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Ribbon
unknown - Enlarge image
Ribbon
- Place of origin:
Europe (made)
- Date:
ca. 1846 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Jacquard-woven silk
- Credit Line:
Given by Miss Margaret Simeon
- Museum number:
T.153-1986
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 123, case 1
This commemorative woven silk ribbon was manufactured and sold as a collector's item or memento.The ribbon shows a young Queen Victoria. It has close similarities to the Franz Xavier Winterhalter portrait of The Royal Family in 1846, which shows Victoria, Prince Albert and five of their children ( Royal Collections). However, a number of details are different, including the reversal of her sash. This suggests that the ribbon was inspired by the painting or a published engraving, but not copied directly from it.
When acquired by the Museum, the ribbon was said to have been made in Coventry, the centre of silk-ribbon weaving in Britain in the 19th century. However, there is no documented evidence for this. Other continental examples in the Museum collections show that this ribbon could have been produced in one of many of the silk weaving centres of Europe, specifically for consumption in Britain and the Empire.
The jacquard loom facilitated the weaving of complicated figurative designs for the first time. From the 1830s, when the technique was widely adopted, woven silk commemorative ribbons, bookmarks and pictures became a specialised and lucrative trade.
