Loom-width of brocaded silk with silver thread, probably woven in Lyon, France, about 1735-1740

Length of brocaded silk with a cream/beige gros de tours ground (i.e. heavy plain woven silk). The pattern is woven in shades of pink, red, maroon, blue, white, and green silks and metal - in total 13 colours in silk brocading wefts and one silver brocading weft. The colours are remarkably unfaded (as the still vibrant colours on the back of the silk reveal). The silver is only slightly tarnished. The pattern consists of large conch shells sprouting flowers and foliage cornucopia-like and linked by silver ribbons which meander away from the spiralling contours of each shell to join the one above. The shell motif is repeated twice across the width of the silk, and alternate rows incline in the opposite direction, thus forming with their ribbons graceful continuous S-shapes down the length of the fabric. The flowers are naturalistic in form and shading due the use of the technique of points rentrés (the dovetailing of colours). The flowers are fantastical in form, but look as if they were inspired by hop flowers and either pink and blue forget-me-nots or stocks. The selvedge consists of stripes of yellow, green, pink, red, green and yellow silk woven in gros de tours and edged with six cords each formed by two thick silk threads. The brocading silks are bound in 3/1 twill.

A small rectangle of fabric has been inserted at the top left hand side of the length, measuring about 212.5 x 102.5mm. It probably relates to the original use of the silk as part of a sack, and would have corresponded to the armhole. The creases and folds at the top of the fabric, and the length of the piece, are consistent with the pleated back of such a gown. A series of holes down each selvedge at fairly regular intervals reveals that the silk has been nailed taut to a backing at some later date and when removed the selvedge has been torn. The silk has cracked horizontally about 660mm from the bottom, and there are some areas around the metal thread motifs where the silk has cracked from the weight of the brocading.

Acquired from the dealers Mayorcas Ltd in 1965. The style of design corresponds with what we know of Lyonnais production, as does the width of the textile. The use of points rentrés (the interlocking of colours to produce an intermediate shade) dates the silk to after 1733. These brocaded silks were woven on the drawloom in batches (the equivalent of four dress lengths). They were not mass-produced on mechanical looms.

This silk was probably used for a woman's robe à la française (sack) in the late 1730s or 1740s, before being recycled for another purpose. There is pictorial evidence that such silks were also used for men's nightgowns (dressing gowns), and it is quite possible that it could also have been used as a furnishing fabric. The quality of the weaving and the quantity of metal threads suggest that it was originally acquired by wealthy clients, probably belonging to the aristocracy.

The width of this fabric conforms to the widths for figured silks laid down in the silk weaving guild regulations for 18th-century Lyon.

This silk panel combines the most expensive of materials with the most complex of weaving techniques. The design epitomises the luxuriant fashionable designs of its date of production. These designs are in the idiom we now call Rococo, a light-hearted style associated with the move away from formality that began after the death of Louis XIV (d. 1715) in France and found its early expression in the furnishings and dress used in city mansions (hôtels) in early 18th-century Paris. The design shows some of the most important characteristics of the style: it is asymmetrical, meanders sinuously across the fabric, and makes bold use of natural history, in particular shells and flowers.

The style of design is often asscoiated with an innovative designer called Jean Revel (Paris, 1684-Lyon, 1751) who is credited with introducing motifs that were more naturalistic than those in previous silk design. His ideas were probably the result of contact with the tapestry workshops at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins in Paris. Luxuriant foliage was a hallmark of many tapestry borders and Revel's innovation in Lyonnais silks was to find a way of achieving a similar effect in a different form of weaving.

T.170-1965