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Design

1769 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design is a preparatory technical drawing for a patterned silk. It acted as instructions for the weaver about how to tie up the threads on the loom and then weave in the pattern. It belongs to an archive of similar designs commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon — the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards — and corresponds in style to the 1760s when patterns were curvaceous. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 and it was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century. It kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the number of the design and minimal instructions on how it should be woven.

This design was for a patterned silk with a plain background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
painted in gouache on ruled copper engraved paper
Brief description
for woven silk, 1763, French; Galy Gallien, feathers flowers lace meanders
Physical description
Mise-en-carte or draft for a woven silk, painted in gouache on ruled paper. Pattern of feathers, flowers, and lace meanders. On the back an inscription in black ink.
Dimensions
  • Width: 53cm
  • Height: 31.7cm
Style
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
L. Galy, Gallien et Compe. 13 novembre 1769 No. 1423 Taff[eta] en soye de 8 en 11, 30 Dix[ain]es, à Répét[ition] (The colours are combined in seven lashes)
Translation
L. Galy, Gallien and co. 13 November 1769 Taffeta with coloured silks, 30 dezines in the repeat.
Object history
Made for the firm of L.Galy, Gallien et cie., this and the other designs of this type were passed down through the partnership. They subsequently came into the hands of a designer by the name of Robert Ruepp of 7 rue Bergère in Paris who exhibited silks at the Great Exhibitions in Paris in 1900 and in 1925. They subsequently came into the ownership of Sir Frank Warner (of Warner and co.) and then in 1972 into the collections of the V&A.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This design is a preparatory technical drawing for a patterned silk. It acted as instructions for the weaver about how to tie up the threads on the loom and then weave in the pattern. It belongs to an archive of similar designs commissioned by a silk manufacturing partnership active in Lyon — the most prestigious centre of the silk industry in Europe from the 1660s onwards — and corresponds in style to the 1760s when patterns were curvaceous. The partnership was called L. Galy, Gallien et cie from 1761 until the beginning of 1771 and it was one of Lyon’s 400 manufacturing concerns mid century. It kept good records, noting on the back of the designs the number of the design and minimal instructions on how it should be woven.

This design was for a patterned silk with a plain background, approximately 54 centimetres wide. It would have had this motif repeated across the width at least twice. In Lyon, manufacturing regulations dictated the widths in which such silks might be woven.
Bibliographic references
  • Lesley Ellis Miller, 'Mysterious Manufacturers: Situating L. Galy, Gallien et Compe. in the Eighteenth-Century Lyons Silk Industry', Studies in the Decorative Arts, Vol. IX:2, Spring-summer 2002, p. 90
  • Natalie Rothstein, Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century, Thames and Hudson, 1990, p. 250-1
Collection
Accession number
T.410-1972

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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