Antique French Damask Linen Dinner Napkins, Monogrammed, Set of 4 | C. 1930s

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Description

….There is a particular kind of collector you only encounter on islands.
She doesn't buy sets. She buys the finest … Read more ….There is a particular kind of collector you only encounter on islands.
She doesn't buy sets. She buys the finest piece in the pile, then moves on. Over decades, the accumulation tells you everything about her eye — and nothing at all about her name. These four antique French linen dinner napkins came to us from exactly such a woman: a design maven whose Martha's Vineyard home was, by all accounts, a masterclass in the kind of beauty that never announces itself.
Each napkin carries its own monogram, embroidered in the restrained script lettering of the French linen houses of the 1930s. The initials vary — FMB on some, others differ — because she collected them that way, one by one, across years and markets and estate sales, assembling not a matched set but a considered one. The damask weave is a glen plaid, structured and quiet, the pattern visible only as a shift in light across the cloth. Off-white. Nearly ecru. The color of very old, very good things.
Twenty inches square. Machine-finished edges. In the manner of the great French linen ateliers of the interwar period, when the napkin was still understood to be a serious object.
Fold them into quarters. Press them sharp. Put them on a table you care about.

Details
Set of 4 | Antique French linen | c. 1930s | Damask-woven glen plaid | Off-white / ecru | Embroidered script monograms, varying initials | 20" square | Machine-finished edges | Excellent vintage condition | From a curated Martha's Vineyard estate collection See less