Loulan and Maddermarket

The fine red wool hand is woven on to natural silk. The wool is dyed red, maroon and orange with the root of the madder plant, Rubia Tinctoria, free of toxic chemicals such as copper, chrome or tin, which are used massively in the textile industry.

Loulan consists of two identical pieces measuring 32 x 97 cm each.

In the eye of the beholder so holds the colour red; through the eyes the red flows to the mind into the red heart, the beholder. It is said that red leaves green on the retina. Red and green, joy and rest, like true friends. Or Mars the planet of war, I abhor war, and green, which is related to grass and growth.

'Behold' is from old English bihalden, bi-'thoroughly' + halden 'to hold', and
'Friend' is from old English, related to the word 'free'.

She was laid to rest in her madder red dress in a salt-mine more than 4000 years ago, The Beauty of Loulan.

My Danish Viking origins shine forth in these two pieces, which are actually thought of as one. If one thinks of the Danish flag – take away the cross and you are left with the red, once dyed with the root of the plant called madder (Rubia Tinctoria) the very one that used to be sold in the Maddermarket of Norwich, where of course the Vikings also once ruled long before the days when the madder root was on sale in the market square and a lot earlier that when I lived there. The red of the Danish flag was also the colour of the cloaks the Danes of old used to wear, and the blue of the Swedish flag – take away the cross – was the colour of the northern Swedes who clad themselves in blue cloaks like the blue of their flag dyed with a plant called woad. As today, the people of old liked fine bright colours and expensive silks. The piece points back to the Maddermarket of the Norwich where we lived, and forward to our new home on the Baltic Sea.

A point to mention is that indigo and madder root have a colour fastness of over 200 years. If that sounds unbelievable, have a look at the many tapestries hanging in stately homes around the country. You will find that they were all woven before the introduction of chemical dyes. The blue colours and the palette of reds are still vivid. Take a note of just how old they are.

The diamond pattern at the end of each piece points both backwards and forwards in time, as it was a much beloved pattern in olden times and still is today.