Paris

The rue de l’Arbre sec in Paris had borne this name since the thirteenth century. The name originally came no doubt from a sixteenth or seventeenth century draper’s sign that was replaced by this dry tree in wrought iron. Note that cloth merchants often drew on Oriental legends because the finest fabrics came from the East. The legend alluded to here refers to an oak sought by pilgrims to the Holy Land in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which was supposed to date back to the beginning of the world and grew on the tomb of Lot, but which had withered on the death of Christ...