PETA SMYTH

Transcription

PETA SMYTH

P ETA S MYTH
ANTIQUE TEXTILES
P ETA S MYTH
ANTIQUE TEXTILES
EXHIBITION OF TEXTILES
MANY WITH A TREE OF LIFE DESIGN
Wednes day 1 3th July t o Saturday 2 3 rd July 2 0 1 1
42 M oreton Stre et
Pi m lic o
L ondo n SW1V 2 PB
0 2 0 76 30 9 89 8
g aller y @petas my th. c o m
w ww. petas my th. c o m
Wi t h t h an ks t o th e fo llowi ng p eople for th eir help
i n t h e pre pa rat ion of t his cat alo gue
Ma r y Scho eser
D r Ph ilip Sy ka s
C lare Browne
Fr an ces ca Ga lloway
Ros ema r y Crill
Sue Ker r y
a nd
Mari o Bet tella
P r ic es of tex t iles avail able o n re que st
THE TREE OF LIFE
The Tree of Life is an ancient and worldwide symbol. Often associated now with India and Persia, genetic,
linguistic and other evidence suggest the origin to have been in a tree worshipping culture existing prior to 10,000
BCE in Sundaland, an area of Southeast Asia that was exposed during the last ice age. When the sea rose between
8,000 and 7,000 BCE, submerging all save the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Java, Sumatra and the smaller islands and
forcing this culture to abandon its territory, the imagery seems to have reached China, later dispersing to India and
Mesopotamia and, by northerly routes, Russian and Nordic lands1. Whether or not this was the source, Tree of Life
images can certainly be seen on objects and buildings surviving from civilizations of the eighth century BCE in a
region stretching across modern day northwestern Iran, Armenia and eastern Turkey, where a stylised Tree of Life
has remained potent both in mythology and as a national emblem. Later cultures, from Celtic to Mesoamerican,
also left visual evidence of the power of this image, which most often symbolises immortality or fertility.
For Europeans however, it is the Indian and Chinese variants of Tree of Life imagery that were to become most
familiar. From China, exports directly to Europe by the Portuguese and Spanish were well organised by around
1600, with the Dutch and English taking control of this trade before the century was out. Chinese kesi weavers
interpreted Tree of Life motifs with great inventiveness, incorporating a wide range of flowering trees that were set
on stylised rocks against a background of clouds to complete the allusion to a landscape. This imagery had a
bearing on the European idea of how oriental textiles should appear and when Indian palampores began to be
imported, at first in a trickle with the founding of the East India Companies by the English, Dutch and French, the
designs that proved popular were those that adhered to this format. European designs were even sent to India to be
copied, and by the later seventeenth century, when palampores had become widely available and fashionable as bed
hangings, they seem to have been caught up with European design in a cycle of reciprocal influence. Indian
palampores and the large crewelwork panels so characteristic of English embroidery of the period typically show a
flowering tree standing on a hillock (cat. nos. 2, 3, 4, and 11, 12) and the variations on this basic design are in both
cases often remarkably similar, as the Indian chintz adapted to European taste and the English embroiderer copied
the new designs. Although often seen today merely as delightful decoration, the depiction of non-indigenous flora
and fauna indicated a genuine and sometimes sophisticated interest in other cultures. Through prints and textiles
such motifs, even the most highly stylised, became widely diffused. Arguably, many northern European pictorial
embroideries and verdure tapestries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries echo the ‘landscape’ of the
palampore, with prominent foreground mounds and the inclusion of exotic animals.
