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DECORATIVE TEXTILES
THIS LIMITED EDITION HAS BEEN PRINTED
FROM TYPE AND THE TYPE DISTRIBUTED
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
AN ILLUSTRATED IJOOK ON COVERINGS FOR
FURNITURE, WALLS AND FLOORS, INCLUDING
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS, TAP-
ESTRIES, LACES, EMBROIDERIES, CHINTZES,
CRETONNES, DRAPERY AND FURNITURE
TRIMMINGS, WALL PAPERS, CARPETS AND
RUGS, TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
BY
GEORGE LELAND HUNTER
I'
WITH 580 ILLUSTRATIONS
27 PLATES IN COLOUR
PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
GRAND RAPIDS
THE DEAN HICKS COMPANY
MCM^VIII
CoPYHioHT, 1918, BY The Dean-Hicks Company
l^io^-i^MxLoLQ: cuJr- (tgAfT
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c t * * . ' t- « ^ . » » • • • •
Printed by The Dean-Hicks Company
AT THE Good Furniture Magazine Press
Grand Rapids, Mich., U. S. A.
TO MY ADORED WIFE, ESTHER
390181
PREFACE
Things made on the loom are called textiles, from the Latin word
for cloth; and cloths used to dress the walls and furniture of rooms
are called decorative, by contrast with architectural, which refers
primarily to the structiu'cs decorated. So that, when it was decided
to publish this book on rugs and carpets ; tapestries and embroideries ;
damasks, brocades and velvets; chintzes and cretonnes; drapery and
furniture trimmings, the inevitable title seemed to be "Decorative
Textiles." Xor did the addition of chapters on Wall Papers and
Illuminated Leathers render the title less appropriate, because both
are also decoratively used, and rely for their success largely upon
texture effects borrowed from textiles.
This is the first comprehensive book on the subject to be pub-
lished. Embodying, as it does, the results of manj' years of intimate
acquaintance with weaves ancient and modern, it appeals equally to
those who buy and use, and to those who make and sell. Written in
simple, direct style, even when treating technical questions technically,
it will be found invaluable not only to those who study and teach in
schools and colleges, but also to those who read for personal culture
and domestic practice.
The need for such a book is patent. Decorative Textiles consti-
tute the most important and beautiful part of the furnishings of our
homes. Upon them we are principally dependent for our aesthetic
environment. Upholsteries and draperies with their interwoven pat-
terns in rich coloiu-s appeal greatly to both sight and touch, and trans-
form palace and cottage alike from cold to comfortable. Damasks,
brocades and velvets, after centuries of aristocratic seclusion, have by
modern indusitrial methods and by modern machinery been brought
within the reach of even the comparatively poor. All of us are con-
stantly surroimded by ornament in the form of Decorative Textiles
on chairs and couches and floors and walls and windows.
The information on the subject embodied in dictionaries and
encj'clopa?dias and other books of reference, in all languages and in
all countries, is often incorrect, generally antiquated and alwaj:s inade-
quate. Automobiles and aeroplanes have their up-to-the-minute his-
toi'ians; but Decorative Textiles, with the exception of Tapestries
and Oriental Rugs, have been slighted.
More than I can express, I am indebted to my publishers for the
wealth of jjictured examples, many in colour. To an unprecedented
degree do these examples reflect on printed jjaper the texture of
woven fabrics. In an extraordinary manner do they render it possible
for me, in my text, to present clearly to the public and to the trade,
the interesting facts. Delightfully easy do they make it for anyone
to become familiar with the Decorative Textiles of all countries and
all periods.
The main text of my book is of course Texture. The word is
Latin for weave, and as might be expected, it is produced most richly
on the loom. It is of Textiles the most distinctive quality, and when
applied to other materials such as wood, marble and brick, iron, bronze
and gold, paint, paper and cement, is merely a borrowed and imita-
tive term.
Consequently, while keeping design and pattern and coloin* and
their historic development constantly before me, I have in every chaj)-
ter accentuated the importance of Texture. I have shown thai
texture is not only the quality which distinguishes Textiles above
other materials, but is also the quality which distinguishes Textiles
from one another. It is the quality which distinguishes a damask from
a brocade, a plain weave from a twill, a satin from a madras, a velvet
from a burlap, a domestic carpet from an Oriental rug.
For a descriptive bibliography of the most useful handbooks, and
the most valuable reference books, I refer my readers to Chapter XXI.
New York, June, 1918 G. L. H.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Decorative Teivtiles is the first in a series of authoritative books
on the modernised house furnishing arts. The material presented in
the present vohime constituted, for the most part, a series of articles
which appeared in Good Furniture Magazine diu'ing the years 191.5,
191(5, 1917 and 1918.
So rapid has been the progress in many departments of the
textile arts in America since the war, that constant additions and
revisions have been necessary in the present volume, especially in the
chapters on Damasks, Brocades and Velvets and on Chintzes and
Cretonnes and Laces. This has occasioned the introduction of more
than one hundred plates not originally contemplated, including four
colour plates of great importance, showing painted cottons from India,
recently rediscovered by Stewart Culin, Curator of Ethnology, of the
Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences.
In the preparation of the plates no expense has been spared to
exhibit, to the fullest extent possible by the most improved printing
and engraving processes, the dominant quality of textiles, viz., texture,
of which the author treats from first to last. The textiles illustrated
have been assembled from many sources. Without the intimate
contact established by the author and by the publishers with the fore-
most textile markets in the world and with America's wonderful
textile mills. Decorative Textiles would not have been possible.
The editor appreciates the warm friendshijjs which his collabora-
tion in this work has won him, on the part of the author and of those
in the textile trades whose devotion to the subject is so fully expressed
in the solution of the many technical difficulties, which, with their
generous co-operation, have been so happily overcome.
Grand Rapids, September, 1918 Henry W. Frohne
CONTENTS
PACK
I, Damasks^ Bkocades \nu Velvets — Part I 1
II. Damasks, Brocades and Vela'ets — Part II 18
III. Damasks, Bkocades and Velvets — ^Part 111 32
IV. Fundamental AND MoDEKx Weaves 54i
V. Laces 83
VI. Embroideries lOG
VII. Carpets and Rugs 139
VIII. Carpets and Rugs 157
IX. Chinese AND Bokhara Rugs 174
X. Caucasian and Turkish Rugs 186
XI. Persian and Indian Rugs 203
XII. Tapestries AND Their Imitations 227
XIII. Gothic Tapestries 248
XIV. Renaissance Tapestries 268
XV. Gobelins, Beauvais^ Mortlake Tapestries 284
XVI. Tapestry Furniture Coverings 30(5
XVII. Chintzes and Cretonnes 322
XVIII. Tooled and Illuminated Leathers 416
XIX. Wall Papers 358
XX. Drapery and Furniture Trimmings 394
XXI. Working Bibliography of Decorative Textiles 438
Index and Glossary 448
LIST OF PLATES
PAGE
Damask Made in America. From an Old Italian Original: Colour Plate Opposite 2
Damask Made in America, Reproduction of Louis XVI Original 6
Brocade Made in America, Reproduction of One in tlihe Brussels Museum 6
American Gold Brocade Based on an Ancient Sicilian Fabric (i
Broclie, Made in America 6
Silk Damask With I>oom Finish, Made in America 10
American Reproduction of French Damask 10
Grosgrain Damask, Made in America 10
Brocade Made in America, Reproduction of an Original in the Brussels Museum 10
Damask Made in America, Reproduction of an Original in the Brussels Museum 121
I^ouis XVI Brocade, Made in America 12
Large-Figured Brocade, Made in America 12
Primitive Coptic Velvet '. 14
Silk Tapestry, Made in America 14
Damask Made in America, Reproduction of an Original in the Brussels Museum 14
New Kind of Velvet, Recently Originated and Made in America 14
Modern Reproduction of English Brocade 16
A Silk Armure, Adam Style, Made in America l6
Brocade Made in America, Persian Style 16
Ancient Genoese Jardiniere Velvet in Seven Colours: Colour Plate Opposite. . . 18
Sassanid Persian "Doublet" Patterns in the Berlin Museum 20
Byzantine "Doublet" Patterns 20
Byzantine "Annunciation" Design, in the Vatican 24
Byzantine Design From the Grave of Charlemagne, in the Berlin Museum 24
Byzantine "Quadriga" Design in the Cluny Museum 24
Baroque Velvet 24
Byzantine "Eagle" Design, in the Church of St. Eusebius at Auxerre 26
Byzantine "Double Eagle" Design, in the Berlin Museum 26
Spanish Thirteenth Century Pattern With Arabic Lettering 26
Louis XVI Velvet 28
Italian Renaissance Damask 28
Louis XVI Brocade 28
Italian Velvet of the Early Eighteenth Century , 28
Italian Gothic Cope: Venetian Velvet of the Last Quarter of the Fifteenth
Century, With Orphrey Embroidered in Gold: Colour Plate Opposite 33
XIII
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGE
Fourteenth Century Italian Patterns Si
Cope in Persian Sixteenth Century Brocaded Velvet, in the Metropolitan Museum 36
Ancient Persian Velvet in the ^Metropolitan Museum 36
Persian Velvet on Satin Ground, Sixteenth Century 40
Fifteenth Century Venetian Brocaded Velvet in the Metropolitan Museum. ... 40
Italian Renaissance Damask 40
Italian Baroque Damask in Silk and Linen 42
German Renaissance Damask, Gold Taff'cta Figures on Red Satin Ground 42
Louis XIII Damask, Modern Reproduction 42
Louis XIV Damask, Modern Reproduction 42
Louis XIV Damask, Modern Reproduction 43
Louis XV Damask, Modern Reproduction 43
Louis XV Brocade, Modern Reproduction 43
Italian Rococo Brocade, Rich With Gold. Modern Reproduction 43
Louis XVI Velvet. Modern Reproduction 44
Louis XVI Brocade, Rich and Elaborate in Many Colours. Modern Reproduction 44
Italian Lampas in Five Colours. Modern Reproduction 44
Typical French Directoire Lampas in Three Colours. Modern Reproduction . . 44
Modern American Figured Velvets With Changeable Grounds 46
Italian Brocaded Damask of the Seventeenth Centur\' 46
Modern American Figured Velvet :....- 46
Modern American Figured Velvets With Changeable Grounds 50
Modern American Figured Velvets 50 — 51
Upholstered Furniture in the Morgan Collection at the Metropolitan Museum . . 52
Eighteenth Century Venetian Carved and Painted Chair, Upholstered in Striped
Satin: Colour Plate Opposite 54
Plain Weaves: Cotton Etamine; Jaspe Cloth; Crash; Burlap 58
Monk's Cloth; Basket Weave; Cotton Rep; Shikii Rep 59
Twill and Satin Weaves : Denim ; Sateen ; Satin Derby ; Striped Denim 60
Damask Weaves : Satin Rep ; Silk Damask ; Antique Damask 62
Damask With Paper Gold Figures on Cotton Ground 64
Cotton Backed Damask With Satin and Gold Figure on Rep Ground 65
Silk Damask With Filet Lace Stripes in Cotton 65
Combination Weaves: "Striped Antoinette" 66
A Combination Weave ; Satin Rep Stripe 66
Cotton Damask With Tapestry Stripes 67
Armure and Jacquard Tapestry Weaves 68
Modern American Jacquard Weaves 70
Jacquard Cotton Tapestries Woven in America 70
Modern American Woven Novelties 71
Broche and Novelty Weaves: Silk, Cotton Broche; Brocade; Cotton Taffeta. . 72
Gauze and Net Weaves : Grenadine ; Coarse, Striped, Fancy, Gauze Net 74
Old Style Derby 75
New Style Derby 76
Small-Figured Derby 78
XIV
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGE
Modern Gold Velvet in Sassanid Design 78
Modern American Jacquard Weaves 80
Modern American Woven Novelties 81
Ancient Reticella Lace on Drawn Linen 84
Punto in Aria Needlework Lace After it Emancipated Itself From the Reticella 84
Swiss Brussels Lace Motifs for Curtains 86
Broderie Anglaise (Pierced Work) 86
Cut Work Figure of a Man 86
Cliiny Venise Lace 87
Italian Filet Figure Panel Lace 87
Filet Insertion Lace 87
Various Types of Cluny Lace 88
Examples of Real Ivaces 89
Flanders Lace Panel 90
Bruges Lace Panel 90
Modern Point de Venise Curtain Panel Motif 92
Door Panel Designs of Real Lace 93
A Drop Panel for Windows Composed of Flanders Point, Italian Filet, English
Cut- Work, Mounted on French Scrim 9*
One of a Pair of I^ace Curtains Designed and Made in America 94
American Real Lace Curtain of Austrian Shade Type 94
Filet Antique g6
Machine Cluny Lace 96
"Arabian" Lace 96
Schiffle Lace Motif 96
Reticella Needle Lace 98
Schiffle Imitation Reticella Lace 98
Cluny Venise Lace 98
Russian Drawn Work 98
Group of Modern Fancy Nets 100
Machine-Made Curtain Nets 102 — 103
Panel Curtains in Assembled Machine Laces 104
Ancient Italian Embroidery in Applique Straw: Colour Plate Opposite IO6
Face and Back of the Famous Dalmatic of Charlemagne 108
Two Fragments of the Most Famous Embroidery in the World — The So-called
Bayeaux Tapestry 110
"John the Baptist," One of the "Golden Fleece" Embroideries Ill
Seventeentli Century Embroidered Panel Ill
Two of a Set of Fifteenth Century Florentine Embroideries: "Birth of John
the Baptist," "Herodias Receives the Head of John the Baptist" 112
Renaissance Couched Embroidery 112
English Renaissance Embroideries: "The Triumph of Protestanism," With
Henry VIII on the Throne; Philip II of Spain and His Wife, Queen Mary 113
English Crewel Work of the Seventeenth Century 114
English Cushion Cover in Crewels. Modern Reproduction 114
XV
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGE
A Sixteenth Century Spanish Cope, Witli Elaborate Gold-Embroidered Orphrey 116
Louis XVI Pictures Embroidered in Chenille and Silk 116
Ancient English Embroideries P'or Furniture Covering 117
Charles II Chairs Upholstered in Petit Point 118
English Bell Pulls in the Chinese Chippendale Style 119
Petit Point Pillow Top With Silver Wire 119
Chinese Monogram Designed and Embroidered Witli Bonnaz Machine 119
Bench Cover in Petit Point on Gros Point, English Chinese Style 120
Charles II Sofa Covered With Ancient Petit Point Embroidery 120
Woven (Jacquard) Reproductions of Needlework 122
Fire Screen Panelled in Louis XIV Petit Point Embroidery 123
Seventeenth Century Italian Embroidered Altar Frontal 123
Modern Reproduction of Old English Needlework, Ground in Gros Point, Per-
sonages in Petit Point ] 24
Seventeenth Century English Stump Work 125
Furniture Covering Designed and Embroidered by an Englishwoman 126
Pillows Embroidered With Wool 126
Art Embroideries Made in America 128
Spanish Applique Work of the Sixteenth Century 129
Sixteenth Century Spanish Chasuble 130
Renaissance Applique Embroidery on Damask Made by H;ind in America 130
Mary E. Bulger's Sampler 131
Embroidery From India, Ancient Chumba Work 132
Decorated Bulgarian Scarf 132
Sixteenth Century Embroidered Persian Cover, Like a Rug of the Period 131.
A Sind Bag With Tinj' Mirrors Applique 134
Chinese Eighteenth Century Embroidery Picturing the Emperor Kien Lung and
His Empress With Their Court 1 35
Turkish Embroidered Cover 13g
Turkish Embroidery of the Eighteenth Centurj^ 136
Persian Embroidered Rug of the Nineteenth Century I3g
Late Seventeenth Century Bed Room in the Brooklyn Museum, With Embroid-
ered Draperies of the Period 137
Sample of Modern French Savonnerie to Show Colour, Design and Texture:
Colour Plate Opposite 1 40
Savonnerie Rug of the Seventeenth Century 1 ,1,2
Savonnerie Screen Panels of the Seventeenth Century 144,
Louis XV Tapestry Rug of Irregular Shape, Made in America 146
Renaissance Tapestry Rug With Byzantine Field, Made in America 148
Full Size Section of a Tapestry Rug. Nine Ribs to the Inch 143
Eighteenth Century Spanish Tapestry Rug 150
Oval Hand-Tufted Rug Made in America jgj
Modern Aubusson Tapestry Rug Designed in America 152
Sections of Modern Italian Renaissance and Louis XIV Savonnerie Rugs 152
Dining Room at Mt. Vernon, Virginia, Aubusson Tapestry Rug on Floor 154
XVI
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGK
Section of American-Made Chenille Axniinster Rug: Colour Plate Opposite. . . 158
The Process of Making Chenille Rugs l62
Chenille Axniinster Made in America Ifit
American Chenille Axniinster, Plain Centre With Elizabethan Border l64
Old-Fashioned Ingrain Carpeting \(Ui
Velvet Carpeting Made in New York 166
Tapestry Carpeting Made in New York 1 66
Spool Axminster Picture Rug Made in New York 168
Spool Axminster Carpeting Made in New York 168
American Chenille Axminster Rug, Mottled Field With Plain Stripe Border. .. 170
Wilton Carpeting Made in Massachusetts 170
Brussels Carpeting Made in Massachusetts 170
Fereghan Rug Made in Massachusetts, With Machine-Tied Sehna Knot 172
Large Spanish Renaissance Embroidered Rug 172
('hinese Rug of tlie Kien-Luug Dynasty 176
Emblems of the Literati 178
The Eight Ordinary Symbols 178
Emblems of the Eight Immortals 178
Eight Buddhist Emblems 178
Ciiinese Rug of the Kang-hi Dynasty, With the Symbols of the Literati.... 180
Chinese Rug of the Kang-hi Dynasty 180
Chinese Rugs of the Kien-lung Dynasty 181
Chinese Rug of the Ming Dynasty 182
Saniarcand Rug 1 82
Royal Bokhara Rug 184
Princess Bokhara Rug 1 84
Pinde Bokhara Rug 184
Tekke Bokhara Rug 184
Yonnid Bokhara Rug 184
An Especially Fine Ladik Rug: Colour Plate Oi)])osite 186
Kazak Rug 188
Guenje Rug 1 88
Daghestan Rug 1 90
Shirvan Rug 1 92
Chichi Rug 1 94
Baku Rug 194
Cabistan Rug 1 96
F^ighteenth Century Caucasian Rug 196
Lesghian Rug 1 96
Cashmere Rug 198
Ghiordes Prayer Rugs 200
Portrait of George Gyze Showing a Turkish Rug With Cufic Border 201
Two Types of Kulah Rug 201
Persian Prayer Rug of the Sixteenth Century : Colour Plate Opposite 204p
Persian Rug of the Sixteenth Centur}- 206
XVII
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGE
Ancient Ispahan Rug, Showing Chinese Cloud Bands 207
Persian Rug of the Seventeenth Century 207
An Extraordinary Large Karadagh Rug: Colour Plate Opposite 208
Ardebil Animal Rug 210
A Sixteenth Century Persian Rug 212
A Sixteenth Century Persian Silk Rug 212
Portion of a Sixteenth Century Persian Rug, Showing "Worn Down" Texture. . 214
Early Sixteenth Century Persian Rug of "Compartment" Design 215
Sixteenth Century Persian Prayer Rug, With Arabic Inscriptions 215
Typical Sehna Rug, With Herati Motif in Border and Field 2l6
Typical Serebend Rug, With "Pear" Field and Border of Many Stripes 2l6
Small Fereghan Rug 218
Part of a Long Hamadan Rug 218
One of Many Types of Mosul Rug 219
Superb Saruk Rug, With "Tree of Life" Design 219
Rich and Intricately Patterned All-Silk Kashan Rug 220
Typical Modern Kirman Rug 220
Ancient "Flower Garden" Kirman Rug 222
Small Tabriz Rug 222
Khorassan Rug With "Vase" Design 224
Quaint and Curious Shiraz Rug 224
The Great Ardebil Rug in the South Kensington Museum 225
Persian Early Seventeenth Century Rug 225
Jacquard Tapestry Panel: Colour Plate Opposite 228
Primitive Coptic Tapestry in the Metropolitan Museum 230
Ancient Peruvian Tapestries and Tapestry Figured Fabrics 232
Verdure With Landscape and Birds. A Modern Aubusson Tapestry 234
Verdure With Border. Hand- Woven "Double Warp" Imitation Tapestry 234
"The Birth of Bacchus." An Aubusson Tapestry of the Eighteenth Century. . 236
Aubusson Tapestries of the Eighteenth Century: "The Strife of Agamemnon
and Achilles;" "The Transformation of Jupiter" 238
Merton Tapestry: "Two Angles With Harps" 240
Boucher Medallion on Damask Ground 240
Tapestry Designed by Albert Herter and Woven in America 241
Jacquard Tapestry Woven in America 242
Tapestry Screen Panels Woven in Xew York 243
Four Eighteenth Century Spanish Tapestries 244
"Don Quixote Knigiited." Spanish Tapestry Designed by Procaccini and Woven
by Vandergoten's Sons \ 246
David and Bathslieba Tapestry. Part of the Famous Late Gothic "Story of
David," in the Cluny Museum, Paris: Colour Plate Opposite 248
Gothic Tapestries: "Titus," Part of a Fifteenth Century Gothic Tapestry in
the Metropolitan Museum; a Gothic "Mille-Fleur," Witli Animals 250
"The Redemption of Man," a Late Gothic Tapestry Rich With Gold 252
XVIII
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGfc
"The Son of Man," a Fourteenth Century Gotliic Tapestry of the Famous
Apocalypse Set at Angers, France 252
Lower Right Corner of "The Redemption of Man," Picturing Moses With the
Twelve Commandments 253
"The Prophecy of Nathan," a Magnificent Late Gothic Tapestry 2r)4
One of the P"amous Four Hardwickc Hall Hunting Tapestries 256
"The Wood-Cutters," a Famous Late Gothic Tapestry in the Musee des Arts
Decoratif s in Paris 256
Gothic Hunting Tapestry in the Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts 257
Part of the "St. Peter" Series Given to the Beauvais Cathedral in 1460 258
"Joseph Presenting Jacob to Pharaoh." A Fifteenth Century Gothic Tapestry 258
"The Crucifixion, Last Supjjcr and Resurrection." A Fifteenth Century Gothic
Tapestry in the Chicago Art Institute 260
Gotliic "Credo" Tapestry in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts 260
"The Triumph of the Virgin," Gothic Tapestry in the Royal Spanish Collection 262
"The Adoration of the Magi," Late German Gothic Tapestry 264
"The Massacre of the Innocents." Formerly in the Hoentschel and Morgan
Collections 264
"The Court of Love." Late Gothic Taj)estry at the Metropolitan Museum .... 266
"The Head of Cyrus." Flemish Renaissance Tapestry: Colour Plate Opposite 268
"The Blinding of Elymas." One of the Famous "Acts of the Apostles" Series,
Designed by Raphael, and Now in the Royal Spanish Collection 270
"Saint Paul Before Agrippa and Berenice." Early Renaissance Tapestry in
the Royal Spanish Collection 272
"Joseph Sold by His Brethren." A Renaissance Tapestry in the Foulke Collec-
tion 272
"Artemisia Brings Aid to Cyrus, Who Has Bridged and is About to Cross the
Hellespont." Renaissance Tapestry, One of a Set in the Royal Spanish
Collection 274
"A Concert in the Open." Early Renaissance Tapestry Designed by van Orley 276
"Our Lady of Sablon." An Early Renaissance Tapestry in the Brussels Museum 278
The Dollfus Crucifixion. An Early Renaissance Tapestry Rich With Gold,
Designed by Bernard van Orley and Now Owned by Mrs. Widener 278
One of the "Hunts of Maximilian," a Series of Twelve Tapestries Designed by
Bernard van Orley Now in the Louvre 280
"Hercules Kills the Dragon of the Hesperides." One of a Set of Renaissance
Tapestries in the Imperial Austrian Collection 280
"Children Playing." Renaissance Tapestry After Giulio Romano 280
"The Triumph of Venus.", Renaissance "Grotesque" Tapestry in the French
National Collection . . '. 281
"Marsyas Flayed by Apollo." Renaissance Tapestry in the Royal Spanish Col-
lection 281
"The Creation of Eve." Renaissance Tapestry. One of a Set in the Tapestry
Gallery at Florence 281
"David Dancing Before the Ark." P'lemish Renaissance Tapestry 282
XIX
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGE
Beauvais Tapestry Designed by Berain: Colour Plate Opposite 284
"Diana Imploring Jupiter." Early Gobelin Tapestry Designed by Dubreuil.. 286
"Alexander Entering Babylon." Eouis XIV Gobelin Tapestry Designed by
Lebrun 288
"Winter." Louis XIV Gobelin Tapestry Designed by Mignard 2f)0
"Dido and ^Eneas." Louis XIV Tapestry Designed by Antoine Coypel 292
"The Toilet of Esther." Louis XV Gobelin Tapestry Designed by De Troy. . 29'i
"The Farm." Beauvais Tapestry Designed by Huet 296
The "Parnassus" Tapestry in the New York Public Library. A Louis XIV
Brussels Woven by Judoeus de Vos 296
"Le Depit Amoureux." Beauvais Tapestry Designed by Oudry 298
"Fishing." Beauvais Tapestrj- Designed by Boucher 300
Folding Screen Panelled With Beauvais-Boucher Tapestries 302
"The Healing of the Paralytic." Mortlake Tapestry Designed by Raphael,
Wit]) Seventeenth Century Border 30't
Tapestry Chair Back, Rich with Gold, Made in America : Colour Plate Oi)posite 306
Sofa and Cushion Covered With Ancient Flemish Verdure Tapestry 308
Mille-Fleur Tapestry Coverings, Made in America 308
Inexpensive Tapestry Chair Seat, Made in America: Colour Plate Opposite. ... 310
Tapestry Chair Seat, Old English Needlework Style, Made in America: Colour
Plate Opposite 310
Tapestry Coverings Made in England Last Half of the Seventeenth Century. . 312
Tapestry Coverings for Seat, ]?aek and Arm of Sofa. Made at Aubusson 312
Louis XV Ancient Tapestry Coverings, Made at Aubusson 31 1
Louis XV Tapestry-Covered Chair in the Metropolitan Museum ,Sl6
Louis XVI Ancient Tapestry Coverings, .NL-ide at Aubusson 31 6
Tliomas Thierry Tapestry Coverings, Made at Aubusson 316
Screen Panelled With Ancient Brussels Renaissance Tapestry 318
Mille-Fleur Tapestry Coverings, Made in America 320
Modern Sofa Covered With Tapestry Made in America 320
Palampores or Hand-Painted Cottons of the Seventeenth Century From India,
Showing the Tree of Life Inside the Mirab or Prayer Niche: Colour Plates
Opposite 322, 324
Gotliie Antependium (Altar Frontal) Printed in Black From Nine Blocks,
Showing Christ, Saint Barbara, Saint George, Mary and John, With Gothic
Inscription and Ornamental Border. Tyrolian of the Fifteenth Century . . 326
Cotton Prints of the Sixth Century A. D. From Achmim, in Egypt 326
Thirteenth or Fourteenth Century Printed Linen in Black From Cologne 327
Romanesque, Twelfth or Thirteenth Century, Printed in Silver on Blue Linen.
From the Lower Rhine 327
Gothic Wall Hanging Printed in Three Colours. French-Flemish of the Ffteenth
Century 327
Fourteenth Century Italian Wall Hanging in Black and Red on Linen 328
Rhenish Print of the Sixteenth Century, in Black on White Linen 328
Seventeenth Century German Chalice Cover Printed in Black on White Linen. . 328
XX
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
I'AOE
Eighteenth Century Persian Painted Panel on Linen 329
Hand-Painted Cottons of the Seventeentli Century From India, Parts of a \\'all
Covering Consisting of a Series of Seven Panels Measuring 23 Feet Wide
by 8 Feet High: Colour Plates Opposite 330, 332
Ancient Portuguese Block Prints 334
"Les Colombes" (The Doves). An Ancient Jouy Copper-Plate Print in Brown
on Linen, Showing Oberkanipf's Signature 336
Jouy Copper Print in Red, Made About 1785, and Signed, "Manufacture
Royale de S. M. P. Oberkainpf," Picturing Oberkanipf's Factory, Together
With the Process of Plate and Roller Printing 338
A Jouy Print, "The United States Received Among the Nations" 338
Three Huet Designs For Jouy Prints 339
"Tlie Four Seasons." From a Copper Plate Engraving of One of Huet's
Designs For Jouj' Prints 340
An Ancient Chintz Illustrating The Declaration of Independence 341
Patriotic Prints 342
Late Eighteenth Century Prints Made in France Depicting the Triumph of
Washington, and Probably Made for the American Market 344
An Ancient Printed Cloth Showing General Lafayette on the Left, in 1790; on
the Right, in 1 830 345
An Ancient Print, the So-Called "Toile de la Bastile" 346
Ancient Printed Cloths 348
"Pheasant and Larch." Originated in America and Printed in England on
Linen, From Wooden Blocks 349
Modern Block Prints, Printed in P^ngland But Originated in America 349
Block Print Designs by William Morris 350, 352
Modern Satin, Printed in Bright Colours From Ancient Copper Plates ........ 353
Modern Chintz on Linen, Printed From the Ancient Blocks 353
Four Modern American Silk Prints 354
Cotton Cloth on Which American Makers Print With Copper Rollers 355
Eight Cretonne Patterns Just Brought Out by an American Maker 356
"The Origin of Wall Paper." A Chinese Painting in the Style of Kien-lung,
Picturing the Taoist Fairy, Mo-ku-lisien, With Attendant Deer: Colour
Plate Opposite 358
Wall Paper Painted in China and Now on the Walls of the Cadwalader Room •
in the Metropolitan Museum 360
Famous Picture Wall Papers: A Teniers Tapestry in Paper; "Psyche at the
Bath," Designed by David for Napoleon 362
"The Chinese Garden." A Hand-Blocked Landscape Paper, Made in Alsace
About 1840, After Designs by French Artists: Colour Plate Opposite. . . . 364
Three Hand-Blocked Alsatian Papers 3GG
Modern Machine-Printed Zuber Papers 367
Modern Machine-Printed Zuber Papers in the Chinese Style 368
Hand-Blocked Paper in the Adam Style, Designed in England, Made in Alsace 370
Six Wall Papers Made in France 372
xxr
LIST OF PLATES (Continued)
PAGE
Walter Crane's "Macaw": Colour Plate Opposite 374
The Boscoreale Frescoes From Pompeii as Set up in the Metropolitan Museum 376
Famous Papers by William Morris 378, 379
Famous Papers by Walter Crane: Colour Plates Opposite 380
An Ancient Paper From Salem, Massachusetts 382
The Jumel Mansion Paper SSdi
An American Hand-Blocked Paper 386
American Wall Papers Imitating Textiles 388
American Wall Papers Imitating Leather 389
American Wall Paper Patterns 390
Modern Patriotic Wall Papers 392
Fringes de Luxe 395
Tassels 396
Velvet Figured Gimps 398
Velvet Figured Borders 399
Openwork Gimps 400
Tassel Edgings 402
Bullion Fringes 403
Cut Fringes 404
Tassels Triumphant 406
Fringes Rampant 410
Fringes From the Morant Collection 412
Bedrooms in the Residence of James Deering, at Miami, Florida 414
Ancient Italian Leather From the House of Titian: Colour Plate Opposite. . . . 416
Georgian Leather With Red Flock Ground: Colour Plate Opposite 418
Ancient Portuguese Chair-Back in Chiselled Leather, Showing the Tree Design
With "Doublet" Lions 420
Eighteenth Century Spanish Leather Panel in Gold and Blue on Green 420
Ancient Spanish Leather Showing Large Pomegranates Framed in Zigzag Halo 422
Twisted Column With Capital in Ancient Italian Tooled and Illuminated Leather
of the Sixteenth Century: Colour Plate Opposite 424
An Antique Chinese Georgian Screen 426
Illuminated Leather of the French Regence 426
Ancient Spanish Picture Panels on Leather, P'rom Avignon 428
Louis XVI Leather Screen Now at Biltmore 429
Portfolio in Gold Leaf Design, From the Back of an Italian Cardinal's Chair. . 432
Edgings for Bookcases and Tables 434
Modern Leather Screen in Persian Design 436
Modern Leather Screen in Louis XV Design ■ 436
XXII
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
CHAPTER I
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
PART I
Damasks, brocades and velvets are the aristocrats among shuttle
fabrics made for the decoration of walls and furniture. Primarily
they are silk weaves, though often enriched with gold or cheapened
with linen and cotton.
The history of damasks, brocades and velvets is the history of
ornament in silk. When the less expensive materials are employed,
they are usually hidden beneath the surface, except in linen damasks
(Plate B 4 of Chapter IV), that on account of their brilliant sheen
and immaculate whiteness (and also because they can be washed)
have won the kingdom of napkins and tablecloths for their own, and
also except in woollen damasks and mohair velvets and flax velours,
that attempt in weight and strength to make up for what they lack in
essential beauty. Cotton brocades, with or without the mixture of
mercerised, are, of course, mere imitations, that by their very exist-
ence glorify the superior virtues of what they imitate.
As everyone interested in decorative art is aware, the terminology
of textiles is in a particularly unsatisfactory condition. Dictionaries
and encyclopaedias in all languages are filled with definitions that were
evidently composed by editors far from a knowledge of the actual
facts. One justly famous dictionary in the English language defines
tapestry as "not made with a shuttle like other textiles, but with a
needle." Evidently the editor was translating from the French and
mistook broche for needle instead of bobbin.
Another famous dictionary also published in America defines
damask as "a rich silk fabric woven in elaborate patterns having a
raised appearance." Certainly this is misleading. The distinctive
characteristic of damasks as compared with brocades is flatness.
Fiu-thermore, damask as compared with brocade patterns are simple.
1
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Even the great textile authorities, while agreeing on funda-
mentals, differ seriously in their definitions of terms like hrocatelle
and lampas. Even oiu* great museums attach lahels that are often
misleading and sometimes false. And as for the trade, it seems to
be the ambition of many manufacturers and importers to demon-
strate the distinctiveness of their goods by means of the false dis-
tinctiveness of the terms they employ.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOOM
Tapestries and their imitations I define and describe in Chapter
XII. Of real tapestries I say that "they are ribbed or rep fabrics
with surface consisting entirely of tceft threads." Between real
tapestries and the weaves that I am now discussing, the difference is
fundamental. The surface of damasks, brocades and warp velvets
consists largely of SXY//7; threads. Moreover, these are not bobbiji
fabrics like real tapestries, but shuttle fabrics in which the lessened
control of the weft, caused by the substitution of shuttle for bobbin,
is made up for by increased ability to control and manipulate the
warp. (See second paragrai^h of Chapter VIII.)
The first great step in the mechanical development of the loom
was the invention of treadles that freed the left hand from the duty
of pulling leashes (lisses) to form each new shed of the warp.
The second great step was the invention of the shuttle to facil-
itate the passing of the bobbin through the shed.
The tJiird great step was the substitution for treadles of a draw
boy (hence the term draw loom) who was mounted on a platform
above the warp, where he pulled cords or leashes that raised or lowered
the warp threads as the pattern required, vastly increasing the pos-
sible complexities of weave. The draw loom, invented and devel-
oped by the Chinese to meet the exigencies of weaving the exquisitely
fine threads of silk, first made possible and practicable the production
of damasks, brocades and Aelvets.
The fourth great step was the invention of the Jacquard attach-
ment in the time of Napoleon. This attachment was merely a
mechanical contrivance, but it supplanted the draw boy, just as the
draw boy had supplanted treadles, and just as treadles had sup-
planted the weaver's left hand. It vastly increased the speed and
accuracy of weaving, and so lessened the cost of producing intricate
patterns that ever since then intricate patterns have been available
2
Plate I— i:)AMASK MADE IX AMKUICA
From an old Italian orijrinal
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
for the least expensive purposes, provided the quantity used is suf-
ficiently large. Once the pattern is punched on a series of Jacquard
cards, and the loom is mounted, it is just like playing a pianola or
working a hand organ. Repetition is easy and costs little. Diligence
is more important than intelligence, and the weaver need not have
the slightest art knowledge or feeling.
The fifth great step was the application of power (water, steam
or electricity) to do the work of both draw boy and weaver. This
greatly increased speed, while relieving the weaver of most of his
manual labour, and setting him free to superintend the operation of
several looms. However, the more complicated and exquisite velvets
and brocades continue to be woven on liand looms, but with the
Jacquard attachment.
THE WEAVE OF DAMASKS
The fundamental and modern weaves I shall analyse and illus-
trate in Chapter IV. Suffice it here to say that damask is a satin
weave (Plates I, II, III, D, of Chapter IV) sometimes with taffeta or
grosgrain or twill or weft satin figures on warp satin ground; some-
times with warp satin figures on ground of contrasting weave. The
basis of damask is satin with a surface that consists of parallel threads,
whose parallelism causes the smooth shiny surface that is character-
istic of satin, and that makes satin the weave most characteristic
of silk.
For example, the damask illustrated on Plate VI has grosgrain
figures on a satin ground. This means that the ground consists of
parallel threads running the way of the warp, while the figures show-
ribs that are perpendicular to the surface threads of the ground, and
hence contrast strongly with it, producing the light and shade effects
that are characteristic of damask, and that distinguish it from most
other fabrics, although not, of course, altogether from the novelty
weaves that imitate it. What I wish most of all to make clear at
this point is that damask is not an accident, nor a chance term the
application of which can be left to the whim of manufacturers or
dealers. Damask is a figured fabric with the lines of the ground
running in one direction while the lines of the figures run in another.
When the surface is a twill, we have diagonal line effects or ribs
that, of course, make a Weaker contrast than woidd the ribs of gros-
grain. For example, flie figures of brocatelle are in satin, and the
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
ground is a twill, the figures rising in bold relief because of the coarse
linen or cotton weft threads that are buried beneath the surface. The
easiest damasks to analyse are those made for the table in white linen
and imitation in cotton because in them the effect of the contrasting
threads of ground and figures is not complicated by colours as in
lampas, the ground of which is in one colour and the figures in
another; or, in one-colour silk damask (Plate D 2 of Chapter IV)
where the contrasting lines produce a difference in tone between
figures and ground, though the threads of both are actually of the
same tone.
Moreover, in all the damasks, coloured lampas as well as white
linens, the tones change as the point of vision changes. Figures that
look mat from one point of view become glossy from another, while
the ground is transformed in the opposite direction. It is this fas-
cinating interplay of tones due to the contrasting surface of parallel
lines in relief, which constitutes the character and charm of damask.
THE WKAVE OF BROCADES
Brocade (Plate G2 of Chapter IV) might be described as
embroidery made on the loom. It consists of embroidery effects pro-
duced by floating wefts on the surface of damask or other weaves.
Some of the most magnificent Renaissance tapestries woven in
Brussels in the sixteenth century, have brocaded effects produced on
the garments of personages by floating wefts in groups over several
warps, with the relief heightened by couching. While the figures of
damask tend to be flat and large and continuous and of the same colour
though different in tone from the ground, the figures of brocade tend
to be in relief and small and detached, and in several colours.
In other words, the figui-es of brocades are such as would be
usually produced on a draw loom by the use of extra bobbins
(croches); hence, brocade that is English for the Spanish form of
the French broche (brocaded). AVhile broche really means the same
as brocade, it is commonly applied to light-weight silks only, the term
brocade (French brocari) being reserved for bi-ocaded damasks and
other heavy silks of elaborate design.
THE WEAVE OF VELVETS
Of velvets there are two fundamentally different types, those
with pile formed by extra wefts and those with pile formed by extra
5
Plate II — Diiiiiask made in America, re])ro(Uution of a
Louis XVI original
Plate III — IJroohe silk, made in Americj
Plate IV — American gold brocade based on ;in ancient Plate V — Brocade made in America, reproduction of one
Sicilian fal)ric in Brussels Museum
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
warps. The former, like real tapestries, originated on the bobbin
loom, while the latter, like damasks and hrocades, originated on the
shuttle loom. Furthermore, just as real tapestries are vastly more
ancient in their origin than damasks and brocades, so weft velvets
are much older than icarp velvets, and we have examples of them
dating as far back as the third century A. D. 1 refer to the Coptic
fabrics with coarse uncut pile of wool and linen. The surface is very
open, the rows of lo()j)s being far apart with plain canvas between.
The loops consist of weft threads that go over and under alternate
pairs of warps. Many of the linen loops are particularly long and
shaggy; all of the woollen loops, short and thick and soft. These
Coptic velvets I regard as the primitive form, not only of weft velvets,
but also of hand-knotted rugs. The step from a weft that loops up
between alternate jjairs of warps, to short pieces of weft that are
knotted around each pair of warps is direct and obvious. The so-
called "finger rugs" still made in London and elsewhere are a sur-
vival of the ancient pile fabrics of the Coptic velvet variety, and get
their name primarily from the fact that the finger is used in forming
the loops.
One of these ancient Coptic velvets in the Metropolitan Museum,
dating from the fourth or fifth century after Christ, is illustrated
on Plate XIV. The dark parts are in wool, the light parts in
linen. It will be noticed that the rows of long linen loops are twice
as far apart as the rows of short woollen and short linen loops, and
that the figm-es are formed by contrast of dark-brown wool and cream-
white linen. Notice also that where the pile wefts pass, the canvas
is corded with three extra flat wefts in order that the loops may be
firndy held. Modern examples of weft velvet with cut pile are
velveteens and corduroys.
However, ordinarily by velvets we mean warp velvets of the
kind originated in silk, and do not even include the coai'se woollen
and worsted velvets woven for floor coverings, such as brussels and
wilton carpets and rugs. L^pholstery velvets are usually called
velours (the French word for velvet), whether the pile be in silk or
flax or wool or cotton. The pile of most warp velvets is formed by
looping extra warps over wires inserted weft-wise in the shed. When
all of the pile is to be cut, the cutting is done upon the withdrawal
of the wires by knives at the end of each. When only part of the
pile is to be cut, in other words when the velvet is to be cut and
7
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
uncut, the cutting is done with a hand knife. Plain velvets have a
uniform surface of solid colour. A modern way of making velvets
without the use of wires is to weave two cloths together face to face,
with special pile warps working back and forth between them and
joining them. The cutting of this common pile by a knife that travels
back and forth across the loom, produces two velvets economically
and with a minimum of effort. Recently, an American manufac-
turer has invented a way of figuring these double-woven velvets in
two-tone, by inserting the pile warps thicker in the figures than in
the ground (Plate XVII). All of the more complicated velvets,
such as those developed in Venice, figured by using pile of two dif-
ferent heights; and Genoese velvets having cut pile that contrasts
with uncut pile and often with flat satin or twill or taffeta ground,
the last sometimes in gold (Plate X of Chapter IV), are still woven
on hand looms, like many of the more complicated brocades, but
usually with the Jacquard attachment.
MADE IN AMERICA
One of the best evidences of the rapid progress of the United
States in silk weaving is the fact that all of the examples illustrated
in connexion with this chapter (except the one on Plate XIV) were
made in America. Plate I is a red damask reproduced from an
ancient Italian church vestment of the fifteenth century.
Plate V is a brocade based on an Italian original in the Brus-
sels Museum, illustrated and catalogued by Madame Errera as
No. 29, attributed to the "thirteenth or fourteenth century," and
woven of silk, linen and gold. The pattern shows two hares addosse
et regardant, inside the circle. Samples of the same fabric are illus-
trated by Cole on page 6.5 of his "Ornament in European Silks;"
by Fischbach in colour on Plate LXXX of his "Wichtigsten Webe-
Ornamente;" and by Dupont-Auberville in colour on Plate 14 of his
"Ornement des Tissus." There are actual examples preserved both
at South Kensington and in the Cluny Museum.
Plate II is a satin damask copied from an ancient I^ouis XVI
piece that has long been in the possession of the manufacturers, as
part of the upholstery of a chair which is said to be one of a set pre-
sented by the French King to his queen, Marie Antoinette, for use
in the Petit Trianon. The musical trophies are characteristic of the
period, and the execution of the fabric is beyond cavil. I have used
8
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
the term satin ilamask merely to specify that it has a satin ground,
while the figures are in grosgrain (coarse taffeta). If the ground
were in grosgrain and the figures in satin, like Plate IX, I should
not hesitate to speak of it as a grosgrain damask.
Plate X is a gold brocade copied from a thirteenth century orig-
inal that is Xo. 32 in Madame Errera's catalogue mentioned above,
and that is pictured in colour by Fischbach on Plate XXI of his
"Ornamente der Gewebe." Fischbach quotes an inventory of the
Cathedral of St. Paul in London to show that in the year 1295 a
fabric like tliis was called diaspre, from which is derived the modern
diaper (pattern, especially one of small diamonds or fret work).
Plate III is a soft and drapy soie brochee (broche silk) , with twill
figm-es on taffeta groimd. The pattern suggests Moorish iron work
of the fourteenth century. Plate IX is a damask with large and
heavy satin figures on a grosgrain ground. Plate XVI shows a
reproduction of an Italian or Spanish damask of the sixteenth
century. The Renaissance character of the design stands out
strongly by contrast with the Gothic of Plates V and X. The
original in the Rrussels Museum is in red and blue on yellow, and is
catalogued and illustrated by Madame Errera as No. 254. There
are also ancient examples in several other museums: At Oldenburg,
Turin, South Kensington, Rome, the Crocetta in Florence, Diissel-
dorf. Plate XI is a damask reproduced from a Sicilian one that is
catalogued by Madame Errera as No. 91 and that dates from the
fifteenth century. A similar example is reproduced in colour on
Plate 297 of his " Gewebe- Sammlung des K. Kunstgewerbe Museums
Berlin" by Lessing, who describes it as "Spanish about 1500." Fisch-
bach calls it "Italian or Spanish of the thirteenth or fourteenth
centuries;" and the Hamburg Museum, "Spanish of the fourteenth
or fifteenth centuries." The differences of attribution indicate what
is true, that much expert work still has to be done on the textile col-
lections of our various museums, and that it will be an herculean
task to eliminate errors based on the ignorance of the nineteenth
century.
