It has to be every curator's dream: rediscovering a long-lost treasure of a legendary knightly order. It happened in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna, where a set of table linens woven in 1527 for the Order of the Golden Fleece came to light in 2012. To textile historians the set, consisting of three linen damask tablecloths and three dozen napkins made in the workshop of the Malines weaver Jacob Hoochboosch, was only known through archival evidence. In a bill dated June 1528 the set is described in detail and even though scholars had never seen it, there was general awareness that it represented the high point of sixteenth-century Flemish damask weaving. The recent monograph by Mario Döberl confirms it is no less than that.

The largest tablecloth of the set was designated for the knights’ table. It measures a startling 17.25 x 2.99 meters and boasts a design that consists of fifty-seven fields in three rows showing the coat of arms of the Grand Master Charles V flanked by the apostles Andrew and Jacob in the center, surrounded by the coats of arms of the knights belonging to the Order. Columns bearing Charles V's device plus oultre divide the fields. Two smaller tablecloths were used to cover the table of the four officers and a credenza. The thirty-four surviving plus oultre napkins were probably either used as hand towels or to wipe greasy fingers during dinner.

It is hard to imagine now just how extraordinary this set was. The knights’ tablecloth is not only exceptionally large; it is also a technical masterpiece, as explained by Jolly and Woś Jucker in their section on its production. The design shows hardly any repeat, which means setting up the loom was extremely challenging and labor intensive. This is reflected in the cost of the set, mounting up to 1,750 livres. Döberl makes an interesting comparison with the cost of other luxury goods that come nowhere near this sum, such as two gilded silver jars and a basin and ewer worth 620 livres. Even two tapestries of silk, gold, and silver by Pieter de Pannemaker, sold to Charles V in 1531 for 1,026 livres, were considerably cheaper.

One may wonder why this important set of linen damask remained hidden in storage for so long. According to Döberl, a lack of space in the old depot hampered visual inspection of the object. Moving to a larger space in 2012 resulted in its rediscovery. It is important to realize that there are more extenuating circumstances. Linen damask is a serious curatorial challenge, not only because of the size of tablecloths, but also because it is hard to distinguish, let alone photograph, the decorative motifs woven into the fabric, because they only show up when viewed at the right angle.

Bearing this in mind, the importance of this publication becomes paramount. The photographs of the tablecloths and napkins are impeccable, facilitating elaborate iconographical analysis, which is further aided by schematic depictions of the layout of all three tablecloths. In the appendix all relevant written sources, ranging from bills and inventories to the menu of a chapter banquet, are transcribed, all depicted coats of arms are described, and weave analyses of all objects are included. The same thoroughness is reflected in the text, which not only deals with the table linens themselves but also highlights the importance of banqueting within the Order of the Golden Fleece, the archival documents, the biography of Jacob Hoochboosch that was complemented with newly discovered archival evidence, the popularity of the plus oultre motif in later table linen, other linens belonging to the order, and, last but not least, the broader context of sixteenth-century linen damask production.

The rediscovery of the table linens of the Order of the Golden Fleece is not only of the greatest importance to the study of linen damask, and even early modern textile production in general, but also to court studies. It is a pity, therefore, that the book is published only in German, as it deserves a wider audience. Linen damask is a subject still largely understudied, and this volume offers an excellent starting point to the study of its role in early modern court culture.