Eighteenth century European design was much indebted to Chinese exports; silk weavers in particular adopted
chinoiserie, even repeating miniature Tree of Life scenes many times over a length of cloth. On many occasions the
motif was reduced to a single flower or group of flowers with a much smaller vestigial ground. Embroiderers, able
to more freely place their motifs, might incorporate such ‘trees’ into a complex overall pattern, and the influences
of Indian and Chinese tastes in Tree of Life patterns were often combined in the same textile (cat. no. 16). A design
of a delicate meandering blossoming vine (cat. no. 15), which would on occasion incorporate birds or butterflies,
speaks strongly of Chinese influence. Others followed suit, and with the increase during the eighteenth century of
block printing in Europe using the Indian techniques of fast dyeing both French and English printers developed
patterns indebted to Indian designs and characterised by knarled or knotty branches adorned with a variety of
exotic blooms. Certainly, the eighteenth and nineteenth century Genoese makers of mezzari copied closely the
palampore design (cat. no. 30).
After the 1851 Great Exhibition, and the establishment of what was to become the Victoria and Albert Museum,
Indian textiles were once more widely seen and a fresh crop of patterns appeared and fed into later styles such as
Art Nouveau (cat. no. 18). The symbolism had, by then, become subservient to European taste.
Mary Schoeser
1 Oppenheimer, Stephen Eden in the East: The drowned continent of Southeast Asia, Phoenix, 1998
2
1. FRAGMENT OF AN EMBROIDERED
PALAMPORE
Gujarat, circa 1700-1720
68 x 32 in (172.5 x 81 cm)
The design of this fragment, embroidered in silk thread
in chain stitch, cut out, padded and re-applied at a later
date, may be compared to a section of a complete
embroidered palampore in the collection of the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Museum No.
IS.29-1889)2, and to another in the Musée des Arts
Decoratifs, Paris (Inv. 16079 A)3. The design is worked
in silk using a needle and an ari, the fine hooked awl
used by the mochi community of cobblers and leather
workers of the Kutch-Saurashtra region of Gujurat,
and modified for use on textiles such as this.
2 Crill, Rosemary Indian Embroidery, V & A Publications, 1991, plate 5
3 Gasc, Nadine Broderie au passé et au present, Union Centrale des
Arts Decoratifs, 1977, no. 94
3
2. PALAMPORE
Coromandel Coast, circa 1750-1770
122 x 86 1/4 in (310 x 219 cm)
The term palampore denotes usually the chintz
hangings produced in the area of South East India
known by the various European trading companies that
established bases there as the Coromandel Coast. The
complex methods of mordant and resist dyeing used to
4
create them are described by Rosemary Crill 4.
This palampore, together with the following three
hangings, was made using this time consuming
technique. It has, as part of its design, a pair of
charmingly stylised cranes attempting to catch fish in
the pools at the base of the tree.
4 Crill, Rosemary Chintz- Indian Textiles for the West, V & A
Publishing, 2008, pp. 10-13
3. PALAMPORE
121 x 90 in (307 x 228.5 cm)
Chintz was exported to South East Asia long before the
trading companies of the European powers were
established, but once the market seemed viable, the
companies exercised a great deal of influence over the
cottons that were made for export to Europe. In a
ready illustration of the interdependence of European
and eastern textile design, by the 1660’s the East India
Trading Company was sending patterns for the Indians
to copy that were of an English style infused with a
western idea of Chinese taste 5. The presence of a type
of bamboo in the border design of this palampore is an
indication of the influence of Chinese decoration that
had once again become prevalent during the period
that this hanging was produced 6.
5 Edwards, Joan Crewelwork Embroidery in England, William Morrow
& Co, 1975, pp. 89-112
Publishing, 2008, p. 21
5
4. PALAMPORE
95 x 77 in (241.5 x 195.5 cm)
A palampore with a tree of closely related design may
be found in the collection of The Royal Ontario
Museum (acc. No. 934.4.3) 7. The Victoria and Albert
Museum has a palampore (Museum No. IS.44-1950)8
6
that shares elements of the border design, and on
which the outline of the tree follows the same basic
form with some variations.
