Textile Design
27/02/1771 (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 one of a group of 1577 such designs commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon, the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards.
The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 when the senior partner Louis Galy retired. Louis Gallien continued the business under the name L. Gallien et cie into the late 1780s, by which time he was specialising in plain rather than patterned silks. It was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century and it kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the company name, the number of the design, the date, and minimal instructions on how it should be woven. Such information allowed the manufacturers to go back to the original design work if they received requests for a reweave of the design.
The inscription on the back reveals that this design was completed on 27 February 1771 and was no. 1492 in the archive of L. Gallien et cie.
The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 when the senior partner Louis Galy retired. Louis Gallien continued the business under the name L. Gallien et cie into the late 1780s, by which time he was specialising in plain rather than patterned silks. It was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century and it kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the company name, the number of the design, the date, and minimal instructions on how it should be woven. Such information allowed the manufacturers to go back to the original design work if they received requests for a reweave of the design.
The inscription on the back reveals that this design was completed on 27 February 1771 and was no. 1492 in the archive of L. Gallien et cie.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gouache on point paper |
| Brief description | Design for woven silk on point paper, 1771, L. Gallien et cie., Lyon, France; meander, stripe, fillings, flowers |
| Physical description | The design is painted in gouache on to point paper (a kind of graph paper). The pattern consists of a vertical stripe (half on each extremity of the paper), with interlaced meanders of lace and ribbon between them. Between the meander and the right hand stripe is a small bouquet of mixed flowers. On the back is inscribed in handwriting in ink the name of the manufacturer, the date of the design, its number, the type of the fabric and some instructions for weaving. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Design |
| Marks and inscriptions | On the back:
L. Gallien et compe. Du 27 febrier 1771
No. 1492 Canelé lustriné double fond a bande de soye et cord[onnet] nué 32 dix[ain]es a repetition
Per lat le [crossed out], le rouge, le blanc, et le porcelaine
2 le rouge et le blanc liseré
3 le gris de lin, le violet clair des fleurs, le gros jaune, l'avanturine claire et le porcelaine
4 le lilas, le violet second des fleurs, et l'avanturine seconde
5 le pourpre, le violet brun des fleurs et l'avanturine 1 une
6 le vert clair et le violet second du courant et du ruban qui est sur la bande
7 le vert second
8 le vert brun et le violet brun du courant et du ruban
9 le bleu
Also on the back stamped in purple: Robert Ruepp, 4 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 place and date results from the inscription of the back of the design. Attribution note: This is the technical drawing which allowed 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 one of a group of 1577 such designs commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon, the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 when the senior partner Louis Galy retired. Louis Gallien continued the business under the name L. Gallien et cie into the late 1780s, by which time he was specialising in plain rather than patterned silks. It was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century and it kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the company name, the number of the design, the date, and minimal instructions on how it should be woven. Such information allowed the manufacturers to go back to the original design work if they received requests for a reweave of the design. The inscription on the back reveals that this design was completed on 27 February 1771 and was no. 1492 in the archive of L. Gallien et cie. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.417-1972 |
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| Record created | February 3, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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