Rye Pottery

The Guildsmen & their Wives – The Weaver’s Wife

Chaucer mentions the specific Guilds in his prologue, and when we first introduced a generic Guildsman and his Wife we realised there was huge scope for us to work with each of the named Guilds allowing us an exciting choice of costume especially for the wives. As it says in the Prologue: They had the capital and revenue,/Besides their wives declared it was their due./And if they did not think so, then they ought;/To be called Madam is a glorious thought.

The Weaver’s Wife

They had the capital and revenue

Besides their wives declared it was their due.

We think that perhaps The Weaver’s Wife ay have been very new to Guild life as she cannot quite manage to hold her head up like the other wives, or perhaps she is being coy!

Maybe the proud look of the Weaver and his hat over awed her so she settled for a softly simple patterned blue gown and buckled belt with a demure coral wimple. The understated spirit of this figure really shows off the decorating teams’ skill, as the brush strokes emphasise the incredible detail of fabric folds of the underlying sculpture.

Click here to see The Weaver himself.