7 Irwin, John & Brett, Katharine B. Origins of Chintz, HMSO, 1970,
plates 38, 39
Publishing, 2008, plate 24
5. PALAMPORE
Masulipatam, Coromandel Coast, circa 1800-1825
78 x 50 in (198 x 127 cm)
John Irwin, in writing of a hanging of similar form in
the collection of the Calico Museum, Ahmedabad
(Acc. No. L.77), notes that the Masulipatam school
‘seems to have flourished entirely under Muslim
craftsmen, some of whom may have been Persian
immigrants’ 9. John Guy, referring to a more closely
related palampore in the Victoria and Albert Museum
(Museum No. IS.68-1950), writes that ‘cloths such as
this evolved from the earlier palampores (..): the
flowering tree has assumed a more subdued form as a
cypress, and the overall treatment is more in keeping
with Persian taste. Although produced primarily for the
export trade to Iran, they also found a ready market in
southern India and Southeast Asia’10.
9 Irwin, John & Hall, Margaret. Historic Textiles at the Calico Museum,
Ahmedabad, Bastikar, 1971, HMSO, 1970, plate 20
10 Guy, John Woven Cargoes - Indian Textiles in the East, Thames and
Hudson, 1998, plate 56
7
6. ORPHREY PANEL
England, circa 1450
40 1/4 x 71/2 in (102 x 19 cm)
Frame 45 x 13 in (114 x 33 cm)
English ecclesiastical embroidery of the fifteenth
century moved in style a little towards that of
continental Europe, but retained a character of its own
and was still highly prized for its quality. Indeed, the
geometric decoration of the present chasuble cross
recalls aspects of the Opus Anglicanum of the previous
two centuries. Worked in silk and silver gilt thread and
linen, the orphrey shows the Virgin and St. John at the
foot of the Cross as angels with chalices catch the blood
of Christ. Another figure, which appears to be a
further representation of John the Evangelist, is seated
within the panel above.
8
7. ORPHREY PANEL
Probably Germany, circa 1450
32 x 71/2 in (81 x 19 cm)
Frame 45 x 13 in (114 x 33 cm)
Orphreys, together with other vestments of the
mediaeval and later periods, developed via the apparel
worn by both priests and laity in the primitive church
from the ordinary clothing of classical antiquity, and
derive the name from the Latin aurifrisium, a term
referring to the gold work of the Phrygians11. Orphrey
crosses and bands were embroidered throughout
Europe for use on copes, chasubles and dalmatics, and
it is probable that the present piece was made in
Germany. The Virgin is shown holding the Child and
standing on an anthropomorphised crescent moon, an
allusion to her chastity. The iconography also has links
with that of the ‘Woman of the Apocalypse’, a figure
associated with the Virgin by Bonaventura in the 13th
century and described in the Book of Revelation, 12:117 as ‘a woman clothed with the Sunne, and the Moone
under her feete..’. The saint below, holding a staff and
aspergillum, is possibly Emmeram of Regensburg,
purported to have been the Bishop of Poitiers and
martyred circa 652AD, having been tortured and
gradually hacked to pieces while bound to a ladder.
Another candidate, though less likely, is Benedict of
Nursia, the ladder in this case an allusion to chapter 7
of his Rule, where reference is made to a ladder
consisting of twelve steps of humility and reaching to
heaven.
11 Mayer-Thurmann, Christa C., Raiment for the Lord’s Service – A
Thousand Years of Western Vestments, The Art Institute of Chicago,
1975
9
8. TENT STITCH EMBROIDERY
England, circa 1630-1660
11 1/2 x 171/2 in (29 x 44.5 cm)
Frame 151/2 x 21 1/4 in (39.2 x 54 cm)
This picture is extremely finely embroidered on canvas,
using a variety of stitches in coloured wools with
highlights of silk, and illustrates scenes from the
encounter of the beautiful Hebrew widow Judith with
10
Holofernes, a general of the Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar, as described in the deuterocanonical
Book of Judith, 10:17-13:11. The story is depicted with
a great verve, the compelling episodes, culminating in
the demise of Holofernes and the triumphant return of
Judith and her maid to the gates of Bethulia, utterly
ignored by an array of animals, a kingfisher, a swan
and a frog among them, in the vicinity of a very
English church.
