Lunchtime Lecture: Deciphering the Designs of the Late Ingenious Mr Leman

The Leman Album contains the earliest-known English designs for woven silk, produced between 1706 and 1716 by the master weaver James Leman. Currently the subject of a major interdisciplinary research project in the V&A Research Institute (VARI), the designs offer unique evidence of silk weaving techniques, commercial design in early eighteenth-century London, taste and fashion. Curator Olivia Horsfall Turner will explore multiple aspects of Leman’s remarkable designs including their purpose, their sources, and what recent conservation and scientific analysis has revealed about their significance.