Textile Design
1762 (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 of this design reveals that it was completed on 14 September 1762 and was no. 748 in the archive of L. Galy, 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 of this design reveals that it was completed on 14 September 1762 and was no. 748 in the archive of L. Galy, Gallien et cie.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gouache on engraved paper |
| Brief description | for silk, 1762, French; Galy Gallien, lace meander, stripe, flowers |
| Physical description | The design is painted in gouache on to point paper (a kind of graph paper). The pattern comprises a lacy meander on the left, a large bunch of mixed flowers on the right and a vertical stripe divided into two halves, one on each side of the design. The meander is red with blue stylised flowers, the vertical stripe brown and the floral decoration three shades of pink, pale blue, lilac and white, the leaves are in three shades of green. On the front the name of the printer of the paper is engraved along with the type of paper. 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 front: 8 en 9
On the back:
Du 14 7bre 1762 L. Galy, Gallien et compe.
No 748 Taff[eta] en dorures et nuences de 37 dix[ain]es a repetition
Per lat le marron et toutes les couleurs qui sont sur la bande
2 le blanc et le rouge
3 le gri de lin
4 le lila
5 le pourpre, le violet clair et le vert clair
6 le vert second
7 le vert brun
8 le porcelaine et le gris (These instructions were to help with the mounting of the loom. They are not enough for a present day manufacturer to replicate the eighteenth century pattern accurately.) |
| Production | Date and place of manufacturing are based on the inscription on the back of the design. |
| 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 of this design reveals that it was completed on 14 September 1762 and was no. 748 in the archive of L. Galy, Gallien et cie. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.406-1972 |
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| Record created | February 10, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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