Floral print with figures

Unknown

1785–90 · Cotton · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Stimulated by earlier imports of Indian printed cottons, by the second half of the nineteenth century French printed textiles became the most popular and affordable figurative fabrics for both dress and furnishings, surpassing silk in national production. This trend occurred despite strident restrictions, demanded by silk weavers, prohibiting domestic trade and use of printed cottons throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Reflecting developments in the printing industry, by the 1770s engraved copperplates started to replace simpler woodblocks, allowing for finely nuanced and beautifully detailed designs in furnishing fabrics like this one. This printed cotton was displayed in European Textiles and Costume Figures, on view at the School of Industrial Arts (visible at right in the photograph of 1935). [Elizabeth Cleland, 2020]

Artist

Unknown

Date

1785–90

Medium

Cotton

Culture

French, possibly Nantes

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of William Sloane Coffin, 1926