This wedding basket (‘corbeille de mariage’), as its matching handkerchief case ('sachet'; T.43-2018) are exceptionally fine examples of French court embroidery of the late 1780s. A wedding basket, to be filled with presents for the bride, was a traditional element of French marriage ceremonies. Afterwards, these were most commonly used to hold needlework tools.
The finely stitched embroidered repertoire, executed in the late Rococo style, is very similar to the furnishing designs by the renowned Lyonnais designer J F Bony for Marie-Antoinette’s ‘summer’ furniture at Versailles made in 1786. These were described as ‘white Gros de Tours with shaded flowers: bouquets of lilacs, ribbons and peacock feathers’. The counterpane of this set of furnishings is still exhibited in the Queen’s Bedchamber at Versailles today, though the wall hangings are later reproductions.
Although the description is not detailed enough to identify these items as the suite made for Marie Antoinette, they represent the highest quality of embroidery and passementerie in pre-Revolutionary France. The passementerie that densely edges the drapery of the basket is composed of narrow strips of thick paper (parchment ?) made into petals or spirals and wrapped with coloured silk threads.