brocaded silk, 1745-1760, French

Blue (muted sky blue) silk brocaded in polychrome silks and metal threads, the ground has a self-coloured pattern (foot-figured). The pattern is a point repeat (a mirror image about a vertical axis) and takes up the full width of the silk, comprising flowers and flower arrangements, bound together by elaborate golden arabesques. Three pattern repeats are visible lengthwise. The brocading or supplemenary wefts are as follows: two shades of a grass green for the stems; three shades of red for the smaller flowers; four shades of plum for one of the large flower types and four of a slightly different pinky red for the other large flower; metal threads for the hearts of flowers and small leaves and for the leaves and meanders that join up the pattern. These metal threads are both silver and gold, and in different qualities which catch the light in different ways - lame and filé (beaten flat or round like a wire). The play on light and shade, sparkle and matte is very sophisticated, the appearance of the fabric changing as the viewer moves round it. A very sparing, economical use of the metal threads is noticeable from the back of the fabric, where barely any silver or gold is evident.

Acquired for £2.10s in 1912 from The Spanish Art Gallery, L. Harris & co. Ltd, 50 Conduit Street, London. It was one of a series of textiles chiefly collected in Spain, of which four of the 14 brocades dated to the 18th century (RF 1912/3076M and 1911/4965M)

The width of the silk is consistent with the stipulated width for such silks as laid down in 18th-century Lyon guild regulations.

The metal content of silks like this suited them to prestigious social or ceremonial occasions in 18th-century Europe, notably attendance at Court and at the theatre. Indeed, the agent of the Duke of Parma requested just such a silk with a nice green or blue ground from a Lyonnais manufacturer in the 1760s, appropriate for wearing to the theatre in Naples. Such silks probably cost between 36 and 180 livres per ell, at a time when a court dress required about 15 ells, and an unskilled labourer earned about 200 livres per year.

Women's gowns worn over wide hoops provided a large canvas which showed off the pattern, and which sparkled as its wearer moved in candlelight. Vestments in the Catholic Church and for the statues of saints and of the Virgin Mary might also use this kind of silk. Clergymen acquired them new or recycled women's gowns offered to the church as gifts or bequests.

T.115-1912