From the 17th century, Paris led European taste in fashionable dress and furnishings, and the weavers of Lyon provided the silks needed to maintain this position. The International Exhibitions of the 19th century gave manufacturers the opportunity to display their technical skills to the rest of the world, and at the Great Exhibition of 1851 the 31 exhibitors from Lyon confirmed the supreme quality of their silks above those of their competitors in London.

This bold design was intended for use as a wall covering. Its alternating bands of stamped gold decoration and woven leaves reflects a taste for designs imitating fashions of the past, rather than for contemporary design. This was characteristic of some of the silks woven in Lyon at the time. It was purchased for the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum) at the 1855 exhibition in Paris for £2, 4 shillings and 2 pence.