Cloth
1950? Set of 8 different La Fontaine fables embroidered large linen cocktail napkins. $270 from Curated Store through Ebay, Feb., '20.
Here is another surprise. I hope these were never used as napkins! My first and second attempts to photograph these worthily failed, as the white thread does not stand out from the white background in a normal photo. Those experiences explain my decision to photograph them on a window that allows the back light to highlight the heavier threads that make up the designs. Lovely work! Click on the napkin above to see all eight.
1950? Two Italian TH fable tapestries. Made in Italy. 32.5" x 11.25" and 18" x 11.25". Velour? Fringe-edged sides. $36 from Mrs. Germany, Oakhurst, OK, through Ebay, July, '99.
Another huge surprise from Ebay! The smaller design selects a portion of the larger. In the larger, a female rabbit at left looks right toward a running tortoise and a following rabbit, both running towards the left. The smaller tapestry has the "Made in Italy" label sewn on its back. The characters reproduce with astounding accuracy those found in Disney's early "Toby Tortoise and the Hare." See my versions listed in 1935 (twice) and 1938. My, how Aesopic motifs get around! One of the tell-tale details here is the hat perched on top of the antennae on the tortoise's head. The other is the fence of Miss Cottontail's Boarding School, where Toby stopped to show off to the girls.
1960? Heavy cotton fabric with several fable scenes among whisteria. 9 yards x 17" x 56" wide. $99.99 from Rennae Philllips, Issaquah, WA, through Ebay, March, '99.
Rennae is right: this is impressive fabric. The repeating scenes include FS, TH, "Two Cocks," and "The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox." Click on the upper portion for an overview and on the lower portion for a detail of FS.
1970? Hand-sewn, framed cross stitch "Aesop's Fables." A composition of four Aesop's fables titles and characters, 21" x 29". $48.59 from Maria Juhasz, Gainesville, FL, through Ebay, Nov., '99.
This large, framed, piece of stitchery puts together the four components in pleasing fashion. A heavy green border includes leaves above and below a design that announces "Aesop's Fables" at the upper left. Under it a fox has turned around from the grapes behind him to look at the viewer. He sits as though on an arch formed above the head of a lion lying across the base of the work. The lion looks at a small mouse before him. Above his haunch are the country and town mice talking to each other while perched, respectively, on a stalk of grain and a rope. Above the square which they occupy are a tortoise and hare under an arch. I am delighted to have found this and proud to display it in my office! If you click on it above, you will see a fuller-sized version.
1970? Crocheted doily of "The Fox and the Goat." $50 from an unknown source, March, '20.
Here is very delicate work. The fox has tried to talk the young goat into opening the door and has been rebuffed. Is "loup" here misspelled "loop"? I am not sure how a piece like this would have been used. My, how Aesop gets around!
1988 Circular framed crewel-stitchery by Lois Carlson titled "Aesop's Fables." The stitchery presents five pairs: LM, TH, GGE, "The Tree and the Reed," and "The Horse and the Two Thieves."
I think it especially clever of Mom to find fables that gave her pairs of characters. In each pair, one dominates over the other. So the pine dominates over the reed, the lion over the mouse, and the goose over the golden egg. The formula works less well with the hare many times larger than the turtle and with the ass that is many times larger than both the miller and his son. The two human images work together to flank the larger animal between them.
1995? Aesop's Fables Felt Activity Book. Made in the USA. Salem, Utah: The Story Teller. $17.95 from The Story Teller Felt, Healdsburg CA, Nov., '97.
I found and ordered this curiosity at a craft fair in Sonoma County. The materials are here to construct a felt book with five pages. Each page is the scene for three different fables. Fifty-seven characters are supplied, ready to be stuck onto the scene in the appropriate places and otherwise to be stored in a pocket on the back of the page. The pocket lists a handy moral for each fable. The village scene includes BW, "A Man and His Sons," and "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing." The river scene has "Mercury and the Woodsman," "The Hares and the Frogs," and DS. The path is the scene for TH; "The Birds, the Beasts and the Bat"; and "The Boasting Traveller." Into the cave one can put LM, "The Sick Lion," and SW. Finally among the trees we find OF, "The Miser," and "The Trees and the Ax."
River Scene |
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Path Scene |
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Village Scene |
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Cave Scene |
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Tree Scene |
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1995? Aesop's Fables Felt Activity Book. Made in the USA. Salem, Utah: The Story Teller. $10.95 from Jody Sumner, Towaco, NJ, April, '08. Here is an already constructed version of what I had earlier found as an assemblage of materials. Let me adapt and repeat some of my comments from that listing. This is a felt book with five pages. Each page is the scene for three different fables. Fifty-seven characters are supplied, ready to be stuck onto the scene in the appropriate places and otherwise to be stored in a pocket on the back of the page. The pocket lists a handy moral for each fable. The village scene includes BW, "A Man and His Sons," and "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing." The river scene has "Mercury and the Woodsman," "The Hares and the Frogs," and DS. The path is the scene for TH; "The Birds, the Beasts and the Bat"; and "The Boasting Traveller." Into the cave one can put LM, "The Sick Lion," and SW. Finally among the trees we find OF, "The Miser," and "The Trees and the Ax."
2002? Cross-stitch "Easy Does it!" TH. Felt over a board. 8” x 10”. $5.75 from Diane Strohmenger, March, '04.
Images depict a hare and a tortoise above and below, respectively, the rather unusual moral “Easy Does it!” sewn into the center of the image.