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

Dress Fabric

1851 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a dress silk made by Winkworth, Proctor & Co., a Macclesfield weaving company. By the mid-19th century Macclesfield, near Manchester was one of the key British centres for the production and distribution of woven dress silks.

This example was exhibited in the Great Exhibition as part of a display dediciated to 'Fancy silks, as Shot, Figured, Embroidered, &c;'. A collection of textiles and fabrics from the Exhibition was presented to Her Majesty's Commissioners, and then to the Victoria & Albert Museum to act as a lasting memorial of the 1851 Exhibition. These textiles show the state of industry in 1851. In 1857, when they were exhibited at the Museum, the catalogue described them as providing 'a view both to technical instruction and to the ever-changing and increasing wants of trade in this great commercial country'. This emphasised the need of British manufacturers to produce high quality, desirable goods which would ensure success in the international market.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silk, jacquard-woven
Brief description
Dress fabric sample, silk, figured, 1850-51, English; Manchester, Winkworth & Proctor, floral, blue
Physical description
Sample of jacquard-woven dress silk
Credit line
Given by HM Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1851
Summary
This is a dress silk made by Winkworth, Proctor & Co., a Macclesfield weaving company. By the mid-19th century Macclesfield, near Manchester was one of the key British centres for the production and distribution of woven dress silks.

This example was exhibited in the Great Exhibition as part of a display dediciated to 'Fancy silks, as Shot, Figured, Embroidered, &c;'. A collection of textiles and fabrics from the Exhibition was presented to Her Majesty's Commissioners, and then to the Victoria & Albert Museum to act as a lasting memorial of the 1851 Exhibition. These textiles show the state of industry in 1851. In 1857, when they were exhibited at the Museum, the catalogue described them as providing 'a view both to technical instruction and to the ever-changing and increasing wants of trade in this great commercial country'. This emphasised the need of British manufacturers to produce high quality, desirable goods which would ensure success in the international market.
Collection
Accession number
AP.382:5

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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