Textile Design
1765-70 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This design is a preparatory technical drawing for a patterned silk. It acted as instructions for the weaver about how to tie up the threads on the loom and then weave in the pattern. It is similar to a group of designs commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon — the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards — and corresponds in style to the 1760s when patterns were curvaceous. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 and it was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century. It kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the number of the design and minimal instructions on how it should be woven.
This design was for a patterned silk with a plain background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven.
The point-paper printer was Joseph Veret, a silk designer who married Marie-Anne Brenier, the widow of Pierre Huilliot, silk designer and engraver. As a dowry he received copper plates suitable for the printing of point papers which were worth a substantial sum of money. On his wife’s death in 1783, the business passed to her nephew Royannet. It was the main supplier of all kinds of papers for design and manufacture in Lyon.
This design was for a patterned silk with a plain background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven.
The point-paper printer was Joseph Veret, a silk designer who married Marie-Anne Brenier, the widow of Pierre Huilliot, silk designer and engraver. As a dowry he received copper plates suitable for the printing of point papers which were worth a substantial sum of money. On his wife’s death in 1783, the business passed to her nephew Royannet. It was the main supplier of all kinds of papers for design and manufacture in Lyon.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gouache, paper |
| Brief description | Design for brocaded silk, Lyon, France, ca.1765-70 |
| Physical description | The design is painted in gouache on to point paper (a kind of graph paper). The pattern consists of a flowering branch entwined with a scroll in pale blue, red, lilac and red. On the left there is a mixed bunch of flowering twigs. Small buds decorate the background of the design at regular intervals. On the front is engraved the name and address of the printer of the point paper and the type of paper. On the back is inscribed in handwriting in ink the number of the design, the name of the fabric for which it was intended and general guidelines for the weaving of the fabric. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Design |
| Marks and inscriptions | On the front: 8 en 10 chez Veret place de la Comédie a Lion.
On the back:
P[atron] 189 Taff[etas] 11/24 a chemin et repetition
le bleu
le blanc et le rouge
le chair le vert clair
le gris de lin
le pourpre et le porcelaine
le vert second
le vert d…(?) et l'olive
le decoupures jeaunes ne se lisent pas
Also on the back, stamped in purple: Robert Ruepp, 7 rue Bergère, Paris. |
| Object history | The paper on which this design is painted reveals its origins in Lyon, centre of the French silk industry in the 18th century. It belongs to a group of thirty-one designs with similar motifs acquired by the V&A in 1972; they all date to the decade between 1761 and 1771. The manufacturer who commissioned this particular design is unknown but the designs are very similar to those commissioned by L. Galy, Gallien et cie., active in Lyons from 1759-1771 when the firm became L. Galy et cie. At a later date, the designs belonged to the designer Robert Ruepp (b. 1854) whose address was 7 rue Bergère in Paris and who exhibited silks of extreme Art Nouveau design at the International Exhibition there in 1900 and other rather less original designs in 1925. They passed into the hands of Sir Frank Warner, head of the famed English silk manufacturing firm, from the archive of which, part being sold at auction, the V&A acquired them in 1972. |
| Production | The attribution of date and place is based on comparison with other similar designs in the V&A collection, commissioned by L. Galy, Gallien et cie. in Lyon. Attribution note: This is the second stage of designing for brocaded silk, a technical drawing which would allow the loom to be mounted. |
| Summary | This design is a preparatory technical drawing for a patterned silk. It acted as instructions for the weaver about how to tie up the threads on the loom and then weave in the pattern. It is similar to a group of designs commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon — the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards — and corresponds in style to the 1760s when patterns were curvaceous. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 and it was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century. It kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the number of the design and minimal instructions on how it should be woven. This design was for a patterned silk with a plain background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven. The point-paper printer was Joseph Veret, a silk designer who married Marie-Anne Brenier, the widow of Pierre Huilliot, silk designer and engraver. As a dowry he received copper plates suitable for the printing of point papers which were worth a substantial sum of money. On his wife’s death in 1783, the business passed to her nephew Royannet. It was the main supplier of all kinds of papers for design and manufacture in Lyon. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.426-1972 |
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| Record created | February 3, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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