Tillet block insert for Kennaways
Tillet stamps were a marketing device used for Exeter’s woollen cloth exports.
Pieces of woollen cloth for export were packed in cloth wrappers or tillets. Twenty or more wrapped pieces of cloth would be made up into a bale. An attractive mark, rather like a trademark, was stamped onto the tillet wrapper using a tillet block. The stamping was done in the workshop of a tilleter using a large tillet stamping press.
Tillet blocks were composite objects – the main block had recesses into which inserts could be placed. There were shield-shaped inserts with attractive, often heraldic designs. There were also smaller inserts for merchant names, merchant marks or lengths of cloth.
This small insert features the inscription ‘Gugmo Kennaway &c Figlii’ which means William Kennaway & Sons in Italian.
Pieces of woollen cloth for export were packed in cloth wrappers or tillets. Twenty or more wrapped pieces of cloth would be made up into a bale. An attractive mark, rather like a trademark, was stamped onto the tillet wrapper using a tillet block. The stamping was done in the workshop of a tilleter using a large tillet stamping press.
Tillet blocks were composite objects – the main block had recesses into which inserts could be placed. There were shield-shaped inserts with attractive, often heraldic designs. There were also smaller inserts for merchant names, merchant marks or lengths of cloth.
This small insert features the inscription ‘Gugmo Kennaway &c Figlii’ which means William Kennaway & Sons in Italian.
Object Summary
- Accession Loan No.
- 1895/12/31
- Category
- Antiquities
- Collection Class
- Social and industrial history
- Collection Area Region
- Northern Europe
- Collector Excavator
- Davey, TB
- Material
- wood | | | |
- Common Name
- tillet block insert for Kennaways
- Simple Name
- stamp
- Period Classification
- George III (1760-1811)
- Production Town
- Production Person Initials
- Production Person Surname
- Production Year Low
- Production Year High
