1783, French; Jouy, Les Travaux de la Manufacture

Cotton, copper-plate printed- Les Travaux de la Manufacture; with a large house, outbuildings and garden surrounded by a fence in the top left hand corner; with various bushes and trees surrounding the house; with four men dressed in working clothes (eg: jacket, trousers, waders, apron, hat) depicted in the top centre area; with three of these men working the earth and its products with tools by an area of water ; with one of these men standing on a small bridge over the water; with the fourth man carrying a sack over his shoulder; with the top right hand corner of the print showing one figure holding a tool/ hammer working on a table with vast amounts of patterned material (depicting various forms of vegetation) which hang from a tall structure ; with the bottom area of the print showing two men standing on a platform working a large piece of machinery; with the plain and patterned material stretched over a structure; with one figure turning a large wheel; with a ladder and drilling device depicted to the right of the machine; with a series of buildings (possibly a factory) depicted in the background; with the whole series of designs incorporating various forms of vegetation (eg: trees, leaves, bushes).

This fabric, called ‘Les travaux de la Manufacture’, was produced to commemorate the presentation of the title "Manufacture Royale" to Oberkampf’s factory at Jouy. It depicts the processes involved in the manufacture of plate-printed cotton fabric

1684-1899