Plate XV is classed by the makers as a silk tapestry and will
serve as a definition of that term. It has a surface of coarse silk
wefts tied with slender warp binders, and cotton warps buried
beneath the siu-face. In appearance it resembles jacquard verdure
tapestry (see Chapter XII), being comparatively fiat with merely
9
Plate VI — Silk damask, loom finish, made in America
Plate VII — American reproduction of French daniasli
Plate VIII — American reproduction of French damask Plate IX — Grosgrain damask, made in America
10
•AMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
line effet'ts to suggest ribs running the way of the wefts. Phite XX,
though sometimes called a silk tapestry, is properly classed with
bi'ocades. It has a Persian pattern of peacocks, butterflies and
cypress trees, richly expressed in polychrome weft floats on a cotton
ground. Plate VI is a satin damask with grosgrain figures that swell
in high relief because "loom finished" — that is, left as they come
from the loom, without having their spirit crushed by rollers that
make them level with the gi'ound of the damask. Plate XIII is a
brocade with pattern unusually large. Plate XII is a Louis XVI
brocade of a type that is both excellent and pojjular. Plate XIX
is an Adam armurc, with typical vase and small figures, executed
in warp floats on grosgrain groiuid.
THE GROWIXC OF SILK
Silk, wool, linen and cotton are the principal food for looms,
although hem J}, jute, ramie and other fibres are occasionally
employed as cheaper substitutes. Each of the master materials
owes special allegiance to a special country. From time immemorial,
China has been famous for silk, Egypt for linen, India for cotton,
and Flanders for wool.
The Chinese have a legend that the silk industry was founded
2698 years before Christ, by Si-ling-chi, wife of the great Prince
Hoang-ti. She was instructed by her husband to examine the silk-
worms and see if their cocoons could be made useful. So she col-
lected many of them, nurtin-ed them with the greatest care, and
finally succeeded in making silk thread out of which she wove beau-
tiful cloths. As a perpetual reward she received divine honors and
is known as the "Goddess of Silk." Over 2,000 years later the art
was carried to Japan by four Chinese maidens, who instructed the
Japanese court and people how to weave both plain and figured
goods. In their honor a temple was erected in the province of Settsu,
and the industry was encouraged and developed until it became of
national importance. About the same time, tradition has it, a Chinese
princess carried the eggs of the insect, and the seed of the mulberry
tree, on the leaves of which it feeds, to Khotan in her head dress and
instituted the cultiu'e of silk there. From there sericulture spread
southward to India and westward to Central Asia and Persia.
The first notice of the silkworm in Western literature is by
Aristotle who speaks of it as: "A great worm which has horns and
II
'^^gs^gi«$?f^u ^
Plate XIV — Primitive Coptic velvet
Plate X\' Silk ta])e,stiv, iiwuU- in America
Plate X\'I — Uainahk made in America, reproduction of
an original in the Brussels Museum
Plato X\'ll- Xew kind of velvet recently originated and
made in America
14
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
especially encouraged in Sicily by the Norman, Roger II. From
Sicily it was carried northward throughout Italy, and silks soon
became one of the most valuable agricultural products of that coim-
try. Into Spain the Mohammedans introduced not only the wear-
ing of precious silks but also the culture of the silkworm, and by the
tenth century Spain had a large surplus of raw silk for export. In
France, Lyons early became an important centre of silk weaving,
and is said to have employed 17,000 weavers in the sixteenth century,
but the efforts of Charles VIII in 149.5 to promote the growth of
silk do not appear to have been especially successful. A century
later Henri IV took great pains to encourage the growing of mul-
berry trees and the culture of the silkworm, and succeeded in free-
ing France from dependence on other countries for raw silk.
Francis I had encouraged the industry at Lyons, giving unusual
prix'ileges to Italian weavers who settled there. One of the four
large mural paintings in the Crefeld Textile Museum in Germany
depicts the occasion of his visit to Lyons with his wife, Eleanor, the
sister of the Emperor Charles V. The other three paintings show
(1) the Reception by Justinian and Theodora of the monks who
brought the silkworms from China to Constantinople. (2) The
Reception, by Roger II of Sicily, of the Greek weavers from Athens,
Thebes and Corinth. (3) The Reception by Napoleon of Joseph
Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard attachment that revolu-
tionized the weaving of elaborately figured fabrics.
Today the countries that rank first in the production of silk
are China, Japan and Italy; those that rank first in the manufacture
of silk are the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, China,
and Japan. Although no silk is now grown in America, the attempt
has often been successfully made: by Cortez in Mexico in the six-
teenth century; by James I in Virginia in the seventeenth century;
in Georgia, South Carolina and Connecticut in the eighteenth
century.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Manchester, in Con-
necticut, had become an important centre of silk growing, and many
families of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, as well as some of New
York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia produced
from five to fifty pounds yearly. In 1832 the legislature of Connec-
ticut offered a bounty for mulberry culture and fixed the price of
raw silk at fifty cents a pound. Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey
15
Plate X — Brocade made in America, reproduction of one
in the Brussels Museum
Plate XI — Damask made in America, reproduction of a
original in the Brussels Museun
Plate Xli Louis X\'l brocade, made in America
Plate XIII — I.arge-figured brocade, made in America
13
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
so -differs from others. At its first iiietainorphosis it produces a
caterpillar, then a bonibylius, then a chrysalis — all the three changes
taking 2)lace within six months. From this animal, women separate
and reel off the cocoons, and afterwards spin them. It is said that
silk was first spun in the Island of Cos, by Pamjjhile, daughter of
Plates." Aristotle, it will be remembered, was the pupil of Plato,
and the teacher of Alexander the Great, and lived in the fourth
century before Christ.
Soon, allusions to silk became common in Greek and Roman lit-
erature. But even Pliny in the first century after Christ told less
about the silkworm than coidd be learned from Aristotle. The
Chinese origin of silk was indicated clearly enough by the Latin
name for it, sericum, derived from Seres, the Roman name for the
Chinese, which itself was borrowed from the Greeks. The word is
evidently connected with the Chinese sse (silk), the French soie, the
Italian seta, the Spanish seda, the German seide, the Russian «feeZA;,
the English silk.
Always the silks that fovmd their way to Rome brought high
prices and their use by men was considered effeminate luxury. It
would seem from an anecdote about the Emperor Aurelian, who
lived in the third century after Christ, and who neither used silk
himself nor would allow his wife to have a single silk dress, that a
pound of silk at that time was worth a pound of gold. Nevertheless,
it was stated a century later by the historian Anuiiianus Marcellinus,
that silk had already come within the reach of the common people.
Not until the reign of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth
century after Christ, two centuries after Constantine had trans-
ferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constan-
tinople, was the growing of silk permanently established in Europe.
The story goes that two Persian monks, who had lived long years
in China, and learned the whole art and mystery of rearing silk-
worms, visited Constantinople and told what they knew to the
Emperor. He bade them return to China and attempt to smuggle
thence the materials necessary for the cultivation of silk. This they
accomplished by concealing eggs of the silkworm and sprouts of the
mulberry tree in their pilgrims' staffs made of bamboo.
Rapidly the culture of silk spread through the Byzantine
Empire, especially to Syria and Sicily, where it continued to flourish
after the Mohammedan conquests. In the twelfth century it was
18
<
•o
e
<
I
DAMASKS, BROCADES AXD VELVETS
and Pennsylvania soon offered similar bounties. In 1836 a "silk
mania" broke out resembling the famous "tulip mania" of Holland.
Mulberry cuttings two feet long sold at from $25 to $500 a hun-
dred. One nursery man ordered 5,000,000 trees from France,
making an advance payment of $80,000. Everybody was about to
acquire a fortune growing silk, and other crops were neglected.
After three years the bubble burst and thousands were ruined. By
1840, mulberry trees were selling for five cents each. Blight of the
mulberry trees completed the ruin of the raw silk enterprise and
now, although the United States stands first in the quantity of silk
manufactured, it grows none at all.
Credit for illustrations: Plates T, II, III, V, VI, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XV, XVI,
XVII, XIX, XX, to Cheney Bros.; Plate XIV, the Metropolitan Museuin of Art.
CHAPTER II
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
PART II
The Devei.opmj:nt of Patterns
The names most famous in the history of damasks, brocades
and velvets are China, Japan, Persia, the Byzantine Empire (i. e.,
the Roman Empire after Constantinople succeeded Rome as the
capital, .330-1453), Sicily, Italy, Spain, France. In all of these
countries, patterns of distinctive style were developed, and actual
examples are preserved in European and American collections, which
afford inspiration for modern designers as well as factsf for dec-
orative historians. Among the most important collections are those
at Lyons in France; the Musee des Arts DecoratiFs, and the Chmy
Museum, in Paris; South Kensington in England; Crefeld, Ham-
burg, Oldenburg, Niireniburg, Dresden, Diisseldorf and Munich in
Gei'many; the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin; the Kunst and
Industrie Museum in Vienna; the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in
Brussels; Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice, in Italy; the Metro-
politan Museuiu of Art, and the Museum of Cooper Institute, in
New York; the Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia; the Art
Institute in Chicago.
At an early period the Chinese began to weave elaborate silk
tapestries, damasks and brocades. In the third century after Christ
the monk Dionysius Periegetes wrote: "The Seres make precious ,
figured garments, resembling in colour the flowers of the field, and
rivaling in fineness the work of spiders." An account of the designs
used by the Chinese in their silks would illustrate richly all their
other arts, as these designs have constantly supplied motifs for the
decoration of other materials. At least ten per cent of modern
Chinese porcelain is adorned exclusively with brocade patterns, and
a writer on Chinese ceramics estimates that no less than two-thirds
18
> J3 3 1 >-
Plate I— ANCIKNT GENOESE JARDINIKUE VELVET IN SEVEN COLOURS
19
(, c ( t, c ,'<
< 5 •• ; «,<
Plate II Plate III
SASSANID PERSIAN "DOUBLET" PATTERNS IN THE BERLIN MUSEUM
I'late IV
Plate \'
BYZANTINE "DOl'BLET" PATTERNS, THE ONE ON THE LEFT
IN THE BRUSSELS MUSEUM, AND THE ONE ON THE
RIGHT IN A CHURCH AT MAESTRICHT
20
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
of the designs used on poreelain during the Ming dynasty were
taken from ancient silk brocades or embroideries, the remaining third
being taken direct from nature or reproduced from okl bronzes. This
ex])lains the frequency on enamels and porcelains of designs in
foliated panels and medallions, on brocaded grounds.
A genei'al history of Chinese art written in the Ming period in
the first half of the seventeenth century, devotes its twelfth book to
silks. It states that many of the ornamental designs of the ancient
Ilan period (200 li. C to 221 A. D.) were still in use, such as
dragons, phoenixes, birds and flowers, peachstones and grapes, and
that in the third century after Christ the Emperor Ming Ti of the
Wei dynasty sent five rolls of brocade with dragons woven on crimson
ground, as a present to the Empress of Japan. Under the Sung
dynasty (9(50-1279), the names of more than fifty famous brocade
designs of the period are given, among them: Dragons in Water,
Pearls and Grains of Rice, Cherries, Lotus and Tortoises, Musical
Instruments, Lions Sporting with Balls, Tree Peonies, Peacocks,
Wild Geese Flying in the Clouds. Storied Palaces and Pavilions,
besides numerous stripes and jiinall geometrical designs, groups of
symbols, and decorative combinations of Chinese letters. The same
I)atterns are still woven and exported.
Many of the first Chinese designs are floral, but the flowers are
always more naturalistic than in Persian and Saracenic art. In the
famous hinidrcd flower brocade (compare the Flemish mUlefleiir
tapestries) it is not difficult for anyone familiar with Chinese flora to
identify each and every plant. As in porcelain, so in textiles, the
chrysanthemum and the peony are favorite flowers.
The chrysanthemum is often found in combination with butter-
flies artfully conventionalised, but yet very realistic in effect. The
lotus (nelumhium) is often nmch idealised but recognisable by the
characteristic seedpod in the middle of the flower. It is often used
on a field worked with leaves and stems in rococo scrolls, bordered
with swastika and fretwoi'k bands whose angles sometimes grow into
forms that suggest dragons' heads. It is also combined exquisitely
with j)airs of wide-winged bats.
SASSANID PERSIAN PATTEKXS
Persia, after being subject to the Parthians for four hundred
years, recovered its independence in the third century after Christ,
21
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
and flourished under the Sassanid kings until the seventh century,
when it was subjugated by the followers of Mohammed. The
greatest of the Sassanid kings was Chosroes I, contemporary with
the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. During his reign the arts of
peace flourished, especially the art of weaving. Interesting Sassanid
■* * silks are preserved in the Berlin Kunstgewerbe Museum, and in the
Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington, as well as in the
treasuries of several ancient German churches. Most of the designs
show large circular bands standing in vertical columns, one directly
over the other. The circles are often tied together at the sides as
well as at top and bottom, by small circles and roses and polygons,
and the designs within the large circles are often doublets like those
on the ancient Assyrian bas-reliefs, the personage or group on the
right being an exact duplicate (reversed) of the personage or group
on the left.
This arrangement or grouping is also characteristic of Byzantine
fabrics. A brilliant specimen of Sassanid Persian weaving preserved
in the church of St. Servatius at Maestricht, shows circles each of
which enclose doublet Persian kings on horseback, hunting doublet
lions with bow and arrow. Another in blue silk preserved in the
Berlin Kunstgewerbe Museum (Plate III), shows doublet cavaliers
on winged horses, enclosed in a circle whose border consists of stags
and dogs enclosed in tiny circles.
Two of the most important motifs in Sassanid decorative art
were the fire altar (pyre) and the tree of life (horn). Especially
characteristic of Zoroastritnism — that was the national religion of
Persia for seventeen hundred years until the Mohammedans came,
and that had been established by Zoroaster (Zarathustra) on the
basis and as a reform of the ancient Iranic superstitions — was the
worship of fire. In this religion the place of temples was taken by
towers, on the top of which burned the sacred fire, a visible sign at
night of the faith that helped cement together the Bactrians and
Medes and Persians and other tribes of Iran (about the same ter-
ritory as modern Persia) . The fire altar appears on a reddish purple
silk that is preserved in the Church of the Couture in Le Mans,
between doublet lions that lick the flame and face each other with
tails rampant. On the flank of each lion is a circle containing a cross-
shaped eight-pointed star of the kind that is found on many Byzan-
tine tissues. The horn, that for the Persians was the symbol of the
22
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
eternal renaissance and reincarnation of persons and things, started
as a date tree, but as time passed assumed various forms, many of
them fantastic. It appears most interestingly on a silk from the
Church of Saint Ursula in Cologne (Plate II), now in the Kunst-
gewerbe Museum in Berlin, flanked by doublet cavaliers who face
away to repulse the attack of dotiblet lions that sp^i^ upon them,
while doublet cherubs lean from the trefoil-patterned foliage to render
aid. Beneath the group ai"e huge doublet lions that face each other
reclining, while above are doublet wild goats that leap away from a
small three-branched tree topping the tree of life. On account of the
ornament upon the heads of the cavaliers — a crescent surmounted by
a star between the two wings, which is also found upon the coins of
Chosroes II (591-628) — Lessing dated the fabric as made in that
monarch's reign.i ^
BYZANTINE ROMAN PATTERNS
The reign of Justinian (527-565) was a revival of success in
war and prosperity in peace, for the Byzantine Empire. His armies
reconquered Italy and Africa, and he encouraged agriculture and
manufactures in every possible way. He not only promoted the
weaving of elaborate fabrics, but, as I said in Chapter I, introduced
the cultivation of the mulberry tree and the silkworm, so that the
Western world might no longer be completely dependent upon the
Orient.
Byzantine art is of course based upon Roman art. But it is
Roman developed in a Greek, a Christian, and an Oriental direction.
When Constantinople succeeded Rome as the capital of the Empire,
in the fourth century, the Greek language began to replace Latin as
the language of the Court, Christian symbolism began to crowd out
classic and pagan ornamental forms, and Persian as well as Syrian
and Egyptian began to influence decoration and costume and archi-
tecture.
By the time of Justinian, Byzantine art had become the dom-
inant art of the Mediterranean world. One explanation of the great
similarity between Sassanid and contemporary Byzantine silks is the
fact that many of the Byzantine weavers were imported by Justinian
from Persia. However, for at least two centuries before this, the
weavers of Constantinople had been converting raw silk received
fyom the Far East, into elaborately patterned cloths. Bishop Asterius
23
c ^
i\\ re
I
DAMxUSKS, liKOCADES AND VELVETS
in the fourth centuiy speaks of their extraordinary ability, saying
that they "rivalled painting and knew how to express the figui*es of
all the animals by combination of warp and weft." But he was
scandalised to see depicted on the fabrics scenes of the New Testa-
ment. He was indignant at the frivolous and haughty persons who
wore the gospel on their cloaks instead of carrying it in their hearts.
Paul, the Silentiaire, in his poetic description of Santa Sophia —
the famous cathedral built by Justinian, which still survives in Con-
stantinople, having been transformed into a Mohammedan mosque
when the Turks captured the city in 14.53 — makes it clear that the
altar hangings were not embroidered but woven, when he speaks of
their ornamentation as "not produced with the aid of the needle intro-
duced laboriously by hands through the tissue, but with the bobbin
that constantly varies the size and color of the threads furnished by
the barbarian worm."
The Byzantine weavers wei'e not content to take the ancient
Greek and Roman mythological and historical pictures and decora-
tive motifs and reproduce them in Byzantine style; they sought
rather to express the dominant characters and characteristics of
Christianity, the splendor of the triumphant religion, the divine
majesty, and the protecting role of the Saints. From Syria and
Persia and still farther East, came the tendency to interpret nature
motifs decoratively, to show fantastic animals and strange flowers
quaintly transformed or almost transformed into pattern. There
was an Asiatic wealth of griffins and unicorns and basilisks and pea-
cocks and eagles and wild ducks and leopards and tigers and lions
and elephants, framed in circular bands and geometrical compart-
ments, or arranged horizontally between parallel bands.
From Roman chariot races that were continued as one of the
favorite public amusements of Byzantine Rome, came the frequent
representations of the quadriga. One of the most important, now in
the Brussels Museum (Plate IV), is a long band of silk adorned
with three tangent circles, each of which displays the Emperor
crowned and with a whip in each hand driving a chariot, the four
horses of which rear and plunge in pairs to the right and to the left.
A flying cherub on each side of the Emperor offers him a crown. A
similar pattern appears on a purple silk now in the Cluny Museum
(Plate VIII), once at Aix-la-Chapelle. The driver holds the reins
of four horses readj^ to dash into the arena, while two slaves above
DAMASKS, BROCADKS AND VELVP7rS
present him with whip and crown, and two personages below precede
the quadriga with horns of plenty, from which they pour money upon
an altar. Circus combats were also a favorite subject. A small
fragment of pin-ple silk at the Cluny Museum shows, surrounded by
a white floral border, a warrior who tramples a lion beneath his feet.
An ancient cloth from the collection of Canon Bock, now shared
between the museums of South Kensington, I^yons and the Cluny,
shows between parallel floral bands, combatants clad in short tunics
and sandals, with legs bare. Each combatant strangles a lion,* and is
the "doublet" of another combatant whom he faces, and of whom he is
the exact reproduction reversed in direction. Another rich fabric at
Maestricht (Plate V), part of the garment in which Saint Servatius,
the patron of the church, was buried shows circular bands nine inches
in diameter, each containing the Roman Dioscuri standing upon a
short Doric fluted cohnnn whose base is adorned with a festooned
hucramum , while on either side a bull is about to be slaughtered for
the sacrifice, and above a winged cherub pours the libation. The
small circles that intersect and connect the larger circles contain each
four fleurs-de-lis that alternate with trefoil antheiijions. This cloth
recalls the scenes found on the walls of the catacombs of the early
Christians.
One of the most beautiful of the non-symmetrical subjects is
the Annunciation that appears in large circular medallions on a
purple silk, at the Vatican in Rome (Plate VI). The Virgin is
seated on a lofty chair with circular back, a stool beneath her feet
and on each side a wicker backet, one holding the wool that she has
spun, and the other the wool that she is about to spin. The Angel
advances towards her with right hand extended, long tunic, and
enormous wings, and hair bound in a Greek fillet. Both personages
have eyes dilated and enlarged, but mouths barely indicated. This
cloth is important for the information it gives about costumes and
furniture as well as about fabric pattern.
A subject that suggests "Daniel in the Lion's Den" appears
in blue, white and yellow, on chamois ground, on a fabric at tlie
Cathedral of Sens. In high elliptical medallions, a long-haired
personage in diamond-diapered jacket and short tu»ic, chokes back
two lions erect on their hind legs that threaten him from either side,
and tramples two others beneath his feet. The magnificent cloth
from Aix-la-Chapelle (Plate VII) that once enveloped the bones of
27
i'lale XUl l.oiii.-, XN 1 sl-Iv.A
Plate XIV — Italian Renaissance iljiinak
Plate XV— Ixmis XVI l)rocade
Plate XVI — Italian velvet of the early eighteenth centnry
28
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
Charlemagne (crowned Emperor of Western Europe by the Pope
on Christmas Day 800 A. D.) bears an inscription in Greek as well
as large circular bands, each of which contains lan elephant. The
inscription gives the names of Michael, I^ord High Chamberlain of
the Byzantine Court, and of Peter, the Governor of Xegrepont.
(In the cluu-ch at Siegburg is a large piece of purple silk decorated
with lions and bearing the names in Greek of two Byzantine Emperors
of the tenth century. The lions recall those pictured on the great
frieze of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon, and that of the
Persian Darius now at the IjOuvre._ The Hudarium of Saint Germain
in the Church of Saint Eusebius at Auxerre (Plate X), is a thick
purple silk covered with large yellow eagles, each of which is diapered
with rosettes; in Plate XI is a similar eagle, green ring in mouth, with
suspended pearl. This suggests the "blatti/n hyzaniea cum rosis et
aquilUii" mentioned in ancient inventories, as well as the one the
Empress Galla Placidia is said to have placed on the body of Saint
Germain, who died at Ravenna in 448 A. D. Itudso suggests the cope
now at Metz, made from the mantle of Charlemagne, which displays
foiu- large eagles with wide-spread wings, and has tiny griffins, cres-
cents and serpentine scrolls to fill up the vacant spaces and adorn the
geometrical wings and tails.
COPTIC PATTERNS
While a large proportion of the numerous so-called Coptic stuffs
woven in Egypt from the third to the eighth century for use as dress
trimmings, and preserved uninjured and unfaded in the graves and
tombs, were made of linen, or wool and linen, the weaving of silk was
also an important Coptic industry as shown by the collection in the
Kaiser Friedrich Museum at Berlin, and by Strzygowski's able book
on the subject. All the Coptic fabrics, of whatever material, sug-
gest their Greek-Egyptian ancestry, as well as the successive influ-
ences of Roman, Byzantine Roman and Mohammedan dominion.
Strzygowski has also utilized many of those that in style are a
degenerate form of Byzantine, to demonstrate the influence exercised
by China on the textile art of Eatpt and Western Asia.
MOHAJniEDAX PATTERNS
In the first quarter of the seventh century, in the year 622 A. D.
to be exact, occurred an event that was to transform the world — ^the
29
)
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Hegira (flight) of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. Before a
century had passed, the religion thus established by an humble Arabian
priest had assimilated to itself millions of followers, and with sword
and Koran had brought Syria and Persia and Egypt and the rest of
Byzantine Africa, and most of Spain, beneath the rule of Moham-
medan Caliphs, faithful to Allah (God) and to his prophet Moham-
med. Even across the Pyrenees, from Spain into France, swept the
enthusiastic conquerors, but were finally checked by Charles Martel,
the grandfather of Charlemagne, at the battle of Tours in the
year 732.
Henceforth the Mediterranean world was separated into three
divisions: the Byzantine Empire with capital at Constantinople, the
Christians of Italy and Western Europe, the Mohammedans. At
the end of the eighth century Charlemagne temporarily imited the
Christians of Western Europe into an empire from the fragments of
which the Holy Roman Empire later was assembled, and the king-
dom of France created. In- the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
these western Christians were moved with a religious fervor which
resembled that of the early followers of Mohanmied, and went on
crusades to Jerusalem and other parts of the East. For a time the
Christians beat back the Mohammedans, but as they came to know
them better they hated them less, and the ambition to extirpate them
because of their heresies was less keen.
In the middle of the fifteenth century, the Turks once more
pushed forward the standards of Mohammed and captured Constan-
tinople, that in spite of the attacks of barbarians and Saracens
(Mohammedans) and the treachery in the thirteenth century of the
Crusaders from the West had remained for over a thousand years
the capital of the world's art and civilisation.
However, it is only fair to state that among the Mohammedans,
art and science had flourished marvellously. Compared with them,
the Crusaders were uncouth and illiterate. The Mohanmiedans
absorbed much of the ancient Greek civilisation of Egypt and Syria,
and developed it marvellously along lines that created a general
Mohammedan style, as well as distinct divisions of the Mohammedan
style, like Moorish (Hispano-Moresque) and Persian. Vitally sig-
nificant was the influence of Mohammedan upon Byzantine art, as
f^ well as of Byzantine upon Mohanmiedan. But vastly more significant
and vastly more important was the influence of both upon the art of
80
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
Western Europe. Indeed, much of what is often attributed to the
native artistic genius of the descendants of the Franks and Lombards
and Saxons and Goths and Burgundians, is merely the result of
borrowing from Byzantine and Mohammedan sources, with modifica-
tions often due to imperfect understanding and inferior skill.
From the decoration of their damasks and brocades, the Moham-
medans naturally enough banished the Christian subjects and symbols
developed in Asia Minor and Syria and Egypt under Byzantine
dominion. But the basic frame-work and arrangement of circular
bands and geometrical lines was retained, because it harmonised with
the Arabic character. Distinctive of the Mohammedans are the
inscriptions in Arabic letters, sounding the praises of him for whom
the cloth was woven, or repeating some verse from the Koran, or
the names of the Prophet and other Mohammedan princes. Especially
popular in the part of the Mohanmiedan world of which Bagdad was
the capital, were the war and hunting scenes borrowed from Sassanid
compositions. The fabrics of Cairo, "the capital of Mohammedan
Egypt, showed much less Persian and more Coptic influence, and
the decorative floral forms were stiffer and much less naturalistic.
MOHAMMEDAN SPAIN
An especially interesting silk in the Royal Academy of History
at Madrid shows medallions containing the seated figures of a king
and a queen, upon a ground adorned with birds, lions and other
animals. It bears a Cufic inscription, with the name of Abdallah
Hicham, who was Caliph in the year 976. A splendid example in
the Morgan collection shows sphinxes facing each other on either side
of a tree of life. Plate XII is an interesting thirteenth century .
damask with "doublet" pattern inside of wheels. Characteristic of
the later Hispano-Moresque damasks and brocades and silk tapestries
is the predilection for line effects and geometrical motifs. Horizontal
bands of ornament often alternate with bands of inscriptions. Small
repeat patterns suggestive of tile work are conmion.
An indication of the importance of the ancient Mohammedan
looms is the fact that our word viuslin is derived from the name of
the city of Mosul, damask from Damascus, and gauze from Gaza
(Plate H of Chapter IV).
Credit for illustrations: Plate I, P. W. French & Co.; Plates IX, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI,
the Pennsylvania Museum.
CHAPTER III
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VPH^VETS
PART III
The Development ok Patterns
In the thirteenth century Chinese and Central Asiatic influences
once again made tlieniselves felt strongly in Mediterranean textiles.
Jenghiz Khan, at the head of inuunierahle hordes of Mongols and
Turks, traversed a large part of Asia with fire and sword and laid
the foundations of a mighty empire. He conquered northern China,
Turkestan and Persia, part of India and part of Russia. His son
extended the conquests in the East as well as in the West, where he
ravaged pitilessly Russia, Poland and Hungary. But their famous
successor, Kuhlai Khan, invited peace instead of war, and made his
capital at Pekin, where he was visited hy amhassadors and travellers
from all parts of the world, among them the Italian, Marco Polo,
whose hook descrihing his residence there, and his trijjs hack and forth,
is a fascinating narrative as well as a mine of valuable information.
1/ A natural result of this opening-up of China to the West was
the profoimd modification of Mediterranean textiles due to Chinese
influence. As this influence was most strongly felt in Persia, and
reached the West through Persia, the modification was more in the
direction of Persian-Chinese than of pure Chinese. The circular bands
and geometrical compartments and figure groujjs disappear, and are
! succeeded in the fourteentli centm-y by a wealth of flowers and leaf
motifs, at first stift" and highly conventionalised, but later naturalistic
though arranged in repeats and without the freedom and freshness
of design that flourished in China. Parallel with this and doubtless
influenced by it, was the development of verdure ornament in French
and Flemish tapestries, from the crude rectilinear shapes of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries to the varied and vivid mille fieurs
of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth. Indeed, the designs of many
32
:l
\l
p
t^.
r"X,
t < t /*
I'lale U . Plate III
FOURTEENTH CENTURY ITALIAN' PATTERNS
Plate I\- - Plate V
FOrRTF.ENTII CENTURY ITALIAN PATTERNS
34
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
of the animal rugs woven in Persia in the sixteenth century are merely
anotlier version of the millc fleur tapestries of the West, while
tapestries like the "Lady with the Unicorn," set at the Cluny Museum,
are simply alive with Saracenic suggestion. Important to note at this
})oint are the many Chinese "cloud bands" and ribbon knots, and
other Chinese motifs that appear on Persian rugs and silks from the
foiu'teenth to the sixteenth century, easily recognisable although
obviously reproduced by weavers ignorant of their meaning.
ANIMAL PATTERNS
It has long been the fashion to attribute the lack of animal and
human life seen in modern Oriental rugs and other fabrics to the
prohibitions of the Mohammedan religion. Mohammed, in his eager-
ness to supjjress the worship of idols, repeatedly forbade the repre-
sentation of life. But the expounders of the Koran did not find it
difficult to evade the law, and while preserving the ban on naturalistic
animal forms, permitted conventionalised fanciful or fantastic treat-
ments. Moreover, they did not hesitate to have their Christian slaves
and subjects reproduce unorthodox designs, reasoning that the
Christian weaver and not the Mohammedan wearer, might be expected
to receive the punishment. Also the prohibition against the weaving
of silk was held not to extend to silk stuffs with linen or cotton warp.
In other words, the fidelity to the sacred law varied in different
Mohanunedan countries, being strictest in Moorish Spain.
. The same condition prevailed in Christian countries. Certainly
the making of images and pictures of persons and animals is pro-
hibited definitely enough in the Jewish and Christian Ten Command-
ments, yet sculpture and painting do not on that account suffer
greatly in Christian countries, although animal forms have been
banished fi"om most European woven fabrics (except tapestries).
Protestant churches admit pictures into stained glass only, and that
grudgingly and usually with little art.
Undoubtedl}' the religious prohibition had an important influence
not only in the iconoclastic movements of the Christian Empire of the
East and the West (the Byzantine Empire and that of Charlemagne)
in the eighth century, but also in the Mohammedan world at various
periods. Moreover, the religious influence against woven pictures in
silk was powerfully supijlemented by other influences — by inability to
weave figures that were both representative and decorative; by the
85
Plate VI — Coi)e in Persian sixteenth oentury brocaded
velvet, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Plate VII — Ancient Persian velvet in the Metroj)olitan Museum of Art
36
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
introduction of a wealth of motifs from the East, which, as they trav-
elled West, lost their meaning and became formal small repeat pat-
terns instead of large, living ones; last, and most important of all, by
mechanical improvements in the loom which made it easier to produce
piittern and harder to produce design.
MOHAMMEDAN PERSIAN PATTERNS
Noteworthy are the damasks and brocades and velvets of
Mohammedan Persia (Plate VIII) in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, alive with personages and animals in the midst of luxuriant
flora. Especial fame attaches itself to the city of Kashan that had
been founded by the wife of Caliph Harun-al-Raschid, Charlemagne's
heroic Saracen contemporary. The favorite flowers were the jacinth,
the tulip, the eglantine, the pink, and the peach blossom. The manner
of their expression and composition was a marvel of decorative art.
Long stems describe graceful curves, and the fabrics seem like rich
gai'dens of paradise in which man and the animals appear newly
created after centuries of stiff and conventionalised representation.
In these wonderful fabrics, many of them rich with gold, are sug-
gested the fascinating scenes of the Arabian Nights. Here we see
the poet reciting his verses to his sweetheart ; or some Persian Orpheus
searching for her whom he has lost among the trees; or the chief
surrounded by his cavaliers pin-suing the lion, or launching the falcon;
all with an elegant grace and refined naturalism that far excelled the
most ambitious attempts of Sassanid predecessors. From Persia,
this wonderful activity spread to the West, to Asia Minor and Syria
under the dominion of the Turks, and thence to Italy.
SICILIAN PATTERNS
Although Sicily came under the control of the Normans at the
end of the eleventh century, the Mohanunedans preserved their
religion, their customs and costumes and industries. Especially were
they encoiu'aged to continue to practice the art of weaving. Roger II,
the Norman king of Sicily, in the second quarter of the twelfth cen-
tury, is also said to have brought back from his victorious expedition
to Greece (then part of the Byzantine Empire), Corinthian, Theban
and Athenian weavers to instruct his own subjects in growing as well
as in weaving silks, and to swell the fame of his tiraz at Palermo (tiraz
being the name used to designate the weaving factory which most
37
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Mohammedan princes supported at their courts). Soon Sicily began
to weave silks for the Crusaders who acquired in Asia a taste for
Oriental luxury. From Palermo the ships of the Venetians, which
at this period almost monopolised the trade of the Mediterranean,
bore away the famous Sicilian silks and distributed them throughout
Italy, Austria, Germany and France.
Most famous of the Sicilian silks are those preserved in the
Imperial Treasury at Vienna, once the coronation vestments of the
Norman kings of Sicily, then for six centuries the official robes of the
head of the Holy Roman Empire, brought to Germany in 119.5 by
the Emperor, Henry VI, who married Constance, the heiress of the
Two Sicilies (Sicily and Naples). The mantle that is divided into
two quadrants by a tree of life, on each side of which is a lion that
has downed a camel and is about to devour him, has the design not
woven but embroidered, and bears the inscription, "Part of what was
worked in the royal factory, in the capital of Sicily, in the year
of the Hegira 528" (A. D. 113.3, at the beginning of the reign of
Roger II). The richness and beauty of the mantle are indescribable.
The alb of white silk taffeta and the purple dalmatic have also been
preserved.
The designs of the Sicilian figured silks were rich and full of
symbolism, inheriting from Byzantine as well as from Saracen sources.
A lion seizing a duck that an eagle has pursued, suggests that the
owner of the garment was valiant enough to snatch his booty from
the eagle, the eagle signifying good fortune and riches; the lion, power
, and government. v Another silk shows a woman regarding a hare,
-^ and holding in leash a hound and a spotted cheetah, while diagonally
below is another woman with an eagle that holds a doe fast in its
claws. Another Sicilian design often reproduced for modern church
vestments shows two facing stags that look heavenward into the rays
of the sun upon which sit two eagles, ;all framed in an hexagonal
band of tiny hexagons like those that niodern oilcloth has borrowed
fi'om tiles. Another silk shows a lion an(f a hoopoe between two bands
of arabesque ornament that contain the inscription in Arabic, "The
Wise Sultan," which is particularly appropriate because the hoopoe
is a bird that symbolises wisdom. Another design shows crowns
alternating with large pin-wheel stars, and beneath each crown a
pigeon above a twisted ribbon is conspicuously placed bearing an
inscription in Arabic.
S8
/
<
DAMASKS, EllOCADES AND VELVETS
LUCCA, VKNICK AND GEXOA
In the thirteenth century the cities of northern Italy hegan to
compete with Sicily, first among them Lucca, whose products were /
shipped to Paris, Bruges and I^ondon. Soon the example of Luccji i
was followed in Pisa, Siena, Milan, Florence, Bologna, Venice ^and J
Genoa. xVs many of the weavers were Sicilians who fled from Palermo /
to seek refuge from the persecutions that succeeded the so-called /
Sicilian Vespers in 1282, when all the French in the island were massa- ■
cred, the Italian patterns were at first (luite as Oriental as the Sicilian. j
But hefore long the Saracenic designs and inscriptions hegan to lose
their meaning and to be copied merely as ornament without regai'il
to their special significance ( Plates II to V ) . With the borrowed
forms were mingled Italian creations — cartouches, escutcheons, castles,
fences and weird fantastic shapes. Gradually each city began to •
develop along individual lines, and became famous for some specialty.
Lucca wove religious subjects, scenes fr®m the New Testament, with
winged cherubs and angels carrying the instruments of the Passion,
and tabernacles and relicpiaries flanked by angels and cherubs. The
ribbon ornament, employed by the Chinese to symbolise Heaven,
was used at Lucca with the same significance. Siena also wove New
Testament subjects, usually to take the place of the orphrey embroid-
eries on church vestments, and with light designs on a dark ground,
commonly red.
Venice is said to have learned the art from families that fled
from Lucca during the political troubles there at the beginning of
the fourteenth centiu'y. But we have literary e\'idence that the art
of weaving cloths of silk and gold had already been practised in
Venice for OAcr half a century, which was, of course, to be expected
on account of the direct commercial relations of Venice with Palermo
and with Constantinople. However,, it is forjffih ets that Venice was
especially noted (Plate I), in the fourteenth century reproducing
Persian desigiis so faithfully, with the same palmette motifs and
scrolls of tulips, pinks, eglantines and jacinths, but with perhaps a
little less freedom and inspiration, that it is sometimes difficult to
tell them from the original. The Venetians also created a special
kind of velvet in which the designs rose in slight relief above the
ground, both in cut velvet. At the end of the fom-teenth century,
designs of Gothic ironwork and ornament derived from stained glass
windows began to appear in satin upon cut velvet ground.
39
1/ o ~^
■'■5"''-
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
Genoa also reproduced Oriental designs, and its specialty dvn'ing
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was ciscle velvet, which is the
combination of cut with uncut. The designs were conparatively small
and dark upon a satin ground, at first slender trees with birds perched
in the branches, animals rampant and crouching and walking. The
compositions were no longer symmetrical, and the uncut part was
often different in colour from the cut part.
GOTHIC POMEGRANATES
During the foiu-teenth century the slender and graceful tendrils
borrowed from the Orient were converted into knotted branches that^
formed a pointed oval,' inside of which was placed a group of animals.
From the lower angle began to sprout the pomegranate (the apple
of love) that was to be the characteristic ornament of the fifteenth
century. At first it was small and subordinated to the animals, but
it ended by crowding out the animals altogether, and being trans-
formed into the imposing pattern that dominated the fabrics of the
fifteenth century and the first quarter of the sixteenth. It is com-
posed of a central fruit seen from the side, and placed in a cluster of
leaves around which grow flowers and leaves surrounded by various
ornament. The pomegranate in the centre symbolises Christian lovet
the surrounding blossoms and fruit, that love by the aid of faith brings
forth the fruit of everlasting life.
In the last half of the fifteenth centiu-y a new style of pome-
granate pattern became popidar, particularly at the liurgundian
Court, to which Flanders was then subject, and which set the Gothic
decorative styles that were followed by France, Germany and Eng-
land, and to some extent by Italian weavers. The pomegranates grew
from a broad, wavy, decorated band, each on a wavy stem with blos-
soms and leaves (Plate I). Dui-ing the fifteenth century Italian
weavers began to emigrate to France, Flanders and Switzerland, and
by the beginning of the sixteenth the industry was well established
to the north of the Alps.
RENAISSANCE VASES
In the sixteenth century the vase replaced the pomegranate as
the characteristic pattern. At first it was a very modest vase, out of
which the pomegranate grew, but it ended by displacing the pome-
granate altogether, just as the pomegranate a century before had
41
Plate XI — Italiiui liaroqiie damask in silk and linen
Plate XII — German Renaissance damask, pold taffeta
figures on red satin (froniid
Plate XIII- l.owis XIII damask, miidcrn rfjini<lM<'ti(>n
Plate XIV I.ouis XI \' damask, mkkUmii reproduction
49
I'latc W — l,()lli^s XI \' (imiiask, iiKKlern reprotluotioii
'J.
*1*
^^.0*^-^
•y^
•l^"^''-
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:, .''
^^ .-^"i^/..
Plate X\'I — Louis W daniask, miKlerii re])r<Hluc'tion
♦«ki<
-^*^
*«
\\ liiin:i(lc. Miudcr'n rrjirndurt itui
Plate XVIII — Italian Uoeooo brocade, mi)deni reproduction
43
■ ■■-.
'/*w
'I'v^-
Plate XIX — Louis XVI velvet, modern rejiroduction
Plate XX — ^Louis XVI brocade, rich and elaborate in
many colours, modern reproduction
Plate XXI — Italian lanipas in five colours,
modern rej)roduction
Plate XXll -lypical Krt'n<-li directoire lanipas in iwo
tones of grey on blue ground, modern reproduction
44
/
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
disjjlaced the animals. Gradually the vase assumed elegant and elab-
orate Renaissance forms from which grew blossoms and flowers as
they previously did from the pomegranate (Plate X) . Patterns tend
to become smaller (Plate XIV of Chapter II), as the long Gothic
robes are replaced by the shorter garments of the Renaissance.
Instead of vases we sometimes And palmettes treated in similar
fashion, or small clusters of flowers loosely framed with blossoms
and leaves. Colours become less brilliant and, like the patterns, less
assertive. The grotesque ornament of ancient Rome is copied and
used as a som-ce for motifs and method. Architectural forms and
frames become Renaissance (Plate I of Chapter XVI) instead of
Gothic or Oriental in style, and the vertical effects of Gothic are
supplanted by the horizontal (Plate XII; also Plate XIV of Chap-
ter II) and other treatments characteristic of Classic conception
and practice.
THE BAROQUE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
During the ])eriod of transition from the Renaissance of the
sixteenth centin-y to the Baroque of the seventeenth (Plates XI,
XII, XIII), the framework of the motifs began to disappear. The
symmetrical form in the centre was displaced by an unsymmetrical
branch with blossoms and leaves, and finally developed into the typical
seventeenth centiny pattern of detached branches, in vertical series
leaning alternately to right and left. There was great variety in the
manner of drawing and in the interpretation of botanical details as
well as in the size of branches, which were from two to ten inches
long. At the same time the vase patterns of the sixteenth century,
but often without frames, were repeated thi-oughout the seventeenth
century, with the heavier shading and stronger contrasts that are
characteristic of Baroque (Plates XIV, XV). Especially rich and
luxurious were the velvets of the period of Louis XIII.
During this period were eliminated the Gothic and early
Renaissance tiny repeats on the one hand, and the splendid picture
effects on the other, and motifs were employed that were inferior to the
latter in interest and to the former in decorative value. It was the
exaggeration of parts at the expense of the whole, and produced
patterns that dazzle with their heavy boldness, even though they weary
with their loudness. As in architecture, painting and tapestries, so in
damasks, brocades and veIveEs===Barui|ne'was a ~sculptural style.
45
Pliite XXIII Plate XXIV
Modern American figured velvets with changealjle grounds
Plate XX\' Italian brocaded dania.sl<, seveiiteentli century Plate XW I Modern Anicricaii fijiurcd velvet
4(i
DAMASKS, IJKOCADKS AND VELVETS
Patterns did not please unless they rose strongly in relief against
the ground. The line and eolour beauties of Oriental and Gothic and
Renaissance were sacrificed in order to produce the illusion of "in the
round." In the attempt to express on flat surfaces the combination
of line, colour and relief, confusion often resulted. Especially bom-
bastic is the Baroque of Italy, Flanders and France, of the first half
of the seventeenth century (Plate 1 of Chapter 11). That style at
its best, and as interpreted by a genius, is seen in the paintings of
Rubens.
LOUIS XIV
But the style of the last half of the seventeenth century — that
is to say the style of Louis XIV (Plates XIV, XV), which was
extensively copied and imitated in the other countries (Plate XI),
though not always skilfully and usually with local accent and
tone — was Baroque pruned of its excrescences and brought within
the reign of law. Lender Charles Lebrun the decorative arts of
France were co-ordinated and France instead of Italy became the
decorative centre of the world, and the style of Louis XIV became
supreme. Immediately the interpretation of flora became much more
realistic and the modelling of lights and shadows more just. The
antithesis of Gothic and Oriental was reached, and instead of the
strong line effects of the foin-teenth and fifteenth centuries, and the
flat strap work of Renaissance, we have ponderous and rigidly bal-
anced details, with design marked and accentuated by contrast of
tone. Pearlier ages had employed tiny conventional forms diapered
over the surface of velvets and brocades, side by side of the larger
patterns. Where the style of Louis XIII had been oppressive, that
of Louis XIV was impressive. The perfection of its execution and
the justness of its proportions compel admiration, even though one
is not in sympathy with "heavy pedal" effects. The style of Louis
XIV is a "finished style," complete in all details, with a wealth of
damasks, brocades and velvets, to match its tapestries, paintings,
furniture and architecture. It is a Classic style, but Classic made
thoroughly French.
LOUIS XV AXl) CHIXESK
The style of Louis XV (Plates XVI, XVII, XVIII) is a
reaction from Classic in the direction of Romantic, from grandeur
towards grace, from formalism towards naturalism, from heroic to
47
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
human. It is above all a feminine style, and a style vivid with life and
movement (Plates X, XI of Chapter XV). The tendency was
alreadj^ perceptible fifteen years before the death of Louis XIV, in
1715, after a reign of seventy-two years. Already lace motifs and
Chinese motifs were beginning to introduce themselves into brocades.
Already Rococo motifs were beginning to disturb the balance of
designs with their naturalistic twists. Let us note the derivation of
the term Rococo. It is evolved from the first syllables of rocaille and
coquille, and hence literally means "rock-and-shell," but with long
use the meaning of Rococo has broadened from "rock and shell"
naturalism to include naturalistic motifs borrowed from trees and
plants and other objects, especially when the treatment is unsym-
metrical. The tapestry chair back of Plate IX in Chapter XVI
is a complete definition of Rococo.
