Panel
ca. 1855 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This panel of leather was one of a group of three, of the same pattern, which the Museum bought from the Paris International Exhibition in 1855. At that time the Museum's prime mission was still the education of craftsmen. The three panels show different stages in the work, from this first stamped design, with no colour, to the finished state, with the stamped decoration covered partly in metal foil which is varnished to give the effect of gold leaf, and partly with colourful paints and varnishes.
'Gilt leather' as it is generally called, was enjoying a strong revival in the 1850s. This design, like many used for gilt leather, is based on the kind of designs popular in France during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). The firm of Jean Michel Dulud in Paris, who made these panels, was celebrated for this technique and showed at a number of the International Exhibitions, including the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. They were best known for making panels in Gothic or Renaissance styles, but clearly they could also produce good imitations of 17th and 18th century styles.
'Gilt leather' as it is generally called, was enjoying a strong revival in the 1850s. This design, like many used for gilt leather, is based on the kind of designs popular in France during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). The firm of Jean Michel Dulud in Paris, who made these panels, was celebrated for this technique and showed at a number of the International Exhibitions, including the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. They were best known for making panels in Gothic or Renaissance styles, but clearly they could also produce good imitations of 17th and 18th century styles.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Embossed leather |
| Brief description | Panel of stamped leather, formal design in Louis XIV Revival style with shaped central cartouche, lattice-work, a shell, floral decoration and two birds eating berries. Unpainted. Jacques Michel Dulud, Paris, ca. 1855 |
| Physical description | A rectangular leather panel, showing approximately on third more than a single repeat of a stamped design, each repeat centreing on an inner panel with in-curved corners, outlined with gilt banding and enclosing a trellised plinth supporting a fan-shaped motif, between two birds, with naturalistic flowers below the plinth. Beyond the inner frame, the long sides show the edges of scrolled cartouches and the corners are decorated with tightly rolled scrolls of formal foliage. This panel is stamped only, with no foil or polychrome decoration. There is one horizontal join in the leather, about 16 cm from the top, visible clearly on the back, where the leather has been skived and joined before moulding. The panel extends to form an uneven border beyond the moulded area. Tack holes on these edges show where the leather was stretched out during processes of manufacture. There are three small paper patches on the back, at the topedge. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Object history | Acquired at the Exposition Universelle, Paris 1855. See: Third Report of Department of Science and Art for 1855', pages 67, 80. Purchased for 5 shillings. Identical to V&A Museum numbers 3692 to B-1856 and 3694-1856. Identical panels can also be found in the Deutsches Tapetenmuseum, Kassel, inv.no. 5/5, and as part of the wall hanging in the house Keizer Karelstraat 75, Gent, Belgium (1992). This is the 19th-century version of V&A Museum numbers 476-1869, 477-1869. Another version of this design is in the collections of Schloss Weesenstein, Saxony, Germany, published in Jean-Pierre Fournet, Cuirs Dorées, "Cuirs de Cordoue", un Art Européen (Château de Saint-Remy-en-l'Eau: Editions Monelle Hayot, 2019), p. 158, fig, 215. Two other versions, from the Glass Tielker Collection, D-Hückelhaveare illustrated on p. 177, figs. 242a&b, with a note that very similar panels were made by the workshop of Carolous Jacobs in Malines, notably for the Hôtel de Ville at Furnes (Veurnes) in Belgium, where it can still be seen in the Albertzaal. |
| Production | Maker recorded in early published lists of Museum acquisitions. Made at the 'Cuirs Dulud' workshop, 14 rue Vivienne, Paris. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This panel of leather was one of a group of three, of the same pattern, which the Museum bought from the Paris International Exhibition in 1855. At that time the Museum's prime mission was still the education of craftsmen. The three panels show different stages in the work, from this first stamped design, with no colour, to the finished state, with the stamped decoration covered partly in metal foil which is varnished to give the effect of gold leaf, and partly with colourful paints and varnishes. 'Gilt leather' as it is generally called, was enjoying a strong revival in the 1850s. This design, like many used for gilt leather, is based on the kind of designs popular in France during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). The firm of Jean Michel Dulud in Paris, who made these panels, was celebrated for this technique and showed at a number of the International Exhibitions, including the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. They were best known for making panels in Gothic or Renaissance styles, but clearly they could also produce good imitations of 17th and 18th century styles. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Robinson, J.C. ed. Inventory of objects in the collections of the museum of ornamental art at the South Kensington Museum. London, 1860. p.113, no. 9624 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 3693-1856 |
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| Record created | April 3, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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