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Design

1762 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design is a preparatory technical drawing for a patterned silk. It belongs to a group commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon, the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 and it was one of Lyon's 400 manufacturing concerns mid-century. It kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the number of the design and minimal instructions on how it should be woven.

This design was for a patterned silk with a satin background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
gouache painted on ruled copper engraved paper
Brief description
for woven silk, 1762, French; Galy Gallien, ribbon meanders flowers stripes
Physical description
Mise-en-carte or draft for a woven silk, painted in gouache on ruled paper, printed 8 en 9 on the front and with an handwritten inscription on the back. Pattern of ribbon meanders, flowers and stripes.
Dimensions
  • Height: 37.8cm
  • Width: 55cm
Style
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
L. Galy Gallien et cie. 14 mai 1762 No. 711 Taff[eta] en dorures et nuances 35 dix[ain]es à Répétition (The inscription indicates the owner of the design which was probably made by either an inhouse or freelance designer.)
Translation
L.Galy, Gallien et cie 14 May 1762 No. 711 Taffeta with metal thread and coloured silks 35 dezines in the repeatTh
Object history
Made for the firm of L.Galy, Gallien et cie., this and the other designs of this type were passed down through the partnership. They subsequently came into the hands of a designer called Robert Ruepp of 7 rue Bergère in Paris, who exhibited silks at the Great Exhibitions in Paris in 1900 and in 1925. They subsequently came into the ownership of Sir Frank Warner (of Warner and Co.) and then in 1972 into the collections of the V&A.
Production
This is one of a group of designs made for the silk manufacturing partnership L.Galy, Gallien et compe. between 1761 and 1769. Daniel Symiand (d. 1789) may have been their designer at the time.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This design is a preparatory technical drawing for a patterned silk. It belongs to a group commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon, the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 and it was one of Lyon's 400 manufacturing concerns mid-century. It kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the number of the design and minimal instructions on how it should be woven.

This design was for a patterned silk with a satin background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven.
Bibliographic references
  • Lesley Ellis Miller, 'Mysterious Manufacturers: Situating L. Galy, Gallien et Compe. in the Eighteenth-Century Lyons Silk Industry', Studies in the Decorative Arts, Vol. IX:2, Spring-summer 2002, p. 90
  • Natalie Rothstein, Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century, Thames and Hudson, 1990, p. 249
Collection
Accession number
T.402-1972

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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