The importance of Chinese influence on the decorative art of the
eighteenth century is usually underestimated (Plates X, XV, XVII,
XVIII, XXXVI of Chapter VI; Plate VIII of Chapter XVI).
An important revival of commerce between France and China
was one result of an embassy sent by Louis XV bearing Gobelin
tapestries and other splendid gifts. In return the Chinese Emperor
sent back wonderful pieces of porcelain and rich brocades. To these
apparently is due the remarkable development of colour perception in
Europe in the reign of Louis XV.
Brilliant but without delicacy even when mellowed by gold, had
been the colours of Gothic and Renaissance ; not until Europeans had
a chance to study the wonderful wealth of hues and tones in Chinese
silks and porcelains were they able to produce the charm that is the
prime characteristic of the French eighteenth century, that is to say
of the styles of Louis XV and Louis XVI.
The style of Louis XV was, above all, an interesting style. It
was full of variety. Chinese vases and dragons, quaint Chinese land-
scapes without perspective, pigtailed Chinamen in swings and boats,
Chinese pagodas and bridges and gardens and parasols, combined
with motifs copied directly from nature to relieve the ennui of an
age more anxious for thrills and new sensations than for glory and
great accomplishment. Delightful beyond words is the capricious
introduction into textile patterns of Rococo architectural fragments,
together with cascades and rocks and trees fancifully treated. Shadows
are no longer accentuated, as under Louis XIV, but light and shade
48
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
and colour are rendered with all the delicate gradations that nature
has given in such profusion to flowers and fruit.
LOUIS XVI
While the style of Louis XV was a "back to nature" style, that
of Louis XVI (Plates XIX, XX) was a "back to classic" style. But
it was classic of an entirely difi'erent character from Louis XIV. It
retained most of the grace and more than the delicacy of Louis XV
(Plate XV of Chapter II) . It was a style based not upon the public
buildings of ancient Rome, like Renaissance and Baroque, but upon
Roman domestic architecture and decorations, especially those of
Pompeii and Herculaneum, that became available through excava-
tion about the middle of the eighteenth century. Many books were
published illustrating Pompeiian form and ornament, and the popu-
lar phrase in decorative circles was "in the antique style."
The style of Louis XVI is above all a symmetrical style and a
gentle style. From it is banished all violence of line, shape and hue.
Especially soothing are the colours with their subdued greys and lack-
of brilliancy. The decorative motifs are small, usually smaller than-
nature. The variety of tiny-figured broches and brocades and
velvets originated was extraordinary. The basis of arrangement is
the vertical straight line, carrying tiny roses and other florals, baskets -
of flowers, and vases (Plate XIII of Chapter II) , medallions, musical
and gardening instruments, and especially ribbons gracefully twisted
and knotted. Stripes (Plates XIV and XV of Chapter II) and oval
shapes of various kinds are common, and parallelism of motifs is
frequent.
DIRECTOIRE AND EMPIRE
While the Empire style is also Classic, it is classicism of an
entirely different kind. It was a reaction from the delicate and the
graceful to the grand and the bombastic. It possesses the kind of
showy magnificence bj^ which the multitude is impressed, and for that
reason its influence was dominant long after Napoleon met his Water-
loo. It is the least French of all the French styles, and copied classic
ornament boldly and baldly instead of adapting it to modern con-
ditions. It apes the severity of republican Rome and the grandiosity
of imperial Rome. It is essentially a warlike style. Flaming torches,
eagles, stars, triumphal wreaths and mythological emblems like the
4y
Plate XXVII Plate XXVIII
MODERN AMERICAN FIGURED VELVETS WITH CHANGKABLE GROUNDS.
Plate XXIX Plate XXX
MODERN AMERICAN FIGURED VKIAETS.
50
I'lMlc \XX1
Phite XXXI I
MODERN A.MKUKAX I'lCrUKD VKLVETS
Plate XXXIII
Plate XXXIV
MODERN AMERICAN FIGURED VELVETS
51
Plate XXXV
Plate XXXVI
Plate XXXVII
Plate XXXVIII
UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE IN THE MORGAN COLLECTION AT THE
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM
On the left, tapestry; on the right, above, larapas; below, velvet
SS
DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
helmet of Minerva and the tlumderbolt of Jupiter are repeated over
and over. Otlier common motifs are Greek vases, anthemia, harps,
cornucopias, swans, lions, cu])ids, caryatids, rosettes. The small-
figiu'ed fabrics are hard and monotonous, with tiny detached motifs
geometrically arranged. Shiny fabrics were especially admired —
large-figured damasks and sombre velvets with relief effects almost
Baroque in their character.
The possibilities of the newly invented Jacquard attachments
were perverted. ApiJarently the overcoming of textile difficulties was
more sought than the production of beauty.
Colour schemes became heavy and sombre. The exquisite pastels
of Louis XVI were supplanted by deep greens, reds, blues, browns
and purples.
In other words, the Empire period was as much distinguished for
lack of taste as the French jjeriods immediately preceding for the
possession of taste. The period of transition between Louis XVI and
Empire is Directoire (Plate XX; also Plate XV of Chapter XVII) .
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
This lack of taste continued to overshadow Europe during the
whole of the nineteenth century. The poverty of individuals and of
nations caused by the Napoleonic wars turned the efforts of men away
from beauty to necessity, and the extraordinary material progress and
accumulation of wealth due to the development of steam power and
railroads kept the attention of the world concentrated on quantiti/
rather than qualiti/. The various Gothic, Queen Anne, Empire, Louis
XIV and I^ouis XV revivals did little to raise the general standard
of appreciation. Even the pre-Raphaelites and William Morris
found it hard to make themselves understood. But at last, with the
twentieth century, we began once more completely to assimilate the
past and once more to understand what styles really are and what it
means to create a new style. Already our damasks, brocades and
velvets show wonderful ability in the reproduction of the most beau-
tiful historic textiles, and enough that is new has been accomplished
to demonstrate that a new style period is about to begin. [Note: For
other illustrations of period designs, see especially Chapters XVII
and XVIIL]
Credit for illustrations: Plate I, P. W. French & Co.; Plates II to X and XXXV to
XXXVIII, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Plates XIII to XXII, F. Schumacher & Co.;
Plates XXIII, XXIV, XXVII, XXVIII, W. E. Ro.senthal.
53
CHAPTER IV
FUNDAMENTAL AND MODERN WEAVES
Nothing is more fascinating or more difficult than to analyse
weaves from the decorative and the use point of view. Even designers
who can accurately plot the fabrics on design paper, or punch them
on jacquard cards, hesitate and stammer when asked to put their
technical knowledge into popular form, and to transmute their
recondite formulas into phrases that will help the man behind the
counter as well as the woman in front of it. Part of the difficulty is
due to poverty of terminology. Words like iapestry, as explained in
Chapter XII, are employed in meanings that vary according to the
time and the place, and the intent of the seller.
A word that suffers almost as nmch as tapestry from catholicity
of meaning is plain. A plain fabric may be one of plain weave in
the sense that there is complete alternation of warps and wefts, or it
may be a fabric of twill or satin weave in solid color, or it may desig-
nate a woven fabric, even one that has been figured on the loom, by
contrast with one that has been printed. In this chapter it will be
used in the first sense only.
The fundamental weaves are plain, twill and satin. Given an
understanding of these, and one has already gone far towards the
comprehension of complicated double-cloth and jacquard effects.
Without them, one is jjerplexed and bewildered by comparatively
simple webs like those of taffeta, rep and denim.
At this point it may be well to emphasise the fact that in weav-
ing, the warp threads are mounted on rollers and stretched the long
way of the loom, whilst the weft threads (also called filling or train)
are thrown in the shuttle across the loom from right to left, and back
again; also that a prerequisite to weaving is a loom, and that without
a loom there can be no weaving; also, that a loom in its simplest form
is merely a frame to hold the warp threads taut and parallel and
54
Plate I— RIGHTKKNTH CKNTUUY VKXKTIAX CARVKD AND PAINTED CHAIR,
UPHOI.STKRKD IX STRIPKD SATIN
55
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
enable the warps to be moved, some up and some down, so as to leave
the opening or shed through which the bobbin or shuttle passes.
In plain weave there is complete alternation of warps and wefts ;
that is to say on the way out, across the loom from right to left, the
shed through which the bobbin passes has the odd threads below, and
the even threads above; whilst the shed through which the bobbin
passes on the way back has the even threads below and the odd threads
above. This shifting of sheds in plain weave is produced most simply
on the high-warp tapestry loom, where the cross-stave holds the warps
open in the first position, except when the lisses or looped strings
attached to the odd warps are pulled by the weaver's left hand so as to
bring the warps into the second j)osition. On the low-warp tapestry
loom, the odd warps are threaded through a harness that is moved
up and down by a treadle which is worked by the weaver's left foot,
whilst his right foot handles the even warjjs in the same way. On all
real tapestry looms, the weft is passed on the bobbin, and there is no
shuttle. The shuttle to carry the bobbin was introduced when the
wefts began to be thrown or knocked the full width of the warp,
instead of being passed only as far as the particular colour went.
The simplest form of plain weave is where warps and wefts are
of the same size and the same distance apart, so that they show equally
on the surface. An illustration of this is the cotton etamine, pictured
on Plate A 1, where the fact that the weave is comparatively open
with the threads far apart makes it easy to analyse the structure.
Other examples of textiles of simple, plain weave are the bin-lap
on Plate A 4, and the crash on Plate A 3, both in jute with very
rough and irregular weft threads that give interesting variety to the
surface. An even clearer illustration of the complete alternation of
plain weave is the monk's cloth in Plate B 1, where both warp and
weft are worked in pairs. Much less obvious is the plain weave of
the jaspe cloth on Plate A 2, where the coarse blue wefts are buried
beneath the fine brown warps, but shine through enough to play an
important part in the jaspe effect, that is secured by the use of con-
trasting warjjs, some light brown, others dark brown. With Plate
B 3 we come to a cotton rep, the fine warps of which are so numerous
as completely to cover the coarse wefts that make their presence
obvious in the form of ribs. In Plate B 4. the wefts are so uneven that
the result is a shikii rep, the vivacity of the surface of which is height-
ened by the fact that the dark red wefts are not completely covered,
56
c
FUNDAMENTAL AND MODERN WEAVES
and .shine tliroiigli the hght red warps in spots of colour. In Plate B 2
the fine warps are assembled in groups of fom* over alternating pairs
of wefts so that a honeycomb or basket- weave warp -covered surface
is produced. Reps that have coarse wefts covered with fine warps are
called icarp reps; those that have coarse warps covered with fine wefts,
xccft reps. But just as the fine-thread efi'ects on a bobbin loom
(real-tajjestry, high-warp or low-warj}) are produced with the weft,
so on the shuttle loom the fine-thread effects tend to be produced with
the warp; and whilst real tapestries are weft reps, shuttle rejjs and
shuttle ribbed tapestries are usually warp reps. Warp reps can, of
course, be figiu'ed in stripes by grouping the warps in different coloiu's,
but plain weaves like etamine, where wefts show equally with warps,
or where the wefts show through between the warps, are merely
spotted or toned when warps of different colours are used.
TWirX AND SATIX WEAVES
With Plate C we come to ttciU and satin weaves where the loss
of flexibility and control over the pattern that results from the sub-
stitution of shuttle for bobbin is made up for by increased manipula-
tion of the warps. In plain weave, the warps divide into two systems,
one of the odd warps, the other of the even warps. In twill weave,
the warp is divided into at least three systems; in satin weave, into at
least five systems. The result is that whilst the surface of plain weaves
consists of horizontal lines intersecting vertical ones, as in etamine or
burlap; or of coarse horizontal ribs entirely covered with fine warps,
as in rep ; or of fine and often hardly perceptible horizontal ribs only
partly covered with fine warjis, as in silk taffeta and silk grosgrain
and the jaspe cloth illustrated on Plate A 2, the surface of twills shows
diagonal ribs, as in Plate C 1, and the surface of satins, fine warp
threads only that lie smooth and flat with a characteristic gloss or
shininess produced by their even parallelism, as in Plate C 3.
A characteristic one-two twill is the denim in Plate C 1. In weav-
ing it, the warps are divided into three systems. A, B and C — the
A system including warps 1, i, 7, etc.; the B system warps 2, 5, 8,
etc.; the C system warps 3, 6, 9, etc. For the first passage of the
shuttle to the left, the A warps are depressed and the B and C warps
elevated, so that the weft covers the A wai-ps but is covered bj^ the
B and C warps. For the i-eturn of the shuttle to the right, the B
threads are depressed and the C and A threads elevated. For the
57
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DAMASKS, BROCADES AND VELVETS
next passage of the shuttle to tlie left, the C threads are depressed and
the B and A threads elevated, and so on to the end of the web. The
result is, of course, that twice as many warps as wefts remain on the
surface and make their presence apparent in the form of diagonal
ribs. When the wefts are comparatively coarse, as in the case of
Plate C 1, they lie comparatively flat and the warp ribs on the face
of the fabric are high and sharp, whilst the back of the fabric consists
of coarse wefts only jjartly covered with fine warps, the effect resem-
bling that of plain weave, as in Plate A 2. Of coiu'se, a twill may
also be under one over three (a one-three twill), or under two over
two (a two-two twill), etc. AVhen warjjs and wefts are of the same
fineness, the fabric can be figured in stripes by letting the warp pre-
donnnate in some (for instance, a one-two twill), and the weft in
others (a two-one twill) ; or in blocks or checks similarly. Then if
the warps are red and the wefts green, the fabric will be chequered
red and green on the face, as in some Scotch plaids, and reversed on
the back. When the wefts are coarse as compared with the warps, as
in Plate C 3, the diagonal effect is minimised in the weft stripes by
the horizontal eft'ect of the wefts. In Plate C 4, which is a striped
denim, the warps are dark green and the wefts light green, so that
we have dark green warp stripes alternating with light green weft
stripes. Plate C 2 is a sateen, a twill satin with diagonally ribbed but
satiny surface, owing to the large predominance of weft over warp.
It is a four-one twill and the wefts are coarser and snioother than the
warps. On Plate C 3 we have a satin Derby (the trade name for a
cotton or mercerised satin ) which is a one-four twill, the surface con-
sisting of fine mercerised warjjs, whilst the back, on account of the
coarseness of the wefts, resembles plain weave, the horizontal effect
of the wefts minimising the diagonal effect of the sparse warps.
DAMASK AND BROCADE WEAVES
Table damasks are the simplest of all damasks to understand
because the contrasts of texture, that is to say, of warp surfaces with
weft surfaces, are easy to see.
Just as tapestry is the most elaborately figured and character-
istic product of the bobbin loom, so damask is the most characteristic
figured product of the fully developed shuttle loom, whilst brocade is
bobbin weft figuring superposed on shuttle loom effects, the word
brocade being in ibi origin equivalent to bobbin or bobbin-figured, and
* 61
(3) Antique damask
Plate D— DAMASK WEAVES
FUNDAMENTAL AND MODERN WEAVES
also to the French broche, which is derived from hroche, the word
that designates the pointed bobbin of the high-warp tapestry loom.
Real tapestry depends for its figures upon contrasts of coloured
threads, whilst damask depends primarily not upon colour contrast, but
upon line contrast, i. e., the contrast of the ribs of partly covered
wefts with warp satin ground, or of warp satin figures with gros-
grain or rep or twill ground. Plate D 2 is a typical silk damask with
figures that have the horizontal ribbed effect of grosgrain tafi'eta
because of the coarseness of tlie partly covered wefts, but that are
really in weft twill, as can be seen from the back that is a pronoimced
warp twill with sharp diagonal ribs. We have then in the figures
both diagonal rib and horizontal line effects that contrast boldly with
the vertical line effects of the satin ground, giving the peculiar con-
trasts of light and shade characteristic of damask. If the wefts were
a different colour or tone from the warps, the figures, being only jiartly
covered with thin warps, would follow largely the colour or tone of the
wefts. On Plate D 1 the figures are in warp satin and the ground in
warp rep so that the wefts do not show at all.
In Plate D 3 we have one of the cleverest simple creations of the
modern loom, called "antique damask." The figure of the dog whose
head is decapitated in our illustration, is in fine rep, and the flowers
are in coarse rep, both outlined by short weft floats against the satin
ground. This means, of course, that all the surface except the out-
lines consists of the fine mercerised warps that cover the ribs of both
the reps and form the surface of the satin. To form the coarse rep
the wefts are, of course, covered in pairs. This, however, is not all.
The designer was M'orking on the inspiration, roughly and remotely
if you will, but nevertheless definitely, of ancient mediaval damasks,
and instead of keeping the warps all light in tone, made enough of
them dark in small groups to diversify the tone of the outlines and
also of the ribs through which the wefts show only a little but enough
for the darker wefts to make their presence felt in relieving the other-
wise monotonous surface of the dog's body, that is also subtly and
agreeably broken by isolated warp floats. This "antique damask" is
utterly and completely unlike the rich silk and gold creations of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but it shows a feeling for texture
that is just as important when working in cotton as when working in
silk and gold. It is a beautiful proof of the fact that some mod«ffn
designers are able to see beyond the design paper and really feel the
68
I'liite III- COTTON BACK DAMASK WITH SATIN AND GOI.D FIGURES ON RKP UUOUND
Plate IV— SILK DAMASK WITH l'IL?:T LACE STRIPES IN COTTON
6S
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threads in which their ideas are to be expressed. Plate E 3 shows
satin stripes in one colour, alternating with fine rep stripes of another
colour. The surface of both is a warp surface, the difference of colour
being produced by having warps in groups of different colours.
MODERN WEAVES
With Plate F 1 we come to another weave characteristic of the
shuttle loom (I almost wrote warjj loom, because the tendency on
the shuttle loom is to produce intricate figured effects by the manipu-
lation of fine warps, just as on the bobbin loom by the manipulation
of fine wefts). The weave of Plate F 1 is an armure weave, related,
I think, to the word annure that the French use to describe the
scheme of a warp system, and not, as has sometimes been said, to the
armure that means armour. An armure shows small, conventional
figures formed by floating short lengths of warps on a rep ground,
so that the surface consists entirely of warps. The figure on F 1 is
a fleur-de-lis framed in a diamond. Plate F 2 is an^ armure in rose,
with silvery lace effect introduced by bringing white wefts to the
surface and tying them down with warps so sparsely that they are
hardly covered at all, and toned towards rose only a little. The
diamond mesh effect, produced by floating warps in the lace-framed
large diamonds, is delightful. Floated effects in combination with
basket weave and plain, partly covered weft ground, are employed in
the black stripes of the "crinkled casement cloth" of Plate E 2, a
feature of which is the crinkle of the white stripes in plain weave.
Why the fabric illustrated on Plate G 4 is called cotton taffeta
no one knows, unless because it resembles silk taffeta in having partly
covered wefts. The tiny figures certainly bear no resemblance to silk
taffeta and are formed by weft floats. Plate G 1 is a typical silk
broche with twill weft figures in high relief upon a finely ribbed warp
ground. Jus^as typically what among modern silk fabrics is called
a brocade, is Plate G 2, with its detached figures mostly in coloured
wefts that float irregularly upon a ribbed warp ground, and with
stripes that are figured by floating extra warps as well as wefts.
Plate G 3 shows geometrical floated black weft figures upon a blue,
finely ribbed warp ground through which the black of the wefts
shines, stippling the surface agreeably.
Now we come to Jacquard tapestries that consist of two or more
sets of warps and wefts (double cloths in fact), but that are tied on
69
Plate VI
Plate VII
MODERN AMERICAN JACQUARD WEAVES
Plate VllI Plate IX
JACQUARD COTTON BROCADES AND TAPESTRIES MADE IN AMERICA
70
Plate X
Plate XI
Plate XII
Plate XI 11
MODERN AMEHICAN NOVKl.TIKS
71
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the surface so as to produce the effect of plain weave ribbed as in
Plate F 3, or lined both ways (i. e., in square point like cross-stitch
needlework) as in Plate F 4. F 3 has a system of light coarse wefts
Avith fine coloured warps, and also a system of black coarse wefts with
fine coloured warps. The figures are formed by bringing to the sur-
face sometimes the light wefts, sometimes the black wefts, and modify-
ing their colour by warps that cover them partly, toning them towards
red or blue or green or whatever tone is desired. While F 3 resembles
real tapestry surface in being ribbed, the effects possible are limited
as compared with those of the fine square points of F 4 in which
complicated pictiu-e, as well as verdure effects, are produced. The
same idea applied in coarse point, or in coarse combined with fine
point, to the imitation of old cross-stitch needlework is wonderfully
effective. Plate E 1 shows a most ambitious weave in cotton called
"striped Antoinette." In it tapestry stripes alternate with black
damask stripes, from which they are separated by cording formed of
coarse warps loosely tied on the surface by slender weft binders. The
points of the tapestry are very fine and the colours are many upon a
cream ground. The figures of the damask stripes are in rep on satin,
the surface being, of course, entirely warp.
In gauze weaves warp threads twist in pairs around wefts, hold-
ing them firmly and permitting the structure to be more open and
more lace-like than the structure of other shuttle-woven fabrics.
Plate H 1 is a grenadine with mercerised wai-ps and artificial silk
wefts, and is figured with plain weave flowers upon gauze ground.
Plate H 3 is a gauze figured by omitting groups of warps. Plate H 2
is a coarse net with large open mesh, figured by twisting pairs of warps
around pairs of wefts. Plate H 4 has large squares outlined by double
cables upon a rectangular-mesh, gauze-net ground.
A very delightful fabric suggestive of the ancient gold damasks
is shown on Plate II, with coarse gold wefts tied loosely down upon
a plain blue jaspe cotton ground. The contrast between the hori-
zontal gold wefts and the fine vei'tical warp threads of the ground is
pronounced, but the coloiu- contrast is softened not only by the grey-
ness of the jaspe surface, and the blue that shines through the gold
wefts from beneath, but also by the dulness of the gold, which con-
sists of coffee-coloured strips of thin, tough paper gilded on one side
and each twisted into thread after the fashion of the Japanese.
Plate III is a cotton-backed damask, that is to say, a red and
78
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gold damask with coai'se cotton wefts tliat do not come to the surface
except in short floats to outline the satin figures on rep ground, both
of which are, of course, executed in silk warps. However, there are
also gold figures, executed in supplementary wefts of gold which come
to the surface in plain weave and are toned only a little, but agreeably,
by the slender red silk warps that tie them at intervals. The red of
the rep ground is darkened but enlivened by the twinkling through
of the black of the cotton wefts, and the red of the satin figures by
the twinkling through of the gold wefts.
Plate IV is a lace .stripe damask, with filet lace stripes that
alternate with damask stripes, the latter having rep figures on satin
ground, both jaspe and executed in fine warps of lilac silk. In the
lace stripes there are also coarse cotton warps and wefts brought to
the surface and so tied with slender binders as to simulate the square
mesh effect of filet lace, on a ground of lilac silk, whilst other coarse
cotton wefts fill up the meshes of the darned part of the lace.
Plate V is the "striped Antoinette," illustrated for texture on
Plate E 1. Plates XIV, XV, XVI are all mercerised "derby
damasks," which is the trade name for cotton damasks. Plate XIV
is an old style one shown in order to make clear the vast improve-
ments in weave and textiu'e that have been accomplished in the past
ten years, as illustrated by Plate XV, which is a new style derby
damask. Plate XVI is a derby damask with small figures.
SILK VERSUS CHEAPER MATERIALS
Whilst many of the fabrics so far discussed in this chapter exem-
plify the use of cheaper materials than silk to produce or supplement
silk effects, it is not just to dismiss them with contempt as "cheap
imitations." Many of the results obtained equal or surpass, but in a
different way, the results obtained with silk, especially where there
have been understanding and appi'cciation of the texture effects pecu-
liarly possible to cotton and to mercerised, as in the derbies and the
cotton-backed goods; of the texture effects peculiarly possible to
linen, as in table damask; or to jute, as in burlap; or to artificial silk,
as in several of the gauze weaves; or to gold, even paper gold, as in
Plate II. The value of a work of art does not and should not depend
upon the value of the materials that compose it. Human intelligence
and human effort are what create art, and the success with which they
are applied is the measure of the beauty attained. A well-planned
77
Plate XVI — Small-figured Derby
Plate XVII — Modern gold velvet in Sassanid design
78
FUNDAMENTAL AND MODERN WEAVES
and well-woven jute or cotton is vastly more important than an all-
silk textile put together badly. Only when the result is unsuccessful
from the use and beauty point of view should the reproduction of silk
damasks and brocades in cheaper materials be harshly criticised.
There should be no real competition between them. Silk has
many qualities that in all other materials are not only inimitable but
even absurd. It can afford to help educate the weavers of cotton to
the possibilities of cotton.
FABRICS ENRICHED WITH GOLD
I have in this chapter illustrated a number of fabrics enriched
with gold, and it is with much gratification that I note the increased
use of gold tinsel in the fabrics of today, both those woven for dress
goods and those woven for upholstery stocks. Gold skilfully handled
mellows and blends comjjanion colours wonderfully. The highest proof
of this is the gold used in famous tapestries of the Golden Age, like
the Mazarin tapestry, the Dollfus Crucifixion (Plate VIII of Chapter
XIV) and Saint Veronica, formerly in the Morgan collection. But
ahnost equally inspiring is the way in which gold was used in the
damasks and brocades and velvets of the Middle Ages.
The velvet which is illustrated in Plate XVII is one of the most
exquisite creations ever made in France and brought to this country.
It is Sassanid Persian in style, one of the ancient wheel patterns, with
personages and animals like those in Plates III to VIII of Chapter II.
But the original (Plate III of Chapter II), dating from the sixth
century A. D., which was discovered in 1898 in th.e treasury of the
Church of Saint Cunibert in Cologne, and is now preserved in Berlin,
is not a velvet but a "damask enriched with gold." The figuresi*
of the velvet reproduction are in gold and red-gold wefts on a redji
jaspe velvet ground, the redness of the red gold being produced by
bringing more of the red warps to the surface as binders. The
Byzantine original is described on pages 70 and 71 of Falke's Seiden-
weberei. On dark blue ground, inside the wheels, under a date palm,
are two mounted huntsmen with drawn Bows whose arrows have each
pierced two animals, a lion and a wild ass. Blossoms, eagles, hunting
dogs, stags and hares fill the background. On the wide-spreading
lower branches of the palm tree are clusters of fruit with blossoms
and leaves of various shapes. In the upper branches are birds.
This modern velvet reproduction illustrates the same principle
79
Plate XVTTI
I'late XIX
Plate XX Plate XXI
MODRUN AMERICAN JACQUAUn WKAVKS
80
Plate XXII
Plate XXIII
Plate XXIV Plate XX\"
MODERN A.MHHICAX JACQUARO WKAVKS
81
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
(but in the finest materials and the most intricate and exquisite hand-
loom work) that is illustrated in many of the cheaper and simpler
fabrics treated of in this chapter (notably that of Plate II) , and is an
object lesson in the adaptation of ancient ideas effectively to modern
conditions. Upon such adaptations, and upon the original ideas
developed with them as a background, depends the textile future of
this country.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I, X, XI, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Plates VI,
VII, VIII, IX, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVIII, XXI, XXII, XXIV, Plates D 3,
E 1 and H, tiie Orinoka Mills; Plate XX, Collins & Aikinan; Plates XIX, XXIII, XXV,
Stead & Miller.
CHAPTER V
LACES
USE, ORIGIN, NAME AND DEVELOPMENT; MACHINE LACES
AND LACE CURTAINS
One of the modern distinguishing marks of civilisation is the
use of laces for residential and personal adornment. Fifty years ago
lace curtains were a luxury in Eiu'ope reserved for the few, and on
this side of the Atlantic, rarer still. Today they are in more general
use in the United States than in any other country in the world, and
every year sees an improvement in designs and also in texture and
material.
Yet there are decorators and architects who declare themselves
opposed to lace curtains, for sanitary and decorative reasons, and
seldom or never employ them in their practice. Occasionally writers
for the newspapers even announce that the day of the lace curtain
has passed, and that in the future our homes will be comparatively free
not only from lace but also from other textiles such as damasks,
velvets, brocades, embroideries, cretonnes, tapestries, carpets and rugs.
Nevertheless, the use of laces and other upholstery and drapery
goods continues to increase. People generally realise that textiles
are quite as necessary and appropriate for the inner covering of houses
as for the outer covering of bodies; and that, as far as sanitation is
concerned, the dust that is caught and held by a textile, until removed
by the cleaner, is innocuous as compared with the dust which unclothed
walls and furniture allow to rush for human lungs whenever the air
is set in motion by the opening of door or window.
From the decorative point of view the use of openwork textiles,
light alike in tone and texture, is highly to be approved. But, of
course, the designs should harmonise with the other furnishings —
sometimes merely plain net hemmed wide at the edge, sometimes
elaborate combinations of filet italien, point de venise, fianders
33
I'hite I— ANCMKNI UKTK Kl.J.A J.ACK ON J)KA\VN I.INKN
Only partly (inislied and hence illustrating the process in detail
Plate II PIN'TO l.\ ARIA XEKDI.KWOHK I.ACK
After it emancipated itself from the rcticclla freometriciil tradition. Note the vivacity of the
birds and the exquisite warmth of the leaves and flowers
84
LACES
guipure, or even the geometrical and primitive needlepoint reticella.
Especially to be commended is the fact that lace curtains tone
the light without quenching it. Nothing is more ugly or more
injurious to the eyesight than the burning glare and shadow of
uncurtained windows, or of windows where the amount of light is con-
trolled only by opaque roller shades.
Daylight is usually bearable out of doors where distant vistas
relieve the vision, but daylight for indoor use requires quite as much
skill to control and temper as does artificial light.
THE ORIGIX OF I.ACE
At this point the question naturally arises : What is lace ? How
is it distinguished from embroidery and from the product of the loom?
The answer, of course, is: It isn't. Some lace is embroidery
and some lace is produced on the loom. The only satisfactory and
complete definition of lace is:
Openwork made with needle, or bobbin, or by knitting, knotting,
tatting, or crocheting. Whether the work is done by hand or
machine makes no difference, except that the term real lace is reserved
for the hand-made laces. Also, it is well to point out that lace effects
range from plain net with regular meshes, to animal and human or
conventional figures, in close textiu*e and contrasting sometimes with
net ground, sometimes with open ground that is intersected only by
the slender brides that hold the motifs together. Also, whilst most
laces are white or cream, some are polychrome, or black, or gold, or
silver.
The origin of lace, like the origin of most arts, is hard to deter-
mine. We have hair and breast nets that have been safely preserved
in the graves of ancient Egypt since over a thousand years before
the time of Rameses the Great, who was Pharaoh in the thirteenth
century B. C. We have many plain and fancy nets of the Greek-
Roman-Egyptian type known as Coptic, dating from the third to the
seventh centuries A. D., as well as ancient nets made in America,
some of them on the loom, with interrupted or irregular weft, which
have been preserved in Peruvian graves since the time of Columbus
and before.
Nevertheless, of lace as we know it the creation and develop-
ment is due to Italy, just as entirely as was the development of picture
tapestries due to the French Netherlands, of Gothic architecture and
85
^^
Plate 111 — Swiss brussels lace mntifs for curtains
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Plate IV- On the right, hroderle anglaise (pierced work, which Is the simplest form of out-
work) with reticella centre; on the left, outwork figure of man
EXAMPLES OF REAL EACE MOTIFS
a — Clunv venise lace
1) — Filet italien figure panel
c — Filet insertion lace
Plate V— EXAMPLES OF UKAL I.ACES
87
Plate VI ^•AUIO^S TYPES OF CLUNY LACK
88
1 — Venetian rose point. 2 — English point. 3 — Argentan. 4 — Angleterre I.ouis XVI.
5 — Burano point, fi — Alen<,'on. 7 — Venetian rosaline. S— Venetian
raised ivory point. 9 — ^'enetian rose point.
Plate VII— EXAMPLES OE REAL LACES
89
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h — Bruges lace panel. Similar to Flanders lace but
finer in texture
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it/g"
a — Flanders lace panel
Plate VIII— EXAMPLES OF REAL LACE MOTIFS
90
LACES
stained glass windows to France, and of silk to China. The develop-
ment began in the fifteenth century, as illustrated in the paintings of
the period and occasionally referred to in wills and inventories, and
reached its height in the sixteenth century. Venice (Plates I, II),
perhaps inspired by primitive laces and trimmings of the Roman
Empire of the East, and of Sicily, led in the development of lace made
with the needle, but was so(m outstripped by Genoa in the produc-
tion of lace made with bobbins. Another Italian city famous for
bobbin lace in the sixteenth century was Milan. A majority of the
designs were outhned in braid scrolls with openwork edge, held
together by slender plaited brides. The Genoese laces largely repro-
duced the styles of Venetian reticella and other needlepoints.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME f
The history of the English word lace follows closely the develop-
ment of the fabric in Italy. Before the sixteenth century, lace meant
fringes and trimmings, and cord and tape lacings. The ancient usage
is still continued in the laces of corsets, waists and shoes. (On this
point consult my article on Lace in the new edition of the New Inter-
national Encyclopaedia.)
The word is derived from the Latin laqueus, meaning loop or
noose, which is also the meaning of the derivatives, the French lacs,
the Italian laccio, the Spanish lazo, and the English lassoo. Equiv-
alent to lace of the kind that forms the subject of this chapter are
the French dentelle, guipure, point; the German Spitzen and Kanten;
the Spanish encaje; the Italian trina, merletto, punto, pizzo; and the
Latin opus reticulatum et denticulatum. The French lacis means net,
and the French lacet cord or braid.
EARLY ITALIAN LACES
The earliest of the important Italian laces were reticella, filet
italien, and huratto. The first was a development of drawn and cut
work (Plate I), but the name was retained for similar lace made
with the needle without cloth foundation. The designs are geometrical
and simple, and arranged in small squares.
When needle lace so completely freed itself from il;s reticella and
cut work ancestry (Plates I, II and IV) aS to be worked in bold
and irregular patterns like those of Plate II, it began to be called air
point (punto in aria), the highest type of Venetian laces.
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LACES
Filet italien starts with a coarse hand-knotted square-mesh net
foundation, on which the closed or toile parts of the pattern are darned
in (Plate V b, c). Buratto is a woven substitute for the knotted
net — a square-inesh net made in gauze weave with warps that twist
in pairs around the wefts. Dratctncork net is made by drawing the
alternate threads of scrim or etamine, and binding the intersections
with the needle.
BOBBIN VERSUS NEEDLE
Bobbin lace (Plate VI) like punto in aria is made on a pillow
carrying the pattern that guides the worker; but instead of being
made with a needle that in buttonhole stitch ties together the dif-
ferent outline threads, it is made with numerous bobbins that twist
together or plait the threads without the limitations imposed by the
loom, or by the needle. Moreover, bobbin lace is much less expen-
sive to make than needlepoint.
The German claim to the invention of bobbin lace is not sup-
ported by the facts, although in 1834 at Annaberg, in the Hartz
Mountains, a monument was erected to "Barbara Uttmann, died Jan-
uary 14, 1575; inventor in 1567 of bobbin-made lace which made her
the benefactress of the neighborhood." Already in 1560 the author
of the text of a book of bobbin-lace designs published by Froschower
at Zurich had said: "From among the divers arts invented and prac-
tised for the good of lumianity, we wish to mention the art of making
bobbin lace which arose in our country about twenty-five years ago
and quickly took root amongst us. It was imported into Germany
from Italy for the first time by Venetian merchants in 1536."
Especially interesting is the comparison the same writer makes
between needle and bobbin lace. He says:
"AVhen, years ago, the method of trapunto and relief was m
vogue, there is no telling how nuich time was taken in making a collar
or bib or anything of the sort, joined to heavy expense to the person
by whom it was ordered. On the contrary, now, a bobbin lace may
be acquired for little money and in much less time, because the cost
of production is so much reduced. Formerly, too, collars and other
articles were adorned with threads of gold and coloured silk, occasion-
ing vast expense and trouble in cleaning or washing with soap; now
all this is reformed and trimmings are of thread capable of resisting
the wear and tear of the wash tub."
95
Plate XI\' — Aliove, filet antique; below, inachiiie Clu
"y
Plate X\'— On the left, modern "Arabian" lace; on the right, schiffle lace motif
EXAMPLES OF REAL LACE MOTIFS
96
LACES
FRENCH AND FLEMISH LACES
The early Venetian laces were flat, and not till about 1640 did
rose points (raised points) with corded and relief effects begin to be
made (Plate VII, 7, 8, 9). Those of boldest design and highest
relief are called gros jjoints de venise. About the middle of the six-
teenth century Flanders began to be a lively competitor of Italy in
tlie making of lace; and soon after, France attempted to follow suit.
Hem-i 111 (1.57.5-89) appointed a Venetian, Frederic Vinciolo, court
pattei'mnaker of linen embroideries and laces, and some of his designs
were published in book form. Finally, in the last half of the seven-
teenth century, in the reign of Louis XIV, the importation into
France of Italian and Flemish laces was forbidden, and Venetian lace
workers were secured to help develop the industry at Alen^on, Arras,
Rheims, and other centres. These French imitations were called
points de France (Plate VII, 3, 6) . The Alen9on designs were more
fanciful, and less severe, than tlie Italian ones, and were widely copied
by the Flemish makers. IJoth French and Flemish laces laid par-
ticular emphasis on fineness of thread and delicacy of texture, thus
leading taste away from the standards that had made Italian laces
famous and beautiful.
About the middle of the seventeenth centurj' the Flemish guipure
bobbin laces with bride grounds (Plate VIII a, b) began to be called
points de jiandres ("Flemish lace," now called Flanders or Bruges);
while the scroll patterns on net ground were designated as points
d'Angleterre. Among Flemish cities of high reputation for indi-
viduality in bobbin lace was Mechlin, with its hexagonal mesh and
corded efi'ects, and Brussels with an even more elaborate hexagonal
mesh and with naturalistic designs based on needlepoint Alen^on.
The English Honiton is a simpler and cruder form of Brussels.
Most of the hand-made laces used in American interior decora-
tive work come from France and Belgium, and most of the machine
laces from France and England. AVhile the laces made at Burano
(Plate VII, 5), a suburb of Venice, where the industry, was revived
about forty years ago, are worthy of the best traditions of the Italian
Renaissance, they are too expensive for most modern drapery work.
MACHINE LACES
The first lace machine was based on Lee's stocking machine, as
modified by Strutt and Frost in 1764 to produce net. By 1769 Frost
97
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Plate XVI — On the left, reticella needle lace; on the right, schiffle
imitation reticella lace
Plate XVII— On the left, Cluny venise lace; on the right,
Russian drawnwork
EXAMPLES OF REAL LACE MOTIES
98
LACES
was able to make figured net, and by 1777 net witb square meshes
that were fast. The second lace machine is the warp frame, so called
because for each warp thread there was an individual needle which
loojjcd the thread first to the right and then to the left. By 1795 this
machine produced plain net and soon afterwards figured net in an
almost endless variety of meshes and patterns. The third lace machine,
brought to perfection by continued improvements during the past
century, is the so-called Leavers machine, originated by John Heath-
coat (1809) and John Leavers (1813). The application to the
Leavers machine of the jacquard attachment (see Development of
the Loom in Chapter I ) vastly increased the range and intricacy of "
patterns possible, and the operation by water and later by steam and
electric power vastly increased the speed and quantity produced. In
the Leavers machine warp threads and bobbin threads are used, some-
times more than 9,000, making 69 pieces of lace at once, each piece
requiring 100 warp and 48 bobbin threads. The warp threads are
stretched perpendicularly (as on the tapestry and Oriental rug high-
warp loom), just far enough apart to achnit the passage between
edgewise, of a twenty-five cent piece. The bobbins are so fiat and thin
that they pass without difticidty. Ingenious mechanism varies the
tension of warp and weft threads as desirable. As the bobbins swing
like pendulums through the warp threads, they are made to vacillate
and twist around the warps, and the twistings are driven home by
combs. If the bobbin threads are held taut and the warp threads
loose, the warps will twist on the bobbin threads, and vice versa.
Whilst many of the laces and nets and nottiugham lace curtains
made on the Leavers and the lace curtain machines are exceedingly
attractive, their imitation of real lace is far surpassed by the new
Xottingham circular lace machine which produces cluny insertions
and edgings that are in every way identical with those of hand-made
cluny (Plate XIV). * " '
The most important embroidery machines used to make laces are
the hand-embroidery machine that nudtiplies automatically the work
of the operator who executes the master pattern, and the schiffle or
power embroideri/ machine that employs shuttle as well as needle and
has an output many times hn-ger than that of the hand machine. On
these two machines are made the world's imitations of rose point and
gros jioint laces, and to machine nets are added embroidery effects of
the most pleasing type (Plate XVIII) . The open-ground laces made
99
2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, S), figured in the weaving; 1, 5, embroidered with the
schiifle machine. (Reproduced at actual size)
Plate XVIII— GROUP OF MODERN FANXY NETS
100
LACES
oil tlie schiffle machine are embroidered on a silk or woollen ground
that is rotted away chemically after weaving, leaving the boldest
possible guipure effects (Plates VII a and VIII a).
The honnaz machine is used principally in the making of the
so-called stciss lace curtains. There are also sewing machines that
produce a buttonhole edging and drawnwork effects.
Most machine laces are made of cotton, thus rendering it easy to
distinguish them from real laces that are usually made of linen.
Fifteen years ago nottingham one-piece lace curtains, in large
scroll designs, most of which were bad, were the bread-and-butter of
American drapery departments. Ruffled and fluted nmslins, and
novelty curtains with nottingham laces applied as insertions and edg-
ings on ruffled and plain nets, were carried for the better trade, but
for the jioorer residences and for all hotels of every class the notting-
ham was the thing. Xow the old-style nottingham is welcome
nowhere, and the nottingham manufacturer, American as well as
English, is rapidly becoming merely a supplier of raw materials to
the converter. Of course, I should add that for many years prac-
tically all of the nottingham lace curtains used in America have been
made in America. In this connection it is interesting to note that the
first nottingham lace machine to come to America was set up at Ford-
ham, in New York City, in 1885.
VARIETIES OF I-ACE CURTAINS
The principal varieties of lace curtains are:
( 1 ) French Lace Curtains. — A general name for those
made with real lace mounted on machine net, or on silk, or on scrim,
as well as for the few that are made entirely of real lace.
(2) Xottingham Lace Curtains. — A general name for those
woven in one piece on the lace curtain machine, usually with an
embroidered buttonhole edging added after weaving and sometimes
with an applique cord, as in the once popular "corded arabians."
(3) Swiss Lace Curtains. — A general name for those made
by embroidering designs with the honnaz sewing machine on machine
net. The principal varieties are tambour, brussels, applique and irish
point. The tambours are so called from the embroidery frame that
formerly held the net while the embroidery was put in by hand with
the crochet hook. The brussels have the field of figures filled in with
bonnaz stitch of finer yarn (Plate III). The appliques have thin
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muslin appliques filling the ground of the figures. The irish points
have openwork spiders in addition to the muslin appliques. Besides
these four varieties there are numerous etamine, double net and
coloured novelties, many of them in architectural and period designs.
(4) Madkas and Otiieu Gauze and Fancy ^yKAAT,s. — Made
on a gauze loom with openwork effects. In gauze weave ( Plate PI of
Chapter IV) the warps twist in jjairs around the wefts, making pos-
sible the production of extremely lacy effects. Madras has broche
figiu'es with the floats trimmed off. Polychrome madras has been
succeeded in popularity by the creams and ecrus. Crete is heavier
than madras and has an etamine instead of a gauze ground. Also
the cut side is the right side of madras but the wrong side of crete.
(5) NovEETY Lace Curtains. — A general name for all kinds
of effects produced without the use of real lace, by the application and
insertion of nottingham and other machine laces and braids on net, or
scrim, or muslin ; sometimes, but rarely now, with ruffled net or muslin
or cretonne edging. The once popular renaissance laces made in
imitation of Flanders and Bruges lace (Plate VIII) by tacking
together woven braid with brides and spiders have now practically
disappeared from the shops; even the arabian motifs made in imita-
tion of the hand-made arabe lace (Plate XV) by using corded braid
ai'e also being crowded out. Princess lace, like renaissance, starts
with woven tape but is of finer quality and has more hand-work intro-
duced. Scrim, especially the better qualities with drawnwork effects,
is constantly increasing in popularity, and constantly the quality of
net demanded by even the cheaper trade is improving.
I would sum uj) by saying that all laces, machine as well as hand,
divide into two great classes : ( 1 ) those made with the needle or
crotchet hook, (2) and those made with the bobbin or otherwise; that
is to say, ( 1 ) those sewed or embroidered, ( 2 ) those plaited or woven,
or knotted, or knitted, or tatted.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I to XVIII, John F. Patching & Co.; Plate XIX, Bromlev
Mfg. Co. and Patohogue Mfg. Co.; Plate XX, Quaker Eaee Co.; Plates XXI 1 and 2, E. C.
Carter & Co.; Plate XXI 3, I.oeb & Schoenfeld.
CHAPTER VI
EMBROIDERIES
Origin-, Byzantine Roman, Sicilian, Engi-ish, Flemish,
Florentine, American, East Indian, Chinese
Most of the embroideries made today are either copies of ancient
ones, some intended for sale as antiques, or conventionalised patterns
produced in quantity on the bonnaz or the schiffle machine. This is
so in spite of the fact that in the latter part of the nineteenth century
such distinguished artists as William Morris, Burne-Jones and
Walter Crane supplied English embroiderers with original designs.
However, too much cannot be said in praise of some of the petit point
and crewel work now being done by hand in England. It is faithful
in spirit as well as in letter to ancient traditions, and, like the best
work of old, is based on or adapted from ancient models. In the
United States there has been a remarkable development of schiffle
work since the war began.
Embroidery is the art of ornamenting cloth and other materials
with the needle. But embroidery on net and cutwork belongs with
lace. Embroidery was probably applied to skins almost as soon as
needle and thong were tirst employed to join pieces of skin together
into garments. The Laplanders embroider their reindeer-skin cloth-
ing with needle of reindeer bone, thread of reindeer sinew, and
applique of strips of hide. Among the primitive tribes of Central
Africa the girls embroider skins with figures of flowers and animals,
supplementing the effect with shells and feathers.
