silk, 1765-80, French

Light-weight woven silk dress fabric with a striped ground. Bouquets of flowers are scattered across the stripes, and meanders of feathery motifs, small flowers and an abstract leopard's spot effect curve round and within the wider stripes. The ground is a plain weave with cannellé stripes in white. The other motifs are brocaded. The predominant colours (the ground) are salmon pink and mauve, which, although still bright, have faded somewhat, as examination of the back of the fabric shows. The pink was originally a bright 'shocking' pink, the mauve slightly deeper than currently. The bouquets of flowers and other brocaded motifs use yellow, green, black, white, three shades of pink, two of plum, two of blue. The pattern is a dropped reverse comber repeat (the motifs leaning in one direction in the first row and in the opposite direction in the second). The piece has been used, the holes made by a needle and little remnants of sewing thread being visible along the edge of the selvedges.

Acquired from Monsieur Fulgence in Paris for 16/-.

Probably made up into a woman's gown and then dismantled, as signs of stitching reveal.

The width of the silk suggests it could have been made in Lyon or Tours, but more probably the former which had a much bigger industry at this date. Such silks were made in a quantity the equivalent of four gowns (about 62 ells).

This silk was probably woven in Lyon, the main centre of silk-weaving in Europe in the second half of the 18th century.Typically it would have been used for women's gowns and petticoats, the full ensemble requiring about ten to fifteen ells (about 15 metres). It was a moderately expensive silk, retailing at about 10 livres per ell at a time when most unskilled workers earned about 200-300 livres per year.

Lyon created the most fashionable silks in Europe from the late 17th century onwards, thanks initially to the encouragement of Louis XIV and his minister Jean Baptiste Colbert who wished to promote French luxury products both at home and abroad. Subsequent French kings and their courts showcased these silks in their dress and also in the furnishings in their houses. The silks could be bought from fashionable shops in the faubourg St Honoré in Paris, from similarly prestigious establishments in other European cities, or directly from the manufacturer.

1265-1877