Furnishing fabric
- Place of origin:
Lyon, France (probably, woven)
Spitalfields, England (possibly, woven)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Silk damask, brocaded and satin twill
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 9
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Object Type
This length of silk furnishing fabric has been woven with a pattern simulating a three-dimensional swagged valance. In a clever optical effect the valance appears to be hung with tassels and looped cords, and to be draped over a damask ground.
Design & Designing
The pattern in this silk has a mirror repeat, and this panel would have been hung vertically with other panels to form a continuous line of swags. Such a design could have been used for bed hangings, but this piece has traces of glue along its sides and lower edge, indicating it was probably attached to a wall.
Place
A previous owner of the silk believed that it was made by Huguenot silk weavers in Ireland. It is almost certainly not Irish because there is no evidence of a silk industry in Ireland in this period which mught have produced a silk of such quality. However, it is also possible that it could be English. However, there are similarly no English silks known of this date, with firm provenance, that are of such high quality, and it is more likely to have been woven in France. Such silks were certainly used in England and Ireland.
Physical description
Furnishing fabric of pale blue silk damask in a formal baroque floral design, with supplementary wefts of yellow and white silk making a pattern simulating a three-dimensional textile swag hung with two tassels on looped cords lying on top of the damask. This panel, with the design in point repeat, would have been hung vertically with other panels to form a continuous line of swags.
Structure: damask woven as 4 & 1 satin, with 2 supplementary pattern wefts in yellow and white. Also some brocading in yellow. The pattern wefts are bound with the satin warp in twill. Proportion of ground to supplementary wefts 2:1.
Selvedges are intact, with 3 red and 2 yellow stripes, and top edge is hemmed. At the upper end, a narrow separate piece has been sewn on to the main piece with a border of yellow and white stylised flower and leaf shapes. It looks as if it was originally continuous with the main piece, as the pattern either side of the seam nearly matches up. A small band may have been cut out to reduce the height of the panel.
Place of Origin
Lyon, France (probably, woven)
Spitalfields, England (possibly, woven)
Date
1685-1700 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Silk damask, brocaded and satin twill
Dimensions
Length: 99 cm, Width: 57 cm including selvage, Height: 49.5 in, Width: 22 in
Object history note
Purchased. Registered File number 1985/1094. The design could have been used for bed hangings, but this piece has traces of glue along its sides and lower edge, indicating it was probably attached to the wall.
Descriptive line
Silk furnishing fabric, probably woven in Lyon (France) or possibly in Spitalfields (London), 1685-1700
Labels and date
British Galleries:
The court designer Daniel Marot (about 1663-1752) produced several engraved designs for rooms with a horizontal line of fringed valances round the top of the fabric-hung walls. This appears to be a silk designer's idea for creating such an effect with a single fabric. [27/03/2003]
Materials
Silk (textile)
Techniques
Brocading; Damask weaving; Twill weave
Subjects depicted
Leaves; Floral
Categories
British Galleries; Textiles; Interiors
Collection code
T&F