Of the textiles of ancient Babylon and Assyria, no fragments
have survived. But the Nineveh mural reliefs in the British Museum
show Assyrian robes with both geometrical and floral ornaments, and
the famous relief now in the Louvre from the palace of the Persian
king, Darius I (485-321 B. C), shows robes with diaper patterns.
These ornaments, like those of the hangings of the Jewish tabernacle
106
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described in the Book of Exodus, may all have been tapestry but it is
probable that most of them wex'e embroidery.
Among the ancient Greek textiles exhumed from Crimean
graves are both tapestries and embroideries now preserved in the
Hermitage at Petrograd. One of the embroideries attributed to the
fourth century B. C. is in coloured wools on wool, and shows a cavalier
with honeysuckle ornament. Another piece has a stem, and arrow-
head leaves, richly and elegantly worked in gold.
Martial, in the first century A. D., writes that the embroideries
of Babylon have been driven out of fashion by the tapestries of
Egypt (victa est pectine Niliaco iam liahylonis acus). The common
Roman name for embroidering was "painting with the needle" (acu
pingere). Virgil uses it in speaking of the decoration of robes, and
Ovid describes it as an art taught bj^ Minerva. Pliny says that the
first mention of embroidered garments (pictas vestes) is in Homer,
and that the Phrygians were the first to ornament robes with the
needle, which is why they are called Phnigioniae. He adds that gold-
embroidered garments were named Attalicae from Attains II, King
of Perganmm (159-138 B. C), to whom he wrongly attributes the
invention of the art of embroidering in gold.
The oldest large collections of ancient textiles are those called
Coptic because executed in Egypt from the third to the eighth cen-
turies. Such collections exist in the Metrojjolitan Museum of New
York, and in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in
numerous European museums. Most of the designs are Roman in
style and show birds, animals and human figures, vases, fruit, flowers
and foliage, besides geometrical and interlacing ornament. But most
of these are tapestry-figured, only a few of them having part of the
ornament outlined in embroidery.
BYZAXTIXK ROMAN
The most extraordinary example of Byzantine Roman embroid-
ery that is still preserved is the "dalmatic of Charlemagne" in the
sacristy of Saint Peter's at Rome (Plate II). The ground is of
purplish-blue satin. The garment is said to have been worn by
Charlemagne when, vested as deacon, he sang the Gospel at high mass
on the day the Pope crowned him Emperor (Christmas Day, A. D.
800). On the front is shown the youthful Christ enthroned with
saints below and angels above ; on the back, the Transfiguration. The
109
Plate III— TWO FRAGMENTS OF THK 13AYEUX TAPESTRY
The most famous embroidery in the world
no
Plate I\'-"J()HX TIIK BAPTIST"
One of tlie "Gi)Ulen Kleece" embroideries,
the most magnificent set in existence
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Plate V — Seventeenth century embroidered panel
111
'Birth of Jolin the IJaptist"
"Herodias Keceives the Head of John tlio Baptist"
Plate VI— TWO OF A SET OF FIFTEENTH CENTURY
FLORENTINE EMBROIDERIES
Plate VII— RENAISSANCE COUCHED KMBllOIDEHY
112
(^a) Tlic 'I'riuiiiiih (iT rrulc.-.laiilisiii with Iloiiry \"I1I on the throne
(b) Philip II of Spain and his wife. Queen Mary of England
Plate VIII— ENGLISH RENAISSANCE EMBROIDERIES
113
Plate IX — Knglish crewel work of tlie seventeenth century
/^
I'late X I'.nglish cu.sliion cover in I'lvwels
Embroidered in coloured worsteds on flat twill ground
Modern reproduction
114
EMBROIDERIES
embroidery is mostly in gold, the draperies being executed in basket
weave and laid stitches. The faces are in white silk split-stitch, flat
and outlined in black silk. The hair, the shadowy part of the draperies,
and the clouds are in especially fine gold and sih^er- thread with dark
outlines. A noteworthy feature of the patterned background is the
crosses inside of circles.
SICILIAN
In the twelfth century the Sicilian city of Palermo, under
the Normans, rivalled Byzantium (Constantinople) as the world's
embroidery and weave centre. The styles were largely Saracenic
because of the many Mohammedan workmen employed. One of the
magnificent coronation robes at Vienna, embroidered in gold with a
date palm, and two lions attacking camels, and enriched with pearls
and tiny enamelled plaques, bears an Arabic inscription stating that
it was made in the royal factory at Palermo in the year 528 (A. D.
1130). Another of the coronation robes bears an inscription in both
Arabic and I^atin stating that it was made in the city of Palermo in
A. D. 1181.
BAYEUX TAPESTRY
The most famous and best-known embroidery in the world is
the so-called Bayeux tapestry, which is not a tapestry at all, but a
band of linen 2H0 feet long embroidered in coloured wools with the
stoiy of the Xorman conquest of England (Plate III). The earliest
mention of this embroidery is found in 1476 in the inventory of the
cathedral of Bayeux, the walls of the nave of which it exactly equals
in lengtlK It is now kept framed and glazed in a building erected
especially for it, and has been removed from Bayeux only once, by the
command of Xaj^oleon for exhibition in Paris. Tradition says that it
was the work of Queen Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror,
but others think it was made for his granddaughter, the Empress
Matilda, and still others that it was made on order of Bishop Odo for
the decoration of his cathedral of Bayeux, which was rebuilt in 1077.
At any rate, the embroidery is an historical as well as an embroidery
-document of prime importance. Light and shade are entirely
neglected and distance effects are secured by contrast of line and
colour, a green horse, for example, having his off legs red, a yellow
horse having them blue. The figures are filled with threads laid flat
side by side and bound at intervals by cross-stitches, the seams, joints
115
■■^»
Plate XI— A SIXTEENTH CENTURY SPANISH COPE
With elaborate gold-embroidered orphrey
a^^s^vN
Plate XII— LOUIS X\ 1 I'lCTLUES
Embroidered in chenille and silk
116
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Plate XVI — Petit point iiillow top with silver wire
St. Peter with keys, the cocl< on the colunin behind him
Modern reproduction
Plate XVII — Chinese monogram designed and embroid-
ered with bonnaz niacliine, for use on a Chinese chair
Made in America
Plate XV— (At left and right):
English bell pulls in. the Chinese Cliippendale style
Modern reproductions
119
Plate XVIII — Bench cover in petit point on gros point, English Chinese style
Modern reproduction
Plate XIX — Charles II sofa covered witli ancient petit point embroidery
EMBROIDERED FURNITURE COVERINGS
120
EMUROIDKHIES
and folds being indicated in twist. The faces and hands are merely
outlines. The first of the two scenes illustrated shows Harold and
his men riding to IJosham (eqvitant ad Bosham). Harold, mounted
with falcon and dogs, approaches the church (ecclesia). The scene
below shows William and his army crossing the Channel and arriving
at Pevensey (et vcnit ad Pevenesae).
ENGIJSH, FLEMISH AND FLORENTINE
In the library of the English cathedral of Worcester are frag-
ments of thirteenth century gold embroidery on silk taken from the
coffins of two of the bishops, besides other similar fragments in the
British Museum and in the South Kensington Museum. At this
period, English sacred embroidery was so famous that we find it con-
stantly appearing in the inventories of western Europe as "de opere
anglicano." The most splendid example that has survived is the
Syon cope, now exhibited in the South Kensington Museum. The
embroidered medallions show Christ on the cross, Christ and Mary
Magdalen, Christ and Thomas, the death of the Virgin, the corona-
tion of the Virgin, Saint Michael, and the Twelve Apostles, whilst
the spaces between the medallions are occupied by winged cherubim.
The ground of the cope is embroidered in green silk, the medallions
in red and the figures are worked in gold, silver and coloured silks.
The lower border and the orphrey, with its coats-of-arms, are of
later date.
At the head of all embroideries, however, stands the set of vest-
ments and altar hangings in Vienna associated with the Order of the
Golden Fleece that was founded in the first half of the fifteenth
century by the Burgundian ruler of Flanders, Duke Philip the Good.
About the identity of these embroideries there is not the slightest
doubt, as they were recorded in detail in the inventory of the treas-
ury of the Golden Fleece made in 1477. I have selected for illus-
tration the one that pictures Saint John the Baptist (Plate IV).
Plate VI illustrates two Florentine embroideries of the fifteenth
century, part of a John the Baptist set, designed by the famous
painter Antonio del PoUaiuolo and still preserved in the Florence
cathedral. The illustration makes clear the details of the technique,
and especially the way in which the horizontal threads are couched.
The scene on the left shows the birth of John the Baptist; the one
on the right, the delivery of his head to Herodias. The illustration on
121
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Plate XXI — Kire screen |)aiielle<l in I.ouis XIV
petit point
Plate XXII — Seventeenth century Italian embroidered altar frontal
133
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English Pearly Stumpwork
Plate XXIV— SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH STUMPWORK
135
ms^xmsiti..
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Plate XXV — Furniture covering designed and embroidered by
an Englishwoman
Plate XXVI— Pillows embroidered with wool. Designed
and executed by Mrs. Bunting
126
EMBROIDERIES
Plate VII is of a Renaissance embroidery lent to the Cincinnati
Museum by Mrs. Ida E. Nipj^ert. The technique of the work is
worthy of all praise, and the design is interesting. The Virgin, with
unicorn, sits in the closed garden (ortus conclvsvs), while the Angel
Gabriel, with four do'^s on leash (Mercy, Peace, Justice and Truth),
blows his horn outside and the prophet in the distance announces Ecce
Virgo concipiet, the whole story being announced in the Latin
captions. The portraitiu'e of the Virgin and saints in the frieze above
is of extraordinary merit. A Spanish Renaissance armorial applique
embroidery is illustrated on Plate XXVIII.
ENGLISH REXAISSANCE AND LATER
Plate VIII illustrates English picture embroideries of the last
half of the sixteenth century, the upper one from the collection of
the Corporation of Maidstone, the lower one a petit point in the
Metropolitan Museum. The upper one is interesting though ci'ude
and rei^resents the Triumph of Protestantism, Henry VIII being
seated in the middle with his foot on the neck of the Pope, whilst
Edward VI stands on the left and Elizabeth on the right. On the
extreme left is Mary pictiu-ed as the Papist Queen. The subject of
the lower embroidery on Plate VIII has been variously identified but
seems to me to be probably Philip II of Spain and his wife. Queen
Mary of England.
An English synonym of worsted yarns used in embroidery is
crewels (Plate IX). An excellent reproduction of old English crewel
work is shown on Plate X. The bell pulls in the Chinese Chippendale
style on Plate XV are also modern reproductions. I had hoped also
to illustrate a modern reproduction of one of the famous Hatton
Garden set of crewel draperies but was disappointed. There are six
of these draperies 7 feet 9 inches high by 4 feet wide, each named
after the animal pictured at the bottom. They were made in the last
half of the seventeenth century and have great dignity because of the
architectiu'al backoround of colunms and arches, and great grace
because of the birds and floriation. The canvas ground is completely
hidden by the coloured wool embroidery. ^Vhen these precious
embroideries were discovered a few years ago, they had been hidden
for generations behind an accumulation of wall papers.
Excellent modern reproductions of old English petit jwint are
those on Plates XVI and XVIII, the former enriched with silver
127
Hand embroidery in silk on sateen.
.Miuliinc embroidery in metal a])])li(iHe on veloiir
I'late XXVII— ART EMBROIDEKIES MADE IN AMERICA
138
sssi3(fij3»iss::viv
Plate XXIX— SIXTEENTH CENTURY SPANISH
CHASUBLE
Gold picture embroidery on velvet
Plate XXX lil.XAISSANCK APPLIQUE EMBROIDEKY ON DAMASK
Made by hand in America
130
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Plate XXXII— EMBROIDERY FROM INDIA
Ancient Chumlm work, alike on both sides
Plate XXXIII— DECORATED BULGARIAN SCARF
EMBROIDERIES
wire and showing Saint Peter with his keys, whilst the cock that
crowed thrice perches on the cohnnn hehind liini. The latter is a
hench cover in petit point on gro.s point, and in the English Chinese
style of the eighteenth century. An English petit point of the seven-
teenth century is illustrated on Plate XIX.
The jacquard woven reproductions of old embroideries on Plate
XX are not mere imitations hut have a technical merit of their own,
less undoubtedly than that of the needle, but still interesting. The
one in the upper left corner is after an Elizabethan Gothic original;
the one in the upper right corner shows a German bear hunt; the
lower two are crewel reproductions, the left one on silk.
AMERICAN, EAST IXDIAN AND CHINESE
Among the best executed art embroideries made in America are
those illustrated on Plate XXVII. The one above is hand work in
silk on sateen; the one below, bonnaz work in metal applique on
velours. Plate XXV shows a Renaissance embroidery made by hand,
also in America. Plate XVII shows a Chinese shou or monogram
embroidered on velours by the bonnaz machine with its artful trail
of Vs.
Plate XXXI illustrates one of those samplers the making of
which taught so many of our fair Colonial forebears to write and spell
and draw. The lady resjjonsible for this one signs herself Mary E.
Bulger. If the sampler habit were revived, it would do more for
the art of embroidery than can in any other way be accomplished.
India (Plates XXXII and XXXV) has long been famous for
the silk and cotton embroideries that are part of the costume of almost
every native. The most famous are those of Kashmir. Excellent in
design and workmanship are the phulkaries from the Punjab and
the Ilazara frontier. The colours of the Cutch phulkaries are particu-
larly attractive. The tinsel embroidered stuffs of Delhi, Agra and
Madras are used for gowns, draperies, bed and table covers, cushion
and pillow covers. Most Cashmere (Kashmir) shawls are embroid-
eries in wool. Rugs richly end)roidered with gold and silver are
made at Benares and Murshidabad.
The Chinese ( Plate XXXVI ) are perhaps the most labourious
and; elaborate hand embroiderers, principally in silk combined with
gold jind silver tinsel. Sometimes the figures of men, horses and
dragons are outlined in gold cord and filled up with shaded silk. The
133
Plate XXXIV— SIXTKEXTH CENTURY EMBHOIDKRED PEUSIAX COVER
Patterned like a riiir of the jieriod
Plate XXXV— A SIND BAG
With tiny mirrors applique
131
Plate XXXVI-CHINESE RIGHTKKXTH CENTURY EMBROIDERY
Picturing the emperor Kien-lunjj witli his empress and their court
135
I'late XXX\'II — Tiirkisli einhroidercd cover
Plate XXXVIII— Turkish embroidery of tlie
eigiiteenth century
I'late XXXIX — Persian embroidered rug of the
nineteenth century
136
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DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Persians (Plate XXXIX), Turks (Plate XXXVIII) and Hin-
doos (Plates XXXII, XXXV) sometimes use beads, spangles,
coins, pearls and even precious stones to heighten the effect. Some-
times feathers, nuts, pieces of fur, the skins of serpents, the claws and
teeth of animals are also added.
TOOr,S AND STITCHES
The tools of the hand embroiderer are very simple; needles to
draw the different kinds and sizes of threads through the work, a
frame to hold the material, and scissors to cut the thread. A stitch
or point is the thread left on the surface after each ply of the needle.
The most common forms of canvas stitch are cross stitch, tent stitch,
Gobelin stitch, Irish stitch, plait stitch. Crewel stitch is a diagonal
stitch used in outlining. 'Some of the other principal stitches are chain
or tambour, herringbone, buttonhole, feather, rope, satin, darning and
running stitch. About the twelfth century the modelling and padding
of figures became common, i. e., embroidery was made by sewing onto
as well as into the material. Hence we have the couching stitch, when
one thread is sewed on with another, and applique work, when pieces
of cloth are sewed on (Plates XVIII, XXVII) ; to give relief to the
ajjplique, the figures are often padded, as on Plate VII.
Credit for illustrations: Plate V, Karl G. Baker; Plate VII, the Cincinnati Museiun;
Plates VIII 1), IX, XI, XIV, XIX, XXI, XXIV, XXVIII, XXIX, XXXI, XXXIV, XXXVI
to XXXIX, the Metropolitan Museum; Plates X, XV, XVI, XVIII, XXVII, Arthur H.
Lee & Sons; Plates XII, XXII, Mrs. James W. Alexander; Plates XVII, XX, XXX,
B. Saubjac & Son; Plates XXXII, XXXIII, XXXV, M. J. Bhumgara; Plate XL, Brooklyn
Museum of Arts and Sciences
CHAPTER VII
CARPETS AND RUGS
Hand-Made Spanish, English, Axaiinster, Savonnerie,
American, Aubussox Tapestry
Just as tapestries are the fundamental wall covering, so pile
rugs are the fundamental floor covering. Jfist as the horizontal ribs
and vertical wefts and hatchings of the former, lock decoratively into
the fundamental lines of the architecture of rooms, so the surface of
the latter is solid and agreeable beneath the foot, because the pile
swallows up instead of reflecting the light, and consequently seems to
advance to meet the foot, more obviously than would any other kind
of surface.
However, fundamental fitness does not always govern the
actions of men. Propinquity is apt to exercise an amount of influ-
ence not always ajipreciated by philosophers and historians. So that
we must not be surprised to find pile rugs hanging on the walls of
Persia and central Asia, where the weaving of pile rugs originated;
or tapestries lying on the floors of western Europe, where tapestry
weaving reached its highest development.
In England a large rug is a carpet, and in the United States a
large rug is often described as "of carpet size;" but commonly in the
United States, the idea suggested by the word carpet is of a floor
covering sewed together out of strips of carpeting twenty-seven
inches wide, which conceals the whole of the floor and is, as a rule,
tacked to it.
Until the last half of the eighteenth century the floor idea and
the large idea were not uppermost in the word carpet. Chambers's
Encyclopsedia defines carpet as "a sort of covering worked either with
needle or a loom, to be spread on a table or trunk, or estrade, or even
a passage or floor;" estrade being an old word for dais or raised plat-
form. Indeed, the table use of the word has survived in the phrase
189
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
"on the carpet," that, like the French, "sur le tapis" means not on
the floor but on the table; whilst the ancient floor use of the word is
seen in "knight of the carpet," so called because dubbed not on the
field of battle, but on the carpet or cloth usually spread before the
throne or estrade of the sovereign or lord in the sixteenth century.
Also in olden time when servants were summoned before the master
for reprimand, they were said to "walk on the carpet."
SPANISH
In the fifteenth century, in Italy, France, Flanders and Ger-
many, as is shown by the picture paintings and the picture tapestries
of the period. Oriental pile rugs and Occidental flat tapestry rugs,
as well as Occidental flat rugs of the ingrain type, were all in use.
It is doubtful whether pile rugs were made in western Europe before
the sixteenth centiuy, except in southern Spain and perhaps Sicily,
where the weaving of pile rugs in the Oriental fashion had been intro-
duced by the Mohammedans. That Spain produced pile rugs before
the twelfth century, is indicated by the following lines of a mediteval
Latin poet quoted by Michel from Meril :
Tunc operosa siiis Hispana tapetia villis,
Hinc rubras, virides inde ferunt species,
which ti'anslated, reads:
Then Spanish carpets, with their elaborate pile,
Bear patterns that here are red and there are green.
The Spanish origin of carpets, as far as England is concerned,
is suggested by the contempt with which the ancient historian
Matthew Paris speaks of their importation by the Spanish ambas-
sadors who in the thirteenth century arranged the marriage of Eleanor
of Castile to Edward eldest son of Henry II L He says that when
Eleanor arrived at Westminster she found the floors of her apart-
ments carpeted after the fashion of her own country. This annoyed
the citizens of London, who ridiculed the Sjianish luxury and empha-
sised the fact that while the lodgings of the ambassadors at the
Temple were hung with silk and tapestry, and even the floors covered
with splendid cloths, their retinue was vulgar and disorderly and had
mostly mules instead of horses. In the fourteenth century, a few
carpets were made at Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, but mainly for
churches. Whilst parlors were occasionally carpeted, the poets of the
period sneer at them as "tapets of Spayne" laid down for "pompe
liO
Plate I— SAMPLE OF MODKllX I'llF.NCH SAVONNEUIK
To show colour, design and texture
141
Plate II— SAVONNEIUK HUG OF THE SEVENTEENTH CICNTUHV
U3
CARPETS AND RUGS
and jjiyde." A rare departure from custom is the bedroom men-
tioned in the "Story of Thebes," the floor of which was covered with
cloth of gold. Only in the fifteenth century did carpets become gen-
eral in the private rooms of the rich, and on the dais or throne plat-
form of great halls. The main floor of great halls, outside this dais,
still employed rushes or straw, or grass, often upon the soil itself,
without wooden or tile flooring, and was appi'opriately called the
marsh, because of its usually filthy condition.
Of ancient Spanish pile carpets, one of the most remarkable is
in the Xew York Metropolitan Museum lent by Mr. C. F. WilHams.
It bears three times repeated as a medallion in the field, the coat-of-
arms of the Henriques family, hereditary admirals of Spain, which
explains the four anchors. The border consists of two main bands
with a stripe outside. The inner band is covered with an allover lace-
like repeat. The outer band is divided into compartments carrying
as the main motif, bears at the ends ; and at the sides, two bears under
a tree, two swans facing each other, a wild man dancing with bears,
a lady wearing a farthingale of the extreme balloon type, wild boars,
etc. Across the ends of the carpet are extra bands composed of
details borrowed from the outer band of the border. The dominant
colours are yellow and blue, with red to heighten and cream to soften
the contrasts. The pattern of the field, with its tiny octagons, sug-
gests tiled flooring. While this carpet is attributed to the first half
of the fifteenth century, it would appear to me to be of the sixteenth.
I also doubt the thirteenth or fourteenth century origin some-
times attributed to one of the Spanish carpets in the Berlin Kaiser
Friedrich Museum, while admitting that it probably does date from
the fifteenth and is perhaps the oldest still preserved. The field bears
a small repeat, with two medallions carrying coats-of-arms in the
middle. The two main borders of the border bear quaint humans,
horses and birds, resembling closely those that occur in Daghestan
rugs.
The most famous of the ancient Spanisli carpet factories was
that of Alcazar, which existed as late as the middle of the sixteenth
century. According to the tradition believed by Spanish carpet
weavers of today, it was of Moorish origin, and after the conquest of
the Moors was carried on by Moorish slaves under Christian manage-
ment. When the Emperor Charles V died at Yuste in 1558, he left
four Turkey carpets and four of Alcazar. The Victoria and Albert
143
Plate III— SAVONNERIE SCREEN PANELS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
144
CARPETS AND RUGS
Museum in London contains a splendid collection of Alcazar and
other Spanish pile carpets of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
EARLY ENGLISH
While I am postponing the discussion of embroidered carpets
imtil Chapter VIII, because of the fact that they are to be classed
with shuttle-made goods, being constructed on a shuttle-woven ground,
I think it pertinent to introduce here what Lady Sussex, one of Van-
dyke's sitters, said in the first half of the seventeenth century about
Turkey work, which is an imitation of Oriental pile rugs, made by
threading worsted yarn through a coarse cloth of open texture, then
knotting and cutting. This Turkey work was a home industry requir-
ing less skill than hand-knotted carpets, that were either imported
or made in factories at Wilton, Kidderminster and Axminster. I^ady
Sussex's remarks illustrate the varied use of carpets, for beds and
windows as well as under "fote."
"The carpet truly is a good on * * * if I can have that and
the other for forty ponde or a littell-more I would by them, and
woulde bee very fine for a bede but onlie if one may have a very good
peniworth. For the carpets if the gronde be very dole and the flower
or works in them not of very plesent color i doubt the will be to dole
for to suet with my hanginges and chers. * * * Concerning the
choice of a small carpet: If it will not sarve for a windo it will sarve
for a fote carpet."
While it is possible, even probable, that pile carpets may have
been made in England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, we
have no positive evidence to prove it. The carpet belonging to Lord
Verulam that bears in the centre a large medallion with the royal
arms of England, the letters E R (Pjlizabeth Regina), and the date
1570, may have been made at Norwich by weavers from Spain or with
Spanish training; but it is equally probable that it was woven in
Spain on order from England. It bears the arms of the borough of
Ipswich and of the family of Harbottle.
Equally Spanish in style is the carpet in the Victoria and Albert
Musemn with the inscription: "Feare God and Keep His Command-
ments, made in the yeare 1603." .It bears the arms of Sir Edward
Apsley and his wife Elizabeth Elmes and may also have been made
in England. It resembles closely the carpet that appears in the
painting by Marc Gheeraedts, in the National Portrait Gallery of
145
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o
CARPETS AND RUGS
London, of the conference at Old Somerset House in 1604, of a num-
ber of English and Spanish plenipotentiaries.
ENGLISH EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Towards the end of the seventeenth century we begin to get
definite evidence of carpet weaving in England. In 1701, King
William granted a charter to immigrants from France settled at
Wilton, to manufacture carpets after the French style (savonnerie),>
and the charter was confirmed in 1706 and 1725. The special patron
of the industry was the ninth Earl of Pembroke, who persuaded many
of the skilled French and Flemish weavers to come to England.
A few years later, in 1751, Pere Xorbert, who naturalised him-
self as an Englishman and changed his name to Peter Parisot, started
a factoiy and school at Fulham. In 1753 he published "An account
of the new manufactory of tapestry after the manner of that at the
Gobelins, and of carpets after the manner of that at Chaillot
(savonnerie) now undertaken at Fulham by Mr. Peter Parisot."
After describing the Chaillot factory as "almost altogether employed
in making carpets and other furniture for the French King's Pala:ces,"
he tells the story of two Chaillot weavers who came to London in
1750, and finding themselves in difficulties, applied to him. He real-
ised that it was necessary to procure as patron "some person of
Fashion who actuated by the Motive of Public-spiritedness might
be both able and willing to Sacrifice a Sum of Money." The Duke
of Cumberland came forward with funds, and work begun at West-
minster was continued at Paddington. The first carpet completed
was presented by the Duke to the Princess Dowager of ^Vales. Later,
other weavers were brought over and the jilant was moved from
Paddington to Fulham. The French government became disturbed
and tried to check the emigration of weavers. Orders were given to
intercept all letters from "Padington or Kensington, addressed to
workmen or other persons of humble station in the quarter of the
Gobelins or the Savonnerie," as well as all letters to "M. Parizot in
FouUeme Manufactory a London." In spite of the patronage of
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, and of the fact that
the factory employed one hundred workmen, the industry failed to
become established and in 1755 Parisot was obliged to sell at auction
the entire works of the Fidham Manufactory, among which were:
Eight seats for stools, manner of Chaillot; a carpet, manner of
Plate VI— TAPESTRY RUG MADE IN AMERICA
Renaissance style, with Byzantine field, coarse texture
Reverse side
*' ^"'* '■*''■ jiiji^^ffl^'
«,* ' 'r , .
Eace side
Plate V— SECTION OF A TAPESTRY RUG
Full she, nine ribs to the inch
U8
CARPETS AND RUGS
Chaillot, seven feet six inches by five feet six inches; a pattern for a
screen or French chair, with a vase of flowers, in the manner of
Chaillot; a beautiful rich pattern for a screen, two Chinese figures,
flower pots and trees, Chaillot ; a picture of the King of France, most
exquisitely done, in the manner of Chaillot in a frame and glass; a rich
and beautifid carpet eleven feet by eight feet six inches, etc., etc.
In 1913 there was sold at Christie's in London a savonnerie panel
bearing the signature of Parisot.
AXMINSTER
The year of Parisot's failure, a Mr. Whitty established the indus-
try at Wilton, and the Annual Register of 1759 says that:
"Six carpets made by Mr. Whitty of Axminster in Devonshire,
and two others made by Mr. Jesser of Froome in Somersetshire, all
on the principle of Turkey carpets, have been produced to the Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, in
consequence of the premiums proposed by the said society for making
such carpets, and proper judges being appointed to examine the
same, gave it as their opinion that all the carpets produced were made
in the manner of Turkey carpets, but much superior to them in beauty
and goodness. The largest of the carpets produced is twenty-six feet
six inches by seventeen feet six inches."
The transactions of the same society for 1783 state that, as
a result of the premiums, the manufacture of "Turkey carpets is now
established in different parts of the Kingdom, and brought to a degree
of elegance and beauty which the Turkey carpets never attained."
Whilst these English factories produced carpets in both Oriental
and European designs, the latter were preferred by the great architect,
Robert Adam, and many of his contemporaries, and as in France it
became common to base the floor decoration on that of the ceiling,
reproducing in the carpet, architectural mouldings and details of
plaster ornament. For example, in the drawing room of Osterly,
the elaborate Etruscan ornament of the ceiling is repeated by Robert
Adam in the carpet, and in his design for the tribune at Strawberry
Hill, the centre of the carpet repeats the coloured glass roof overhead.
The making of hand-knotted pile rugs has survived in England
at Wilton only, but the rugs produced are called Axminster. In
Ireland hand-knotted rugs are made at Donegal, and as Donegal
rugs have attracted attention in the United States and Great Britain,
149
Plate \'II— EIGHTKI'.XTH CKNTUHY TAPESTR-i KLG
Made at the Spanish works in Madrid
ISO
I'late VIII— OVAL HAXD-TUl'TKD Ulti MADK IX AMERICA
For one of the partners of Marsliall Field & Co.
151
Plate IX — Above, a modern Aubusson tapestry rug designed in America
for an ancient Colonial mansion ; below, sections of modern
Italian Renaissance, and Louis XIV Savonnerie
153
CARPETS AND RUGS
SAVONNERIE
The finest hand-knotted European pWe carpets are the French*
savonncries (Plates I and II) that get their name from the soap-
works (savon is French for soap) at Chaillot in Paris, where the
industry was estabhshed three centuries ago by Pierre Dupont and
Simon Lourdet. The story of the foundation is tokl in Dupont's
Stromatourgie ou de I'EoeccUencc dc la manufacture des tapis dits de
Turquie, pubHshed in Paris in 1632.
Dupont had in 1604 been estabhshed in the Louvre by Henri IV,
and Loiu'det was his pupiL Dupont's success on a small scale had
been of such an encoiu'aging nature that it was promptly decided to
increase the size of the plant largely, but the death of the King in
1610 postponed the execution of Dupont's ambitions. Dupont's
claim, moreover, to have been the first to propose the establishment
of the industry in France, was successfully disputed by Jehan Fortier,
whose pi'oposition made in 1603 had been approved by a royal com-
mission in 1604, but had, for some unknown reason, stopped there.
The building near Chaillot that had been leased by Hem-i IV
in order to establish the manufacture of soap, was in 1615 turned into
an orphan asylum through the munificence of Henri IV's widow,
Marie de Medicis, mother of Louis XIII. In 1626 the property was
purchased, and provision made for enlarging the quarters of Simon
Lourdet, who had already been making carpets there in a small way.
In 1627 a royal decree gave to Dupont and I^ourdet in association,
the right to make carpets at the Savonnerie, on condition that they
train one hundred of the orphans as six-year apprentices. The part-
ners, however, quarrelled and Dupont continued his work at the
Louvre, without sharing actively in the enterprise at Chaillot, that
was finally awarded to Loiu'tlet alone.
Under Colbert the industry at the Savonnerie was encouraged,^
and in 1668 Philip Lourdet, who had succeeded his father, began the
celebrated set of carpets for the grand gallery of the Louvre, the
cartoons for which had been painted at the Gobelins by Baudrin,
Yvart and Francart. The set consisted of ninety -two pieces (one of
which is illustrated in Plate II) ornamented with medallions, coats-
of-arms, trophies, verdure, panel flowers. Two of the pieces did not
reach the Louvre, being sent as a present to the King of Siam in
168.5. From 1664 to 1683, the widow I^ourdet, who succeeded her
husband as director of the establishment in 1671, received 280,591
153
/
CARPETS AND RUGS
livres as payment for these carpets only, in the execution of which the
Dupont factory at the I^ouvre collahorated. In 1672 the Louvrq
factory was moved to the Savonnerie by I^ouis Dupont, who had
inheritetl liis father's privileges, and in 1(572 he is described as director
of the Savonnerie. Besides carpets, there were also made in both
factories fm-niture coverings, screen panels (Plate III) and portieres,
all in savonnerie.
During the eighteenth century the output of the Savonnerie
was important, especially in furnitin-e coverings like the one on the ^
bench till recently on exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in the
Morgan Loan Collection, and in portraits like that of the Emperor
Joseph II in the Hoentschel Collection at the same museum. The
Empire, being a period especially fond of velvety and shiny surfaces^
restored to the Savonnerie its seventeenth century prosperity, and
supplied it with designs by Percier and Fontaine, and by Lagrenee.
In 1826 the plant was moved to the Gobelins and has since been
operated there on a small scale, serving principally by the perfection
of its work, as an insjjiration to the makers of hand-knotted rugs at
Aubusson (where the industry was established in 1740) and other
places in France, the rugs from which are also called savonneries,
ha\'ing borrowed the name from the Chaillot product. Plate I shows
part of a modern Aubusson savonnerie in coloin-.
Exceedingly interesting is the account of a visit made by two
young Dutchmen to the Louvre factory in the time of Louis Dupont,
They wrote : "We saw, on entering, a kind of tapestry that he called
fashion of Turkey, because it resembles it, But is much more beau-
tiful. * * * He showed us several portraits that he had made,
amongothersof the 'Adoration of the Kings.' * * * The father of
this excellent workman brought the secret from Persia where he passed
several years, and it was he who established the manufacture at the
Savonnerie."
AMERICAN
Hand-knotted rugs are made in both Germany and Austria, but
of quality inferior to the French savonneries. No hand-knotted rugs
are made today in the United States. The price of labor, even of
young girls, makes it impossible to conduct the industry here success-
fully. The plant established in Milwaukee aKout thirty years ago,
and later moved to New York, was in operation for twenty years
155
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
practically without profit. A branch factory established at Elizabeth-
port, X. J., by the proprietors of the English factory in Wilton was
in operation five years.
AUBUSSON TAPESTKV RUGS
For over a century the little mountain city of Aubusson in
France, two hundred and fifty miles south of Paris, has been the com-
mercial centre of the weaving of tapestries for the floor, as well as
tapestries for furniture and for the wall. One result of this is that
the name "Aubusson rugs" has become attached to tapestry rugs, and
they are commonly called that even when woven elsewhere. In tex-
ture, tapestry rugs are exactly like wall tapestries, but coarser and
heavier and of simpler design. Until the eighteenth century, they
were called "Brussels rugs" because made mostly in Brussels, and the
machine imitation of them is still known as "brussels" carpeting and
rugs. Having a rib^d surface that is comparatively fjat, they are
not as suitable as pile rugs for large high rooms; but for many low
rooms, they are even to be preferred because they do not swallow up
the light, and do not decrease the apparent height of a room by seem-
ing to rise to meet the foot. The lining should be heavy.
Tapestry rugs are made just like wall tapestries, and probably
have been woven in most tapestry factories, even those established
primarily for picture weaving. There have been many important
tapestry rugs woven in the United States, mostly in French designs
like Plate IV, but a few like Plate VI, in designs of varied char-
acter, even Art Nouveau. I approve particularly of tapestry woven
in coarsest texture, far coarser than that conmionly employed at
Aubusson, and in mille fleur or other detached floral patterns. For
illustration of tapestry rug texture see Plate V. A Spanish tapestry
rug is illustrated on Plate VII.
One thing that brings tapestry rugs vividly before thousands of
Americans is the fact that there are two at Mt. Vernon, one in the
dining room, and one in the library, made in Aubusson, the latter
illustrated on Plate X.
Credit for illustrations: Plates II, III, the French Government; Plate IV, Wm. Baum-
garten & Co.; Plates V, VIII, X, the Persian Uiig Manufactory; Plate VI, the Herter Looms.
CHAPTER VIII
CARPETS AND RUGS
European and American Machine-Made
In Chapter VII I discussed European and American hand-
knotted and tapestry-woven floor-coverings — that is to say, those made
without the use of a shuttle. In Chapter VIII I shall confine myself
to shuttle-made goods — to those in which a shuttle loom is used to
prepare the body fabric as in cross-stitch, hooked, and other embroid-
ered rugs ; or in which a shuttle loom is used to prepare a special furry
weft, as in chenille axminster; or in which the whole process takes
place on a shuttle loom, as in ingrains, brussels, wiltons, tapestries
and velvets.
The distinction between looms with a shuttle and looms without
a shuttle, is fundamental. The shuttle marks a great advance in the
machine direction. The invention of the shuttle — which is nothing
more nor less than a pointed box or carriage to carry the bobbin and
enable it to be easily thrown or knocked through the entire width of
the warp shed — increased speed of weaving at the expense of control
of the bobbin and of weft threads. But this was more than made up for
by inventions that gave increased control over the warp threads. So
that on a shuttle loom the tendency is to produce by manipulation of
the warp the effects that on the more primitive looms are produced
by manipulation of the weft. (See Development of the Loom in
Chapter I.)
The ancient Egyptians made pile fabrics in which the pile was
a weft pile looj^ed around pairs of warps. ( See the Weave of Velvets
in Chapter I.) This is the most primitive form of pile weaving, even
more primitive than hand-knotting to pairs of warps with short pieces
of yarn, as in Oriental rugs; or than hand-knotting to single warps
around a short knife-bearing rod, as in savonneries. In all of these
the pile is held in place by warp threads. Brussels and wiltons, on the
157
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
contraiy, and the tapestry and velvet imitations of them, have a warp
pile looped around weft threads — a pile formed like the pile of silk
velvets by looping warp threads over wires and under wefts.
CHENILLE AXMINSTEH AND SMYRNA
The most aristocratic of the shuttle-made carpets and rugs is
the chenille axminster, sometimes called Scotch axminster because it
is said to have been first successfully produced in Scotland and pat-
ented in Great Britain in 1839. The finest grades are quite as
expensive as Oriental rugs of similar pattern and texture. The great
success of chenille axminster rugs is due to the fact that single ones
can be made to order quickly in one piece (seamless) and in all sizes
and shapes, provided the field be plain or mottled or a small repeat.
Especially successfid have been those in two tones (sometimes three
or four) of one colour. As repeats grow large and complicated and
colours numerous, the cost of making chenille axminsters in small
(]uantities becomes prohibitive. The process is a double one that
requires two looms, one to produce the strips of chenille, the other to
make the body, and with linen warjjs lock the chenille strips into it.
Plate II shows the chenille in the various stages. In a, it is a
flat cloth, just as it comes fi-om the first loom, except that it has
been cut to make clear how it is divided into strips. In b, it has been
steamed and shajied so that the fur points all in one direction, instead
of in two opposite directions, as when flat. In c, the finished fabric
appears with chenille strips locked into place ; but with several
removed in order to reveal the linen warps that do the locking. In
the finer chenille axminsters, the body as well as the chenille is almost
entirely of wool. In a, the cloth is shown at right angles to the way
it is woven. The loom on which it is woven is warped with groups
of from four to six cotton or linen strings (one group for each strip
there is to be of this chenille ) and the coarse worsted weft that is later
to form the pile is inserted by the weaver from shuttles, one for each
colour that is to appear in the design. Of course, all the strips in a
single weaving are necessarily exactly alike, and the process becomes
economical in proportion as many strips of the same kind are required.
Of course, the length of each of the strips is equal to the width of the
rug, and each strip represents the exact succession of colours that
occurs in the width.
A few years ago one of the most popular rugs on the market was
IT) 8
Plate I— SECTION OF AMERICAN-MADE CHENILLE AXMINSTER ULG
In four tones
159
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
the smi/rna, named after the city in Asia Minor from which many
Oriental rugs are shipijed. However, ihesc smyrna rugs are not
Oriental at all, but made like chenille axminsters except that the
chenille is very coarse and heavy and is inserted in the body while still
flat, so that the fur points down as well as up, and the back of the rug
is just like the face. Retail salesmen used to say to visitors to whom
they were trying to sell smyrna rugs: "When it is worn out on the
face, turn it over and wear the back out." Of course, this remark was
misleading, for the back of a smyrna rug wears out nearly as fast as
the face, and by the time the face pulls loose, the back is gone also.
The heel that scrapes the face also causes the back to scrape against
the floor. But the stain that soils one side does not necessarily soil
the other; and reversing the rug occasionally keeps the colours fresh
longer. Smyrna rugs in Kazak, Guenje and other Oriental patterns,
have great merit and are comparatively inexpensive. I recommend
them for use in rooms where Mission furniture is suitable, and in
rustic and modern homes where extreme delicacy of tone and texture
gradation is not desired.
OLD-FASHIOXED INC5RAIN
Fifty years ago ingrain carpeting "all wool and a yard wide"
was the pride of American homes. The patterns Eagle Head, Henry
Clay and Martha Washington not only appealed patriotically but
pleased decoratively. These patterns are illustrated opposite page 82
of my book entitled "Home Furnishing," and can still be purchased
for use in Colonial rooms and old-fashioned chambers. AVhen prop-
erly laid, ingrain carpet is very durable (I remember some in my
grandfather's parlour that had resisted the feet of a large family for
over thirty years, and was still in fair condition). It also looks very
well in an approjjriate environment — with mahogany or black walnut
furniture and flat, smooth draperies. Plain ingrain (in solid colour)
is still used even in city homes as a background for small rugs where
floors are rough and badly finished; "figured ingrains are confined for
the most part to the rural districts, and to the "stage carpets" of
theatrical companies that seek their revenue in small towns. Never-
theless, ingrains (called Kidderminster in England from the city that
i/^ is the most important centre of the manufacture) have been popular
for centuries, and can be identified in jiicture tapestries of the Gothic
period, when the only other floor coverings were "real tapestry" rugs
160
CARPETS AND RUGS
and rare and expensive Oriental rugs. Of course, ingrains have no
pile like Oriental rugs, and consequently, are less luxurious to the foot.
They are the product of the shuttle that corresponds most closely to
real tapestries, and have a flat instead of a pile surface, but coarse
instead of fine wefts. Plain ingrains are in weave almost like rag
carpets, i. e. coarse wefts, with slender string warps that serve as
binders and that are comparativ^ely subordinate. Figured ingrains
are double or treble cloths (two-ply or three-ply) bound together
where warps and wefts from the upper cloth are woven into the lower,
and vice versa.
The artistic possibilities of ingrain were largely developed by
William Morris who did much to revive its use. He preferred the
three-ply ingrain in which one of the cloths (webs) is always buried
in the middle. Stage carpet illustrates the construction of two-ply
ingrain very clearly, being almost entirely red on one side and almost
entirely green on the other, with only a few small spots of the other
colour showing through where it is necessary to bind the two cloths
together by interweaving. The reason for stage carpet is that it can
be used in one act as a red floor covering, and in the next act as a
green covering, thus giving double service. Plate V is a full size
reproduction, to show texture, of a small piece of two-ply ingrain
carpeting. One of the two cloths consists of alternate red and black
wefts, with alternate red and black warp binders ; the other cloth con-
sists of two white wefts treated as one, alternating with a green and
a yellow weft treated as one, and held together by alternate white and
yellow binders.
Where the carpeting is in two separate cloths, one is of plain red
and black ; the other plain white and green and yellow. The figures
are formed by interchanging the pt)sitions of the warps and wefts,
so that a portion of the upper cloth is woven as the lower, and
vice versa. Where the two sets of cloths meet or pass through each
other, they are firmly bound together, and in order that they may be
finnly bound together into a durable structure, it is desirable that the
points of intersection be frequent. Strong colours are dangerous in
ingrains, usually "spotting or scratching," but when skilfully com-
bined produce results that appeal to persons of large decorative
experience and keen colour perception. A feature of the two-ply
ingrain is that the colours on the back of the carpet exactly reverse
those on the face.
161
(a) Weaving the Hat strips
(b) These flat strips are then steamed and shaped into chenille cord
(c) This cord is then itself used as weft, and locked with linen
warps into the solid back
Plate II— THE PROCESS OF MAKING CHRNIIJ.E RUGS
163
CARPETS AND RUGS
BRUSSELS AND WILTON
In the weaving of silk velvets as originated in China centuries
ago, the warps that are to form the pile are looped over weft wires
and under weft binders. Then the wires are withdrawn, leaving rows
of uncut loops where the velvet is to be uncut, and cutting the loops
where the surface is to be cut velvet. Brussels and wilton carpets
and rugs represent the application to wool of the warp velvet method
of weaving ( see the Weave of Velvets in Chapter I ) . The applica-
tion was made in both Flanders and France in the seventeenth cen-
tury; in France under Louis XIV at Abbeville in 1667; in Flanders
at Tournai, which became so famous for cut-pile carpeting as to
give its name to it, a name that in Germany is still used for what
we call wilton after the English town in which the industry was first
established. Both in German and English speaking countries the
uncut carpeting of this type is called brussels, pi'csumably because of
its resemblance to real tapestry of which Brussels was the chief centre
of manufacture for so long. The French call brussels moquette
boucle, and wilton moquette veloute. As everybody knows, the
standard width of most American carpeting — except ingrain and
borders — is 27 inches. This is due to the fact that the width of the
old Flemish ell formerly used in both the Netherlands and Great
Britain to measure tapestries and other cloths, was 27 inches. In
weaving carpeting, it was only natural to take the nearest round
number that was convenient. A greater width was too difficult to
wea^e by hand on a velvet loom. Only recently has it become prac-
ticable to weave wiltons up to 12/4 width (12/4 meaning 12/4 of a
yard, just as 27 inches is 3/4 of a yard and 27-inch carpeting is known
as 3/4 goods). That is why all brussels and wilton large rugs form-
erly, and most of them still, are sewed together out of carpeting,
in other words are seamed. A famous example among seamed rugs
is the one in the west parlour at Mt. Vernon, a characteristic Colonial
residence that in 1860 was preserved and restored through the
patriotic efforts of the Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association, to which we
should all feel grateful for the opportunity to see George Washing-
ton's home in nearly the same condition as during his lifetime, some of
the furniture being what was actually his; the rest with a few excep-
tions, appropriate and of the period. The rug to which I refer is said
to have been made by order of Louis XVI for Washington, and
then, as the President was not permitted to receive presents from
163
Plate III— CHENILLE AXMINSTER .MADI'; IN AMERICA
To match a large Kermanshali rug
I'late IN— AMERICAN CHENILLE AXMINSTER
Plain centre with Elizabethan border
164
CARPETS AND RUGS
foreign powers, to liiive been sold to Judge Jasper Yates of Lan-
caster, Pa., whose great-granddaughter presented it to the associa-
tion in 1897. It is typically Empire and ugly in style, and consists
of 27-inch widths of moquettc veloute (wilton) sewed together to
form a rug that on a dark green ground sprinkled with stars carries
a huge centre medallion bearing the American eagle. The texture is
very velvety and agreeable, and age has worn the pile down most
pleasingly. Across each end is an eight-inch strip to match, evidently
made at a later date, and of inferior material and dye.
