Communion damask for your church
Collection
Weaving communion damask always makes my clients and me extremely happy! If the tablecloths in your church need replacing, you have come to the right place, as more than fifty other churches have gone before you. Together, we can decide on the best pattern and size for your communion tables and altars, with a choice of three basic designs that can be adapted to your church depending on your wishes.
01.
Damask Design: Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper
At the request of several churches, we have created a new damask design based on Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting The Last Supper. Linen weavers have been incorporating this design into their communion damask in the Netherlands since 1850. The artist Willem van ‘t Riet created the new design based on a 19th-century steel engraving. His damask interpretation of The Last Supper (100 x 30 cm) is full of the dynamism seen in Da Vinci’s eight-metre-wide original mural.
Beneath the image is a banner with the text ‘Neemt en eet, dit is mijn lichaam, doet dit tot mijne gedachtenis’ (‘Take, eat, this is my body, do this in remembrance of me’). We use the Grapevines and Ears of Wheat border pattern as a frame for The Last Supper. Our weaving mill in Ireland weaves this design in the finest-quality pure linen damask, with 42 threads per centimetre. For your church too!
Curious about the sizes and prices of The Last Supper damask? Contact Sanny.
Read further to find out more about the history of The Last Supper
02.
Damask Design: Grapevines and Ears of Wheat
The Grapevines and Ears of Wheat design represents the wine and bread. Interwoven with the climbing vines, the ears of wheat shoot up into the air. The pattern is woven into the borders of the tablecloth and as a smaller motif on top, so that it is seen twice in the tablecloth. There are two versions. One has a shield in the centre with the text Deze drinkbeker is het nieuwe testament in Mijn bloed, hetwelk voor U vergoten wordt (This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you). This design is shown below.
We weave special altar cloths for the Catholic church with a small cross in the centre, following the ancient Dutch tradition and based on a design from the former Van Hoogerwou linen mill. Every altar cloth is made-to-measure and woven in the finest-quality linen, with 42 threads per centimetre.
03.
Damask Design: Grapevine Waves
The Grapevine Waves design has been especially created for churches with unusual sized tables or a smaller budget. Sanny reconstructed the design based on 19th-century drawings. In this damask, the grapevines run diagonally across the tablecloth, like waves in the sea. It is woven as a repeating pattern and cut to size as required, and is woven with 32 threads per centimetre, which also reduces the price. This damask is always in stock and can therefore be delivered at relatively short notice. Delivery time is about four weeks.
From idea to reality
Should your church be interested in replacing its Holy Communion tablecloths, you are more than welcome to visit Sanny at home, or she can visit you at your church to give advice. You can then experience the harmonious effect that the damask has on the communion tables for yourself. We can discuss the size of the tablecloths and the required overhang. The damask can be given historical value by weaving the emblem and name of the church and the year into the design. The following three generations will be able to enjoy the new damask. After all, the linen is so strong that it can be washed hundreds of times before showing any sign of wear, especially if you use our table protector underneath.
Delivery
Delivery time is about three months for made-to-measure woven damask. The Grapevine Waves design usually takes about four weeks. The damask is sent in a strong linen box that can also be used to store the tablecloth in. Of course, we also send care instructions for your damask and, if necessary, I will be very happy to help you set your table the first time, as I take great pleasure in seeing the result of the process, from idea to reality!
I will also be pleased to send you a napkin so you can see and feel the quality of the damask. Just give me a ring on: +31 (0)15 2135520.
Lecture: Biblical history in tablecloths and napkins
Did you know that in the 16th and 17th centuries many well-to-do families used a tablecloth with biblical stories woven into the damask? You could sit at table and see how God created the world, or how the spies returned to Moses carrying huge bunches of grapes. There were tablecloths showing a naked Susanna being molested by elderly judges, and napkins portraying Christ talking to a Samaritan woman at the well of Sichar. Tablecloths depicting Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper were produced for lots of churches between approximately 1850 and 1970, when the last damask weaving mills in the Netherlands closed. During this lecture, I also describe how our own The Last Supper damask is made, which we reconstructed at the request of a church. I also enjoy describing the exciting process of everything that needs to happen before an idea can become reality. This lecture also offers the perfect opportunity to consecrate the new damask in your church in style. More information can be found on the Lectures page.