristan on behalf of King Mark of Cornwall. The foliage on the quilt includes ivy and grape vines, a reference to the plants that grew and intertwined from the tombs of the doomed Tristan and Isolde. The scenes on the V&A quilt are not in their original order, having been re-arranged at some point. Each scene has a caption in the Sicilian language.
The Tale of Tristan and Isolde
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| John Duncan (1912) Tristan and Isolde |
The story of Tristan and Isolde is a medieval romance about a Cornish knight, Tristan, and the Irish princess, Isolde, who fall in love after mistakenly drinking a love potion. Their forbidden love affair causes conflict with Isolde's husband, King Mark of Cornwall, and ends in tragedy. The legend, believed to be based on Celtic myth, is a classic tale of love, betrayal, and death.
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