In weaving brussels the worsted warp has as many "splits" as
there are "points" across the fabric, and is divided into as many hori-
zontal layers (from 2 to 6 but commonly 5) as there are frames at
the end of the loom, each frame carrying bobbins of a single colour.
In each split, one thread, and only one, is raised by the jacquard
in preparation for each "shot," thus forming a horizontal layer that
corresponds in colour to the points of that row of the design. A wire
is then passed under this lK)rizontal layer, which descends forming
loops over the wire. Between the rows of loops are inserted weft
threads to bind them to the body of the fabric. Wilton is made in the
same way but the wire is oval to give a deeper loop and allow of
closer packing, and has a knife at the end, which when withdrawn^
cuts the loops, forming a velvet or cut pile. The cut surface of wilton
swallows up much more light than the uncut surface of brussels, and
consequently is much darker with the same worsted. This contrast
is illustrated by the silk velvets that have part of the pattern cut, the
rest uncut. Additional colours can be introduced into brussels and
wilton by "planting" the frames, that is, breaking up one or more of
them into "stripes," and having two colours instead of one in a frame.
Of course, the original colour is omitted in the stripe that carries the
additional one. Saxony brussels and saxony wilton differ from the
others in texture, being coarser and less velvety in appearance, but
more durable in use, because of the thread employed. In other
brussels and wilton, the worsted thread consists of several fine
strands loosely twisted together ; in saxony, the thread is coarser and
the strands unite to form a unit as in Oriental rugs.
TAPESTRY BRUSSELS AND WILTON VELVET
Of course, in brussels and wilton only one thread in each split
shows on the surface. The others are buried in the body. In a five-
165
Plate V— OLD-FASH ION KD INGRAIN CAKPKTING
Plate VI— VELVET CARPETING MADE IN NEW YORK
Plate VII-TAPESTRY CARPETING MADE IN NEW YORK
166
CARPETS AND RUGS
frame fabric, four-fifths of .the worsted is useless as far as show is
concerned, although it does help to make the stuff more elastic than
a body entirely of jute and cotton. Tapestry brussels, patented in
England in 18.32, was invented by Richard Whytock to prevent this
burying of worsted. There is only one frame, the threads of which
are printed with the pattern before weaving, but with the pattern
elongated so that the looping up merely restores it to normal shape.
Characteristic of tapestry brussels is the tendency of the colours to
run into each other and blur slightly. Wilton velvet bears the same
relation to wilton that tapestry hriissels does to brussels. In order
to distinguish brussels from tapestry brussels, it is often called body
brussels. Just as tapestry brussels and wilton velvet are cheap imita-
tions of brussels and wilton, so now we have an even cheaper imita-
tion of them, printed not before but after weaving, in other words
piece-printed as contrasted with warp-printed. Rugs in both piece-
printed and warp-printed tapestry and velvet are commonly seamless.
SPOOL AXMINSTER
In brussels and wilton the number of colours that can be used is
limited by the number of frames (never more than six frames, which
limits the colours, even with "planting," to 12) . In the printed imita-
tions of brussels and wilton, the number of colours is limited by their
tendency to "blur" and the impossibility of printing sharp line effects
on a pile surface, or a surface that is to become pile. In spool
axminster there is no such limitation. Each "point" is an individual
unit quite as much as in a hand-knotted rug, and the process is not
a silk velvet process but an actual inserting of short pieces of yarn.
Consequently spool axminster has always a cut pile, never the looped
pile of brussels. Instead of frames, as in brussels, there are spools
the width of the fabric, each with a series of short projecting tubes,
one for each point of tlie design. Wound on the spool and project-
ing through the tubes, are worsted threads of the "saxony" type,
corresponding in coloiu* to the first row of points of the design. For
the second row of points of the design, a second spool is prepared; a
third spool for the tliird row; and so on until the repeat comes. These
spools are then arranged in the loom in an endless chain, so that each
projecting row of tufts is presented in turn just above the place
where it is to be inserted in the body of the fabric. The tufts are
seized by a row of nippers, drawn out to the proper length, and cut
167
Plate VIII— SPOOL AXMINSTER PICTURE RUG MADE IN NEW YORK
Plate IX— SPOOL AXMINSTER CARPETING MADE IN NEW YORK
168
CARPETS AND RUGS
off. The nippers then bend down and place the tufts in position, one
in each "spht" of the warp. A shot of weft is next thrown across,
partially binding the tufts in place. At this stage the tufts are
straight, one end being in its final position, the other projecting at
the back. These back ends are next bent, by a series of mechanical
fingers, around the shot of weft, so that they take a U shape, and
thus form a complete row of two-pointed tufts of pile. Another shot
of weft binds them and the process is complete. Succeeding rows are
added in the same way, a fresh spool being presented for each row of
the pile.
At first sight, it seems strange that wilton should not be sup-
planted, at least for Oriental patterns, by spool axminster. The tex-
ture is softer and more Oriental and the back much more pliable,
with less waste of material. Rut practical experience shows that the
cost of preparing the spools and mounting the loom is so great, for
the elaboi-ate patterns the ability to accomplish which forms the
special achievement, as to be prohibitive except in large quantities.
Plate VIII illustrates the kind of thing at which the spool axminster
loom is most successful, elaborate and complicated picture designs for
which there is a market in hundreds, in other words which appeal to
the multitude. Similar small rugs are made in wilton velvet, but
less perfectly. Plate IX illustrates one of the most successful pat-
terns in spool axminster carpeting, one of the kind where delicate
shading gives the roundness of shapes that makes the flowers and
other objects realistic, but which is objected to by those who maintain,
like William Morris, that underfoot design should be flat.
SEHNA AXMINSTER
Until very recently, it seemed that the spool axminster process
was the last word that could be uttered on the subject of weaving
elaborately patterned carpets and rugs by machinery; but the sehna
axminster loom, as I choose to call it in this article, though without
the sanction of the manufacturers, has accomplished the impossible.
It actually produces seamless rugs of all sizes, the pile of which is
not looped around wefts, as in spool axminster, and in brussels and
wilton and their imitations, but is tied around pairs of warps with the
sehna knot exactly as in Oriental rugs. The process is interesting.
Suffice it to say that the loom controls each point of the design with
the jacquard; and makes the knot by manipulating the warps, some-
J69
Plate X— AMERICAN CHENILLE AXMINSTER
Mottled field with plain stripe border
m^
Mid
?^1
^V%^V%/*^
Plate XI— WILTON CARPETING MADE IN MASSACHUSETTS
Plate XII— BRUSSELS CARPETING MADE IN MASSACHUSETTS
iro
CARPETS AND RUGS
what as they are manipulated on the nottingham lace and lace curtain
machines. The result is to all intents and purposes an Oriental rug
of the Mahal or Muskhabad type, but of superior quality. The
texture and the back are the same, and the fringe is a self -fringe made
by knotting the warjjs by hand after the rug comes from the loom.
No one unaware of the existence of this loom would suspect that the
10 by 12 rug illustrated in Plate XIII was not made by hand-
knotting. The result is identical. There is no difference. Injured
and stained spots can be replaced by hand-knotting, just as in Oriental
rugs, and rugs can be cut down and reshaped at will. I was over-
whelmed with surprise when I looked over 50 of these sehna axmin-
sters in large sizes. There can be little doubt that they will ultimately
suijplant some of the "modernised and standardised" Persian and
other Oriental rugs formerly imported into the United States in
enormous quantities.
SPANISH AND OTHER EMBROIDERED RUGS
Among embroidered rugs, the most interesting are those that
have come down to us from the Spanish Renaissance, like the one
in the main hall of the Decorative Arts Wing of the Metropolitan
Museum, illustrated in Plate XIV. The colours are characteristic
Spanish greens, blues and yellows, and the design is interesting and
well composed. An example of "Turkey work," of the kind referred
to in Chapter VII, is the bedspread signed "M. B. 1809" in the
Colonial Room in the basement of the Metropolitan Museum. An
interesting cross-stitch embroidered rug in the same room is the one
made in Northeastern New York about 1810, and lent to the museum
by Miss Mygatt. It was made in strips a yard wide, which were then
sewed together. The border has shell-bearing bands on each side of
a fret band, and the field consists of diagonal wavy bands of roses
intersecting one another at right angles, with plain squares between
the intersections.
As for rag carpets and fibre rugs and grass rugs, everybody
knows them. They are all made on the same plan, big heavy wefts
with slender cotton binders. Twenty years ago the rag carpet indus-
try was an important one, and housewives all over the United States
used to sew their rags into long strips to be woven into rugs at the
local factory. Now rag carpets are mostly made out of new rags, as
are the round and oval carpets sewed together out of pleated braids
171
Plate XIII— FKKEGHAN HUG MADE IN MASSACHUSETTS
With machine-tied Sehna knot
.->^-^^!i^
Plate XIV LARGE SPANISH RENAISSANCE- EM13ROU)ERED RUG
172
CARPETS AND RUGS
of rags. The home industry part has mostly disappeared. There are
to be seen examples of both kinds of rag carpet in several rooms at
Mt. Vei-non. Last but not least come the Colonial "hooked rugs,"
many of which artistically are worthy of comparison with fine Oriental
rugs, ajul also nearly ctjual them in cost. The modern examples are
less interesting than the ancient ones.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I, II, III, I\', X, tlic Persian Uujr Maiuifactorv; Plates
VI to IX, the Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Co.; Plates XI, XII, M. ,1. Whittall; Plate XIII,
the United States Persian Carpet Co.; Plate XIV, the Metrojjolitan Museum of Art.
%
CHAPTER IX
CHINESE AND BOKHARA RUGS
Most things Oriental are mysterious, especially Oriental rugs.
Not until the publication of the great Vienna book, of which Sir C.
Purrlon Clarke was the English editor, did order begin to be evolved
from the chaos of Oriental rug classification. Since then many popu-
lar books have been published on the subject, some of which should
have been suppressed, as they only multiplied the confusion already
existing. Among the volumes in English that deserve serious consid-
eration are those by Mr. Mumford, Mr. Hawley and Dr. Lewis. As
far as America is concerned, Mr. Mumford, blazed the path along
which others have followed. Mr. Hawley's book is especially to be
commended for its painstaking marshalling of facts and details, and
for its line illustrations of motifs and borders. Among the Europeans
who have done most to increase knowledge about Oriental rugs are
Dr. Martin, Dr. Bode and Mr. Vincent Robinson.
In studying Oriental rugs, one should begin with the great
divisions. One should learn to distinguish Chinese rugs from Bokhara
rugs; Caucasian rugs from Turkish rugs; Persian rugs from those
made in India. After that, it is time enough to begin to separate the
different varieties of Caucasian from each other, Daghestans, for
example, from Cabistans; or in the Turkish group, Ghiordes rugs
from Kulahs; or in the Persian group, Fereghans from Kirmans.
In this chapter I shall confine myself to the Chinese group and
to the Bokhara group.
Chinese rugs have an especially distinctive character. The weave
is so loose and coarse, the colours so pale and delicate, with all strong
reds absent, and with blues and yellows predominating. The designs,
with few exceptions, are of native Chinese origin, found also in
Chinese silks, porcelains and other Chinese works of art.
However, until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Europe
174
CHINESE AND BOKHARA RUGS
and America were not aware that beautiful rugs had been produced
in China. Not until then did a few seventeenth and eighteenth
century examples begin to attract attention and admiration in Paris,
London and New York. Since then, as a result of the Boxer Revo-
lution, and other internal Chinese troubles, thousands of Chinese rugs
have been sold at auction as well as at private sale in both Europe and
America. Much of the important literature on the subject of Chinese
rugs has been in the form of sale catalogues. Among the best of
these are the three prepared by Mrs. Ripley for the Tiffany Studios,
and published in 1906, 1907 and 1908, respectively. To these three
de luxe catalogues, the editions of which were small and the circula-
tion limited, I am indebted for valuable material.
A large proportion of the detached motifs found on Chinese rugs
are based on the three great religions of China — Confucianism,
Taoism and Buddhism (Plate II). Most of the designs and symbols
that belong to the literati (learned men), as well as those that illus-
trate the religious worship required of the Mandarins who on festival
occasions represent the Emperor, and have charge of the ritual of the
state, are of Confucian origin. Among the symbols most often used
are scrolls, chessboards, inkstands, brushes, lutes and other musical
instruments, together with the "eight ordinary symbols": hollow
lozenge, solid lozenge, sounding stone, rhinoceros horns, coin, books,
round ball or pearl, leaf. Taoism, the religion of fear, has supplied
weavers with many designs that illustrate belief in astrology, lucky
signs and geomantic influences. Those most frequently found in rugs
are the "emblems of the eight immortals" : castanets, flower baskets,
flute, lotus pod, sword, fan, bamboo musical instrument, gourd.
Buddhism has also influenced the decorative arts of China materially,
and we are apt to find some suggestion of its influence, even when
the origin of the main features of a design can be traced to one of
the two earlier religions. The "eight Buddhist symbols" are: wheel,
knot of destiny, canopy, umbrella, lotus blossom, urn, conch shell,
twin fishes.
Chinese naturalists divide the animals into five classes, the first
three of which are headed by fabulous creatures: (1) the hairy
animals headed by the unicorn (kilin); (2) the feathered animals
headed by the phcenix (funglnvang); (3) tlie scaly animals headed by
the dragon (lung) ; (4) the shelly animals headed by the tortoise. At
the head of the naked animals ( 5 ) stands man.
175
Plate I— CHINESE RUG OF THE KIEX-LUNG DYNASTY
176
CHINESE AXD BOKHARA RUGS
The Chinese dragon is a unique creation. In its archaic form it
appeal's as a huge Hzard in old fret borders of rugs. The Imperial
dragon has five claws on each of his four feet, and only the Emperor
and princes of the first and second rank are allowed to use the five-
clawed variety. The dragon is often pictured as regarding or hold-
ing a round pearl (chin). This is said to symbolise the effort of the
dragon to seek and guard wisdom, and protect it from the attack of
demons and evil spirits. Here we have the origin of the claw-and-
ball foot so often found on English chairs of the Georgian period.
The Imperial dragon of Japan has but three claws.
The Chinese phoenix is a kind of pheasant with silky-feathered
neck and peacock tail, that lives in the highest regions of the air, and
only approaches men to announce happy events and prosperous
reigns. The stork (ho) is one of the most conunon emblems of
longevity, and is fabled to stop eating at the age of six hundred years,
and at the age of two thousand years to turn black. The bat is an
emblem of happiness. Common all-over i)atterns for the field of
Chinese rugs are the "tiger stripe," and the "rice grain."
Of the large, round medallions used in the field of many Chinese
rugs, sometimes one, sometimes three, four or five, Mr. Hawley gives
an interesting page of illustrations in his book named above. Many
of the oldest medallions were copied from mirror backs, and have
straight-line designs except as embellished by conventional dragons.
During the last half of the seventeenth century, scrolls began to
replace the straight lines, and these in tiu'n were replaced in the
eighteenth century by naturalistic leaves and flowers.
Often on the field of Chinese rugs appear Chinese lions or lion
dogs playing with a ball. Sometimes all the twelve animals which
stand in China for the signs of the Zodiac are introduced in the field,
or border of rugs. These signs are: the ox, the tiger, the hare, the
dragon, the serpent, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the cat, the dog,
the bear, the rat.
Important to the student and the dealer in Chinese rugs is a
knowledge of Chinese colour symbolism, black standing for water,
niercury, iron, etc. ; green for wood, tin, etc.
Colours
Elements
Metals
Planets
Directions
Seasons
Black
Water
Iron
Mercury
North
Winter
Green
Wood
Tin ■
Jupiter
South
Spring
Red
Fire
Copper
Mars
Kast
Sun)nier
White
Metal
Silver
Venus
West
Autumn
Yellow
Earth
Gold
Saturn
.\iiddle
177
CHINESE AND BOKHARA RUGS
The warp of Chinese rugs is ahnost always of cotton. Conse-
(luently the end selvages and the fringes are unimportant, as cotton
does not make interesting selvages or fringes. Of course some of the
very finest rugs, those with woollen as well as those with silk pile have
a silk warp. In Chinese rugs of the seventeenth century, the spinning
of the wool is less regular, the texture apt to be coarser, the colour
tones apt to be darker than in those made since. Especially frequent
are dark browns that hii\e often rotted away the wool because of the
destructive quality of the dye. The designs of seventeenth century
Chinese rugs are more geometrical and rectilinear than those of the
eighteenth century. They are also distinctly archaic, especially those
of the first half of the century, belonging to the Ming period.
In tlie last half of the seventeenth century the influence of
Persian rugs begins to make itself apparent in Chinese rugs. Also
in the last half of the seventeenth and the whole of the eighteenth
century, thei'c is a very curious and interesting parallelism between
Chinese and French rulers and styles. The Emperor Kang-hi corre-
sponds to the French King Louis XIV and to the Regence. The
Emperors Yung-cheng and Kien-lung correspond to the French Kings
Louis XV and Louis XVI. Compared with the style of Louis XIV,
that of Louis XV is a naturalistic and unsymmetrical style. So is the
style of Kien-lung as compared with that of Kang-hi. This general-
isation is based on observed facts and will be found very helpful in
classifying Chinese rugs, and in correcting errors of classification that
may have been made by others, although it nmst be remembered that
in all periods the Chinese have always been especially fond of repro-
ducing the glories of the jiast, in other words, of copying the successes
of their ancestors. Undoubtedly many of the Chinese rugs sold in the
past few years as antique are late nineteenth or twentieth century
reproductions. Today ancient Chinese rugs are being copied not only
in China but also in India and Bulgaria.
Noteworthy about Chinese rugs is the fact that most of the
designs are less continuous than in Persian and other Oriental rugs.
The motifs are apt to be detached, and separated from each other by
spaces of solid colour. This is especially true of the rugs that show
the signs and symbols of the literati. Also, the borders of Chinese
rugs are nuich less imjjortant than those of most other Oriental rugs.
This is particularly true of Chinese rugs of the seventeenth century.
The narrowest borders of all are those woven in the first half of
179
Plate III— CHIXESK KUG OF THE KANG-HI DYXASTV
Piittcriicd with svihIkiIs of the Literati
Plate Ilia— CHINESE KLG Ol' THE KANG-HI DYNASTY
180
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I'liite VI— SAMARCANI) RUG
183
CHINESE AND BOKHARA RUGS
the seventeenth century, that is to say, of rugs of the Ming period.
The pile of Chinese rugs is comparatively high, so that it leans
over even more than the pile of Kazak rugs, and gives the Chinese
rugs a peculiarly silky lustre.
Whilst Samarcand is now in Russian Central Asia, it was once
a part of Chinese Turkestan, and suhject for centuries to Chinese
dominion. Consequently one should not be surprised at finding that
Samarcand rugs are Chinese rugs, though with a strong leaning
toward Persian. In other words, Samarcand rugs might be desci'ibed
as Chinese-Persian rugs. The designs are apt to be more continuous
than those of otlier Chinese rugs, and the borders more important,
although the weave is almost like that of other Chinese rugs, and the
knot is the same ; that is to say, the knot used is the Sehna.
GHIORDES AND SEHNA KNOTS
At this point I should perhaps explain that an Oriental rug knot
is tied around a pair of warps. To make a Ghiordes knot, lay a short
piece of wool over a pair of warp threads; then draw the ends up
through between the two warps and pull tight. The result is a
Ghiordes knot. In the Sehna knot, one of the ends twists the other
way around its warp, so that it comes up outside, instead of inside
the pair of warps. In other words, when the Sehna knot is used,
single knot ends alternate with single warps, when the Ghiordes knot
is used, pairs of knot ends alternate with pairs of warps,
BOKHARA RUGS
Bokhara rugs are also woven with the Sehna knot. Bokhara
rugs are just as nuich distinguished for rich reds as Chinese rugs are
by the absence of them. Bokhara rugs are much more closely woven
than Chinese rugs, and the pile is trimmed much shorter. Bokhara
rugs are woven in Russian Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea,
along the line of the Transcaspian Railway and also by the wandering
tribes of Afghanistan and Belouchistan. The patterns of Bokhai'a
rugs are radically different from those of Chinese rugs. They are
without exception rectilinear, and the favourite motifs are the octagon
and other polygonal shapes based on the jjatterns of marble-tiled and
inlaid floors. Instead of cotton warps, they have woollen warps, and
frequently long end selvages, and fringes. Often these selvages are
ornamented with embroidery or tapestry or broche figures.
183
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CHINESE AND BOKHARA RUGS
t
The i)rinc'ij)al divisions of this group are Royal, Princess, Tekke,
Yonuid, Afghan, Relouche, Reshir, Pinde. The character of the dif-
ferent designs is made clear by the accompanying illustrations. The
finest and most exquisite rugs of the Bokhara group are the so-called
Royal Bokharas made in the Khanate of Bokhara, in the vicinity of
the city of Bokhara, which is the capital of the Khanate and is situ-
ated on the Transcaspian railway, and has always been the most
hnportant shipping point for Bokhara rugs. Whilst octagon motifs
are characteristic of Royal Bokharas, crosses or katchlis are equally
distinctive of Princess Bokharas. As the illustration shows, the field
of a Princess rug is divided into four quarters by a cross intersecting
at the centre of the rug. Rough and crude as compared with these
rugs, but nevertheless interesting, are those woven by the Tekke and
Yomud semi-nomadic tribes that inhabit the country between Bokhara
and the Caspian Sea. Of Beshirs not only the designs, but also the
brick red colom'ation are distinctive. The Belouche Bokharas woven
by the tribes of Belouchistan are a varied group in small sizes, many
of them of inferior quality. The end selvages are apt to be very
wide and often interesting. Camel's hair often appears in its natural
coloiu" in the field. Of all the Bokhara rugs, the only kind that comes
regularly in large sizes is the Afghans. The traditional pattern con-
sists of three rows of large octagons, almost in contact. The quar-
ters of the octagon usually alternate red and blue.
Very diff'ercnt are the backs of Bokhara rugs from those of
Chinese rugs. On the backs of Chinese rugs the coarse weft threads
that pass back and forth after every two rows of knots, are plainly
visible. In Bokhara rugs these weft threads are comparatively fine,
and almost hidden by the woollen knots that encircle the warps.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I, II, III, IV, V, the Tiffany Studios; Plates VI to XI,
A. U. Dilley.
CHAPTER X
CAUCASIAN AND TURKISH RUGS
Turkish is the proper name for Oriental rugs woven in Turkey.
Caucasian is the proper name for Oriental rugs woven in the Caucasus,
which is the part of Russia between the Caspian and the Black Seas.
In Europe, in the eighteenth century, Turkish rugs was a general
term for all Oriental rugs. The great central market for Oriental
rugs is still Constantinople.
The Turkish Empire was at the height of its splendour in the six-
teenth century under Soliman the Magnificent, the contemporary of
the Emperor Charles V. It had been founded at the beginning of
the fourteenth century by the Ottoman Turks, on the ruins of the
Empire of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia. During the next century
and a half it was extended westward into Europe, and Adrianople
became its capital. In 1453 the Ottoman Turks captured the last
stronghold of the ancient Roman Empire, Constantinople, which
since then has been Mohammedan instead of Christian.
By 1840 the power of the Turkish Empire had so declined that
only the interference of the Quadruple Alliance prevented its down-
fall. Again in 1853, and still again in 1878, the European powers
intervened to prevent the Russians from crushing Turkey. Egyjjt,
formerly tributary to Turkey, is now British, having been acquired
in order to control the Suez Canal and the route to India. Among
other territories, the control of which had been taken from Turkey
by the European powers, are Bulgaria, Bosnia, Crete and Cyprus.
The Turkish Empire is a medley of races and of religions, the dom-
inant Turks being nuich in the minority, and not over half of the popu-
lation being Mohammedan. Other important races are the Arabs,
Armenians, Kurds, Greeks, Jews, Slavs, Albanians.
The Caucasus might be described as a Russian isthmus connect-
ing Europe and Asia, bounded on the east by the Caspian Sea and on
186
Plate I— AN ESPECIALLY FINE LADIK RUG
187
Plate II— KAZAK KUG
Plate III— GUENJE RUG
188
CAUCASIAN AND TUIIKISII RUGS
the west by the IJlaek Sea. The Caucasus Mountains, seven hun(h-ed
and fifty miles long, and loftier than the Alps, cross the country from
northwest to southeast, sejiarating Northern Caucasia from Trans-
caucasia. The capital and principal rug market is Tiflis. A railway
six hundred and twenty-one miles long connects Batuni on the IJlack
Sea with Baku on the Casjjian Sea, via Tiflis. Nowhere else in the
world is there such a confusion of races and languages, the number
of dialects being estimated at sixty-eight. A majority of the people
belong to the Russian Church, though Mohammedans are many. The
area of the Caucasus is three and one-half times that of New York
State, and the population about the same. The Russians first
entered the Caucasus in 1770, and by 1800 had acquired practically
all of Northern Caucasia.
In 1813, having conquered Persia in a two years' war instigated
by France, the Russians acquired Daghestan, Shirvan, Baku and the
right of navigation on the Caspian Sea. In 1828, as the result of
another war with Persia, they acquired the bulk of Persian Armenia.
In 1878, as the result of a successful war with Turkey, they acquired
the most important part of Tiu'kish Armenia.
Next to Constantinople, Tiflis is the most important rug market
in the world. It is the political and military capital of the Caucasus,
and has been developed by Russia in a manner worthy of its impor-
tance, having wide, paved streets, lighted by electricity; large and
handsome shops, street cars running in all directions, imposing jjublic
buildings, a magnificent cathedral, an elaborate opera house, an
interesting museum of natural history, and excellent hotels. But
whilst one-half of Tiflis is handsome, safe and civilised like Europe,
the other half is purely Oriental — narrow streets, mysterious houses
with shuttered windows and closed tloors; merchants grouped by
trades, the rug dealers in one quarter, the makers of weapons in
another, and so forth.
CLASSIFICATION OF ORIENTAL KUGS
It is perhaj)s unnecessary to announce here that the classifica-
tion of Oriental rugs is not an exact science. Every dealer has his
own system, based upon his personal experience and reading, and
the more experience he has the less likely he is to attach supreme
importance to minor subdivisions. I shall endeavour to introduce into
these chapters only terms that are commonlj' accepted and used.
189
Plate IV— DAGHKSTAN KUG
190
/
CAUCASIAN AND TURKISH RUGS
One might as well admit at the start that it is hnpossible to learn
a great deal about Oriental rugs from books or magazine articles, no
matter how excellent they may be, unless the book knowledge be
backgrounded by much actual experience with rugs. Photographs
only remotely suggest the rugs themselves. They entirely eliminate
the texture, which is what makes Oriental rugs really worth while.
CAUCASIAX RUGS
The weavers of Caucasian rugs have a passion for the straight
lines and the mosaic effects that have put Caucasian rugs in a class
by themselves. Caucasian rugs illustrate the highest development of
the extreme conventionalisation of primitive design. Primitive peo-
ple easily and naturally interjiret nature forms in simple but charac-
teristic straight line figures, and it is always reserved for the art of
civilisation to express itself in the curves and flowing lines of nature.
Caucasian designs have remained true to the first inspirations, though
elaborating themselves in the most complicated and delicate patterns.
The colours, too, are distinctive — blue, red, ivory, yellow, green — -
intricately and interestingly combined, though seldom or never with
the perfect feeling for colour that is characteristic of Chinese and
Persian rugs.
Among the Caucasian rugs, the most individual and striking are
the Kazaks (Plate II). They have an extraordinary lustre, particu-
larly the fine old pieces, which is not surpassed by that of any other
type of Oriental rugs. Yet they are exceedingly coarse in texture,
and very loosely woven out of very coarse wool, that is left very long
so that the surface of Kazak rugs might be described as shaggy. The
extraordinary silkiness is due to the coarseness of the weave, and to
the length of the pile. Because of the loose texture, the pile cannot
stand up straight but leans far over, thus reflecting much of the light
as does satin, instead of swallowing it up as do rugs of closer weave
and finer texture. Coarseness marks the design as well as the weave.
Kazak rugs have bolder figures, and stronger colourings than other
Caucasians. While the motifs are similar, the scale of the design is
much larger. Most Kazak rugs are nearly square in shape, and they
come in small and medium sizes only. The predominating colours
are red, ivory, blue and green, much richer in effect than the colours
of other Caucasian rugs. The name Kazak is the same as Cossack,
and the rugs are made by Cossack tribes who live in Southern
191
Plate V— SHIR VAX HUG
192
CAUCASIAN AND TURKISH RUGS
Caucasiji, in the district of Erivan near Mount Ararat, where Russia,
Persia and Turkey meet, and where Noah's Ark is said to have landed
thousands of years ago, and where the faithful say it can still be seen
b}^ those who are sufficiently spiritually gifted.
Guenje rugs (Plate III) take their name from the city of Ganja
(now Elisabethpol) ninety miles southeast of Tiflis, where they are
marketed. Guenjes resemble Kazaks in design, colour and texture,
but are usually thinner and coarser, and the colours are generally
much inferior. For pin-poses of ready reference and quick identifica-
tion, Guenjes might be described as "poor Kazaks," and Kazaks as
"fine Guenjes."
Between Daghestans (Plate IV) and Shirvans (Plate V) there
exists much the same difference as between Kazaks and Guenjes.
Both Daghestans and Shirvans have a comparatively short pile — not
long and shaggy like the Kazaks and the Guenjes — but the designs
of the Daghestans are much finer and more intricate, and the weave
is much finer with from forty to sixty per cent, more knots to the
square inch. Daghestans also tend to be squarer in shape than
Shirvans. Both come in small sizes only.
Long and narrow rugs of the Daghestan group are called
Cabistans (Plate VIII) from the city of Kuba in the Province of
Daghestan. These Cabistans vary greatly in type, some of them
having a hard texture like other Daghestans and some having a com-
paratively soft texture, with designs that show more Persian influence
and feeling.
An interesting feature of many rugs of the Daghestan group
are the tiny human and animal figures, drawn most crudely and rudely
in straight lines, and scattered at random here and there over the fields
of the rugs. The rugs of the Caucasian group that show most Persian
influence are the Karadaghs, which might almost be described as
Caucasian Kurdistans. They are particularly distinguished by their
magenta reds.
Chichis (Plate VI) separate themselves from other Daghestans
by their olive greens, and by the fact that their designs are the most
intricate and crowded of all the Caucasians. Noticeable in most of
the Bakus (Plate VII) are the washed-out blues and the large pears
of the designs, resembling roughly the pears that are so frequently
found in Persian rugs, particularly in Serebends. Noticeable in the
so-called Lesghian strips (Plate X) are the yellows.
193
Plate VI— CHICHI KUG
Plate VII— BAKU Hit.
194
CAUCASIAN AND TURKISH RUGS
CASHMERES AND SOUMAKS
The Cashmeres (Phite XI), otherwise called Spuniaks, are in
a class quite by themselves. They have not a pile surface like other
Oriental rugs, but a flat siu-face. They are made not by tying short
pieces of wool around pairs of warps, but by twisting woollen yarn
around the warp, over foiu- and then back under two, then over four
again and back under two again, which operation continued indef-
initely and varied to produce certain variations of surface texture, pro-
duces one of the most durable, though not the heaviest, of floor cover-
ings. The process is a kind of modified tapestry weaving, half-way
l)etween tajiestry and pile rug knotting, and like tapestry weaving
leaves many loose threads on the back. Because of these loose threads,
and the consequent resemblance of Cashmere rugs to the Cashmere
shawls from India so famous during the nineteenth century, these
rugs got the name Cashmere. It is certainly a nuich more poetic
name than Soumak, derived from the name of the town where they
are marketed. Because of the peculiar texture, the line effects — and
particidarly the wliite-line effects — of Cashmere rugs are extraordi-
narily accentuated.
TURKISH RUGS
The principal tyjies of Turkish rugs are Ghiordes, Kulahs,
I^adiks, Melez, Oushaks, Bergamos. These are the rugs that a few
years ago were the especial pride and joy of the American collector.
His status as an amateur was determined by the number of Ghiordes
prayer rugs that he possessed ; and if in addition he had a few Kulahs,
two or three Ladiks and one or two Bergamos, he was almost entitled
to quality as an expert. It was easy then to get romances believed.
American knowledge of decorative art was slight and the very eager-
ness to be informed made Americans an easy prey to Oriental and
American importers of rugs. It was not sufficient then merely to say
that a rug was a "genuine antique," and then descant upon its beau-
ties of texture and colour; every important piece then seemed to have
had some remarkable career, to have been the property of some famous
sultan or some famous mosque. Nor was it sufficient then to claim for
rugs an age of fifty or one himdred years; nothing less than two or
three hundred years would do. Some collectors claimed to have as
many as ten or fifteen Turkish rugs dating from the seventeenth or
sixteenth century, or even from the fifteenth. We know now that
i9r>
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CAUCASIAN AND TURKISH RUGS
with a few exceptions, all of these remarkable antique rugs dated
from the eighteenth or nineteenth century.
Turkish rugs have designs that are largely formed of straight
lines. In this they resemble the Caucasians and the Bokharas, and
are unlike the Persians and most of the Chinese. But they do not
have the rigid octagons of the Bokhara group, or the spiky points of
the Caucasian group. Turkish rugs occupy a design position inter-
mediate between Caucasians and Persians. They excel Caucasians
in grace of outline and in warmth of colour, and they excel Persians
in strength of jjattern. Especially in prayer rugs were the weavers
of Asia Minor successful (Plates" I, XIl", XIII, XIV and XVI).
In this work they had the inspiration of the most enthusiastic piety.
In many of them is pictured in considerable detail the mihrab of a
Moslem chapel, with its hanging lamp. Human figures, however,
and aninuds of the type found in Daghestan rugs, never appear. The
Mohammedans of Turkey are Sunnites, who are very strict in their
obedience to the Mohammedan law against the picturing of animal
forms, unlike the Persians who are Shiites. (See Animal Patterns
in Chapter III.)
GHIORDES AND KUI-AH KUGS
The town of Ghiordes that gives its name to Ghiordes rugs
(Plates XII, XIII, XIV) is the ancient Gordium where Alexander
the Great is said to have cut the Gordian Knot.
Especially in the eighteenth century were the rugs of Ghiordes
worthy of comparison with the best that were produced in Persia,
although in no respect equal to the great Persian rugs of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. But the Ghiordes rugs woven in the last
fifty years are so inferior to the ancient pieces in weave, colour and
pattern as not to merit serious attention.
The rugs that most closely resemble the Ghiordes are the Kulahs
(Plate XVI), bearing about the same relation to them as Shirvans
to Daghestans. Like the Ghiordes, a large proportion of the Kulahs
have architectural or prayer niche patterns, but the field is usually
filled with pattern instead of plain as in the Ghiordes rugs, and the
borders consist of many stripes alternating in colour, instead of one
large band with a stripe on each side, as in most Ghiordes rugs.
Both Ghiordes and Kulahs have a comparatively short pile, and
the designs are in every way richer and warmer and more floral than
197
Plate XI— CASHMERE RUG
198
CAUCASIAN AND TURKISH RUGS
those of Caucasian rugs, in spite of the fact that Hke them they are
rectihnear.
On the ruins of ancient Laodicea is the nuid-walled town of
Ladik, once the centre of an important rug industry. The pieces now
woven there imitate the ancient rugs but poorly in weave and colour.
Of the few ancient Ladiks that still survive, that illustrated in colour
in Plate 1 is (me of the finest. Note particularly the broad band in
the border, with its Rhodian lilies. The field of Ladik jirayer rugs,
like that of Ghiordes j^rayer rugs, is usually in solid colour.
Compared with Ghiordes, Kulah, and Ladik rugs, those made in
Bergamo — that is the ancient and famous city of Pergammu — are
like Kazaks as compared with other Caucasians. In other words,
they have a deep pile, strong rich colours, "and comparatively coarse
designs. At Oushak in the sixteenth century were made some of the
finest rugs that survive in European and American collections. But
the modern Oushaks with their coarse pile and strenuous greens are
uglier even than the machine rugs based on them.
In Chapter IX we noted that whilst Chinese rugs have cotton
warps, Bokhara i-ugs have woollen warps. Both Turkish and
Caucasian rugs have woollen warps, that sometimes form rather
attractive knotted fringes, especially in Daghestans and Bergamos.
We also noted in Chapter IX that both Chinese and Bokhara
rugs are tied with the Sehna knot, which tends to produce a closer
and more velvety surface than the Ghiordes knot. It is interesting
to note here that both the Turkish and the Caucasian group are tied
with the Ghiordes knot, in which the two points of the knot come up
together, instead of being separated by a warp.
One of the earliest types of Turkish rugs with which we are
familiar gets its name from the great painter Holbein, because pic-
tured in his paintings, notably in the celebrated portrait of George
Gyze that hangs in the Berlin Museum (Plate XV) . The table upon
which he rests his hand is covered with a rug that in type seems half-
way l)etween Caucasian and Turkish. The border is one of the
so-called Cufic borders, based upon an early straight line form of the
Arabic alphabet. As Holbein flourished in the first half of the six-
teenth century, and as other similar rugs appear in the works of
Flemish and Italian painters of the same period, we may reasonably
assume that some of these rugs were made before the end of the
fifteenth century and that examples found their way to European
199
Plate XII
Plate XIII
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GHIORDKS PRAYER RUGS
300
Plate XV PORTRAIT OF GEORGK GYZR BY HOLBETN
Sliowing !i Turkisli rug with C'lific l)or<ler
■:-f[f^.vrm!^.wf!:0r:iTC.?Jcy.cvs^. i^
I'lutc X\ I iWO TYPIiS OF KULAH RUG
201
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
centres. Several important examples of this class are now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, two of them lent by Mr. C. F. Williams.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I, III to VI, VIII, X, XI, A. U. Dilley; Plates II, VII,
XIII, XIV, XVI, the Tiffany Studios; Plate IX, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Plate XII,
James F. Ballard.
CHAPTER XI
PERSIAN AND INDIAN RUGS
For centuries the world's finest rugs have been woven in Persia,
where the best wool for the purpose is grown. The designs are both
interesting and intricate, and based mainly on flower and leaf forms,
although in the sixteentli centiny many animals apjjeared, especially
in the so-called "hunting rugs." The designs of Persian rugs are not
detached, as in so many Chinese rugs, but usually tied together into
all-over patterns that usually cover every inch of the surface with
detail. The designs are also peculiarly suited for interpretation in
rug texture, being flat without relief shading, and also being vivid
with life, though not naturalistic to the extreme extent of many
ancient Indian, and eighteenth century Chinese rugs. Compared,
however, with Bokhara rugs and Caucasian rugs and Tiu-kish rugs,
Persian rugs have designs that are full of curves and decidedly natural-
istic. Except in a few isolated groups, like the rugs of Shiraz, rec-
tilinear forms of the Caucasian variety never appear.
Among design motifs often found in Persian rugs are the Pear,
the Shah Abbas, the Mina Khani, the Guli Hinnai, the Herati. The
figure that on cashmere shawls has been known in America and Eng-
land for more than a century as the cone, because apparently rejire-
senting the cone of a pine tree, now gets a new name from every-
body who writes about Oriental rugs. It is variously called the pear,
the pahn, the palmette, the river loop, the loop, the crown jewel, the
flame. A common form of this "cone" or "pear" is shown in the Sere-
bend illustrated on Plate XIII. The real basis of the motif is prob-
ably a leaf.
The famous Shah Abbas motif (Plate IX) consists of a large
and mature but not quite fully opened flower, seen from the side, and
often framed by the outlines of a large and symmetrical pointed leaf.
This motif bears a curiously close resemblance to the pomegranate
203
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
forms so nnich used in Western Europe hi the fifteenth century and
the early part of the sixteenth. It appears both in the border and in
the field of the ancient rug illustrated on Plate III.
The Mina Khani motif shows a large diamond-shaped figure with
bright flowers seen-f rom-the-face, on the vertices and in the centre five
of them in all. ( See description of Plate V below. ) The Guli Hinnai
motif shows a central stalk parallelled by three blossoms on each side.
The famous Herati or "fish" pattern consists of a rosette between
two slightly curved leaves. This is sometimes called the "twin fish"
pattern because of the resemblance of the leaves to the backbone of a
fish. The Herati motif appears in both the border and the field of the
Sehna rug illustrated on Plate XII. It also appears in the field of
the small Fereghan rug illustrated on Plate XIV, but here is grouped
in sets of foin- around small diamond-shaped medallions, the vine
outlines of which are much accentuated.
Most Persian rugs, ancient as well as modern, have cotton warps,
and consequently fringes that are comparatively unimportant. The
principal Persian rugs with woollen warps are those that bear the
name Shiraz, Kin-distan, Karadagh, or Bijar. Persian rugs that are
tied with the Sehna knot, so called from the Persian city of Sehna,
are those that bear the names Sehna, Kirman, Khorassan, Kashan,
Fereghan, Saruk and Scrape. The other varieties of rugs made in
Persia are usually tied with the Ghiordes knot. Rugs tied with the
Sehna knot are apt to have a shorter pile and a less silky surface,
but design of greater intricacy and more definitely outlined.
A splendid example of Karadagh is the one belonging to Mr.
Howard Greenley illustrated in colour on Plate V. The name comes
from the Karadagh Mountains in the extreme northwestern part of
Persia where the rugs are woven, close to the Caucasian border. So
it is not strange that Karadagh rugs often show rectilinear and geo-
metrical forms resembling those of Daghestan and other Caucasian
rugs. The rug before us, however, with the Shah Abbas motif in the
field and a variant form of the Mina Khani motif in the border, and
with its rich and brilliant colouration, suggests at once the Kurdistan
runners that have their long fields filled with the Mina Khani motif.
PERSIAN ANIMAL RUGS .
Of all the ancient rugs shown in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York City, I personally like best the ancient sixteenth
204
Plate I— PERSIAN PKAYER HUG OF THE SIXTEKXTH CENTUUY
Woollen and cotton pile, broch6 with gold, on cotton and silk web
In the Bavarian National Museum at Munich
205
Plale II— PERSIAN RUG OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Woollen pile on silk web. In the Imperial Austrian Commercial Museiim
Note the imposing Chinese cloud hand across the middle
206
wr^r-w-
Plate III— ANCIENT ISPAHAN HUG, SHOWING CHINESE CLOUD BANDS
III the Metropolitiiii Museum
Plate IV— PERSIAN HUG OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
In the Imperial Austrian Conunercial Museum
207
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
century animal rug illustrated in Plate VI. It was formerly in the
famous Yerkes Collection, from which it was purchased at the auction
sale in 1910 for the Metropolitan Museum at a cost of $15,200. The
pile is of wool, hut both warp and weft are of silk, thus making pos-
sible the extraordinarily fine texture of four hundred and eighty
knots to the square inch. The length is 10 feet 11 inches, the width
5 feet 10 inches. The ground of the field is red, the border ground
dark blue.
The rug is sometimes called the Ardebil rug because, like the
famous larger piece at the Victoria and Albert Museum at South
Kensington, it is believed once to have adorned the floors of the
Ardebil Mosque. The main motif of the rug before us, ten times
repeated in two parallel rows, shows a lion and a jackal attacking a
black Chinese deer spotted with yellow; and the intervening spaces
are filled with wild boars and other animals and with many floral
forms, some of them peonies executed partly in silver. The main
band of the border is a fascinating composition of Chinese cloud band
combined with flowers and with vine tracery.
Another sixteenth century Persian animal rug also purchased for
the Metropolitan Museum from the Yerkes Collection is the one illus-
trated on Plate VII. The middle band of the border of this rug is
unusually wide, and the guard stripes particidarly narrow, thus
reminding one very definitely of the Renaissance borders that appear
on Flemish tapestries woven in the sixteenth century and the early
part of the seventeenth. The unusually large medallion in the centre
has itself a wide border of birds in red and blue, perched on slender
stems connecting floral motifs on yellow ground ; and a field of floral
and vine tracery in red, bright yellow and blue, on dark blue ground.
The corners of the main field of the rug show flower and fruit trees,
with birds in the branches, on dark green ground. The rest of the
main field is covered with numerous animals, the Shah Abbas motif,
and numerous florals in orange, dark blue and other colours, on a red
ground. This rug is a magnificent illustration of the extraordinary
success with which the Persians were able to use not only brilliant
colours, but many brilliant colours in close contrast, toning and blend-
ing them into rich but gentle harmonies.
In the Altman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum are three
large rugs with silk pile woven in Central Persia, probably in the
neighbourhood of Kashan, in the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
208
Plate V— AN EXTIIAOIIDINAUY LARGE KAHADAGH RUG
20!)
Plate VI— AUOKBU, ANIMAL HUG
210
PERSIAN AND INDIAN RUGS
In each square inch of these three rugs there are from five to seven
hundred knots. The one that is illustrated on Plate VIII has a field
extraordinarily rich with animal and floral forms, and a horder of
large flowers and heautiful birds artfully combined into running dec-
oration. The outer band of the border is made up of flowers com-
bined with the Chinese cloud band.
On Plate IX is illustrated the textiu'e of a sixteenth century
Persian rug, that although still in comparatively good condition, has
been worn down, until the weft shines in bright cross lines through the
figures of the Shah Abbas and other florals, and of the birds and
animals.
CHISELLED EFFECTS
At this point it is interesting to note that different dyes are apt
to affect the wool differently, and that the wool dyed in some colours
wears down faster than wool dyed in other colours. Consequently,
in a large proportion of ancient rugs the parts of the design in one
colour will stand out high above the parts of the design in another
colour, so that a relief, or chiselled effect is produced.
