What is a weavers mark ?
On the continent a Master weaver could devise his own mark – usually his initials. It was registered with the Guild of his city and had to be woven into tapestries above certain dimensions. The system does not seem to have been imposed in Elizabethan England though it developed later. The most important continental tapestry weaving cities also used a mark, woven into the lower right hand corner of a tapestry after inspection. It guaranteed local quality standards; in most cases it is a means to indicate a place of origin for the tapestry in which it survives. By extension, the stylistic characteristics of marked tapestries can be used to attribute origin to tapestries where there is no longer a mark. Only one tapestry called Sheldon carries a mark. A Bruges city mark can be seen in two tapestries of the Four Seasons set at Hatfield House.
