In 1780 John Adams attended a Catholic mass and described seeing "A picture in tapestry was hung up, of a number of Jews stabbing the wafer, the ban Diett, and blood gushing in streams from the bread." What's the "ban Diett?" Are there any surviving examples of tapestries such as this?

by yugioh_mishima
sunagainstgold

I'm afraid you've been led astray by OCR. The original quote is:

"A picture in tapestry was hung up, of a number of Jews stabbing the wafer, the bon Dieu, and blood gushing in streams from the bread."

"Bon Dieu" is French for good God--it was (is?) a common name for Jesus in French, and Adams is in Brussels here. He's most likely reminding himself/any readers that to the people adoring the tapestry, the Eucharist is the body of Christ (he definitely doesn't think so), and conveying a bit of local flavor. There are a few other random French titles scattered around this part of the diary.

Concerning the survival of the tapestry: eighteenth-century art isn't really my thing, sorry.