COMPARTMENT RUGS
Another extraordinary sixteenth century Persian rug acquired
for the Metropolitan Museum from the Yerkes Collection is the one
with "compai-tment fields" illustrated on Plate X. The price paid
for this rug was $19,600. The pile is of wool, with 600 knots to the
square inch, while the weft is of silk and the warp of cotton and silk.
The size is 16 feet 4 inches by 11 feet 2 inches. There is a similar rug
in the Commercial Museum at Lyons, and another similar one is illus-
trated in the great Vienna Rug Book. The nine main compartments
are large rounded octagons picturing the traditional fight of the
Chinese dragon and phoenix, on blue ground. Tangent to each main
compartment are eight radiating escutcheon panels alternating red
and blue, the former containing Chinese ducks, the latter vine tracery.
Between the blue escutcheon and alternating with the large octagons,
are smaller octagons, each with four running lions on blue ground.
The background of the main field of the rug is patterned with vine
ornament, florals and Chinese cloud bands, in blue, orange and red.
The main band of the border has a ground of dark blue, and consists
of rounded octagons alternating with round-ended rectangles, the
311
I'lfite VII— A SIXTKKNTH CKNTUUV I'EKSIAN HUG
In the Metropolitan Museum
Plate VIII— A SIXTEENTH CENTURY PERSIAN SILK RUG
In the Metropolitan Museum ,
313
PERSIAN AND INDIAN RUGS
octagons richly decorated with flowers, and hii-ds, and vine tracery;
the rectangles with Chinese cloud bands and floral ornaments.
FAMOUS ALTMAN PRAYKll KUGS
From a literary point of view, perhaps the most interissting rug
in the Metropolitan Museum is the famous Prayer Rug (Plate XI)
in the Altman Collection which shows Arabic and Chinese side bj'^
side. In the prayer niche of this rug hangs a mosque lajnp amongst
red, yellow and pink flowers, outlined in dark l)rown on green ground.
Below are graceful flowing trees in yellow with pink blossoms, and
other flowers introduced in pink, yellow and dark red. Filling the
parts of the field not occupied by the niche are vine and leaf forms in
brown and in white, on claret red ground. The rug has two borders ;
the outer one, the wider. The inner border consists of an Arabic
inscrijjtion in red on yellow, supplemented with leaf pattern below.
The inscription reads: "May the blessing of God rest upon us all.
There is no God but Allah. Mohammed is the Prophet of 'God. Ali
is the Saint of God. God, The Exalted says: 'Verily God and His
Angels shower their blessings upon the Prophet. Oh, ye faithful,
send your blessings unto Him as well as also your salutations unto
Him.' " The outer border consists of four rounded octagons pat-
terned with forms that suggest archaic Chinese lettering; and five
rectangles with roimded ends containing quotations in Arabic from
the Koran in black on grey; and four other rectangles containing
Chinese cloud bands, florals and vine traceries in red, yellow and black
on orange and white grounds. This rug formerly belonged to the
Bardini Collection in Florence, is five feet five inches by three feet
three inches, and was illustrated by Doctor F. R. Martin in his splen-
did book entitled, "Oriental Carpets."
SEHNA, SEREBEND AND I-'EUECIIANS
A typical Sehna rug is that illustrated in Plate XII. It has the
Herati motif, in both border and field ; pile of silky wool clipped very
short, and a very fine texture. Instead of the Herati design, some
Sehnas have the pear motif or a central diamond or medallion. Whilst
Sehnas excel other modern Oriental rugs in fineness of weave, the
knots are tied so tight that the edges of the rug are likely to curl and
pucker. Warp and weft are usually of cotton, but sometimes of silk.
Sehnas have narrow end selvages, finished with loose fringe.
213
Plate IX-POKTION OF A SIXTKKNTH CKNTURY PERSIAN RUG
oliowing "worn down" texture
21*
■■B^S^cSS
•i>vri:' '-..•.o; •>
.4a •- I
•^f^. 1^- r>fe^-'
Plate X-
-EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY PERSIAN RUG
Of "compartment" design
Plate XI— SIXTEENTH CENTURY PERSIAN PRAYER RUG
With Arabic inscriptions. In the Altman Collection
215
Plate XII— A TYPICAL SEHNA lUG
With Herati motif in border and field
Plate XIII— TYPICAL SEREBEND RUG
With "pear" field and border of many stri])cs
216
PERSIAN AND INDIAN RUGS
One of the most easily recognised Persian rugs is the Serebend.
A typical example is illustrated in Plate XIII. The field is filled with
horizontal rows of small pear motifs, alternating in direction. The
border stripes are narrow and numerous. Serebends are less exquisite
in design and weave than Sehnas, but are thicker, firmer and much
more durable. The fields of Serebends have a ground of dark blue
or wine red.
Probably nine-tenths of all Fereghan rugs have the Herati motif
covering the field in one form or another, although the Guli Hinnai
motif and small floral diaper designs are also found. The Fereghan
rug illustrated in Plate XIV shows the Herati motif in groups of
four, connected by a diamond-shaped lattice or framework of vines in
between. In many respects, Fereghans resemble Sehnas; they come
next to them in fineness of texture and shortness of pile.
Even easier to identity than Serebends are Hamadans, so called
from the modern name of the Persian city that was anciently
Ecbatana. Nearly all of them have an outside band of camel's-hair
"in the natural," which means that it is vmdyed and light brown or
coffee colour in tone. Undyed camel's-hair is also often used in con-
nection with coloured wools in the fields of Hamadan rugs. Char-
acteristic of most of them is the two-tone trellis that backgrounds the
pole medallion, as in the example on Plate XV, where only part of
the rug is shown, because of its length. A pole medallion, it should
be explained here, is a medallion with extensions. The pile of
Hamadan rugs is comparativeh' thick, and the weave comparatively
coarse.
MOSUL
Although the city of Mosul is not in Persia but in Turkey — to be
exact, on the Tigris two hundred and twenty miles northwest of Bag-
dad, and near the ruins of the ancient Nineveh, capital of Assyria —
Mosul rugs are properly classed with those of Persia. The rugs
marketed at Mosid by nomadic wea\'ers from the north, from the
east, from the south, are the products of many different races and
naturally show great diversity of character. Indeed, the only char-
acteristic common to all of them is the nature of the weave, though
they are prone to yellow and russet hues and the wool is soft and
lustrous. Many Mosul rugs show Caucasian motifs, such as stars and
latch-hooks; others show Kurdish patterns, with but little change
217
Plate XIV— SMALL FEREGHAX RUG
Plate XV— PART OF A LONG HAMADAX RUG
218
Plate XVI ONE OF THK MAW TYPES OF MOSUL RUG
Plate XVn— SUPERB SARUK RUG
With "tree of life" design
919
Plate XVIII— IXTRICATKLY PATTERNED ALL-SII.K KASHAN RUG
Plate XIX—TYPICAL MODERN KIRMAN RUG
330
PERSIAX AND INDIAN RUGS
from the way in which they appear in Kurdistan rugs. Always the
Caucasian motifs are rounded and softened in the Persian direction,
whilst usually the Persian designs are coarsened and straightened in
the Caucasian direction. A large proportion of the Mosul rugs now
on the market have a cotton warp. The Mosul rug illustrated on
Plate XVI shows the conflict of Caucasian and Persian influences.
Saruks are often spoken of as the modern Ispahans. The reason
why is clear from the nature of the design shown on Plate XVII.
Fortunately, Saruks have an exquisite and velvety texture quite
worthy of the designs that they interpret. They are woven in the
same part of Persia as Sehnas and Fereghans and, like the Sehnas,
sometimes curl on account of the tiglitness of the weave.
Kashan is the centre of the Persian silk industry. A fine example
of the silk rugs produced there is the one shown on Plate XVIII.
KIRMAN AND TABRIZ
The wool of southern Persia is particularly soft and fine. Conse-
quently one should not be surprised at the softness of the texture of
Kirman rugs. The example illustrated on Plate XIX is a typical
modern Kirman with medallion centre, and the greyish tinge that is
characteristic of modern Kirmans. Especially in the blues and in the
greens is this greyness attractive, and ahnost lends iridescent effects
to the surface. The Kirman illustrated on Plate XX is an antique
woven over a century ago. The pile has been worn short but the
colours, especially the exquisite roses, are as fresh as ever. This rug
is a wonderful creation, thickly patterned with floral forms that leave
not a fraction of an inch of tlie plain ground which is so much afi'ected
by those modern decorators who lack colour sense.
The small rug illustrated on Plate XXI is a typical Tabriz
(named from the city of Tabriz, the ancient Tauris, in extreme north-
western Persia), in texture but not in pattern. The grounds of
Tabriz rugs are apt to be plain, between the corners and the centre
medallion of the main field. Some twenty years ago the manufacture
of Oriental rugs was begun at Tabriz with the idea of producing there
the equal of Kirman rugs, but the hardness of the wool, and the stiff-
ness of the designs supplied to the weavers by European designers,
or designers under Eiu'opean control, resulted unsatisfactorily. Rugs
were produced of exceedingly fine texture that curled and even broke.
The prices were necessarily high because of the fineness of the weave
221
Plate XX— ANCIKNT "FLOWKH GARDEN" KIRMAN RUG
Plate XXI— SMALL TABRIZ RUG
PERSIAN AND INDIAN RUGS
and the expense of the management, but the American public pre-
ferred, and rightly, the coarser and softer texture and less formalised
designs of Gorevan and Scrape rugs from the Herez district.
KHOKASSAN
Khorassans are woven in the Province of Khorassan that occu-
pies the northeastern part of Persia, and once included also the
western jjart of Afghanistan in which is situated Herat, now the
capital of Afghanistan. The wool of Khorassan, like the wool of
Kirman, is soft and silky, and Khorassan rugs, like Kirman rugs,
have a greyish iridescence of surface that is most pleasing, but the
background of the field is in dark tones, instead of light tones —
usually in purplish blues or blue-blacks. Especially interesting from
the point of view of design is the Khorassan rug illustrated on Plate
XXII, with its flower-filled vases that have been- combined into an
all-over pattern, so delightfully as to secure all the virtues of rtp€kt,
without any of its weaknesses.
The rug illustrated on Plate XXIII is full of Caucasian motifs,
and makes one wonder how saw-toothed and straight-line effects of
this type ever wandered from the western shore of the Caspian Sea
down into southern Persia. For the rug before us was woven not in
the Caucasus, but at Shiraz. The story goes that the Shiraz weavers
actuallj' are Caucasians, or rather descendants of Caucasians, having
been brought here from their native land by a victorious Shall of
Persia. Characteristic of Shiraz rugs are not only their Caucasian
rectilinear motifs, sometimes modified by Persian influence, but also
the edges overcast in bright contrasting colours, and the wide end
selvages embroidered in bright colours. Of course, the warp is of
wool, and the end fringes interesting.
INDIAN RUGS
The weaving of Oriental rugs in India became important in the
latter half of the sixteenth century, when Persian weavers were
imported and Shah Akbar, following the example of Persian princes,
set up looms in his palace. A number of other Indian dignitaries
imitated his example, and rugs of the highest type were woven, in
designs that were based on Persian designs, but were apt to be much
more naturalistic, as is illustrated by the splendid examples in the
Altman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum. In the last half of
223
Plate XXII— KHORASSAN RUG WITH "VASE" DESIGN
Plate XXIII— QUAINT AND CURIOUS SHIRAZ RUG
224
Plate XXIV— THE GREAT ARDKBII, RUG IX THE SOUTH KEXSIXGTON MUSEUM
17 feet 0 inches by 37 feet 10 inches. Woven at Kashan in Persia in 1510,
and signed witl\ place and date
Plate XX\— PERSIAX EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY RUG
Woollen pile hroch^ with {{old and silver on silk web. Collection of
Prince Alexis Lobanof-Rostowskv
225
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
the nineteenth century, however, the industrial development of India
under English rule, and especially the introduction of rug weaving
into the jails, substituted modern factory for primitive methods, and
twenty-five years after the International Exhibition of 1851 in
London, where Indian rugs of extraordinary merit had been exhibited,
the rugs in India had become a factory product. Western designs
had been introduced, bad dyes were common, and prison-made fabrics
flooded the English market. It is only fair to add that during the
last few years the quality of India rugs has greatly improved, and
reproductions not only of Persian but also of Chinese rugs, are made
that compare favourably with the originals.
Credit for illustrations: Plates III, VI to XI, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Plate V,
Howard Greenley; Plates XII to XXIII, A. U. Dilley.
CHAPTER XII
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
Of all textures, tapestry is the most durable. The complete
interlocking of warp and weft produces a web that will not ravel,
and that violence and dust and moths destroy with difficulty. Whilst
no large picture tapestries survive to us from Greek and Roman
times, we have a wealth of them from the fifteenth and svicceeding
centuries, and some from the fourteenth. Of small decorative and
primitive tapestries, without elaborate picture effects, and without
a highly developed system of hatchings (huchures), we have many
ancient Peruvian and Coptic, and some ancient Greek and Egyptian
and Chinese examples, the last in silk.
,f Tapestry is a broad word. In its narrowest and most exclusive
sense, it means woven pictures with horizontal ribs and vertical hatch-
ings, of the type develojjed in the Netherlands and northern France
during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In its
broadest sense it includes all coverings for floors, walls and furniture
— ^ven pile rugs, and wall paper, and leathers— and in this sense might
have been correctly used as the title of this volume.
Its meaning varies according to the place where you find it. It
ranges in New York from ten thousand dollars a yard on Fifth
Avenue, to ten cents a roll on Sixth Avenue. A Van Orley "Last
Supper," or a Beauvais-Boucher like the one illustrated in colour as
the frontispiece of my book on Taiiestries, is nmch better value at
the former price than bad wall paper badly printed with a bad design
is at the latter price.
IMITATION TAPESTRIES
If you ask for a tapestry in a wall paper shop, the salesman will
show you a paper called tapestry or verdure, because modelled after
jacquard verdure tapestries. The jacquards themselves you can see
227
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
in the upholstery section of any large department store. (For illus-
trations of their texture, see Plate F 3, 4 of Chapter IV.) These
are the goods ordinarily called tapestries in the merchandise uphol-
stery trade. The all-cotton ones are very inexpensive, even those
with landscape and figures in addition to verdure, like the one illus-
trated on Plate I, which is twenty-seven inches high. In greater
height, and finished with an applique border or woven gilt frame, come
larger and more elaborate copies of real tapestries and paintings,
particularly those of peasant scenes designed by the famous seven-
teenth century painter, Teniers. Sometimes these jacquard tapestry
panels are sold as real tapestries at a price as ridiculously low for
what they are implied to be, as it is high for what they are. I have
several times been asked to pass on such tapestries, once by a pur-
chasing agent whose client was willing to part with ten thousand
dollars on account of the Ch. Le Brun Pinxit woven into the fabric.
Other imitation tapestries are those block-printed by hand, like
"hand-blocked" chintzes and wall papers, but on a coarse horizontal
rep in simulation of real tapestry texture. The general effect is nmch
more tapestry-like than that of the jacquards, all but the simplest of
which resemble petit point needlework, having a square point with
lines running both ways instead of strongly marked ribs. The
printed tapestries come in sets of sixty-inch widths that hang vertically
like wall paper, and are so planned that widths can be omitted or
repeated to accord with the wall space without spoiling the continuity
or apparent completeness of the picture. The effect of these printed
tapestries on a large scale, seen at a little distance, is far more agree-
able than that of the jacquard tapestry panels described above. They
also are very inexpensive. One set of the prints is based on the
ancient Gothic fifteenth century Trojan War series of tapestries;
another shows the Foundation of Rome.
THE WEATE OF REAL TAPESTRIES
On the simplest form of primitive tapestry loom, the weaver's
left hand pulls the leashes (lisses) that form the new shed of the
warp, while his right hand passes the bobbin that carries the weft,
and passes it only as far as the colour that it carries is to show on
the face of the finished cloth. On the way out (to the left) the weft
covers the even warps; on the way back, the odd warps, thus form-
ing a complete pass. The warp threads being hard-spun and com-
228
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TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
paratively coarse, and the weft threads fine and soft, the latter when
pressed home with the point of the bobbin or with the comb, cover
and completely hide the warp threads that make their presence mani-
fest as ribs. In other words real tapestries are ribbed or rep fabrics
with surface consisting entirely of weft threads. They are also eocactly
alike on both sides (except for the loose irregular loops of thread on
the back). In this they are unique.
Between the real tapestry loom as still used at the Gobelins and
Beauvais, Aubusson and Merton, New York, Rome, Madrid, Berlin
and elsewhere, and the ordinary type of hand loom, the difference is
.fundamental. In the latter the bobbin is not passed with the hand,
but thrown or knocked the full width of the warp in a shuttle. Real
tapestry is a bobbin fabric; the woven imitations are shuttle fabrics.
SHUTTLE AND NEEDLE TAPESTRIES
Of these shuttle imitations, the cleverest and best are like the
one illustrated in Plate V. They are made on a special kind of hand
loom, with a double warp. Each warp consists of two threads, the
one coarse and the other fine, which are sometimes treated as one
in the process of weaving, and sometimes separately. In the latter
ease a double cloth is formed and the surface shows a delightful
irregularity and a texture resembling, or rather suggesting the qual-
ities of, ancient Gothic pieces that have been softened by the rough-
ness of the hand of Father Time. Shuttle tapestries of the double-
warp type can be made only in comparatively shnple verdure and
landscape designs, and in no way compete with real-tapestry picture
panels. But they are decorativelj^ superior to new real-tapestry
verdures of the same grade.
Another imitation of real tapestry is needlework tapestry, so
nmch used to upholster furniture in the English styles of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. It is in cross stitch, and does not
have strongly marked ribs running in one direction, but a square
point and lines running in both directions. When part of the surface
is in fine stitch (petit point), such tapestries are properly called petit
points (Plates VIII b, XIV, XVIII, XIX, XXIII in Chapter VI) .
PAINTED TAPESTRIES
Still another kind of imitation tapestry is made by painting on (
canvas, usually ribbed to give the suggestion of tapestry texture.
231
Plate III— ANCIENT PERUVIAN TAPESTRIES AND TAPESTHY FIGURED FABRICS
In the American Museum of Natural History, New York
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
These painted imitations range from half-size copies of the famous
Lady with the Unicorn set of Late Gothic tapestries at the Cluny
Museum in Paris, to the detestable "Gobelin panels," the manufacture
and sale of which brought prosperity for a number of years to a New
York shop now extinct, whose proprietor used to repeat with great
gusto a certain quotation from P. T. Barnum about humbugging the
public. It is a favorite diversion with the editors of Sunday news-
papers to print long stories about the success of some young lady in
making with the brush, rejjroductions of ancient Gobelin and Flemish
tajjcstries that "cannot be told from the original, even by an expert."
In a carpet and rug store, tapestry is an imitation of brussels,
made by printing the warp before weaving; or the imitation of that
imitation, made by printing after weaving (Plate VII in Chap-
ter VIII).
AUBUSSOX TAPESTRIES
For over a century the world centre of commercial real-tapestry
weaving, that is of tapestry weaving for the trade and the open mar-
ket, has been the little mountain town of Aubusson in France, two
hundred miles south of Paris (Plate IV). At the Paris Exposition
of 1900, the exhibits of three Aubusson tapestry manufacturers were
of such excellence as to be awarded grand prizes — the same award
as given to the government works at the Gobelins and at Beauvais,
the product of which is reserved for government buildings. Of the
Aubusson reproductions of the Chateau de Blois and the Chateau de
St. Germain from the Louis XIV series of Royal Residences, after
Lebrun; of the panels Venus and Jupiter from Claude Audran's
Portieres of the Gods; and of one of the Hunts of Louis XV, after
Oudry, the jury said: "They are so like the originals as to be mis-
taken for them."
According to local tradition, the tapestry industry was estab-
lished at Aubusson in the year of our Lord 732, by stragglers from
the Saracen army that Charlemagne's grandfather, Charles Martel,
defeated near Tours, thus saving Europe from Mohammedanism and
for Christianity. In 1664 the tapestry makers and merchants of
Aubusson spoke of the industry as "established from time immemorial,
no person knowing the institution of it." There is, however, little
probability that picture tai)estry weaving at Aubusson antedated the
. fourteenth century development of the art in Flanders, or that any
233
Plate IV— MODKRN" AllU'SSON \ llliDl lil. TAI'K.SIUV WITH LANDSCAPE AND BIRDS
Plate V— VKRDURE "DOUBLE WARP" TMITATION
TAPESTRY WITH BORDER
Woven on a hand loom
2Si
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
tapestries of great importance were made in Aubusson and the neigh-
ing town of Felletin before the eigliteenth century.
In 1664, according to a report made to Colbert, the manufacture
of tapestries at Aubusson appeared to be in a bad way. The number
of weavers had decreased, there was a hick of good cartoons, the wool
was coarse and the dyes were bad. So it was ordered that "a good
painter chosen by the Sieur Colbert, should be maintained at the
expense of the King to make designs for the tapestries manufactured
in the said town; and there should also be established in it a master
dyer to colour the goods employed in said manufactory." But the
order never appears to have been executed, and a few years later in
1685, on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, two hundred of the
best weavers of Aubusson had to leave France because they were
Protestants. Not until 1731 in the reign of Louis XV was a serious
attempt made to revive the industry. Then a painter and a dyer were
actually sent, the painter being Jean Joseph Dumons, who had
acquired fame at Beauvais during the Regence as one of the designers
of a Chinese set of tapestries in six pieces, and who later cartooned
Boucher's Chinese set. More important even than the painter and
splendidly supplementing his work, were the designs and cartoons
sent from Beauvais to Aubusson during the next twenty years. From
these were woven, in the eighteenth century, Aubussori tapestries of
the splendid type illustrated in Plates VI, VII, VIII, loose in
texture and with luminous grounds, possessing an excellence peculiar
to themselves, but none the less admirable because unlike the product
of Gobelin, Beauvais and Flemish looms. The Aubusson makers had
been authorised in 1665 to use the title "Royal Manufactory," and
an ordinance of 1732 provided that their tapestries should be distin-
guished by weaving the name of the town and the name or initials of
the weaver into the border. Consequently we need not be surprised
to find many eighteenth century Aubusson tapestries signed in the
bottom selvage in the same manner, as the two Chinese tapestries after
Boucher in the Le Roy collection: M. R. D'AUBUSSON, PICON
(Royal Manufactory of Aubusson, Picon). Nor need we be sur-
prised at all to often find the signature wanting, as the bottom selvage
of a tapestry is the part of the textile that is most apt to wear out or
disappear first.
The Aubusson tapestry illustrated in Plate VII, entitled the
Strife of Agamemnon and Achilles, bears the signature of Babouneix.
235
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
It is one of a set of five tapestries, complete with tapestry rug and
furniture coA^erings, made in the last half of the eighteenth century
to decorate the room in Greece where they hung for over a century
until recently brought to New York. On account of the draperies in
the style of Louis XVI that frame the top and sides of the different
pieces, the set is commonly called the "Greek drapery" set. Two
other tapestries of this set, the Reception of Paris by Helen, and the
Death of Phaeton, were exhibited at the Buffalo Tapestry Exhibition,
and illustrated on page 2.53 of the February 191.5 number of Good
Furniture MAGAijixE. The composition of all the panels is excellent,
particularly of the Agamenmon and Achilles, in which the priest on
the left of the altar exhorts the two disputants to make up their
quarrel. That the altar is that of Jupiter is shown by his image behind,
and by his eagle with thunderbolts in front.
The Birth of Bacchus, illustrated in Plate VI, is not surpassed
by any Aubusson tapestry that I have ever seen. It has the character-
istic Aubusson texture of the period, and surpasses contemporary
Beauvais and Brussels tapestries of finer point and more delicate
effect. Like many eighteenth centiu-y tapestries it was woven with-
out a border, probably to be panelled in the wall with wooden mould-
ing around.
The Transformation of Jupiter, illustrated in Plate VIII, shows
the Royal eagle with thunderbolts in the upper left corner, whilst the
Celestial King himself occupies the foreground in the form of a beau-
tiful white bull, into which, it will be remembered, he transformed
himself for the purpose of beguiling the maiden Europa, with whom
upon his back he swam across the Hellespont, now called the
Dardanelles, where the battleships of the Allies tried to destroy the
Turkish forts on the way to Constantinople, and which Lord Bj'^ron,
in emulation of Jupiter, and of Leander, the story of whose love for
Hero is pictured in a set of Mortlake tapestries in the Royal Swedish
collection, swam at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The
Transformation of Jupiter is one of eight tapestries designed for
Beauvais (see Chapter XV) by Jean Baptiste Oudry, the famous art
director of Beauvais and later of the Gobelins, to whose efficiency was
due the extraordinary prosperity of the Beauvais works in the second
quarter of the eighteenth century, and consequently of the Aubusson
works that copied Beauvais models. The largest of the five of the
set now in America pictures the Palace of Circe, and all illustrate
2.S7
Plate VII — "The Strife of Agamemnon and Achilles"
Plate VIII — "The Transformation of Jupiter"
AUBUSSON TAPESTRIES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
238
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
transformations of men into beasts, from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The
designs are vivid with h'fe and executed with the greatest skill.
WII.IJAM MORRIS AXl) BURNE-JOXES
Still active at Merton, a village near London, in England, are
the tapestry works established in 1S81 by ^V''illianl Morris. Only
recently was completed the Arming of the King, a large historical
tapestry adapted from Bernard Partridge's painting, but started long
before the breaking out of the war with Germany. The Merton
tapestry, illustrated in Plate IX, Two Angels with Harps, is one of
a pair designed and made for Eton College Chapel. It is interesting
to note in the top selvage the signatm-e of the superintendent, J. H.
Dearie, and of the three weavers, W. Taylor, R. Ellis, J. Martin,
who express the pious wish: Nobis nostrisque omnibus propitietur
(Jens (God have mercy upon us and all of ours).
The significance of the Merton tapestry works in the artistic
development of tapestry, or rather in the revival of tapestry, has been
nuich greater than would be expected from the size of the plant. This
was due partly to the genius of liurne-Jones who designed the per-
sonages for most of the important tapestries, and of Morris who
designed the decorative backgrounds and borders, and put in the colour,
and superintended the execution on the loom, after having trained
first liimself and then his apprentices. All other tapestry revivals
imported workmen from the centre of tapestry production: The
Gobelins and JVIortlake from Flanders in the seventeenth century;
Madrid, Antwerp and Petrograd from Beauvais in the eighteenth
century; Windsor and Williamsbridge from Aubusson in the nine-
teenth century. But Morris did it with his own hands. He had a
loom set up in his bedroom at Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, and
in the early mornings of four months of the year 1879; spent no less
than old hours at it. The method he studied out from an old French
official handbook of pre-Revolutionary days. Perhaps the best evi-
dence of the successful co-operation of Morris and Burne-Jones is that
the Holy Grail set of four was awarded a Grand Prize at the French
Exposition of 1900, the only non-French tapestries ever so honoured.
AMERICAN TAPESTRIES
In 1893 the industry was established in America by the late
William Baumgarten, and still flourishes at the splendidly equipped
239
■Si
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s
I
Plate XI— TAPESTHY DKSIGNKD BY AI.HEUT HEUTER
AND WOVEN IN AMERICA
241
Plate XII— JACQUARD TAPESTRIES WOVEN IN AMERICA
Plate XIII— TAPESTRY SCREEN PANELS WOVEN IN NEW YORK
343
Plate XIV— FOUR EIGHTEENTH CEXTLllY SPANISH TAPESTRIES
The upper two after Goya, the lower two in the style of Teniers
244
n
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
plant in AVillianishridge in New York City, under the management
of M. Foussadier, wlio had heen employed at the Royal Windsor
Tapestry Works in England, that were shut down in 1887 after
existing from 1876 with the aid of royal patronage. The first piece
of tapestry woven in America (excluding the primitive ones made by
Indians, Mexicans and Peruvians) was a chair seat, the exhibition of
which at the Buffalo Tapestry Pjxhibition excited great interest.
There are Williamsbridge tapestries in many American residences,
and of one New York palace they are the most iiinjortant part of the
furnishing, being used on floors, walls apd furniture.
During the past seven years other tapestry plants that are still
in operation have been established in New York City by Albert
Herter, and at Edgewater, N. J., by L. Kleiser. Especially inter-
esting is the set picturing the Story of New York, woven by the
Herter looms for the McAlpin Hotel, and hanging on the walls of the
mezzanine corridors over the office. But perhaps the best idea com-
mercially is that of the maker whose tapestry reproductions of Old
English needlework are found useful and ajjpropriate for the uphol--
stery of chairs and sofas. Technically the most perfect tapestries
woven in America are the two lioucher portieres that received a grand
prize at the St. Louis Exposition. One of them is illustrated on
Plate X. But this is of course in Gobelin textiu'e of the last half
of the eighteenth century, and the greatest tapestries of the future,
as of the past, will be those woven in the texture of the first quarter
of the sixteenth century, which William Morris tried, with partial
success, to imitate. It is a texture that can be perfectly reproduced
today by those who understand it.
BERLIN, ROME, MADRID, PETRGGRAD
The output of the tapestry looms in ojjeration in Berlin, Rome
and Madrid is unimportant as regards both quantity and quality,
although the San Michele plant at Rome is a survival of the one
established in 1710 by Pope Clement XI, and the Santa Barbara
plant at Madrid of the one established in 1720 by Jacques Vander-
goten under the protection of King Philip V. The first art director
of San Michele was Andrea Procaccini, who afterwards went to Spain
where he designed for the' Santa Barbara looms a set picturing the
Story of Don Quixote, I'ecently lent by the King of Spain for exhi-
bition at the Hispanic Museum in New York City (Plate XV).
245
Plate XV— "DON QUIXOTK KNIGHTKD"
Spanish tapestry designetl by Procaocini and woven by Vandergoten's sons
246
TAPESTRIES AND THEIR IMITATIONS
The Russian Imperial Tapestry works, established at Petro-
grad by Peter the Great in 171(), were diseontinued in the middle of
the nineteenth century. The primitive and peasant tapestries, and
developments from them, woven in the Scandinavian countries, and
elsewhere by indi\i(lual workers, have little merit. Most of these are
flat without ribs, and many have vertical warps. None of them show
any comprehension of the value of hatchings, and of what line struc-
ture means in tapestry composition and tapestry execution.
Fortunately we Americans are not ashamed to be inspired by the
greatness of past centuries, and are quite as willing to learn from
other peoples' ancestors as from our own. I believe the time has come
for a rebirth of tapestry and the other decorative arts in America,
on a scale equal to that of the Renaissance, provided only that we
shun passionately the errors due to ignorance and inexperience.
Credit for illustrations: Plate II, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Plate III, American
Museum of Natural History; Plates IV, V, J. H. Tliorp & Co.; Plates VI to VI II, P. W.
French & Co.; Plate IX, Morris & Co.; Plate XI, the Hcrtcr Looms; Plate X, Wni. Hamii-
pirten & Co.; Plate XIII, Pottier & Stymus.
CHAPTER XIII
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
Nearly all of the important tapestries that survive were woven
in the fifteenth century, the sixteenth century, the seventeenth century
or the eighteenth century. They are either Gothic of the fifteenth
century, Renaissance of the sixteenth century. Baroque of the seven-
teenth, Rococo or Classic of the eighteenth. However, the periods
overlapped to some extent, and we find Gothic tapestries still being
woven during the first few years of the sixteenth century. Renaissance
tapestries during the first few years of the seventeenth century, and
Baroque tapestries during the first few years of the eighteenth.
Nearly all of the Gothic tapestries that survive were woven in
the fifteenth century or the first few years of the sixteenth. From
the fourteenth century we have but one set of tapestries, the famous
Apocalypse set that is preserved in the Cathedral at Angers, France.
Besides this set there are only a few scattered and isolated pieces,
mostly crude and small in size. This in spite of the fact that large
and magnificent tapestries were undoubtedly woven during the four-
teenth century.
Our study of Gothic tapestries, then, will confine itself almost
exclusively to tapestries woven in the fifteenth century or the first
few years of the sixteenth. It will also confine itself almost exclu-
sively to tapestries woven within two hundred miles of Arras and
Brussels, the first of which cities was the centre of tapestry weaving
during the fourteenth and first half of the fifteenth centuries ; the
second of which cities became the centre of tapestry weaving after
Arras was ruined in 1477.
TEXTURE or GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
Gothic tapestries, more than any others, illustrate the full and
complete virtues of tapestry texture. Gothic tapestries, more than
248
Plate I— DAVID AND HATHSHKHA T \I>KSTKY
GOTHIC "STORY OF DAVID." IN THK
. TAHT OF THK FAMOIS LATE
CT.UXY MLSELM, PARKS
349
Plate H— "TITUS," PAKT OF A KIFTEEXTII CFXTUHY GOTHIC TAl'JiSTUY
In the Metropolitan Museum
Plate III— A GOTHIC "MILI.E-FI,EUR" WITH
ANIMALS
Owned by the late Alexander W. Drake
250
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
any others, illustrate the skilful and complete use of hatchings, com-
bined with horizontal ribs in line contrast, to produce the appearance
of form. As every one knows or should know, the surface of wall
tapestries is not flat but consists of horizontal ribs in relief; in other
words, the surface of wall tapestries is a horizontal rep. The ribs
mark the presence beneath the surface of the warp threads, which are
the threads that run the long way of the loom. These warp threads
do not show on the surface of the tapestry at all, being entirely covered
by the finer weft threads. The weft threads are not put in with a
shuttle, but with bobbins. They all pass in plain weave over and under
alternate warp threads.
Whilst the surface of the high lights of a tapestry, as well as of
the shadows, is comparatively plain and solid in tone like painting, the
middle lights between consist not of solid tones, but of vertical spires
of colour that etch into each other, blue and yellow, for example,
forming gradations from blue to yellow that are most intricate and
beautiful. This blending of colours by hatching is called "mixing
colours on the loom," and is indispensable if true tapestry texture is
to be obtained.
I have said that the middle lights are made up of hatchings. In
the plain or solid-coloured high lights, the horizontal ribs stand out
boldly; but in the middle lights, the horizontal ribs are concealed
beneath the coloured hatchings. Consequently, there is an extraor-
dinary contrast between the horizontal ribs of the high lights, and
the vertical hatchings of the middle lights, as well as between the
vertical hatchings of the middle lights and the horizontal ribs of the
shadows. The result is that the high lights are forced out to the front
by the line contrast, that is to say, by the contrast between horizontal
lines in relief and vertical lines in colour; are forced out to the front
farther than they can be forced out in any other form of art. We
have, to be sure, line contrasts in line engravings, but it is a contrast
of flat lines without relief, and usually in one colour. In tapestries,
the line contrast of horizontal with vertical is intensified by the fact
that it is also a contrast of relief with colour. These line con-
trasts are what make possible the extraordinary drapery effects
obtained in Gothic tapestries like that illustrated on Plate VII. To
my mind this "Prophecy of Nathan" is a perfect exemplification of
the brilliant possibilities of tapestry texture. To be sure, this tapestry
is not rich with gold like the famous Mazarin tapestry long lent by
251
Plate IV-"THR REDEMPTION OF MAX," A LATE GOTHIC TAPESTRY RICH WITH GOI.n
Bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum by the late Col. Oliver II. Payne
Plate V— "THI', SON OF MAN," A FOURTEENTH
CENTURY GOTHIC TAPESTRY
Of the famous Apocalypse set at Angers, France
saa
Plate VI— LOWER RIGHT CORNER OF "THE REDEMPTION' OF MAN"
Picturing Moses with the twelve oomiiiandnients
353
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GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
Mr. Morgan to the Metropolitan Museum and now owned by Mr.
Widener and hanging in his home in Philadelphia. Nor is it as fine
in texture as the Mazarin tapestry. But because of its comparatively
coarse texture and pronounced hatchings, it does illustrate what can
be accomplished by line contrast nmch more obviously than that can
be illustrated in finer textin-e.
DESIGN'S OF GOTHIC TAPKSTRIES
It will be noticed that Early Gothic tapestries seldom have a
border. It will also be noticed that Late Gothic tapestries usually
have a narrow flower-and-fruit or mille-fleur border about six inches
wide. Instead of border, the earlier Gothic tapestries often have
captions at top and bottom, in Latin at the bottom, and in Old French
at the top, with nothing at the sides. The only Early Gothic tapestry
with which I am acquainted that originally had a border all around
it is the famous "Seven Sacraments" tapestry, five fragments of
which, about half of the original tapestry, were presented to the
Metropolitan Museum several years ago by the late J. Pierpont
Morgan. This tapestry did originally have a border all around, con-
sisting of a brick wall with floriation outside. This brick wall and
the way it was handled made a very intei'esting study that was pub-
lished by me in the English Burlington Magazine in December, 1907.
When Gothic tapestries have a sky-line at all, it is very high,
that is to say, there is verj^ little sky showing. There are no plein air
effects. Every inch of the surface is filled with ornament or design.
There are no blank spaces. Tapestry texture does not flourish on
blank spaces. A painter utilizes blank spaces to get contrasts between
shadows and high lights. Blank spaces and j)lein air effects come
natural to paintings. They do not come natural to tapestries, and
when they were introduced into tapestries in the course of the six-
teenth century, and more fully and completely in the seventeenth
century, tapestry gradually lost all of its best qualities, and finally
in the eighteenth century came to be hardly more than a woven imita-
tion of painting. In the fifteenth century, tapestry texture was so
thoroughl}^ understood and so much in AOgue that one might rather say
that painting imitated tapestry than that tapestry imitated painting.
In those days every gentleman had real tapestries, which were then
called arras (named after the little city of Arras that was the chief
centre of production) in his residence, while those who could not
Plate VIII— ONE OF THE FAMOUS HARDWICKE HAIJ, HUNTING TAPESTHIKS
Owned by the Duke of Devonshire.
Plate 1X-"TH1'; WOOD-CUTTERS," A FAMOUS UATE GOTHIC TAPESTRY
In the Musee ties Arts D^coratifs in Paris
356
I'laU- X tJOTHlC HINTING TAPKSTHY
III the Minneapolis Museum of Kine Arts
2S7
HMffsM-^r^
Plate XI— PART OF THE "ST. PETER" SERIES
Given to the Beauvais cathedral in 14(i0
Plate XII— "JOSEPH PRESENTING JACOB TO PHARAOH"
A fifteenth century Gothic tapestry lent to the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts by Mr. Frank Gair Macomber
258
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
aflFord real tapestry utilised paintings instead for the decoration of
their walls. These paintings they called counterfeit arras.
Of course, the general effect of Gothic tapestries is like that of
Gothic cathedrals, a vertical effect. This vertical effect is produced
not only hy the predominance of the vertical hatchings of which I have
just been speaking, but also by the main lines of the figures and of
the composition. There are introduced a great many upright figures
and few horizontal lines or bands. Gothic art is a vertical art, as
contrasted with Classic art which is a horizontal vs vertical art, or a
balanced art with the horizontal holding down the vertical.
As tapestries approached the Renaissance, horizontal effects
begin to be accentuated. The sky-line gets lower and lower. The
architectural and decorative ornament, and the costumes, begin
to look more like the Renaissance. Shoes cease to be pointed and
the toes become round, later spatulate. Hats become flatter. Arches
become less pointed and begin to resemble the so-called Tudor arches.
One of the most delightful features of Late Gothic tapestries
are the mille-fleiir effects. These mille-fleur effects are illustrated
very beautifully on Plate III; also in the ground of Plate XIII, and
of Plate XVli; and on Plates XI and XIII of Chapter XVI.
OLDEST SET IN THE WORLD
The oldest set of tapestries in the world is the Apocalypse at
Angers in France, mentioned above, one piece from which the "Son
of Man" is illustrated on Plate V. This tapestry was woven in the
latter part of the fourteenth century, for the French king's brother,
the Duke of Anjou. The designs were copied from an illuminated
manuscript of the Apocalypse, which the Duke of Anjou borrowed
from his royal kinsman, but never took the trouble to return.
Originally there were seven pieces in the set, showing ninety sep-
arate and distinct scenes, eighteen feet high with a combined width of
472 feet — in other words, 944 square yards of intricately woven
picture tapestry. Some of the ninety scenes contained each more than
twenty-five personages. Today the height of the set is only fourteen
feet and the total width 328 feet. The floriated band at top and
bottom, and the inscriptions, have worn away in the course of five
hundred years. Of the ninety scenes, seventy remain intact, and there
are fragments of eight others, while twelve have entirely disappeared.
The subject of the scene illustrated on Plate V, from the
259
Plate XIII— "THF. CRUCIFIXION, LAST SLPPF.H AND UKSURRKCTIOV
A fifteenth century Gothic tapestry iivthe Chicago Art Institute
Presented by tlie Society of Antiquarians
Plate XIV— GOTHIC "CREDO" TAPESTRY
In the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
360
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
Apocalypse is to be found in Chapter I, verses 12 to 20, of the Book
of Revelation.
Especially interesting, and typical of the war-like tapestries of
the first half of the fifteenth century, is the "Capture of Jerusalem
by Titus" that hangs in the armour room of the Metropolitan Museum,
New York. Only part of this tapestry is illustrated on Plate II, but
in it Titus can be seen scej^tre in left hand, crown upon his head, while
one of his generals draws his attention to the Ark of the Tabernacle,
and to the rich plate which has been taken as plunder from the Jewish
temple.
One of the most striking scenes in the rest of the tapestry is
where the soldiers are represented as searching the Jews who flee
from the captured city, or city about to be captured, for their money.
Titus in his generosity had decreed that all the Jews who gave up
what money they had, be allowed to go free. But the soldiers heard
that some of the Jews swallowed their gold and silver in order to be
able to take it with them through the Roman lines. The scene in
question shows the soldiers searching the Jews for the money thus
concealed. The scene would be gruesome in painting, or indeed in any
form of art except tapestry, but because of the peculiarly decorative
texture of tapestry, the gruesomeness is so toned down as hardly to
be offensive at all.
HARDAVICKE HAI,L TAPKSTRIES
The most important Gothic tapesti-ies in England are the four
so-called Hardwicke Hall tapestries, belonging to the Duke of Devon-
shire, and lent by him to the Victoria and Albert Museum at South
Kensington. These hunting tapestries exemplify wonderfully the
effectiveness of tapestry texture, and also throw vivid light upon the
customs of the time, especially ujion the hunting customs, at a period
when hunting and hawking were the favourite sports of royalty and
nobility. One of these famous tapestries is shown on Plate VIII.
A particularly keen interest is attached to this set of four tap-
estries for America, because of the fact that the late director of the
Metropolitan Museum, Sir Purdon Clarke, first suggested that they
be re-assembled out of the fragments into which they had been cut
for use as portieres. Under his direction the fragments were assorted
and repaired, the colours being slowly and with difficulty studied out
from the unfaded back, and 'reproduced in coloured thread upon the
261
Plate X\— "THE TRIUMPH OF THE VHIGIN'
Gothic tapestry in the Royal Spanish collection
n
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
surface. This, of course, illustrates the fact that the backs of tapestries
fade less than the faces; indeed, they often fade not at all, being
shielded from the light.
PKACE TAl'ESTHIES
Plate XI illustrates three scenes from a famous set of tapestries
presented to the Cathedral of Beauvais in 1460, by the then Bishop
of Beauvais, Guillaume de Hellande. The coat-of-arms of the
bishopric of Beauvais is seen in the upper right and lower left corners,
whilst the family coat-of-arms of Bishop Guillaume de Hellande is
seen in the upper left and lower right corners. The reason for the
2)aiir that appears so many times on the surface of the tapestries, not
only of this tapestry, but of the whole set, was the Bishop's joy at
the termination of the Hundred Years War between England and
France.
The scenes illustrated are:
1 — St. Peter's Vision at Joppa, 2 — Cornelius Baptised at
Cajsarea, 3 — St. Peter Imprisoned by Herod at Jerusalem.
This is a most extraordinary set of tapestries, several of which
are still missing. One of those formerly missing is now in the Museum
of the Gobelins. Two of the missing ones, which had been lost since
the time of the French Revolution, were recently brought to the
United States, and constitute what is one of the greatest Gothic
treasures in this country still to be acquired by some great museum.
MINNEAPOLIS, BOSTON AND CHICAGO
Plate X illustrates an exquisite piece of Gothic hunting tapestry
given to the Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts, at the suggestion of
the Director, Joseph Breck. Mr. Breck was very wise to select this
piece. He very rightly suggests that it was probably woven at the
same time and place as the famous Hardwicke Hall tapestries. It
may be part of one of the set. Notice particularly the costumes of
the gentlemen and of the ladies, and most of all, the light that is
thrown on the royal sport of falconry.
Plate XII illustrates a scene from the "Story of Joseph" lent by
Mr. Frank Gair Macomber to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It
pictures the presentation of Jacob to Pharaoh by his son Joseph. The
story is told by the old French verses above in Gothic lettering, and
the different characters are identified by having their names woven
263
Plate XVI— "THE ADOIIATION Ol' THE MAGI"
Late German Gothic tapestry in the Metropolitan Museum
Plate XVII— "THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS"
Formerly in the Hoentschel-Morgan collections
264
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
into their giirineiits, Joseph, zehulun, pharaoh, levi, judas, reuhen.
The Latm iiiseription rends, translated: "In the year of the
World 2500 came Jacob as ordered. Pharaoh made great joy over
him, and as a reward to Joseph gave his father the land of Goshen
for "which he asked."
The tapestry illustrated on Plate XIII, belonging to the Chi-
cago Art Institute, resembles closely (although it is much smaller)
the famous Crucifixion now in the Brussels Museum which was bought
at the Somzee sale in 1901 for $14,000. The arrangement of the two
tajjestries is similar. The Crucifixion is in the middle, with the Resur-
rection on the right; but on the left the Brussels tapestry has the
Bearing of the Cross, while the Chicago tapestry has the Last Supper.
Instead of the two thieves that appear in the Brussels tapestry, the
Chicago one has two angels and fewer personages, as is consistent
with its size.