9. PAIR OF CREWELWORK HANGINGS
England, circa 1670
103 x 54 in (262 x 137 cm) &
1021/2 x 54 in (260 x 137 cm)
The term crewel refers to the loosely twisted worsted
yarn used to embroider the plain or twill weave linen
or cotton (or mixture of both) of which these textiles
consist. The style of the earliest forms of English
crewelwork such as this derive immediately from
Elizabethan embroidery such as blackwork, the tendrils
and other motifs worked up to a grand scale12, but the
impact of continental and eastern decoration is also
12
strong. In the case of this pair of curtains the crewel
embroidery has been reapplied at a later date onto a
replacement linen ground, a common occurrence due
to the handling to which the curtains would have been
subjected and the relative weakness of the twill when
compared to the robustness of the wool. The Victoria
and Albert Museum, London has a crewelwork curtain
of similar design and date (Museum No. T.29-1932)13
PROVENANCE:
Alvar Gonzàlez-Palacios, Casa Estiva, Italy
12 Synge, Lanto Art of Embroidery-History of Style and Technique,
Antique Collectors’ Club, 2001, pp. 146-147
13 King, Donald & Levey, Santina Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to
1750, V & A Publishing, 1993, plates 81-82
10. FRAGMENT OF A CREWELWORK
HANGING
Mounted. 82 x 20 in (208.5 x 51 cm)
The boldness, clarity and massive size of the design of
this crewelwork fragment hint at the impression that
the hangings would have made in their complete state.
A. F. Kendrick observed that English ‘crewel-work
designs seem to be the result of a complex interplay of
influences, European, Indian and Chinese..’.14, and
this panel is a strong expression of the English version
of the Baroque style, combined with reminiscences of
an earlier European reaction to the exotic as seen, for
example, in the Flemish Giant Leaf tapestries of the
previous century.
14 Kendrick, A. F. English Needlework, A. & C. Black, 1967, pp. 136-138
13
11. PAIR OF CREWELWORK HANGINGS
86 x 45 1/2 in (218 x 116 cm) &
861/2 x 431/2 in (220 x 110.5 cm)
The early eighteenth century witnessed a development
in the design of English crewelwork, with more
pronounced exotic components introduced. Kendrick
notes the downplay of the heavy baroque leaves and
the introduction of bright flowers15, as in this pair of
curtains where the foliage is reduced to allow space for
colourful and obviously oriental flowers. The trees have
become more elegant, lighter, and regular. Professional
14
workshops were responsible for some of the crewelwork
that was produced in England in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, but a large proportion was
created by amateurs, leading to a view of such
embroidery as as a domestic pursuit. It is worth
remarking on the differences between the two curtains;
they have been made to the same pattern, but the
embroiderer has introduced variations between the two
in outline and colour. It is a possibility that each was
created by a different lady of the same house. The
embroidery has since been reapplied.
12. CREWELWORK HANGING
98 3/4 x 46 1/2 in (251 x 118 cm)
This hanging, an exceptional example of crewelwork
with an exuberant array of exotic animals, flowers and
oriental architecture in brilliant colour, is an
enchanting illustration of the European fascination
with the east, while the idiosyncratic interpretations of
the various flora and fauna show the remove at which
these subjects remained from everyday life. Another
hanging of the set is illustrated in Lanto Synge’s Art of
Embroidery16. Several of the animals embroidered on a
pair of curtains in the collection of the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London, (Museum No. T.172-1923)17
and on a related curtain in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York (Accession Number 08.186a), are
copied from the same patterns.
Antique Collectors’ Club, 2001, plate 161
1750, V & A Publishing, 1993, plate 88
15
13. BEDCOVER
England, circa 1700
97 x 821/2 in (246 x 210 cm)
The forms of the vegetation in this English bedcover
have a close affinity with Indian textile designs, by
which the maker has obviously been influenced. The
latticed ground, flowering stems and fleur de lys at the
centre are all worked in fine embroidery in gold
coloured silk. A bedcover of closely related design is
illustrated in Synge’s Art of Embroidery.18
This, the following textile and the English coverlet
(cat. no. 17) are flat quilted, a form of embroidery in
which no wadding or padding is inserted between the
two layers of fabric. The upper layer was usually of silk
16
or, as here, of fine linen and the lower of coarser linen,
a structure that served to add strength and weight to
the textile. This bedcover appeared in the exhibition
The Glamour of Silk at Spink and Son in 1996, the
catalogue of which states that it was ‘Made by the
relatives of Elizabeth Throckmorton of Coughton
Court, Warwickshire’.
