Textile fragment

Description

The Derryvale Linen Co., Inc., located in Belfast, Ireland, manufactured this linen tablecloth for export to the United States around 1920. The tablecloth is a damask with a radially symmetrical design of ivy leaves and curving lines, named “Ivy and Ribbon” in a Derryvale trade catalogue. This tablecloth has its original labels still attached, which consumers would have seen when encountering the product on store shelves. The colorful label in the center shows a “Typical scene in the Irish linen country,” while the label at the top edge declares a “Guarantee” of the “Purity and Durability of Derryvale Genuine Irish Linen.” This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.