One of the most important tapestries in the world is the Gothic
Crucifixion with other scenes, the gift to the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts of Mrs. John Harvey ^Vright. This tapestry illustrated on
Plate XIV was purchased in Spain in 1889. It has been carefully
studied by Miss Flint, the curator of textiles at the Boston Museum
and was illustrated and ably described by her in the Museum Bulletin
for February, 1909. The tapestry was woven near the end of the
fifteenth century, probably in Brussels, and is fourteen feet two
inches high by twenty-seven feet three inches wide. There are four
scenes separated by Gothic jewelled colunms. The two outer scenes
are widest, the one on the right picturing the Crucifixion, the one on
the left the Creation of Eve. The two inner scenes picture the
Baptism of Christ and the Nativity. At the top of the Baptism panel
appears God wearing the Imperial Crown, the Imperial Globe and
Cross in His left hand, dominating not only that panel, but also the
three others.
The lower third of the tapestry is occupied by eight seated per-
sonages whose rich robes give wonderful colour, and conceal the lower
part of the jewelled columns, thus tying the four jjanels closely
together. These eight personages, whose names Gothic captions make
clear, are paired Old Testament with New Testament, from left to
right: Jeremiah and Saint Peter, David and Andrew, Isaiah and
James, Hosea and John — prophets and apostles intimately associated
with the life of Christ. All but Isaiah are luxuriously robed in bro-
265
Plate XVIII— "THE COURT OF I.OVE"
Late Gothic tapestry in the Metropolitan Museum
366
GOTHIC TAPESTRIES
caded velvet; he is dressed like a man of action, short coat and
trousers, with a sword stuck by his side. Bands of letters adorn his
clothing, letters the meaning of which is not clear. Jeremiah is rep-
resented as an aged man, clean shaven and wearing a slouch hat. St.
Peter, who faces him, wears spectacles and is reading a scroll which
bears his name. David holds a sceptre and wears a crown. Isaiah
kneels opposite James, who is apparently conversing with Hosea.
MADRID, NKW YOKK AND PARIS
One of the most exquisitely beautiful and technically perfect
tapestries in the world is The Triumph of the Virgin, illustrated on
Plate XV. It is a Gothic tapestry in the Royal Spanish collection,
and closely resembles in style and execution the famous Mazarin
tapestry. The centre of the tapestry is occupied by the Virgin, while
behind her is figured God with sceptre in His right hand. On one
side, above her, stands Christ; on the other side the Holy Ghost.
Very interesting it is to note this method of representing the Holy
Ghost. Frequently in Late Gothic tapestries the Holy Ghost is rep-
resented in the form of a dove ; not infrequently the three. Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, are represented as three Kings, all with the same
features, and all with sceptre and globe-and-cross of Empire, except
that Christ, when seated, always has the globe-and-cross of Empire
at His feet, and His sceptre turned down to show that He abnegates
Temporal Power.
The tapestry illustrated on Plate XVII and formerly in the
Morgan collection is one of those comparatively small but extremely
interesting pieces woven in the fifteenth century to hang above choir
stalls. The subject is "The Massacre of the Innocents." On the left
Herod is seen in the act of giving orders to the executioners, whilst in
the middle scene the executioners are carrying the orders out, and on
the right Joseph and Mary are seen in the famous Flight to Egypt.
The small portion of a tapestry reproduced on Plate I shows
on a large scale the hatchings which are such an important and vital
part of almost all tapestries, but particularly of Late Gothic tap-
estries. Note particularly the vertical colour lines in the draperies
back of Bathsheba, also the vertical hatchings on the skirt of David's
robe. The series of ten, of which this tapestry is one, is now at the
Musee Cluny, Paris, and was woven in Flanders at the beginning of
the sixteenth century.
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CHAPTER XIV
RENAISSANCE TAPESTRIES
Renaissance tapestries differ radically from Gothic tapestries.
The style of design has entirely changed and has become Italian
instead of Frei^-Flemish. The sky line has dropped and open air
and perspec^^Bffects have been introduced boldly. Shadows are
used with co^^^PFole freedom and in consequence the scale of orna-
ment has becwre larger. Especially is the contrast noticeable between
the tiny flowers and leaves of Gothic mille-fleur backgrounds and
borders, and the backgrounds and borders of Flemish Renaissance
tapestries. As compared with the line designs of the Gothic centuries
and the sculptural designs of the Baroque seventeenth century, the
designs of the Renaissance might be described as paint designs, in this
respect resembling the Rococo and Classic Revival designs of the
eighteenth century.
RENAISSANCE BORDERS
Especiallj^ do Renaissance tapestries differ from Gothic tapestries
as regards their borders. The borders of Gothic tapestries are either
non-existent or narrow as in Late Gothic tapestries, which have flower
and fruit borders from five to six inches wide. The borders of
Renaissance tapestries start narrow but within a few years jump to
ten or even eighteen or twenty inches wide. Many of the Early
Renaissance borders were from ten to twelve inches wide. The borders
from seventeen to twenty-two inches wide were inspired by the vertical
woven pilasters originated in Raphael's studio for the Acts of the
Apostles tapestries designed by Raphael for Pope Leo X to hang
in the Sistine Chapel. These woven pilasters Raphael's favourite
pupil, Giulio Romano, developed into the full borders for both sides
and bottom, that we see in the set of Acts of the Apostles tapestries
woven for the Emperor Chai'les V and now in the Royal Spanish col-
268
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lection (Plate II; also Plate I of Chapter XVI). These borders
were not flower-and-fruit borders, but compartment borders, each
compartment containing some allegorical figure, like Charity or
Prudence, with the I^atin name often spelled out beneath in Roman
letters.
Of these compartment borders there are two types, the Italian
Renaissance type as it came direct from the pencil of Giulio Romano,
and tlie Flemish Renaissance type as it was modified in Flanders by
Flemish designers and weavers. Distinctive of Flemish designers
and weavers is their love for floriation and verdure. Of this the
I'amous Gothic mille-fleurs are splendid evidence. Consequently they
were not satisfied with the plain and bare backgrounds of the Italian
Renaissance compartments, but proceeded to fill them up with
Flemish Renaissance flowers and leaves. The border of Plate II
illustrates the Italian Renaissance type of compartment border; the
border of Plate XV illustrates the Flemish Renaissance type of tom-
partment border.
NUDES AND AVHISKEES
Renaissance designers not only introduced more sky, more land-
scape and more building into tapestries, they also nudtiplied the use
of nudes. The Gothic centuries were modest centuries. In the
famous Seven Sacraments tapestry presented to the Metropolitan
Museum by Mr. Morgan, even the traditionally nude figures of Adani
and Eve are clothed — not heavily clothed, it is true, but still clothed —
not entirely nude. The Renaissance, with its study of ancient statuary
and imitation of ancient painting, changed all this. Even if Giulio
Romano did not illustrate Aretin indecently, as has been said by
some, yet in all his designs there is a passion for the nude, a fondness
for the unclothed, which definitely distinguishes the spirit and motifs
of the sixteenth century from those of the fifteenth. The personages
of Late Gothic tapestries, such as the Prophecy of Nathan, illustrated
on Plate VII of Chapter XIII, were magnificently and splendidly
draped in long and all-concealing robes. The costumes of the Renais-
sance, more or less borrowed from the ancient Romans, reveal much
more.
Wliiskers also distinguish Renaissance tapestries from Gothic
tapestries. The fifteenth centiu-y had been a clean-shaven century.
Men's faces had seemed completely innocent of hair and their heads
271
Plate HI— "SAINT PAUL BEFORE AGRIPPA AND BERENICE"
Early Renaissance tapestry in the Royal Spanish collection
Plate IV— "JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN"
A Renaissance tapestry, in the Foulke collection
372
RENAISSANCE TAPESTRIES
burdened but lightly with hair. Towards the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury, however, hair began to be worn longer, and after the first few
years of the Renaissance, long hair and whiskers became quite the
fashion.
RAPHAEL AND HIS PUPILS
The most famous Renaissance designer of tapestries is Raphael,
and the most famous set of Renaissance tapestries is his Acts of the
Apostles. The example illustrated, however, on Plate II, is not one
of the original set which hangs now in the Vatican, but one of the
Royal Spanish set. The story pictured is the Blinding of Elymas
as told in verses VI to XII of Chapter XIII of Acts. Elymas
was a sorcerer who tried to turn away the Roman deputy from the
true faith. But Paul said: "Oh, full of all subtle things and all
mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now,
behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind,
not seeing the sun for a season." And immediately there fell upon him
a mist in the darkness; and he went about seeking someone to lead
him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done,
believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
So that the important part of the story is not so much the Blind-
ing of Elymus as the conversion of the deputy, as told in the Latin
inscription in the tapestry which reads, translated: "Lucius Sergius
Paulus, Proconsul of Asia, embraces the Christian faith through the
preaching of Paul."
OUR LADY OF SABLON
One of the most interesting tapestries in the world is Our Lady
of Sablon, now in the Brussels Museum. It formerly belonged to the
Spitzer collection, and is one of a set of four, each having three scenes.
The story interest of this tapestry is very great. The two personages
carrying the litter in the middle panel of the tapestry (Plate VII)
are the brothers Charles and Ferdinand, both emperors later, the first
as Charles V and the other as Ferdinand I. The old gentleman in
the foreground of each of the three panels is the Imperial Postmaster,
Francis de Taxis, whose name appears on the facade of the new
New York City postoffice on Eighth avenue, placed there by the archi-
tects, McKim, Mead & White, because of the great services rendered
by him in the development of communication by post.
273
HEXAISSANCE TAPESTRIES
The personages who kneel in the right panel of the tapestry are
Ferdinand, his four sisters, and his aunt and guardian, IVIargaret of
Austria. The coat-of-arms in the middle of the top border of the
tapestry is that of Margaret of Austria.
Our Eady of Sablon is, of course, the Virgin borne upon the
litter. In the middle of the fourteenth century, a poor woman had
found this image neglected in the Church of Notre Dame at Antwerp.
She took it to a painter who enriched it with gold and precious colours.
Then she restored it to the church, where it immediately insjjired
devotion in all who beheld it and attracted many worshippers. Then
the Virgin appeared to the old woman and bade her carry the statue
to Brussels. When the warden tried to prevent her from taking it,
he waS struck with paralysis. She went to the harbour and embarked
in an empty boat. The boat, as if guided by the Virgin's own hand,
stemmed the current and brought the sacred image safely to Brussels.
Here the old woman was received by the dignitaries of the city, and
the image was carried in triumphant procession to the Church of Our
Lady of Sablon.
In designing the story for presentation in tapestry, the artist
not only modeiiiised the costumes but also substituted for the ancient
actors of the fourteenth centiny, the contemporary ruler of the
Netherlands, Charles, and his brother Ferdinand.
GIULIO ROMANO
The two most prolific tapestry designers of the Renaissance were
the Italian Giulio Romano, who was Raphael's favourite pupil, and
the Fleming Bernard van Orley, who is said to have also worked in
Raphael's studio.
The Scipio designs created by Giulio Romano in illustration of
Livy's History of Rome were wonderfully popular, and were not only
themselves reproduced with more or less fidelity in tapestry during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but also inspired a host of
other Scipio tapestries along similar lines. Parts of the story that had
seemed neglected or treated briefly in Giulio Romano's designs, were
expanded and developed into complete stories. Giulio Romano's
designs pictured scenes from the second Punic War between the
Carthaginians and the Romans (B. C. 218 to 202) in which Publius
Cornelius Scipio, called Africanus because of his victories in Africa,
won the empire of the world for the Romans.
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RENAISSANCE TAPESTRIES
By some delightful turn of Fortune's wheel, part of the finest
set of Scipio tapestries with which I am acquainted is now in New
York, recently brought here from Madrid, where others of the set
still remain. The set is Early Renaissance in every detail of design
and execution and all the tapestries of the set are luxuriantly rich
with gold, inserted with marvellous skill in plain and basket and
couched weave, the last producing in the robes brocaded effects that
are incomparably magnificent.
These tapestries are in every way equal to the greatest tapestries
of the period, the Acts of the Apostles sets at the Vatican and in the
Royal Spanish collection; the Abraham sets at Hampton Court, in the
Imperial Austrian collection, and in the Royal Spanish collection; the
Moses set in the Imperial Austrian collection ; the Mercury and Herse
tapestries in the j)ossession of the Spanish Duchess de Denia, and of
Mr. George Blumenthal.
An extraordinary fact about tlie four tapestries of this Scipio
set now in New York, is that they have not been injured by the hand
of time; they are as fresh and in as perfect condition as when they
first came from the loom. It is said that they have passed most of
their existence in huge cedar chests, protected from light and wear as
well as from moths. These tapestries are conqjlete evidence that the
weavers of the first half of the sixteenth century understood how to
make picture tapestries that did not require aging to become beau-
tiful. Never since then have weavers displayed the same skill. Prob-
ably the first Scipio tapestries made from the designs of Giulio
Romano were the Francis I set, rich with gold, in twenty-two pieces,
four French aunes high with combined width of a hundred and twenty
French aunes (roughly, 16 by 480 feet), woven in Brussels by Marc
Cretif and burned for the gold they contained in 1797, [Note: The
length of a French aime is 46% inches, roughly 4 feet or one and
one-fifth metres.]
The most complete descriptive list that we have of Francis I's
Scipio tapestries is from a royal inventory of about 1660, reproduced
by Reiset in his "Desseins au Musee Imperial du Louvre, Paris, 1866."
The widths of the diflFerent tapestries are given in French aunes. The
first thirteen of the tapestries pictured the Deeds of Scipio; the last
nine the Triumph of Scipio.
By some strange and fortunate chance fifteen of Giulio Romano's
original Scipio drawings (petits patrons) have been preserved and
277
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Plate VII— "OUR LADY OF SABLON"
An early Renaissance tapestry in the Brussels Museinn
Plate VIII--THK DOLLFUS CRUCIFIXION
An early Renaissance tapestry rich with gold, designed by Bernard van Orley,
and now owned bv Mr. Widener
378
RENAISSANCE TAPESTRIES
can be seen at the Louvre. These drawings average in size 17 inches
high by 22 inches wide. Nine of them illustrate nine scenes of the
Triumph of Scipio mentioned above; the other six, six of the Deeds
of Scipio. They were formerly in the collection of Everhard Jabach,
from whom they were ijurchased for Louis XIV by Lebrun.
Of the full-size cartoons in colour (grands patrons) there is one
in the Louvre 11 feet 7 inches high by 21 feet 2 inches wide, repro-
ducing scene number two of the Triumph of Scipio. This is one of
four cartoons presented to I^ouis XVI in 1786 by the English painter,
Richard Cosway, who bought them in Venice, where thej- had been
taken in 1630 when the palace of the Duke of Mantua was pillaged
by the Imperial troops.
Another famous set of Early Renaissance tapestries, also prob-
ably after the design of Giulio Romano, is the Story of Abraham, of
which there is a set of ten in the Imperial Austrian collection signed
by the famous Brussels maker of tapestries, William van Panne-
maker; a set of seven in the Royal Spanish collection, signed by the
same maker; and a set of eight at Hampton Court. In 1548 the
whole set of ten was still at Hampton Court, when an inventory was
taken of the effects of Henry VIII "Tenne peces of newe Arras of
Thistorie of Abraham." The Spanish set formerly belonged to
Charles V's daughter, Joanna, and numbered only seven in the inven-
tory made at the time of her death in 1570. The Austrian set has in
the upper part of the panel, on the right and on the left, the Lorraine
coat-of-arms with the Cardinal's hat of Duke Charles of Lorraine-
Vaudemont who died in 1587. The borders of these Abraham tap-
estries are divided into compartments, after the fashion of the com-
partment borders described above. The story of each tapestry is told
in a Latin inscription on a goat's hide in the middle of the top border.
BERNARD VAN ORLEY
The most famous set of tapestries designed by Bernard van
Orley is the Hunts of Maximilian in twelve pieces, one for each month
of the year (Plate IX). The first set was woven in Brussels, and
now hangs in the Louvre. It was long in the possession of the Duke
de Guise, and for that reason is often called Les Belles Chasses de
Guise. While these tapestries are definitely in the style of the
Renaissance, they show few traces of the paint technique that
injured so mam- of the tapestries woven from Italian Renaissance
279
Plate IX— ONE OF THE "HUNTS OF MAXIMILIAN"
A series of twelve tapestries designed by Bernard van Orley, now in the Louvre
Plate X— "HERCULES KILLS THE DRAGON OF
THE HESPERIDES"
One of a set of Renaissance tapestries in the Imperial
Austrian collection
Plate XI— "CHILDREN PLAYING"
Renaissance tapestry after Giulio Romano
280
Plate XII—'THE TRIUMPH OF VENUS"
Uenaissunce "grotesque" tapestry in the French National collection
Plate XIII— "MAKSVAS FLAYED IJV APOI.LO"
Renaissance tapestry in the Royal Spanish collection
Plate XIV— "THE CREATION OF EVE"
Renaissance tapestry in the Tapestry Gallery at Florence
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RENAISSANCE TAPESTRIES
designs. The fact is that Bernard van Orley, living in Brussels
as he did, thoroughly understood tapestry texture, and all of his
tapestries, even those that are most Italian, are full of the rich effects
inherited from Gothic tapestries. It is interesting to note that the
Hunts took place in the vicinity of Brussels, and that the Maximilian
named was the Emperor Maximilian who was the grandfather of
Charles V.
TAPESTRY SIGNATURES
The signatiu'es of Renaissance tapestries are exceedingly interest-
ing. Gothic tapestries were seldom signed. In the second quarter of
the sixteenth century the habit of signing tapestries became general.
Indeed, in the year 1528, the practice was confirmed legally by the
Emjieror Charles V for Brussels,- and in 1544 for the rest of the
Netherlands. During the sixteenth century Brussels tapestries were
signed with the Brussels mark, two capital B's in yellow on each side
of a red shield, in the bottom selvage, and usually on the left side of
the tapestry ; and with the weaver's or maker's monogram in the right
selvage of the tapestry.
Among monograms that have been identified, perhaps the most
famous is that of William van Pannemaker, who wove the famous
Tunis tapestries for the Emjjeror Charles V, picturing the Emperor's
successful and victorious expedition to Tunis. The designs were by
Vermeyen, who accomj^anied the Emperor for the purpose of sketch-
ing the scenes on the spot where the action took place. A full-length
portrait of the designer appears in the first tapestry of the set, and the
story of each tapestry is told by long Spanish captions in the top
borders and by long Latin captions in the bottom borders. The orig-
inal set is in the Royal Spanish collection, but in the Imperial
Austrian collection there is a set woven a hundred and fifty years
later by I. De Vos, whose name, together with the Brussels mark,
appears in the bottom selvage, in the same form as in the bottom
selvage of the Parnassus tapestry of the Stuart collection in the New
York Public Library.
CHAPTER XV
GOBELINS, BEAUVAIS, MORTLAKE TAPESTRIES
During the seventeenth century, owing to the pohcy of "pro-
tecting and encouraging home industries" of Henri IV, Louis XIII
and Louis XIV, and of the wise and efficient prime ministers, Riche-
lieu, Mazarin and Colbert, niajuifacturers flourished in France and
Paris became the decorative capital of the world. During the Gothic
and Renaissance centuries, first Arras, then Brussels, had been the
centre of tapestry weaving. In the Baroque seventeenth century the
supremacy in tapestry was transferred from Brussels to Paris; and
ever since, the name most famous in connexion with tapestry has been
that of the Gobelins.
The Gobehns is a most interesting institution, open in times of
peace to visitors on Wednesday and Satin'day afternoons from 1 to 3.
The trip is an easy one by automobile, or street car, or motor bus,
from the Halles across to the left bank of the Seine, and out the long
Avenue des Gobelins. The entrance to the courtyard, with Les
Gobelins on the gate beneath RF, is simple but impressive.
Oddly enough the family of Gobelins, whose name has become
inextricably associated with tapestries, were not tapestry weavers and
never had anything to do with tapestry weaving. As is shown by the
inscription at the left of the entrance gate; "Jean and Philibert
Gobelin, merchant dyers of scarlet, who have left their name to this
quarter of Paris and to the tapestry factory, had their works here at
the end of the fifteenth century."
The Gobelin family prospered, and from dyers finally became
financiers. By the beginning of the seventeenth century dyeing was
beneath their dignity and they were glad to dispose of the property
that had made them rich, and was to make them famous.
As is shown by the inscription at the right of the entrance gate:
"April, 1601, Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche, Flemish
284
Plate I— BEAUVAIS TAPESTRY DESIGNED BY BKUAIN
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tapestry weavers, instal their workrooms on the banks of the Bievre."
Theirs is the tapestry phmt often described as the "Early GobeHns"
by contrast with the Gobehns after it became the property of the
Crown sixty years later. The Bievre is the little stream in the rear,
now covered and no longer used, that was greatly cherished by dyers
of red in ancient days, because of the special virtues that made its
waters suitable for their purpose. Frans Van Den Planken (the
Flemish form of the name) came from Audenarde, Marc de Comans
from Brussels. Although the partnership was formed and became
active in January, 1001, for the manufacture of tapestries and for
other important commercial operations, the royal edict of Henri IV
officially incorporating the business, and granting it large subventions
and important privileges, while imposing on it heavy burdens such as
the training of many apprentices and the operating of tapestry works
in the provinces, is dated 1607. This is the edict that was used as a
model by the English a few years later in organising the tapestry
works at Mortlake.
That the enterprise prospered is proved by a report on it dis-
covered a few years ago in the archives of the Barberini family of
Rome, as well as by the tapestries tliat are still preserved : notably the
sets picturing the "Story of Diana" after Toussaint Dubreuil, in the
French National Collection (Plate II) ; in the Royal Spanish collec-
tion; and in the Morgan Memorial at Hartford, lent by Mr. Morgan.
That the greatest painters were employed is shown by a letter dated
February 26, 1626, from Rubens dunning M. Valaves for money due
on designs of the "Story of Constantine." In the inventory made at the
death of Planche (Planken), these are described as: "Twelve small
designs painted in oil on wood, from the hand of Peter Paul Rubens,
representing the story of Constantine." The designs were woven
again and again, and there are several examples of each in the French
National collection. Another set for which the Early Gobelins is
famous is the "Story of Artemisia," originated to celebrate the widow-
hood of Catherine de Medicis, wife of Henri II, but adapted and
given new borders to comfort Marie de Medicis and Anne d'Autriche,
wives of Henri IV and Louis XIII, in their similar bereavements.
After the death of Francois de la Planche, his son Raphael drew
out his interest, and set up a rival establishment in the Faubourg
Saint Germain. Twenty years later another low-warp plant with
Flemish weavers was established by Foucquet at Maincy, near his
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wonderful estate Vaux-le-Vicomte. These three low-warp plants,
together with the ancient hut smaller high-warp ones of the Trinite
and the I^ouvre, formed the nucleus of the "Royal Furniture Factory
of the Crown" formally established by royal decree at the Gobelins in
1667, with Charles Lebrun, who had previously been the unfortunate
Foucquet's decorator and painter, as art director.
LOUIS XIV AND LEBRU;^^
The organisation of the Gobelins, from 1662 to 1667, owed every-
thing to the energetic care and forethought of Louis XIV's great
minister, Colbert. He was the moving spirit behind it all, and he saw
that the sinews of art in the form of money were not lacking. The
workmen received quarters on the premises, together with the small
gardens that are still one of the attractions tending to reconcile them
to small wages. The different shop managers worked each on his own
account. The Crown supphed them with wools, silks, gold and silver
tinsel, the cost of which was retained out of the finished tapestries paid
for at a rate fixed in advance. The shop managers were not, however,
restricted to woi-k for the Crown. They were allowed to accept com-
missions from dealers and from individuals. They paid their men by
the piece at a rate varying for the different portions of a tapestry,
according to the difficulty in weaving and the skill required.
The greatest series of tapestries woven at the Gobelins after it
became a state institution, and the one that first suggests itself to
all who know about Gobelin tapestries, is the "Story of the King,"
after Lebrim. Here we find pictured in fourteen huge webs the solemn
and official glorification of the more important events of the life of
Louis XIV, amongst them his: "Coronation in 1654," "Marriage in
1660," "Entrance into Dunkirk after its recovery from the English,
in 1662," "Renewal of the Franco-Swiss Affiance, at Notre Dame in
1663," "Siege of Tournai in 1667," "Capture of Lille in 1667," "Visit
to the Gobelins in 1667," "Capture of Dole in 1668." The first set,
rich with gold and woven on high-warp looms, was 16 feet 6 inches
high with an average width of 24 feet 6 inches. The other three sets,
rich witli gold but woven on low-warp looms, were only three-fourths
as high and narrower in proportion.
Other sets designed by Lebrun are:
(1) "The Royal Residences," in twelve pieces, one for each
month, each showing one of the royal palaces, the Louvre, the
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Tuileries, Versailles, Chambord, etc., backgrounding hunting scenes,
promenades, cavalcades and balls, appropriate to the season, framed
on each side with columns and pilasters, and above with massive entab-
lature, while in the foreground valets in the royal livery spread rich
stuffs over a balustrade. During the King's life, this set was rewoven
at the Gobelins more often than any other.
(2) The "Elements" and the "Seasons," each in four pieces,
with Latin captions and allegorical emblems in the Renaissance
fashion. They were reproduced six times at the Gobelins in the
seventeenth century, and often copied at Brussels, Aubusson and
Felletin, and in England.
(3) The "Child Gardeners," in six pieces, in an entirely dif-
ferent spirit, light and gay and humourous, woven five times in twenty
years on low-warp looms.
(4) The "Story of Alexander" (Plate III), an especial
favourite at Court because of the allusion in it to events in the life of
Louis XIV. It was reproduced eight times at the Gobelins, and often
at Brussels, Audenarde, and Aubusson, and in England. Lebrun
painted the five huge pictures entirely with his own hands, one of them,
the "Family of Darius at Alexander's Feet," at Fontainebleau, in the
presence of the King himself. The other scenes were the "Passage of
the Granicus," the "Battle of Arbela," the "Battle with Porus,"
"Alexander Entering Babylon." The three battle scenes were so
large that each was woven in three pieces. Four tapestries of the set,
lent by the French government, were recently exhibited at the Brook-
lyn Museum, together with several modern Gobelins, and two ancient
Louis XIV savonneries.
As the King grew older and France less successful in war and
hi commerce, the subjects of tapestries changed their character. There
was a distinct movement away from contemporary and back to Biblical
and Greek and Roman history, and to Renaissance designs. Instead
of the "Stoi'y of the King" we have the "Story of Moses," in ten
pieces, eight after Poussin and two after Lebrun. Already Raphael's
famous "Acts of the Apostles" tapestries designed by Pope Leo X
had been copied at the Gobelins. Now, the weavers reproduced also
Raphael's "Chambers of the Vatican" and "Sujets de la Fable";
Giulio Romano's "Story of Scipio" and "Fruits of War"; Bernard
van Orley's "Hunts of Maximilian"; the "Arabesque Months"; the
"Months of Lucas."
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When Lebrun died in 1690, he was succeeded by Pierre Mignai'd,
who had ah-eady undermined his power. The only important tapestries
by Mignard are the set of six copied from his paintings in the Gallery
of Saint Cloud: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (Plate IV),
Parnassus, Latona.
The "Indies" is a set of eight vigorous anunal tapestries copied
from paintings "painted on the spot" and presented to the King by
the Prince of Nassau. In honour of the visits of the Czar Peter the
Great to the Gobelins in 1717, the first high-warp set of the "Indies"
was presented to him. A set based upon old Brussels tapestries
called on the books of the Gobelins "Rabesques de Raphael," is the
"Triuniphs of the Gods," after Noel Coypel.
Among the most successful of the new sets, after the period of
inactivity at the Gobelins from 1694 to 1697, due to lack of money in
the royal piu'se, were the "Four Seasons" and the "Four Elements"
(the "Portieres of the Gods") after Claude Audran. Other sets
begun in the declining years of Louis XIV were the "Old Testa-
ment," in eight pieces, after Antoine and Charles Coypel; the "New
Testament," in eight pieces, after Jean Jouvenet and Jean Restout;
the "Metamorphoses of Ovid," in fifteen pieces, after diff'erent
painters.
I.OUIS XV AND COYPEL
Upon the death of Louis XIV in 171.5, he was succeeded by his
five-year-old great-grandson Louis XV, during whose minority,
Philip, Duke of Orleans, was Regent. Compared with the age of
Louis XIV, the periods of the Regency and of Louis XV were
frivolous. In his youth Louis XIV had worshipped war and glory;
in his old age, religion and the Chinx-h. During the reign of Louis
XV the hearts and minds of men were less exalted and set more on
the joys of the present. Instead of the "Story of the King" after
Lebrun, we have the "Hunts of Louis XV" after Oudry. Domestic
and pastoral life was idealised, as in the story of "Daphnis and
Chloe," designed by the Regent himself, assisted, some say, by Charles
Coypel. Anotlier Regency set was the "Iliad" in five pieces," by
Antoine and Charles Coypel.
Of all eighteenth century Gobelin tapestries, the Don Quixote
series in twenty-eight scenes, by Charles Coypel, was most admired
and most frequently reproduced. The first scene was designed by
293
Plate VI "THE TOILET OF ESTHER"
Louis XV Gobelin tapestry designed by De Troy
gobelins: fiEAuvAis; morti.ake tapestries
Coypel in 1714 when he was barely twenty; the last, in 1751, a few
years before his death. The frames of these Don Quixote tapestries,
of wliich there are five perfect examples in the Metropolitan Museum,
lent by Mrs. Dixon, are quite as important as the pictures and take
up "much more room. Indeed, the pictures are but miniature medal-
lions set in a decorative mat that is framed inside and outside with
woven gilt mouldings in imitation of wood. One of the five tapestries
was presented by Napoleon in 1810 to the Prince of Hesse-Darm-
stadt; the other four, by Louis XVI, in 1774, to the Archbishop of
Rheims, who had baptised him, given him first comnmnion, and
married him, and who crowned him at Rheims the following year. All
five were acquired by the late J. Pierpont Morgan from the estate of
Don Francisco d'Assisi, grandfather of the present King of Spain.
Other taiJestries originated at the Gobelins in the reign of Louis
XV, were Charles Coypel's "Opera Fragments," in four pieces; the
"Story of Esther," in seven pieces, after Jean Francois de Troy
(Plate VI); "Daphnis and Chloe," in seven pieces, after Etienne
Jeaurat (of which three pieces were recently sold at auction in New
York) ; the "Arts," in four pieces, after Jean Restout; "Stage Scenes,"
in five pieces, after Charles Coypel; the "Loves of the Gods," twenty-
two pieces, of which "Venus and Vulcan," "Cherubs," and the "Genius
cf the Arts" were by Boucher.
Subjects designed by Boucher for the Gobelins after he became
chief inspector in 1755, were "Vertumnus and Pomona," "Neptune
and Amymone," "Venus at the Forge of Vulcan," "Venus Leaving
the Water," "Fishing," the "Fortune Teller," "Jupiter and Callisto,"
"Psyche Looking at Cupid Asleep," and four that tell the "Story of
Amintas and Sylvia." Like the Don Quixote series of Charles Coypel,
most of these were reproduced small, with wide damasse mats between
woven mouldings. The frames were by Jacques and Tessier.
During the last half of the eighteenth century, the Gobelin shop
managers executed many portraits in tapestry ; notably Audran, the
one of Louis XV, after Vanloo. Also, as a result of the influence of
Madame de Pompadour, many furniture tapestries — seats and backs
of chairs and sofas, and panels for screens — were made after the
models of Tessier, Jacques, and Boucher.
The only new sets originated at the Gobelins, during the reign
of Louis XVI (1774-1792) , the "History of Henri IV," in six pieces,
after Vincent; the "Seasons," in four pieces, after Callet; the "History
295
Plate VII— "THE FARM"
Beauvais tapestry designed by Huet
Plate VIII— THE "PARNASSUS" TAPESTRY IN THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
A Louis XIV Brussels woven by Judocus de Vos who signed it
296
GOBELINS, BEAUVAIS, MORTLAKE TAPESTRIES
of France," in nine pieces, after different painters, were unimportant
from the tapestry point of view.
Since then, few great tapestries have heen originated at the Gobe-
lins, although it still continues to be the artistic centre of tapestry
weaving. Modern Gobelin tapestries follow too closely the technique
of the planted cartoons, and even the spirited Joan of Arc series
suffers greatly in its execution by comparison with Gothic and
Renaissance texture.
THE BEAUVAIS TAPESTRY W^ORKS
On August 5, 1664, three years before the incorporation of the
"Furniture Factory of the Crown" at the Gobelins, the King signed
an edict subsidising and conferring special privileges on "The royal
manufactures of high- and low-warjj tapestries established at Beauvais
and other places in Picardy." This was the origin of the Beauvais
Tapestry Works, founded by a native of Beauvais, Louis Hinart, who
was an experiei^ced maker and merchant of tapestries, having a shop
in Paris where he disposed of the goods made at his factory in Flanders.
Although the King was exceedingly generous with his subventions
and also purchased many tapestries from Hinart, the latter was unable
to make the enterprise prosper at Beauvais, and in 1684 was obliged to
retire.
Cronstrom, the Paris agent of the Swedish Crown, says that the
reason Hinart's creditors forced him into bankruptcy was that
Madame de Montespan had entrusted the factory established at Paris
by Philip Behagle of Tournai, with the execution of the tapestries
after Berain she was having made for her son, the Count of Toulouse,
and that Hinart's best workmen left him to go with Behagle. How-
ever that may be, when Hinart retired, Behagle succeeded him as
proprietor of the Beauvais Tapestry Works, and made good from the
first. Among important sets woven by him are the "Conquests of
Louis the Great," rich with gold, two pieces of which are in the posses-
sion of Signor Candido Cassini of Florence; the "Acts of the Apos-
tles," after Raphael, signed by Behagle and still preserved at the
Beauvais Cathedral; the "Adventures of Telemachus," in six pieces,
after Arnault; the "Story of Achilles," the "Grotesques," on yellow
ground (Plate I), and the "Marine Divinities," all after Berain; the
"Battles of the Swedish King, Charles XI," after Berain, a set rich
with gold still preserved in the Royal Swedish collection.
297
Plate IX— "LE DEPIT AMOUREUX"
Beauvais tapestry designed by Oudry, formerly in the Morgan collection
298
GOBELINS, BEAUVAIS, MORTLAKE TAPESTRIES
Although Rehagle left the business in a flourishing condition
when he died in 170G, his widow and sons were not equal to the task
of keeping it up, and in 1711 were succeeded by the brothers Filleul,
who, in 1722, were succeeded by IVIerou. The most important set
originated under the bi-others Filleul was the "Chinese Set" in six
pieces, after Vernansaal, Fontenay, and Dunions, one of which was
shown at the Buffalo Tapestry Exhibition. Neither the brothers
Filleul nor Merou were able to make a success of the business, and
in 1734 the latter retired in favor of Nicholas Besnier.
OUDRV AND BOUCHER
Besnier was a practical man of affairs who splentlidly seconded
the artistic efforts of Jean Baptiste Oudry, whose appointment as art
director of the Beauvais Tapestry Works in 1726 had been the most
important event of Merou's administration. Any tapestry signed
Besniek et Ouuky in the bottom selvage is worthy of close attention.
Under Mei-ou, Oudry had delivered the cartoons of the "Chasses
Nouvelles" in six pieces (the Wolf, the Stag, the Fox, the Wild
Boar, the Hound, the Deer) ; the "Amusements Champetres," in
eight pieces; the "Comedies of MoHere" (Plate IX), in four pieces,
three of them formerly on exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, lent by Mr. Morgan, and before that in the Kann collection. The
most important sets designed by Oudry for Beauvais after 1734 were
the "Metamorijhoses" (Plate VIII in Chapter XII), in eight pieces;
the "Fine Verdures," in ten pieces; the "Fables of Lafontaine," in
four pieces.
■ Undoubtedly, tapestry owes more to Oudry than to any other
man of the eighteenth century. Although his point of view on tap-
estry texture, and on the imitation of painting by tapestry, was abso-
lutely and hopelessly wrong, his brilliant work at Beauvais revived
the industry there and brought him the appointment of art director
at the Gobelins also.
Even more important than Oudry's own designs for Beauvais,
were those he secured from other painters, notably Francois Boucher
who was responsible for no less than six sets in forty-five pieces, repro-
duced seven or eight times; in 1743, the "Chinese Set," for which
Dumons painted the cartoons after Boucher's sketches; in 1749, the
"Loves of the Gods," in nine pieces; in 1752, "Opera Fragments,"
in five pieces; in 1755, the "Noble Pastorale" (Plate X) , in six pieces,
299
Plate X— "Fl SUING"
Beauvais tapestry designed by Boucher. One of the famous "Noble Pastorale" set
300
GOBELINS, BEAUVAIS, MORTLAKE TAPESTRIES
the set of which formerly in the Kann collection, now hangs in a
private residence in Los Angeles. There is a perfect example, the
"Bird Catchers," in the ^Vhitney Collection in New York City.
Boucher's work for Beauvais aroused tlie jealousy of the weavers
at the Gohelins, and in a memorial to the administration dated March
10, 1754, the three shop managers, Audran, Cozette, and Neilson,
wrote that "to prevent the decadence of the Gobelin factory, it Avould
be necessary to attach to it Sr. Boucher, and that for nearly twenty
years the Beauvais factory has been kept up by the attractive paint-
ings made for it by Sr. Boucher." It is interesting to note that the
appeal was listened to. and that Boucher was detached from Beauvais,
and attached to the Gobelins, but never made any tapestry designs
of great importance thereafter. Fine Beauvais-Boucher tapestries
in good condition are worth today from $100,000 to $2.50,000 each.
Besnier's death in 1753 preceded that of Oudry by two years.
Besnier was followed as proprietor of the Beauvais Tapestry Works
by Andre Charlemagne Charron, who was able to continue his suc-
cesses. Among sets originated under Charron were: "Scenes from
the Iliad," in seven pieces, after Deshays; the "Russian Games," in
six pieces, after Jjcprince; the "Bohemians," in four pieces, after
Casanova.
In 1780 Charron was followed by De Menou, a tapestry manu-
facturer from Aubusson, who was able to increase the number of
workmen from 50 to 120. Amongst sets originated under him were:
"Pastorale with blue draperies and arabesques" (Plate VII), in ten
pieces, after J. B. Huet; "Military Scenes," in six pieces, after Casa-
nova; "Sciences and Arts," after Lagrenee. The D. M. Beauvais,
on the small tapestry "Commerce," in the Decorative Arts Wing of
the Metropolitan Museum, is the signatiu-e of De Menou.
During the French Revolution, the Beauvais works was taken
over by the French Government, for which it now produces tapestry
fin-niture coverings on low-warp looms, whilst the Gobelins now con-
fines itself to wall tapestries on high-warp looms. The City of Beauvais
is 55 miles north of Paris, and in times of peace visitors are welcome
at the works every week day from 12 to 4. The Museum is interesting.
THE MORTLAKE TAPESTRY AVORKS
The success of France in attracting low-warp weavers from
Flanders to the Gobelins, stirred England to imitation. A copy of
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the royal edict of Henri IV was secured, and in August, 1619, Sir
Francis Crane, tlie proprietor of the new industry, was granted the
fees for the making of three baronets. The importation of Flemish
weavers was secretly arranged for, and in 1620 fifty had already
arrived. The manager of the works was Philip de Maecht, who had
previously been manager of a shop at the Gobelins for Comans and
Planche. His monogram appears in the selvage of Early Gobelin as
well as of Mortlake tapestries. The art director was Francis Cleyn,
who had been a student in Italy in the service of Christian IV of
Denmark, and whose work was so much appreciated that after the
accession of Charles I in 1625 to the throne of England, he was
granted a life pension of 100 pounds a year.
The first important set of tapestries woven at Mortlake, begun
on September 16, 1620, and finished on June 5, 1622, was the "Story
of Vulcan and Venus," from sixteenth century cartoons, in nine pieces.
It was made plain without gold, "except in the piece of Apollo and
for the letters," and cost Charles 2,000 pounds. Later, but before
Charles became king, three sets of the same tapestry were woven for
him, rich with gold, at .3,000 pounds apiece. The "Vulcan's Complaint
to Jupiter," lent to the Metropolitan Museum by Mrs. Von Zedlitz,
is a piece from one of the gold sets, and bears the monogram of
Charles in cartouches in the side borders, the three feathers of the
Prince of Wales in the top border; and in the bottom border four
sceptres crossed with a ribbon bearing the Latin inscription Sceptra
favent artes, the favcnt being an error for fovent, and the meaning:
"Kings foster the arts." This tapestry also carries in the bottom
selvage, now misapplied on the right, the Mortlake shield and the
monogram of Philip de Maecht. The three "Vulcan and Venus"
tapestries, formerly lent to the Metropolitan Museum by Phihp Hiss,
belong to a later set, without gold and of smaller size, but having a
most romantic history. (See my 1912 book on Tapestries.)
Another set of Renaissance cartoons copied at Mortlake was
"certayne drawings of Raphaell of Urbin, which were desseignes for
tapestries made for Pope Leo the X," for which Prince Charles
instructed Sir Francis to send to Genoa. These are the seven (out of
the original set of ten) famous Raphael cartoons now on exhibition
at the Victoria and Albert Museum. A set of the tapestries woven
from them, rich with gold, is preserved in the French National
collection. It is a splendid monument to the skill of Mortlake weavers.
303
GOBELINS, BEAUVAIS, MQllTLAKE TAPESTRIES
The cartouche in the bottom border bears the inscription (Plate XII)
Car. re. reg. Mart., which, spelled out, is Carolo rege regnante Mort-
lake, and means "At Mortlake in the reign of King Charles."
Other famous sets woven at Mortlake were: The "Naked
Boyes," after Giulio Romano; "Hero and Leander," after Francis
Cleyn; the "Horses," after Francis Cleyn; the "Twelve Months,"
after Lucas van I^eyden. The Royal Swedish collection contains the
only set that has been preserved of "Hero and Leander." It is rich
with gold. The "Triumph of Julius Caesar," after the nine paintings
by Mantegna, still preserved at Hampton Court, appears to have been
put on the looms in tlie reign of Charles II, from cartoons ordered by
Cromwell.
The death of Sir Francis Crane in 1636, and the troubles of
King Charles, ended the prosperity of the Mortlake Tapestry Works,
which dragged out a precarious existence during the rest of the
century, and was finally dissolved in 1703. The most successful man-
ager during the last half of the seventeenth century was Francus
Poyntz, whose signature appears in the battle of "Solebay," in three
pieces, in the Prince of Wales bedroom at Hampton Court.
Credit for illustrations: Plate I, P. W. French & Co.; Plates II, III, IV, V, VI, VTI, XII.
the French National Collection; Plate \I1I, the New York Public l.ihrarv; Plates IX, X, the
Kann Collection.
CHAPTER XVI
TAPESTRY FURNITURE COVERINGS
Of all furniture coverings, tapestry is the most durable. Even
the ridiculously inexpensive all-cotton jacquard imitations, woven
like the one illustrated in colour in Chapter XII, or the verdures with-
out personages, of the same material and weave, long outlast cheap
damasks and brocades and twills and leathers and embroideries, whilst
of the real tapestries, made by blocking in the colours with a bobbin,
without a shuttle, even those of coarsest texture like that illustrated
in Plate V, have such a comjjlete interlocking of coarse hidden warp
with fine weft, that they resist rubbing and bruising almost indefinitely,
and do not tear or ravel even when cut. Age and ordinary wear
merely increase their beauty and value.
Unfortunately for the jacquard imitations, they are less beautiful
even at the start. The texture of the finer ones is not ribbed, but
is a monotonous surface of isolated points, which, as it grows old,
decreases, instead of increasing, in beauty. The jacquard imita-
tions look best when mounted on highly varnished or polished wooden
frames ; they do not look well against weathered oak, or natural oak,
or any background that has character in its texture. Their chief
mission, it seems to me, is by contrast to emphasise the virtues of
real tapestry, and make the name familiar.
Real tapestry is not cheap. The cheapest that I know of in the
American market retailed at six dollars a square foot before the war.
It was designed by an American maker to meet the competition of the
cheaper grades imported from Aubusson, and as the situation necessi-
tates, has been simplified to the utmost, with only ten ribs to the inch,
and verdure pattern composed for ease of weaving. A delightful tex-
ture is attained, and as the tapestry costs less even than the imported
double warp shuttle tapestries, one of which is illustrated on Plate V
of Chapter XII, it should supplant them for use on furniture, because
306
Plate I— TAPESTRY CHAIR BACK, RICH WITH GOLD
Made under my own direction to illustrate tlie practicability of weaving
today with Renaissfince technique
307
Plate II— SOFA COVERED WITH AXCIENT FLEMISH VERDUKE TAPESTRY
Plate III— MILLE-FLKUR TAPESTRY COVERINGS
Made in America
308
TAPESTRY FURNITURE COVERINGS
it will wear better on account of its more completely interlocked weave.
The range of possible patterns is about the same.
THE GOBELINS AND BEAUVAIS
The great development of tapestry furniture coverings took place
in the eighteenth century at Beauvais, the Gobelins and Aubusson.
This was coincident with the development of furniture itself, particu-
larly of chairs, and with the multiplication of smaller pieces of every
conceivable shape for every conceivable use. During the Middle Ages,
as in the Orient today, residences were very scantily furnished. The
chest was the piece de resistance, with bed and dresser and chairs for
the master and the mistress, a trestle table and a cupboard for the
main living room, and benches and stools for the lesser personages.
During the sixteenth century, particularly in Ita^y, the number of
chairs increased, whilst in both Italy and France two-story cabinets
began to take the place of chests. By the seventeenth century, case-
like shapes for chairs had been replaced by skeletonised frames, and
attached upholstery had become common.
In the last half of the seventeenth century verdure tapestries of
the Louis XIV type, like the one illustrated in Plate II, began to be
used by upholsterers, although still surpassed in popularity for chair
and cushion coverings by grotesque (incorrectly called arabesque)
designs more or less modified from their Italian Renaissance (Plate I)
and ancient Roman originals. Of these I^ouis XIV grotesques, the
best ancient examples in America are those after Eerain on the sofa
and chairs in the Altman collection at the Metropolitan Museum.
