Design thumbnail 1
Design thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 2, The Wolfson Gallery

Design

ca. 1760-1770 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design is on a mise-en-carte or point paper. The pattern had to be painted onto squared paper before it could be transferred to the loom. The point paper is ruled with large squares divided by smaller ones. The design is painted in bodycolour, opaque colours, and shows a red lace ribbon in a sinuous pattern overlaid with trailing flowers tied with bows. On the left side is a bunch of white flowers and a red and pink rose tied with a white ribbon arranged in a bow against a background of maroon stripes and sprigs. The stripes suggests a tobine or cannellé effect, a weave with transverse ribs formed by warp floats with brocaded ribbon and flowers. In brocading, the action of the weaver carries the weft across one limited section of the warp. The point-paper is thus for a brocaded cannellé silk to be made by L. Galy Gallien, Lyon, France in about 1760-70.

The back of this point paper is stamped 'ROBERT RUEPP / DESEINS [sic] / 7, Rue Bergère, PARIS' for the name of the art nouveau designer who once owned it.

There are colour notes handwritten in pen and ink for almost all of the colours on the back of this point paper. These are colour notes. The names of colours in the eighteenth century in France and also in Britain were sometimes specific to materials such as 'straw' and 'porcelain' or to flowers of plants such as 'amaranthus' which is pinkish purple.

Designs with lace ribbons came back into fashion after 1745 but their designs differ with sinuous lace ribbons like the one in this point-paper that when woven create an optical illusion of a real lace ribbon draped over the silk ground. They are punctuated by trailing, or bunches of, flowers that appear natural.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Painting in bodycolour on a printed grid.
Brief description
Point paper for woven silk, 1760-1770, French, possibly L. Galy, Gallien et compe., silk bows flowers meander on stripes
Physical description
This point-paper has a design of a red lace ribbon in a sinuous pattern over which lie trailing flowers tied with bows on the right side and a bunch of white flowers with red and pink roses below tied with a white ribbon arranged in a bow against a background of maroon stripes and sprigs on the printed grid of the point-paper.
Dimensions
  • Height: 373mm
  • Width: 533mm
Measured by Conservation.
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'ROBERT RUEPP / DESEINS [sic] / 7, Rue Bergère, PARIS' (Printed stamped in an oval in purple ink. This is the stamp for Robert Ruepp, the art nouveau designer.)
  • 'Lelilas Second / Leblanc , Lerouge DuCourant / Lerose clair Lelilas clair , Lepaille / Lerose second, Leverd Second / Lepourpre , Leverd brun , L'am aranthe , Leporcelaine' (In handwriting in pen and ink on the back of the design. These are colour notes. The names of colours in the eighteenth century in France and Britain were sometimes specific to materials such as 'straw' and 'porcelain' or to flowers of plants such as 'amaranthus' which is pinkish purple.)
    Translation
    the second lilac / the white, the red standard / the light pink, the light lilac, the straw / the second pink, the second green / the crimson, the brownish green, the amaranthus, the porcelain'
  • 'pt 2918' ( In handwriting in pen and ink on the back of the design. This is the pattern number.)
  • '75' (printed in pink ink on the back of the design.)
  • '123' '£4' (In handwriting, possibly in a twentieth-century han,d in pencil on the back of the design. This was the price of the design at some point.)
Gallery label
Point paper, or design for a dress silk (mise-en-carte) 1760–70 Weavers used squared-up designs called point papers as a guide when setting up their looms. Designs for patterned textiles were enlarged and painted on to squared paper. The spaces between the printed lines represent groups of warp and weft threads, which form the structure of the fabric. The motif was repeated across the width and down the length of the fabric. France (Lyon) Bodycolour over engraving Possibly for L. Galy Gallien et cie Purchased for the Museum by the Stanley H. Burton Charitable Trust (09/12/2015)
Credit line
Purchased for the Museum by the Stanley H. Burton Charitable Trust.
Object history
The point paper was bought from Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, lot 62 in the sale of 10 July 1972 with T.424-1972 for £57.75. The registered papers are 68/2565a.
Historical context
Robert Reupp was an art nouveau designer.
Production
This is a point paper for the design to be mounted onto the loom.
Association
Summary
This design is on a mise-en-carte or point paper. The pattern had to be painted onto squared paper before it could be transferred to the loom. The point paper is ruled with large squares divided by smaller ones. The design is painted in bodycolour, opaque colours, and shows a red lace ribbon in a sinuous pattern overlaid with trailing flowers tied with bows. On the left side is a bunch of white flowers and a red and pink rose tied with a white ribbon arranged in a bow against a background of maroon stripes and sprigs. The stripes suggests a tobine or cannellé effect, a weave with transverse ribs formed by warp floats with brocaded ribbon and flowers. In brocading, the action of the weaver carries the weft across one limited section of the warp. The point-paper is thus for a brocaded cannellé silk to be made by L. Galy Gallien, Lyon, France in about 1760-70.

The back of this point paper is stamped 'ROBERT RUEPP / DESEINS [sic] / 7, Rue Bergère, PARIS' for the name of the art nouveau designer who once owned it.

There are colour notes handwritten in pen and ink for almost all of the colours on the back of this point paper. These are colour notes. The names of colours in the eighteenth century in France and also in Britain were sometimes specific to materials such as 'straw' and 'porcelain' or to flowers of plants such as 'amaranthus' which is pinkish purple.

Designs with lace ribbons came back into fashion after 1745 but their designs differ with sinuous lace ribbons like the one in this point-paper that when woven create an optical illusion of a real lace ribbon draped over the silk ground. They are punctuated by trailing, or bunches of, flowers that appear natural.
Bibliographic references
  • Rothstein, Natalie. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century. Rothstein, N. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. London, 1990. Catalogue, pp. & pls. 290-99 & 304. Technical Glossary, pp.294 & 298.
  • Musée des Tissus de Lyon Collection guide illus. p.140 Privat-Savigny, M.-A. Musée des Tissus de Lyon Collection guide. Lyon, 2010.
  • Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century Browne, C. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century from The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. London. 1996, p.80, no.182.
Collection
Accession number
T.425-1972

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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