PROVENANCE :
The Throckmorton family, Coughton
Court, Warwickshire
Spink & Son
EXHIBITED :
Spink & Son The Glamour of Silk, 28th May28th June 1996
Antique Collectors’ Club, 2001, plate 138
14. CUSHION COVER
261/2 x 35 in (67.5 x 89 cm)
The cushion cover has been flat quilted and
embroidered in yellow, ivory and black silk thread using
a variety of stitches, including stem, back, herringbone
and long and short, with a background of vermicular
design and scattered flowers. The central roundel has a
basket of exotic flowers and each corner roundel a
perched feng, or fenghuang, the Chinese mythical bird
that served as an emblem of the empress and symbol of
high virtue and grace. This bird, a combination of
pheasant, peacock and crane, has often been referred
to as a phoenix by Western writers, or called by its
Japanese name of Ho-O.
17
15. EMBROIDERED SILK
23 1/2 x 201/2 in (59.5 x 52 cm)
Frame 28 x 25 1/2 in (71 x 65 cm)
The satin, embroidered in silk in various stitches, that
makes up this joined panel would almost certainly have
been professional work intended for a dress. The
technique was used widely to decorate textiles intended
for costume at the start of the century, with ‘dresses
often made of plain silk material with embroidery in
bright-coloured silks. The designs (..) chiefly floral’19. A
dress of a silk such as this would have been a costly
18
item and highly prized, and when no longer in fashion
might have been donated to the church to be remade as
vestments; this particular silk appears to have been
used as a chalice veil. A hanging embroidered in silk on
a linen ground in the collection of the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London (Museum no. T.402-1921) 20
appears to follow the same basic pattern. Bearing in
mind the Acts of Union of 1706 and 1707 it is
interesting to note the English Tudor rose and the
Scottish thistle among the flowers.
1750, V & A Publishing, 1993, plate 101
16. COVERLET
74 x 681/2 in (188 x 174 cm)
This coverlet has a profusion of flowers embroidered in
opulent coloured silks and metal thread, and owes much
to Chinese, Indian and Persian textiles, both in its format
and in the chinoiserie motifs used as decoration. The
original drawing of the design is visible through the flat
quilting, a technique which itself had originated in
China and India. Coverlets such as this were often part
of a set of bed furnishings also consisting of bolsters,
cushions, etc, as may be seen in the case of a collection
of embroideries at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, (Museum No. T.48-1967). A coverlet similar
to this, with identical flat quilting, is illustrated in
Synge’s Art of Embroidery.21
Antique Collectors’ Club, 2001, pp. 183-187, plate 170
19
17. PAIR OF NEEDLEWORK HANGINGS
England, circa 1740
933/4 x 213/4 in (238 x 55.5 cm) &
93 1/2 x 213/4 in (237 x 55.5 cm)
The design of these needlework panels, which were
20
perhaps intended as bed hangings, echoes the motifs
used on crewelwork. Entirely in coloured silk, the
panels have been well restored in the 19th century,
work proudly recorded in the label attached to the back
of one of them that reads.. ‘Finished Putting New
Black Silk Into This Curtain. May. 1850.’
18. PRINTED SILK COVER
106 1/4 x 701/2 in (270 x 179 cm)
Dr Philip Sykas, Research Associate at MIRIAD,
Manchester Metropolitan University, has kindly
supplied the following information. This is a pattern
known from G.P. & J. Baker’s record sample P.212 hand-block
printed on a linen/jute mixture fabric circa 1902-1905.
