Furnishing Fabric
ca. 1805 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
For the first 20 years of the 19th century the finest and most expensive printed furnishings were polychrome woodblock-printed cottons, the technique used here. This fabric might have been used for curtains or upholstery. In this period it was particularly fashionable for the different furnishings used in a room, including window curtains and upholstery fabric, to match or complement each other.
Places
Most of the leading printworks in the London area had closed down by the beginning of the 19th century, and the centre of the textiles printing industry had shifted to Lancashire, and to Carlisle in Cumbria. This example is very close to original designs printed at the Bannister Hall works for Bateman & Todd, a leading firm of Manchester merchants, and it may have been commissioned by them from another printer.
Design & Designing
Pillar prints, the name given to printed cottons with designs of flower-twined pillars, were an English speciality. They were first popular in the 1790s, and recurred at intervals and in different styles until the 1830s. This example has been discharge-printed: by 'discharging', or removing, areas of colour, a white pattern has been created on a dark ground.
For the first 20 years of the 19th century the finest and most expensive printed furnishings were polychrome woodblock-printed cottons, the technique used here. This fabric might have been used for curtains or upholstery. In this period it was particularly fashionable for the different furnishings used in a room, including window curtains and upholstery fabric, to match or complement each other.
Places
Most of the leading printworks in the London area had closed down by the beginning of the 19th century, and the centre of the textiles printing industry had shifted to Lancashire, and to Carlisle in Cumbria. This example is very close to original designs printed at the Bannister Hall works for Bateman & Todd, a leading firm of Manchester merchants, and it may have been commissioned by them from another printer.
Design & Designing
Pillar prints, the name given to printed cottons with designs of flower-twined pillars, were an English speciality. They were first popular in the 1790s, and recurred at intervals and in different styles until the 1830s. This example has been discharge-printed: by 'discharging', or removing, areas of colour, a white pattern has been created on a dark ground.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Block-printed cotton. |
| Brief description | Furnishing fabric of block-printed cotton, Lancashire, ca. 1805 |
| Physical description | Furnishing fabric of block-printed cotton in colours. The pattern includes a design of polychrome flowers on pin-dot pillars and scroll ground. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | British Galleries:
Discharge printing was introduced in English printworks just after 1800. For the first time it was possible to achieve very fine details in white on a dark ground.(27/03/2003) |
| Credit line | Given by the Calico Printers' Association |
| Object history | Printed in Lancashire, possibly for the Manchester merchants Bateman & Todd |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type For the first 20 years of the 19th century the finest and most expensive printed furnishings were polychrome woodblock-printed cottons, the technique used here. This fabric might have been used for curtains or upholstery. In this period it was particularly fashionable for the different furnishings used in a room, including window curtains and upholstery fabric, to match or complement each other. Places Most of the leading printworks in the London area had closed down by the beginning of the 19th century, and the centre of the textiles printing industry had shifted to Lancashire, and to Carlisle in Cumbria. This example is very close to original designs printed at the Bannister Hall works for Bateman & Todd, a leading firm of Manchester merchants, and it may have been commissioned by them from another printer. Design & Designing Pillar prints, the name given to printed cottons with designs of flower-twined pillars, were an English speciality. They were first popular in the 1790s, and recurred at intervals and in different styles until the 1830s. This example has been discharge-printed: by 'discharging', or removing, areas of colour, a white pattern has been created on a dark ground. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.230-1956 |
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| Record created | January 25, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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