Furnishing Fabric thumbnail 1
Furnishing Fabric thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Furnishing Fabric

1920-1921 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Established in 1884, G.P & J Baker Ltd specialises in high quality woven and printed textiles for furnishings. The company has collected an archive containing many historical textiles and pattern books to provide its designers with inspiration.The motifs on this sample reveal a fascination with Persian or Islamic art. This textile was used as the covering fabric for the large published portfolio containing George P. Baker's 1922 study Calico Painting and Printing in the East Indies in the XVIIth and XVIIIIth Centuries, published in London by Edward Arnold, 1921.

By the 1920s, when this sample was made, avant-garde textile designers in Britain were particularly interested in severe, sparsely coloured, abstract and geometric designs. Although Bakers did not embrace the extremes of this style, the company did bring out an experimental range of purely geometric patterns.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Printed linen
Brief description
Furnishing fabric of printed linen, made by G.P. & J. Baker, England, 1920-1921
Physical description
Furnishing fabric of printed linen with a patchwork design of linked rectangular vignettes based upon Persian or Islamic pictorial silks, and showing people, animals, flowers and foliage as well as Middle-Eastern arches.
Dimensions
  • Width: 131cm
  • Height: 94cm
  • Diameter: 85mm
Credit line
Given by G. P. & J. Baker
Object history
The textiles (T.373, T.375,T.376, T.377 and T.378-1988) were donated to the Museum in 1928 by G.P & J. Baker, who were all inspired by V&A holdings. The design on this textile is inspired by pictorial Islamic silks, according to the Asia department.

This textile was used as the covering fabric for the large published portfolio containing George P. Baker's 1922 study Calico Painting and Printing in the East Indies in the XVIIth and XVIIIIth Centuries, published in London by Edward Arnold, 1921.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Established in 1884, G.P & J Baker Ltd specialises in high quality woven and printed textiles for furnishings. The company has collected an archive containing many historical textiles and pattern books to provide its designers with inspiration.The motifs on this sample reveal a fascination with Persian or Islamic art. This textile was used as the covering fabric for the large published portfolio containing George P. Baker's 1922 study Calico Painting and Printing in the East Indies in the XVIIth and XVIIIIth Centuries, published in London by Edward Arnold, 1921.

By the 1920s, when this sample was made, avant-garde textile designers in Britain were particularly interested in severe, sparsely coloured, abstract and geometric designs. Although Bakers did not embrace the extremes of this style, the company did bring out an experimental range of purely geometric patterns.
Collection
Accession number
T.375-1998

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Record createdFebruary 7, 2008
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