Rye Pottery

The Guildsmen & their Wives – The Carpenter

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 CARPENTER

Their wisdom would have justified a plan

To make each one of them an alderman.

The Carpenter is sporting a particularly jaunty hat, which was inspired during a visit to a museum in Perugia, Italy  where we loved a series of medieval tapestries. We found so many ideas for decoration that we filled up an entire sketch book with hasty scribbles. His tunic is in our soft russet brown , carefully matching his Wife’s ample cloak.

Click here to see The Carpenter’s charming wife.