Detail of a carpet showing Adam and Eve, unknown

Detail of a carpet showing Adam and Eve
Unknown
Strasbourg, France
1781
Hand-knitted woollen yarn
Museum no. T.375-1977

In the 18th century, to gain full membership of the Hand-Knitters' Guild of Strasbourg, journeymen knitters had to demonstrate their skill by producing masterpieces including a cap, a woollen jacket, a pair of gloves, and a wallhanging patterned with flowers, like this one.

This example was worked in stocking stitch on needles, or possibly a peg frame. Its maker is no longer known. Beneath a central panel depicting Jacob's Dream, from the Old Testament, Adam and Eve appear, in a Garden of Eden bursting with flowering plants, birds and beasts.