However, the pattern dates from earlier, a small piece of paper
proof identifying it as block B67 and its accompanying borders
as B95, named “Haddon”. The border blocks were cut in July
1895 so providing an earliest possible date for use of the pattern
as a table cover. The designer’s name is not recorded; one
possibility would be Sidney Mawson. It was produced for
Baker's client No.10, which may have been Liberty.
21
19. TAPESTRY FRAGMENT
Southern Netherlands, circa 1550-1570
381/4 x 551/2 in (97 x 141 cm)
The most famous representation of a boar hunt
predates the present fragment by a quarter of a
century; The Killing of the Wild Boar (Month of December)
from the set of the Hunts of Maximilian, woven in
Brussels after designs by Bernard van Orley, shows the
boar attacked by several dogs while another lies
wounded by the tusks of the boar. The treatment of the
subject in the present fragment is far simpler, but
remains bold and characterful. The tapestry from
22
which it came was probably woven in the town of
Oudenaarde, though, as Guy Delmarcel notes, the
interpenetration of tapestry designs and weavers
between the three neighbouring towns of Oudenaarde,
Grammont and Enghien ensured that the ‘production
of the three towns can only be distinguished (…) by
documentary evidence or by town and weavers
marks’ 22. De Meûter & Vanwelden illustrate various
Oudenaarde tapestries of similar style23.
22 Delmarcel, Guy Flemish Tapestry, Thames and Hudson, 1999, p.
174
23 De Meûter, Ingrid, & Vanwelden, Martine Oudenaardse
Wandtapijten, Lannoo, 1999, pp. 131-141
20. TAPESTRY FRAGMENT
Southern Netherlands, circa 1550-1570
18 x 61 in (45.5 x 155 cm)
A section of a Giant Leaf tapestry, probably woven in
Oudenaarde, although it may possibly be the work of
an Enghien manufactory. As is noted by George
Wingfield Digby and Wendy Hefford the vogue for
large leaf ‘verdures’ began in the second and third decades
of the sixteenth century and remained until supplanted
by a more straightforward landscape design in the
following centuries. In the catalogue of the Victoria
and Albert Museum’s Medieval and Renaissance
tapestry collection they write that the ‘new style,
whatever its exact origins (…) undoubtedly reflected
the new naturalism and study of botany. For this was
the period when the great botanical gardens were first
being developed and new plants were being introduced
into Europe from Asia and the New World’24. This
interest in the unfamiliar is also marked by the
inclusion of exotic animals, such as the monkey
depicted in this fragment with a captured bird.
24 Wingfield Digby, G. F. The Tapestry Collection – Medieval and
Renaissance, HMSO, 1980, p. 54
23
24
21. TAPESTRY
Brussels, circa 1650
22. NEEDLEWORK PICTURE
France, circa 1610
1031/2 x 80 in (263 x 203 cm)
171/2 x 25 in (44.5 x 64 cm)
Frame 22 3/4 x 301/4 in (57.5 x 77 cm)
Depicting a pair of leopards rather incongruously
situated in a northern European landscape, one of
them lazily pawing at a bird far out of reach, this
tapestry was woven in the workshops of Jan van
Leefdael (1603-1668). Mentioned as a dean of the craft
in 1644, van Leefdael was, to use the term employed by
Thomas Campbell, one of the ‘moguls’ of Flemish
tapestry manufacture in the middle of the seventeenth
century, together with his son Willem, his close
associate Gerard van der Strecken and van der
Strecken’s son in law Gerard Peemans25. Based in
Brussels, he also collaborated with Everaert Leyniers
and Hendrik I Reydams26. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, has five tapestries of the set The Story
of Anthony and Cleopatra from the workshop of van
Leefdael (Accession nos. 92.1.7-11) 27.
25 Campbell, Thomas Tapestry in the Baroque – Threads of Splendour,
MMA, 2007, p. 441
26 Delmarcel, Guy Flemish Tapestry, Thames and Hudson, 1999, p. 366
27 Standen, Edith European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MMA, 1985, no. 32, pp. 206-217
It is likely that this needlework, which has as its subject
Amram and Jochebed entrusting Moses to the waters of
the Nile, adapted from the Book of Exodus, 2:3, would
have been one of a series of narrative scenes on a
valance. Bed hangings consisting of episodic pictures
finely worked in tent stitch were produced in several
countries of Northern Europe in the last third of the
sixteenth century and into the first years of the
seventeenth century, most notably in France, Scotland,
England and Flanders. The curtains from these sets
tended to suffer from constant handling, and are
consequently a rarer survival. The Musée National de
la Renaissance, Château d’Écouen, has a set of three
valances that show the Story of Moses 28 . The
needlework has been restored.
28 Privat-Savigny, Maria-Anne Quand les Princesses d’Europe Brodaient,
éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2003, cat. no. 5,
pp. 77-83
25
23. WOOLLEN VELVET
France or Netherlands, circa 1690
Mounted. 321/4 x 68 in (82 x 172.5 cm)
Woollen velvet of this period, comparatively little of
which survives, was referred to in various terms, such
as mockado, caffoy, and Utrecht velvet. This last, as
Peter Thornton writes, is misleading, ‘the term may
derive from the fact that the figured versions were
woven on a draw-loom and were thus velours de trek (i.e.
26
à la tire, drawn)’29. These joined widths have a repeated
design of mounted figure, perhaps a French dragoon of
the period, before the façade of a house. There is a
width of velvet of the same design, bordered with two
similarly striped widths showing repeating hunting
motifs, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York (Accession no. 2006.561).
29 Thornton, Peter Seventeenth-Century Decoration in England, France and
Holland, Yale University Press, 1978, pp. 111-112
24. COVERLET
France or Italy, circa 1705-1710
77 x 851/2 in (195 x 217 cm)
The cover consists of four joined widths of silk damask
brocaded with Bizarre motifs in silk and metal thread
and silk chenille. Thornton, in Baroque and Rococo Silks,
writes that in the final years of the seventeenth century
‘a new and extraordinary phase in the history of silkdesign begins. It is usually known as the ‘Bizarre Phase’
because many of the patterns produced at this stage are
so fantastic as to be virtually indescribable. The high
point of the Bizarre Phase was reached about 1705,
and lasted until 1710 or so..’. He also notes that one of
the causes behind the new designs may have been
exposure to oriental forms of decoration on textiles
brought in by the East India Companies in the last
third of the seventeenth century30. The term is derived
from the title of the book by Dr Vilhelm Slomann,
Bizarre Designs in Silks, in which attention was first
drawn to the group of patterns. The Abegg Foundation
has a chasuble made, in part, of a silk brocade of
similar design (inv. no. 3991)31.
30 Thornton, Peter Baroque and Rococo Silks, Faber and Faber, 1965,
pp. 95-101
31 Ackermann, H. C. Seidengewebe des 18. Jahrhunderts I - Bizarre
Seiden, Abegg-Stiftung, 2000, cat. No. 144
27
French, circa 1720-1730
French, circa 1720-1730
35 x 223/4 in (89 x 58 cm)
Mounted. 341/2 x 23 in (87.5 x 58.5 cm)
161/4 x 13 1/2 in (41 x 34 cm)
Mounted. 16 3/4 x 131/4 in (42.5 x 33.5 cm)
The design of this picture, on which little of the
needlework has been completed, is an intriguing
mixture of turquerie and chinoiserie. The Turkish elements
may have their inspiration in the appearance at the
French court in 1721 of Mehmet Effendi, the first
ambassador from the Sublime Porte to be sent to reside
in Europe. Prior to this mission the Ottomans had
considered it beneath their dignity to send ambassadors
and reserved their envoys for Islamic courts. A series of
military and diplomatic reverses altered the situation
and the eleven year old Louis XV received the
ambassador, who created an understandably excited
reaction from the Parisian crowds, and an enduring
effect on the French taste for the exotic.
The fact that both this and the previous panel were
never finished, and never used, allows consideration
not only of the boldness of the colours that were
favoured, but also of the degree of elaboration of the
drawn design that was expected of the needleworker.
28
27. SILK BROCADE
France, circa 1730-1740
97 x 42 in (246.5 x 107 cm)
The trend towards naturalism in silk design that
developed slowly throughout the second half of the
seventeenth century achieved its apogee in the 1730’s
before retreating again in the 1740’s. In the words of
Peter Thornton, ‘By far the most spectacular change
that was to take place in silk-design during the whole of
the eighteenth century occurred just after 1730 when an
entirely new style was evolved consisting of great heavy
flowers and fruit depicted in a completely naturalistic
manner’32. The credit for this change is ascribed to the
Lyonnais silk designer Jean Revel, and despite the fact
that only one design can be securely attributed to him,
Revel’s style permeates silk production of the decade
and is evident in the large flowers of this silk, brocaded
in coloured silks and silver thread.
PROVENANCE :
Collection of Mrs Ailsa Mellon Bruce,
daughter of the renowned banker, politician and art
collector Andrew W. Mellon
32 Thornton, Peter Baroque and Rococo Silks, Faber and Faber, 1965,
pp. 116-124
29
28. COVERLET
France, circa 1740-1750
98 1/2 x 87 in (250 x 221 cm)
The four joined widths of silk damask of which this
cover is made are of a wonderfully luminous blue. The
design with its small repeat is typical of the period.
PROVENANCE :
30
Spink & Son
29. TWO LENGTHS OF SILK VELVET
Italy, circa 1680-1700
116 x 23 in (295 x 59 cm)
This pair of lengths of velvet have a design of leaves
and flowers that includes the Florentine giglio, or fleur
de lys, in a cut pile enriched with a silver gilt bouclé
weft on a ground of yellow silk with a further weft of
silver gilt thread. Hangings of this type are often
referred to as palio (a word which means, simply, cloth),
and lend their name to the various horse races in
Italian towns, most famously Siena, at which they were
apparently offered as trophies for the contrada, or
district, represented by the successful rider. A palio, or
drappellone (banner), remains even now the prize
awarded to the winning district. An identical velvet
formed part of the Keir Collection33, and a hanging
consisting of two joined widths with a version of the
design is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London (Museum No. 7792-1862).
33 King, Donald and King, Monique European Textiles in the Keir
Collection, Faber & Faber, 1990, no. 153
31
30. MEZZARO ‘DELL’ALBERO CASTAGNO’
Genoa, circa 1850-1870
70 x 82 in (178 x 208 cm)
The term mezzaro possibly derives from the Arabic
mi’zar, meaning to cover, and references in 16th
century Genoese inventories to a ‘mezaro turchino’ and
to ‘meizari due Indiane’ indicate their origin via the
thriving oriental commerce of the port. Production of
the cotton block printed mezzari of the present type
had commenced in and around Genoa by the late 18th
century, and thrived in the first half of the following
century. Although they must have served a variety of
purposes, contemporary images show women
wearing them as shawls, often attached at the crown of
their heads with a silver clasp. They were made to set
designs, the majority inspired by the Indian
32
palampores of the previous century and giving
prominence to a central flowering tree. The name of
each type of mezzaro is taken from a distinguishing
feature of the design; mezzari ‘dell’ albero castagno’
derive their title from the chestnut tree that assumes
the form of the ‘Tree of Life’ in this composition.
Another mezzaro ‘dell’ albero castagno’, with slight
variations, is in the collection of the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London (Museum No. 622-1891). An
identical mezzaro, marked with the stamp of one of
the pre-eminent factories, that of Luigi Testori of
Sampierdarena, and retaining the original borders that
ours lacks, is illustrated in the book Cotoni Stampati e
Mezzari34.
34 Rosina, Margharita Belleza, & Gallo, Marzia Cataldi Cotoni
Stampati e Mezzari, Sagep Editrice, 1997, pp. 130-137

PETA SMYTH

Transcription

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