These covers were woven at Beauvais, and the repeated and reversed
monogram P.C. woven into the backs is probably that of the "Grand
Conde" who built the Chateau de Chantilly, and won the glorious
victories of Rocroi, Fribourg, Nordlingen and Lens. In the seats
appears the crowned double L, the monogram of the King. Appar-
ently these coverings were woven by order of Louis XIV as a present
for Conde. Of especial interest to tapestry lovers is the sofa design
that shows apes playing with tapestry yarns and bobbins.
Tapestries are especially helpful in teaching the details of" the
historical styles. The chair back and seat on Plate IX^ from part of
the great Hoentschel collection presented by Mr.- Morgan to the
Metropolitan Museum, are one of the most vivid definitions of Rococo
I have ever seen. They might have been designed, and perhaps were,
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
by Juste Aurele Meissonier himself. The asymmetrical twists, and
naturalistic forms and motifs, are splendidly emphasised by the classic
architecture and vases. This is Rococo at its extreme and also at its
best. It is Rococo like this that appears in a few of the earlier
plates of the great Italian engraver, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and
the feeling of which, retained in his imagination and in his fingers,
warmed in later years the details of his wonderful illustrations of
ancient and modern Roman classic architecture.
During the past forty years an incredibly large number of ancient
tapestries have been cut up for use on furniture, as well as for can-
tonnieres to frame doors and windows. How Renaissance panels and
borders of the grotesque type are employed as screen panels is shown
by Plate XII. They are equally pleasing as seats and backs for
sofas and chairs, particularly those in the style of the Italian Renais-
sance, and as covers for tables and benches and stools and sofa pillows.
But they are not inexpensive. Fine Renaissance tapestry borders
from 16 to 20 inches wide sell quickly for one hundred dollars a
running foot, and are steadily appreciating in value. Even at that
price it no longer pays to mutilate Renaissance tapestries by detach-
ing the border from the picture panel inside, as was the common prac-
tice for many years. The borderless panels that remained were then
panelled into the walls of modern residences, with wooden mouldings
around. Now the tapestries are more valuable in their complete
form, because we are once again beginning to build residences that
contain at least one dignified apartment large enough to provide a
background for several tapestries of full Renaissance size.
AUBUSSON
Since the revival of interest in — and knowledge of — tapestries
in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Aubusson has been the
centre of production of tapestry furniture coverings for the whole
world — Russia, Germany and the Argentine, as well as England and
America. And whilst some of the shops have exploited goods inferior
in structure and materials and dyes, as well as in design, it gives me
great pleasure to testify to the general excellence of Aubusson repro-
ductions of French eighteenth century furniture coverings, particu-
larly of those after Oudry and Boucher. Plate VII illustrates
the type I mean, inspired by or copied from the tapestry seats and
backs illustrating Lafontaine's fables, originated by Oudry for
310
TAPESTRY FURNITURE COVERINGS
Beauvais. No wonder they have never lost their vogue. They are so
charming in treatment, and so just in scale, that they turn chairs and
sofas into framed pictures of exquisite texture, without detracting at
all from their use value. These modern Aubusson tapestry coverings
in the style of the French eighteenth century, are usually sold in the
United States on appropriate Louis XV and Louis XVI frames
made in America.
The chair illustrated on Plate XI bears the name of Thomas
Thierry, the famous French historian, because the original set of
tapestry covers was presented to him by the French govermnent in
appreciation of his historical researches and publications. The covers
were first mounted about 1870 when the frames, in the style of the
Regence, were designed and made. The original set, now in the
Louvre, consists of a sofa and eight arm-chairs.
Ancient tapestry coverings woven in the eighteenth century at
Aubusson, such as those shown on Plates VIII and X, have the
texture characteristic of Aubusson at that period — loose weave with
luminous background ; and they are splendidly preserved. The Louis
XVI coverings on Plate X are part of the "Greek drapery set" con-
sisting of five wall tapestries with tapestry rug and furniture cover-
ings to match. One of the wall tapestries is illustrated on Plate VII
of Chapter XII.
The success of Aubusson in the eighteenth century was directly
dependent upon that of Beauvais. As I wrote in Chapter XII,
designs and cartoons, together with a painter and a dyer, were sent
fi'om Beauvais to Aubusson in 1731. The painter was Jean Joseph
Dumons who, during the Regence, had been one of the three designers
at Beauvais of a Chinese set of wall tapestries, one of which appro-
priately serves as the background of Plate VIII. That tapestry fur-
niture coverings picturing Chinese life, like those shown on the sofa in
Plate VIII, should have been woven, perhaps under his direction and
from his cartoons at Aubusson as one result of his work there, is only
natural.
Of the tapestry furnitiu'e coverings woven in America since the
industry was established here in 1893, most have been in the style of
the French eighteenth century, which is not to be wondered at when
we recall that the weavers and the superintendent of the works came
originally from Aubusson. The majority of these American-made
furniture coverings are of high quality. Indeed, the set of chair and
313
Plate VIII— LOUIS XV ANCIENT TAPKSTKY COVKKINGS
Made at Aubussnn
314
TAPESTRY FURNITUim COVERINGS
sofa coverings woven for the drawing room of the late J. Pierpont
Morgan compai'es well with' any woven anywhere in the last century
and a half.
MODKKX CHAHt BACK IN ANCIENT TEXTUKK
iVs regards the future of tapestry furniture covefings, and also
of wall tapestries in America, I believe that it depends upon a return
to more ancient traditions and styles of weaving. What I mean is
illustrated by Plate I. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
designers and weavers co-operated to produce tapestries that were
distinguished for the ([ualities that differentiate tapestries from paint-
ings, rather than for the qualities that tapestries share with paintings.
In those centuries the possibility of producing extreme contrasts by
means of horizontal ribs and vertical hatchings was taken advantage
of to the utmost, and as a result Gothic and Renaissance tapestries
have a texture totally unlike the texture of tapestries of the eighteenth
cenfiu-y, when paint effects were imitated and the highest praise went
to the weaver who reproduced the cartoon most exactly in all its
paint values.
The chair back on Plate I, with background of gold in basket
weave, was made under my direction to illustrate the practicability
of weaving today with Renaissance techni(iue. Ribs and hatchings
were used to accentuate the folds of the robe, and hatchings were
emploj-ed to "mix colours on the loom" in precisely the same manner
as in the sixteenth century. The design is reproduced from one of
Giulio Romano's borders for the Acts of the Apostles set in the Royal
Spanish collection.
GOLD IN TAPKSTRIES
At this point I should like to answer a question that is often
asked by the members of my lecture promenades at the Metropolitan
Museum: "Is this gold, real gold?" It is, but real gold in very small
quantity. The gold threads used are not gold wire or even wire
plated with gold; they are yellow silk threads wound around with
gold tinsel, and the effect when tlie tinsel breaks away in tiny points
from the silk underneath is exceedingly pleasing, much more so than
when the surface still remains all shine and sheen of gold. The gold
thread of ancient Renaissance tapestries has come down to us in very
good condition as a I'ule, but the gold thread of the seventeenth
century — particularly that used at Mortlake — is usually tarnished,
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TAPESTRY FURNITURE COVERINGS
with little or none of the gold left. I fear that sometimes the silver
rihbon used as a base got its golden yellow not from the king of metals,
but like illuminated leathers, from yellow lacquer (see Chapter XX).
The base used for the tinsel today is copper, that grows old more
gracefully. If I had my way I would introduce gold into all except
the very coarsest tapestries, so much do I admire the effect of its con-
trast with the roses and blues in silk, and the flesh colours in wool.
VERDURES
Amongst the most interesting tapestries ever woven are the Late
Gothic mille fieurs that inspired so many of the tapestries designed by
Burne-Jones and Morris, and made in England at Merton near
London in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. One of these
English tapestries is illustrated on Plate IX of Chapter XII. How
two American makers have adapted Late Gothic mille-fleurs for use
as furniture coverings is illustrated by Plates III and XIII. The
coverings in the former are based on a wall tapestry belonging to the
late Alexander W. Drake. The coverings in the latter are from a
wall tapestry in the museum at the Gobelins. The chair back in the
former, which would be described as "mille fleur with birds," shows
a crane supine beneath a falcon. The sofa back in the latter, which
would be described as a "mille fleur with personages," presents a
garden party with a lady at the tiny organ upon the curb of the foun-
tain, whilst a youth picks the mandolin. Mille-fleur coverings are suit-
able for Late Gothic and Early Renaissance frames, being flat in
drawing and having the ground covered with tiny leaves and flowers
(whence their name, mille-fleur or thousand-flower tapestries).
Very different are these Gothic verdures from those that were
developed in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and flourished
through the eighteenth, like the coverings illustrated on Plate II.
The latter are distinctly paint style, relying for their principal effects
upon contrasts of light and shade, with line and colour both weak.
Examples of verdure tapestries executed in England at the
Mortlake works near London in the last half of the seventeenth
century, are the coverings of the Charles II sofa, chair and stool of
Plate VI which are to be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum
at South Kensington. It will be noticed that the details of these
English seventeenth century weaves are larger in scale than are the
details in the Gothic mille-fleurs, and the eighteenth century verdures.
317
/
#\
rialu XII— SCKEEX PAXKLLED WITH ANCIENT BRUSSELS RENAISSANCE TAPESTRY
318
TAPESTKV FURNITURE COVERINGS
AMERICAN INNOVATIONS
With the tapestries from American looms, illustrated on Plates
IV and XIV, I am especially jjleased. They take their inspiration
from Old English needlework, but in such a way as to produce the
charm of innovation rather than the suggestion of imitation. With-
out losing the fascinating character of tapestry texture, they have
introduced variety and special interest into it by the addition of some
of the qualities found in ancient needlework. From the texture point
of view, they are delightful, and constitute an important addition to
tapestry technique. From the commercial point of view they are a
success, selling for a little over half the cost of modern needlework
of the same fineness, and being mucli more durable. Especially do I
admire the chair seat on Plate IV.
An especial interest attaches to the coverings on the Chinese
Chippendale sofa of Plate XIV, because they were designed to meet
an actual condition. The American maker of the frame wanted
upholstery more ajipropriate than anything he had been able to pro-
cure, and admits that he got it. The fact that many individuals will
mistake this tapestry for needlework is no argument against it. They
are the same persons who now mistake needlework for tajjestry.
Besides, it is almost certain that the so-called jjctit points were in their
origin merely imitations of woven tapestries.
The obvious difference between the two is in the surface texture,
that consists of ribs in woven tapestry and of points in needlework
tapestry. Also, in needlework tapestry the background is often in
coarse point (gros point) while the faces and hands and other parts
of the figures are in fine point (petit point), an effect that has
recently been for the first time imitated in real tapestry, and by an
American maker who uses fine warps doubled for the background,
and single where the petit points come. Furthermore, while the lines
of the surface of woven tapestry run only one way ( with the warp ) ,
those of the surface of needlework tapestry run both ways (with the
weft, as well as with the warp ) , and are less pronounced. The basis
or starting point of needlework tapestry is coarse canvas or etamine
or buratto or some similar hard-spun fabric in loose texture,
MODERN DYES
I am often asked about the dyes of modern tapestries. Are they
vegetable or aniline, and will they last as well as the old ones?
319
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Plate XIII— MILLE-FLEUR TAPESTRY COVERINGS
Made in America
PLATE XIV— MODERN TAPESTRY-COVERED SOFA
Made in America
330
TAPESTRY FURNITURE COVERINGS
I am glad to be able to answer that ncarlij all of the nioderii establish-
ments weaving tapestries use exclusively the same dye materials as
were used in the sixteenth century, and compound them in the same
manner as they were compounded in the sixteenth century. For illus-
tration of these materials, see page 253 of my book on Tapestries.
Tapestries, the wool of which has been properly washed — with enough
of the lanolin left in to keep it alive — and the wool and silk of which
have been skilfully dyed with these vegetable dyes, are just as per-
manent in colour as ancient Gothic and Renaissance tapestries, and
much more permanent than most of those of the seventeenth century,
and many of those of the eighteenth century. Tapestries of wool or
silk that have been dyed with aniline dyes are not worth house room.
Any tapestry maker who admits the use of anilines in his work should
be avoided.
MODERN CARTOONS
Another point with regard to the weaving of modern tapestries
for either furniture coverings or wall panels: The taste of the cus-
tomer, be he dealer or individual, or painter or architect, should never
be consulted with regard to the full-size coloured cartoons. His
opportunity for criticism should be confined to the original small
colour sketch (petit patron), and to the finished tapestry. The grand
patron he should never see, for he will not understand this technical
tapestry pattern any more than he would understand a dress pattern,
and by insisting on paint qualities in the cartoon, and on having the
weaver copy the cartoon exactly, he will prevent the production of a
tapestry tapestry.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I, III, XII, Wm. Baumgarten & Co.; Plates II, VIII, X,
P. W. French & Co.; Plates I\', \, XIA', the Edgewater Tapestry Looms; Plate VI, the
Victoria and Albert Museum; Plates VII, XI, the Palmer & Embury Mfg. Co.; Plate IX,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Plate XIII, Pettier & Stymus.
CHAPTER XVII
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
Chintz is the English word, cretonne the French word, for drapeiy
prints. Consequently, when the two words are used side by side, we
are apt to find the English prints, particularly those of many colours,
fine texture and small floral designs, called chintzes, whilst the French
prints of larger design on heavier cloth are called cretonnes. The
chintzes used in England are often glazed, but the difficulty of having
them freshened by re-glazing in America, has prevented glazed
chintzes from becoming popular here.
The French word cretonne is said to be derived from the Norman
village of Creton, which was once famous for the weaving of drapery
cloths. However, the term commonly used in France in the eighteenth
century for French prints as well as for the Oriental ones that they
imitated, was indiennes or persiennes ( Indians or Persians ) . The
English word chintz is already a plural, though now through long
error used as singular. The original singular was chint, as illustrated
by Pepys in his famous diary under date of Sejitember 5, 1663:
"Bought my wife a chint, that is a painted Indian calico, for to line
her study." The word is Hindoo, derived from the Sanscrit chitra,
meaning "many-coloured." Murray's great dictionary defines chintz
as "Originally, name of painted or stained calicoes imported from
India; now, cotton cloths fast printed with designs of flowers, etc.,
generally not less than five colours and usually glazed."
While both the French and the English cloth prints of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries were imitations of the Oriental
product, the process of making was entirely diff'erent. In India the
patterns were painted or pencilled on, in the form of direct colours or
resists, or mordants, while in France and England blocks of wood or
flat plates of copper were used — the wood blocks carved in relief, and
the copper-plates in intaglio like those that produce modern engraved
322
Plate I— HAND-PAINTED COTTON OF THK SKVENTKKNTH CENTURY KKOM A.MBKU, INDIA
Fn>m the Hrooklvii Miist'iim collection
323
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
visiting cards. The copper plates were used for printing on silk
(Plate XXX), and for the finer and more intricate designs on linen
or cotton.
Both of these pi'ocesses, though undoubtedly known and occa-
sionally practised in China for centuries before, were fully devel-
oped only in Europe, and in the eighteenth century, to imitate
the Oriental "painted calicoes." The memory of this is still pre-
served in the French word for wall papers (papiers peints), as well
as in a phrase often used for printed cloths (toiles peiyites). Cloths
were, for the most part, painted in India and Persia and China; but
in France and England and Germany they were printed from blocks,
thus illustrating the tendency in Europe to substitute mechanical
processes whenever possible for the hand work of Asia. Furthermore,
if we classify the various arts according to their origin and develop-
ment, we shall be obliged to admit that printing is, after all, merely
a mechanical block method of painting or drawing or writing,
PLINY ON CHINTZ
Very properly did Pliny, writing in the first century A. C, in
book 35 of his Natural History, classify Egyptian chintzes under
painting. He describes them as follows:
Pingiint et vestes in /Egypto inter pauca mirahili genere, Candida
vela postquam adtrivere illinentes non coloribus, sed colorem sorbent-
ibus medicamentis. Hoc cum fecere, non adparet in velis: sed in
cortinam pigmenti ferventis mersa, post momentum, extrahuntur picta.
Mirumque, cum sit unus in cortina colos, ex illo alius atque alius fit in
veste, accipientis medicamenti qualitate mutatus. Nee liostea ablui
potest: et cortina non dubie confusura color es, si pictos acciperet,
digerit ex uno, pinguitque dum coquit. Et adustcc vestes firmiores
fiunt quam si non urerentur.
"They also paint clothing in Egypt in a manner extraordinarily
marvellous. After they have finished the cloth white, they line it not
with colours, but with mordants that absorb coloin-s. When this is
done, it is not apparent on the cloth; but when the cloth is dipped in
the dye pot, after a moment it comes out painted. And the strange
part is that although there is only one coloiu* in the pot, that colour
produces several on the cloth, varying according to the quality of the
mordant that it receives. Nor can it afterwards be washed out. So
the dye pot, that would undoubtedly blend the colours together, if it
324 ,,
Plate II— HAND-PAIXTKD COTTON' OF THK SKVKNTEEXTH CENTURY EKOM AMBER, INDIA
From the Brooklyn Museum collection
325
Plato HI— GOTHIC ANTEPENDIUM (A1.TAR FRONTAL) PRINTED IN BLACK
FROM NINE BLOCKS
Showing Christ, Saint Barbara, Saint George, Mary and John, with Gothic inscription and
ornamental border. Tvrolian of the fifteenth century
Plate IV— COTTON' PRINTS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY A. D. FROM EGYPT
At Achmin have l)een foiuul two of the tiny wooden blocks from which sudi dotlis were printed,
one of them showing two peacocks facing a tree; the other, a spool with pattern
on eacli end, I i/o inches high with diameter of 1 3/5 inches.
I'hitc V THIRTF.KNTH OR FOURTEENTH CENTURY PRINTED LINEN IN BLACK
From Cologne
Plate VI ROMANESQl'E, TWELFTH OR THIR- Plate VII— GOTHIC WALL HANGING PRINTED
TEENTH CENTURY, IN SILVER ON BLUE LINEN IN THREE COLOURS
From the lower Rhine French-Flemish of the fifteenth century
327
Plate VllI— PART OF AX ITALIAN" FOUUTKENTII CKXTURY WALL HAXGIXG
Three feet high, in lilack and red on linen. In the u])per row are men and women dancing; in the middle
row, knights and Saracens fighting; in the lower row, the story of ffidipus (Edip) whose ankles are pierced
by the king's servants (Famvliere), and who, when exposed for death, is rescued hv King Polypos (Polipvs).
Plate IX— RHENISH SIXTEENTH CENTURY
PRINT
In black on white linen
Plate X— CHALICE COVER IN BLACK ON
WHITE LINEN
With I. H. S. (Latin initials for Jesus Saviour of Men
and the date, 1606, Germany
328
Plate XI— EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PERSIAN PAINTED PANEL ON I.INEN
34 X 51 Inches
339
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
received them already painted, selects them from one single colour and
paints while it boils. And the dyed cloths are firmer than if they
were not dyed."
CHINTZES FROM INDIA
Fifteen centui'ies later "painted cloths" (Plates I, II, XI, XII,
XIII) were introduced into Europe from India by the several East
India companies. The first in the field were the Portuguese who dis-
covered the way around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498, and thus
cajitured much of the trade that had previously been handled by the
Venetians and the Genoese via the Persian Gulf, Busra, Bagdad,
Aleppo and Beyrout. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Bruges
was the distributing centre for northern Europe, succeeded in the last
half of the fifteenth by Antwerp, and towards the end of the sixteenth
by Amsterdam. In the seventeenth century, with the organisation of
the Dutch and London East India companies, and later, in 1664, of
the French East India Company, the Portuguese lost their monopoly
and there was a lively contest between the different nations for control
of the Oriental trade.
In 1693, Dr. Havart, a Dutch botanist, long resident in India,
remarked: "The painting of chintzes proceeds in the most leisurely
manner in the world, in a manner similar to the crawling of snails,
which appear to make no headway. Anyone who would represent
patience and had no other model, could use one of the chintz painters
of Palicol."
In 1742, Father Coeurdoux, a Jesuit missionary resident at
Pondicherry, wrote home to Europe:
"The painter or artist, having prepared his design upon paper,
next has to transfer it on to the cloth. He begins by pricking the main
outlines of the design with a fine needle, then lays his paper on the
cloth and passes over it a jjad containing charcoal powder which, pene-
trating tlirough the pricked holes, by this means transfers the main
features of the design on to the cloth." He then continues as follows
(abbreviated) :
(1) Black. First, black made from iron filings is pencilled in
over the charcoal tracing and made to set fast with boiling water.
(2) Blue. Next a wax resist is painted over the parts where blues
or greens are not to appear and the cloth is sent to the indigo dyer.
(3) Red. Next a wax resist is pencilled in where white tracery is to
330
Plate XII— HAXD-PAINTED COTTON OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FROM
INDIA, USED FOR COVERING WAI.I.S AND CEILINGS
From the Rrooklyn Museum collection
331
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
appear over reds, pinks or lilacs; and i"ed, pink and lilac mordants
are applied by painting or pencilling in the manner described by Pliny
seventeen hundred years before. The places on the cloth for the reds
are painted with a stronger emulsion of alum than the places for the
pinks, whilst the violets have a mixture of alum and iron liquor. Then
the red dye pot develops the reds just as it did in the days of Pliny.
(4) Yellow. Finally, the yellow is applied direct, being painted over
the places where yellow is required, and also where the blue is to be
turned green. At this point, it should be explained that the Indian
pencils (more properly called pens) are made of bamboo, sharpened
and split at the end.
I agree with the English manufacturer and authority on painted
and printed cloths, George Percival Baker, that no modern method
of printing in direct colours can produce results so fine, so solid and
so beautiful as have been achieved by the ancient Egy])tian and Indian
process of "dye-painting."
IN THE WEST
Not long after the middle of the seventeenth century the cloth
printing industry began to develop in England. In 1677 Sir Josiah
Child, a director of the London East India Company, states that
goods in the grey were then coming from India to be printed on in
imitation of Indian chintzes. In 1700 the importation of the real
article from India was prohibited by l*arliament in order to protect
and encourage the home manufacturer. In France not only the
imported but also the domestic indiennes were prohil)ited until 1759,
so that the development of French printing on linens and cottons only
became important then.
Pliny's is not the only evidence as to the early use of painted
cloths in the Mediterranean countries. Herodotus says that the
Caucasians wore garments into which representations of animals had
been dyed so as to be tub-fast. Fragments of cloth from Achmim, in
Egypt, about three centuries later than Phny, show patterns and
figure subjects stamped from blocks (Plate IV). Especially inter-
esting is a block-printed cotton from the grave of Bishop Ca>sarius,
who was buried at Aries, near Marseilles, A. D. 543. An especially
important fragment is that found in an ancient tomb at Quedlim-
burg, in Germany, which Dr. Lessing called Sassanid-Persian of the
sixth or seventh century.
332
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(1)
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(1), (2) Copying closely the effects of Indian painted cloths
Moorish mixed with Classic
Plate XIV— ANCIENT PORTUGUESE
334
(4) Pomegranate pattern in reds
BLOCK PRINTS
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
GERMAN AND ITALIAN
According to Dr. Forrer of Strasburg, whose two books in Ger-
man on Fabric Prints are the most important pubHshed, the art of
ornamental block cutting was developed in mediasval Rhenish
monasteries. The initial letters of thirteenth century manuscripts
sometimes had their outlines stamped from blocks. German docu-
ments of the foiH-teenth century bear the names of block cutters and
cloth printers as witnesses. From the eleventh century on, the rich
damasks and brocades and figured velvets of Sicily,. Byzantium and
Italy were imitated ia German block prints on linen, the earlier ones
with free use of gold and silver (Plates III, VI, X). The printing
of textiles in Europe precedes by several centuries the printing of
books. (A French-Flemish colour print of the fifteenth century is
illustrated on Plate VI ) . In the seventeenth century Augsburg was
famous for linens printed largely in ancient patterns and in the ancient
Rhenish manner, and supplied many craftsmen for the development
of cloth printing in Alsace and in Switzerland, as Alsace and Switzer-
land did later to France.
However, the oldest written instructions on the block printing of
cloth are not German but Italian (Plate VIII) and are contained in
Chapter 173 of Cennino Cennini's late fourteenth century "Treatise
on Painting/' There Cennini describes the engraving of intaglio
wooden blocks for printing in black the outline of the pattern that is
to be coloured up later with the brush. He heads the chapter with:
"The way to execute paintings on cloth with the block," and begins
it with: "Because to the art of the brush there still belong certain
works painted on linen cloth, which are good for boys' and children's
robes and certain church pulpits, here is given the way to execute
them."
Also interesting are the directions for block printing given in a
fifteenth century German manuscript preserved in the public library
of Nuremberg and evidently based on nuich earlier treatises. The
manuscript was originally preserved in the Convent of Saint Catherine
in Niiremberg, and in the sixteenth century, as the dedication shows,
was presented by the Prioress of the convent to one of the Sisters.
The book is in three parts, the first dealing with church vestments,
the third with stained glass and the second with the "printing silver
and gold and of wool and of all colours, and how one prints pictures
of paper."
335
o
"3 „
3
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
JOUY PRINTS
In the last half of the eighteenth century, as soon as the govern-
ment restrictions were removed, France (Plate XXV) quickly
equalled and surpassed all that had been done before. The leader in
the new industry was the famous Philip Oberkampf , born in Ansbach
in 1738. His father practised cloth printing and dyeing rather unsuc-
cessfully in several parts of Germany, and finally settled down in
Aargau, Switzerland. The son was trained in his father's business
and after having also had some experience with Kochlin and Dollfus
at Miilhausen, in Alsace, went to Paris at the age of nineteen, had him-
self naturalised, and in 1758 or 1759 set up a small workshop in the
little village of Jouy near Versailles. As his entire resources were
not over 600 livres, the whole- equipment was necessarily exceedingly
primitive.
Oberkampf himself built the printing tables, designed the pat-
terns, cut them on wood and personally looked after the printing as
well as the dyeing and all the other details. His success was almost
mimediate and before long his printed cloths (Plates XV, XVI,
XVII) attained such vogue as to be especially mentioned in auction
catalogues, such as that of M. Parseval in 1782, "un meuble de salon
d'ete en toile de Jouy," or that of Sieur Larsonnier, "lits de toile de
Jouy." In 1783, Oberkampf had the honour of receiving a formal
visit from Louis XVI, who spoke in high terms of his goods and his
enterprise, ennobled him and raised his establishment to "Manufac-
ture Royale." (See the signature of the fabric illustrated on Plate
XV, "580" being the number of the pattern; Les Colomhes, "the
Doves," the name of the pattern; and P. N. G. the man who did the
actual printing.)
From that time on, Jouy prints were the vogue not only at court
and in the palaces of the nobles, but also in the houses of the rich
middle class. The sales and the profits were immense. The number
of employees reached 1,500. Oberkampf gave them their own houses,
hospitals and old age pensions, and looked after their interests in
every way. Constantlj- the quality of the product improved and soon
outclassed the German, Alsatian and English prints. Oberkampf
shrank from no expense to improve his processes. He sent agents
everywhere, even to the Orient, in order to discover the secrets of the
brilliant colours of India and Persia. In 1806 he received a gold
medal at the Paris Exposition.
337
Plate XVI— JOUY COPPER PRINT IN RED
Made about 1785, and signed "Manufacture Royale de S. M. P. Oberkanipf," jjioturing
Oberkampf s factory, together with the processes of plate and roller printing
Plate XVII— A JOUY PRINT, THE UNITED STATES RECEIVED AMONG
THE NATIONS
338
Plate XVin— THREE HUET DESIGNS EOK Jt)lY PKINTS
339
Plate XIX— THK FOLK SEASON'S
From a copper-plate engraving of one of Huet's designs for Jouy prints
340
Plate XX— AX ANCIENT CIIINJ'Z U.I.ISTHATIXG THK DKCI.AUATION OF INDEPENDENCE
341
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CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
Napoleon is said to have consulted him frequently and to have
called him "Seigneur de Jouy." Once when NaiK)leon was visiting
Oberkampf's factory, he is said to have asked him if he had yet
received the cross of the Legion of Honom*. When Oberkanipf
answered "No," Napoleon took the one on his own breast and gave
it to Oberkanipf, saying: "No one deserves to wear it more than
you. You and I are fighting a good fight against the English, but
your fight is the best." Both men had risen high from small begin-
nings and both fell together.
In 1815, when the army of the Allies passed through Jouy, they
pillaged and destroyed the magnificent factory. "This sight is kill-
ing me," said the grey-haired Oberkampf, as he gazed upon his idle
and starving men. His health broke down and on the fourteenth
of October, 181.5, he died.
Oberkampf's establishment served as a model for later ones. In
178.5, he was the first to introduce roller printing on the Continent,
assisted by a mechanic who came from Great Britain, where the
process had been invented by a Scotchman named Bell. It was first
applied there in a large way at Monsey, near Preston, also in 178.5.
The Jouy print reproduced on Plate XVI shows copper-i'oller print-
ing and copper-plate printing side by side, the latter in the upper
right corner, the new roller printing in the foreground. The river in
the upper left corner, flowing past the factory, is the Bievre that also
supplied the Gobelin works in Paris with good water. The three
workmen with flails are beating and cleaning the cloth to prepare it
for printing.
The style of Jouy prints accommodated itself to the fashion of
the hour. The earliest were mostly in red and distinctly "Chinoiseries."
A few years later come peasant scenes inspired by the paintings and
tapestries of Teniers ; and still later, allegorical and mythological sub-
jects, and scenes from contemporary history, especially from the
beginning of the French Revolution and from the American War of
Independence. Many of the best designs of the later period were
executed for Oberkampf by Jean Baptiste Huet, so many of whose
sketches are preserved in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs at Paris.
MORRIS AND WEARNE
The great designer and maker of linen and cotton and worsted
prints in the nineteenth century was William Morris (1834-1896),
3i3
Plate XXII— LATF, KIGHT1';Kx\TH CKNTUUY PRINTS MADF. IX FKANCE
Depicting the triumi^h of Washington, and probably made for the American market
344
Plate XXIV— AN yWCIENT PRINT, THE SO-CAl;LEU TOILE DE LA BASTII.E
346
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
whose work was so good that, like the work of Oberkanipf and Huet
at Jouy, it is still printed and used ( Plates XXVIII and XXIX ) . It
was printed mainly from wooden blocks. For the modern reproduc-
tion of Morris's cloths, as well as those of Oberkampf and others, the
original blocks are still used.
Today in the United States, on account of labour conditions, the
block printing of textiles is impracticable. Nevertheless, we have block
prints (Plates XXVI and XXVII) in both new and old designs,
which, though printed in England, were originated in New Vork by
Harry AVearne, head of the ancient Zuber works at Rixheim in the
heart of the war zone, from which Mr. ^Vearne, who is an English
citizen, escaped into Switzerland just as the British ultimatum to
Germany expired. Mr. Wearne, whose American connexions have
been close for many years, and who has passed much of his time here,
has now taken up his residence permanently in the United States and
may now be able here to exercise as important an influence as Morris
did in England diu'ing the later nineteenth century.
MODERN PROCESSES
The principal methods now used for printing on cloth are :
(1) From wooden blocks with pattern in relief.
(2) Perrotine block printing.
(3) From copper plates with pattern in intaglio.
(4) From copper rollers with pattern in intaglio.
(5) Stencilling.
(1) Hand block printing gives extraordinarily rich and soft
effects, particularly in large patterns. The blocks are of box or pear
wood backed with pine. The larger surfaces are filled in with felt
and the fine details are executed in copper ribbon or wire driven into
the wood. In this process each colour dries before the next is applied.
(2) The "perrotine" is a machine named from Perrot, who
invented it in Rouen in 1834. It handles three blocks at a time, impos-
ing the second and the third colours while the first is still fresh. It is
limited to three colours and to comparatively small patterns.
(3) Most of the copper plate prints executed by Oberkampf
were in one colour, thus eliminating the necessity of exact register,
which is a great disadvantage of the plate process.
(4) In roller printing the size of the pattern is limited by the
347
%
(1)
(3)
(3)
(5)
(«)
(1) and (2) Jouy prints; ('.i) unci (I) Rouen; (5) I'lencli about 1830;
(()) Modern reproduction, |)rinted from the original lilock of
an eighteenth century Englisli print
Plate XXV— ANCIENT PRINTED CLOTHS
348
#^-^1 ^ii'^l^ ^^flcr-^f
Plate XXVI— PHKASANT AND LARCH
Originated in America and printed in Kngland on linen, from wooden l)locks
(1) C.rinliiifr tJiblion strijje (2) Old-fashioned Engli>li .stripe
"^^
(.!) Cliinese cocl«atoo (4) Chinese lioneymoon
Plate XXVII— MODERN BLOCK PRINTS
Printed in England but originated in America
349
(1) Kose
(3) Strawberry Thief, in bright colors (3) Brer Rabbit, in blue
Plate XXVIII— THREE BLOCK PRINT DESIGNS BY WILLIAM MORRIS
350
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
circumference of the roller, which is usually 15 or 18 inches. The
rollers, which were anciently engraved by hand, are now etched or
milled. In the etching process an enlarged image of the design is
thrown upon a zinc plate with an enlarging camera, and then painted
in the proper colours and the outline of each colour engraved by
hand. Then the pantograph transfers and reduces the design from
the zinc plate to the varnished siu-face of a copper roller in the form
of tiny holes through which the etching acid reaches the copper and
eats the design into the roller. In the milling process the pattern is
eugra\'ed by hand on a small, soft steel roller, which is then hardened
by plunging when red hot into cold water. This is the die from which
the mill is made. A soft steel roller is rotated against the die until
it receives the design in relief. This is the "mill" that when hardened
and tempered makes copper rollers galore by being revolved against
them.
(5) Stencilling is really painting as distinguished from print-
ing, and uses cut-out patterns through which the colours are applied
with the brush.
The printing of fabrics may be either direct or indirect. The
four principal methods are:
(1) Direct printing from blocks, plates or rollers.
(2) Mordant printing.
(3) Resist printing.
(4) Discharge printing.
The first method actually deposits the colours. The second
leaves mordants that afterwards in the dye pot make the dye take
where the mordant has been printed. Compare Pliny's description of
mordant painting. The third method leaves resists that prevent the
dye from taking where they are applied. The fourth method deposits
acids or alkalies that eat away the colour where they have been applied.
Bre'r Rabbit, on Plate XXVIII, was made by discharge printing on
a cloth previously dyeitFblue.
Plate XXX shows an extreme example of fineness of detail
and exquisite blending of colour. Indeed, the result looks more like
painting than like printing, except for its accentuation of exactness.
Certainly, from the engraver's point of view, nothing better could be
done. The plates are ancient ones from Miilhausen, and the modern
printing with them was done in France.
351
(1) African Marigold
(2) Wandle
(3) Honeysuckle
Plate XXIX— THREE CHINTZES BY WILLIAM MORRIS
353
■^''
Plate XXX— MODERN SATIN, PRINTED IN BRIGHT COLOURS
From ancient copper plates
Plate XXXI— MODERN CHINTZ ON LINEN
Printed from the ancient blocks
353
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Plate XXXII— FOUR MODKRN AMERICAN SILK PRINTS
354
Si"
Sii:
iii'i!;!' iii;
Plate XXXIII— COTTON CLOTH OX WHICH AJIERICAN MAKERS PRINT
WITH COPPEH ROLLERS
355
mmMmmm
mmm
-: --iW!
• •iW'"
-^^J^-W •^^**^'-li- ■^^^'^'-ii- -^^
•>s-M' v^il^^-iroir- v^^:m^. v^iiiis-Mi
Plate XXXIV— KIGHT CRKTOXXF, PATTKUXS .11 ST HKOLGHT OL T B\ AN
AMERICAN MAKER
:we
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
AMERICAN ROLLER PRINTING
Silk printing has made a wonderful advance in America in the
past ten years. The high artistic quality of some of the drapery
designs is shown on Plate XXXII. No. 1 reproduces an ancient
European museum brocade; No. 2, an Asiatic mosque, birds and
trees ; No. 3 is a design adajited by a New York girl from an old Rus-
sian wall paper; No. 4, a Chinese children's tea party.
Plate XXXIII shows some of the various cotton weaves used by
American printers to secure various effects. The obvious peculiarities
of the weaves are :
(1) Homespun, fine warp with coarse, irregular weft, that
gives a ribbed and homespun look to the surface. ( 2 ) Swansdown, an
open, plain weave with fuzzy yarn that gives a fleecy surface. (3)
Almos silk, a silkoline embossed to increase the lustre. (4) Ticking,
a firm and heavy warp twill for hard wear, as the name implies.
(5) Crepoline, a sateen embossed to increase lustre and give crepy
effect. (6) Scrim, a plain, open weave. The sample illustrated is
striped by the insertion of extra warps. (7) French rep, fine warp
and coarse weft that produces the rep effect. (8) Antoinette rep,
a coarse, flat rep produced by inserting the coarse wefts in pairs.
(9) Voile, like scrim, but finer and harder spun. (10) Tuileries
cloth, a cotton taffeta figured by floating the wefts. (11) Marquisette,
a net formed by warps twisting in pairs around the wefts. (12)
Krinklc cloth, a plain, open weave embossed to give the crinkly effect
to Austrian shades. (13) Standish cloth, a firm and durable plain
weave with diagonal ribs formed by coarse wefts that interlace pairs
of warp.i. (14) Terry cloth, a shaggy, irregular weave with twisted
and uncut warp pile. (15) Ma Jr<w, marquisette (see above) figured
by weaving in pairs of soft extra wefts and then cutting away the
floats. The rough side is the right side. (16) Silkoline, a cheap, plain,
open weave of fine yarn, finished to look as silky as possible. (17)
Dimity, warp twill stripes in relief on ground of plain weave. (18)
Crash, plain, loose weave of irregular yarn. (19) Sateen, a coai'se
cotton satin with weft instead of warp surface. (20) Norman cloth,
a cotton taffeta with tiny relief figures formed by floating the wefts.
Credit for illustrations: Plates III to X and XVI, XVIII, XIX, XXI 5, XXII, the
Library of the Metropolitan Museum; Plates XI, XV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, Harrv Wearne;
Plates'XXVIII and XXIX, A. K. Bulkelev and Morris & Co.; Plate XXX, A. E. Bulkeley;
Plate XXXII, Cheney Bros.; Plates XXXHI and XXXIV, Elms & Sellon.
CHAPTER XVIII
WALL PAPERS
Their Origin, History and Manufacture
Papers used to cover side walls and ceilings are called "wall
papers." They are usually attached directly to the walls with paste,
but are sometimes backed with nuislin or canvas before pasting, or
before being attached to battens like fabric wall hangings. The latter
method is preferable for scenic and picture papers of great value, as
it preserves them from injury by possible dampness of the walls, and
enables them to be safely removed and rehung in case of necessity.
Most paper is now made by machine in continuous rolls that are
cut apart to the length required. English wall papers are usually
sold in rolls 12 yards long and 21 inches wide; French and German
wall papers in rolls 9 yards long and 18 inches wide; American wall
papers in double rolls 16 yards long and 18 inches wide. Previous to
the nineteenth century — paper being made by hand only and in small
sheets — wall papers were either printed and sold in small sheets, or
rolls were made by pasting together sheets before printing.
The invention of paper is conmionly attributed to the Chinese,
despite the fact that the word paper is derived from papyrus, one of
the two sacred plants of the ancient Egyptians, the other being
the lotus that Professor Goodyear, of the Brooklyn Museum, has
exploited in an epoch-making book. As a matter of fact, the Egyp-
tians used paper made from the papyrus more than 3,000 years before
the Chinese discovered how to make paper from the mulberry and
the bamboo. Also, both the Greeks and the Romans used Egyptian
paper made from the papyrus, and continued to use it until the fifth
century A. D., when the arts of western Europe were submerged
beneath the hordes of wandering barbarians. After that most of the
writing done in European monasteries appeared on the polished skins
of sheep and other animals (parchment and vellum).
.S58
Plate I— "THE ORIGIN OF WALL PAPF.R"
A Chinese painting in the style of Kien-liiiig, i)ictiiring the Taoist fairy,
Mo-ku-hsien, with atteiuiaiit (leer
359
. ',i
A>» •■ I ^'' . ^ rr-Izit
■naiv'
< \r-r-:
"sSF^-^iiirr
WALL PAPERS
. During the Dark xVges, from the fifth to the tenth centuries,
paper making declined in Egypt, and came practically as a new art
when brought west by the Mohammedans, who acquired it in Central
Asia from the Chinese in tlie eighth century.
Here it is interesting to note that the Chinese paper was superior
in quality and durability to the papyrus paper of Egypt, having a
smoother surface with fibres more completely macerated. Evidence
of the acquisition of the art by the Mohammedans are the numerous
Arabic manuscripts on paper, which have been preserved, dating from
the ninth century. By the Moiiammedans the manufacture of paper
was established in Sicily and in Spain, and, upon the Christian occu-
pation of these countries, was taken over by the Christians and intro-
duced into Italy and France. In Italy, the first place to become
famous for paper making was Fabriano, where mills were set up in
1276, and where papers like the ancient ones are still made and
exported to New York and elsewhere. During the second half of
the fourteenth century, the use of paper for literary purposes became
common in all western Europe, and before the end of the fifteenth
century it had entirely sujjplanted parchment and vellum.
Technically, paper may be described as thin sheets or rolls com-
posed of cellulose fibres that have been felted together under water.
The forms and combinations of paper are various but the constituent
materials (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) are always the same and
in the same proportions. Linen and cotton rags consist of such fibres
from which the impin-ities are easily eliminated, but wood, straw and
esparto require elaborate chemical treatment with great heat. Until
the middle of the nineteentii century most European paper was made
of rags.
THE ORIGIN OF WALL PAPERS
While wall papers are of Chinese origin, the Chinese themselves
never used them as wall pajiers, and only recently have begun, like
the Hindoos, to imitate a fashion set by Europeans. Plate I, in colour,
entitled "The Origin of Wall Paper," reproduces not a Chinese wall
paper but a Chinese painting. In other words, the origin of European
wall papers is to be sought in the Chinese paintings on paper which
were brouglit to Europe in considerable quantities in the seventeenth
century. Such paintings, instead of being framed in the European
fashion, are mounted by the Chinese on rollers and hung around the
361
^^BVHR
mm^ JmiMi^
(1) A Teniers tapestry in paper
(2) Psyche nt the Bath, designed by David for Xapoleon
Plate III— FAMOUS PICTURE WALL PAPERS
Printed in Paris from the ancient hand blocks
362
WALL PAPERS
walls of a room as temporary, but never as permanent, decorations.
Chinamen are born brush in hand and write, not with a pen, but
with a brush. The brush is the national method of expression in
China and every Celestial takes his brush in hand just as recklessly as
we take the pen. Consequently, painting is so conmion in China
that every family of any position has hundreds of rolls of paintings,
which are opened about as often as we open the books in our book-
cases. The monotony of seeing the same pictures hanging on the
same walls week in and week out, year after year, would shrivel the
artistic souls of those whose familiarity with the brush keeps them
from slavish adoration of the images that it produces.
Wall paper as wall paper is a European development of the
eighteenth century, started by the European vogue of Chinese paper
paintings. As soon as Europeans began to attach papers per-
manently to walls, and use them as all-over wall decorations, and to
have papers painted to order in China (Plate II shows such a
paper that is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and block
printed in Europe, wall paper had been invented. Before that wall
papers did not exist. Before that the papers used to decorate walls
were separate pictures like our water-colour drawings, engravings
and prints of today.
The genius of Europeans is different from that of the Chinese.
Whilst many of the earliest European imitations of Chinese papers
were jjainted with the brush, the extraordinary development of. print-
ing in Europe (prevented in China by the cumbersomeness of the
Chinese alphabet) had prepared Europeans to print what the Chinese
usually painted. So wooden blocks were cut for each colour of the
design and the block printing of wall papers became an important
industry in England and in France.
Side by side with the block-printed papers there continued to be
used the Chinese painted papers, which had first been impoi-ted in
small quantities by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and in
larger quantities by the Dutch, French and English in the seventeenth
century. Macky, in 1720, speaks of Sir Richard Child's residence as
having "a parlour finely adorned with China paper, the figures of men
and women, birds and flowers, the liveliest I ever saw come from that
country." Sir Joseph Banks wrote in his Journal in 1770: "A man
need go no further to study the Chinese than the China paper, the
better sort of which represents their persons and such of their customs,
368
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
dresses, etc., as I have seen, most strikingly like, though a little in the
caricatura style."
Such papers were customary gifts from ambassadors and mer-
chants in China to their friends at home. Many boxes, each usually
containing twelve lengths, have in recent years been discovered unused
in the attics and lumber rooms of old English country houses. Also,
many of them are still on the walls where they were first hung, notably
the one in the bedroom at Badminton; and the one in the Baroness's
room at Coutts's Bank on the Strand, brought to England by Lord
Macartney, the British envoy to China, who immortalised himself by
refusing to "kowtow" to the Chinese Emperor. In 1780 a paper
representing the various trades and occupations of China was hung
in the drawing room of Brasted in Kent, by Dr. Turton, favourite of
King George III, who is said to have received it as a present from
the Emperor of China.
Wall paj)ers played havoc with the plans of those whose devotion
to the Italian Renaissance as expressed in Italy by Palladio, intro-
duced into England by Inigo Jones, and revived by Sir William Kent,
demanded that interiors be accentuated with architectural ornament
in relief. Isaac Ware, in his book on "Classic Architecture," pub-
lished in 1756, was peculiarly distressed by the fact that "paper has
taken the place of sculpture," by paper meaning wall paper, and by
sculpture, architectural coluums, pilasters, pediments and mouldings
in stone or wood or plaster. A large proportion of the early French
and English papers bore designs that were either Chinese (more or
less Europeanised) or Chinese and Rococo mixed. Probably Ware
was less hostile to the crimson flock papers, some plain and some with
Genoese velvet patterns, because they could be used in Classic
interiors. These flock papers, made by covering paper with a sticky
substance and then dusting the surface with powdered wool, had been
used to line boxes and furniture and as screen fillers as early as the
fifteenth century, and in small panels on walls perhaps as early as
the first half of the seventeenth century.
We also have many interesting items about the use of Chinese
papers in France in the eighteenth century. In 1770 there were
advertised for sale in Paris "twenty-four sheets of Chinese paper, with
figures and gilt ornaments, each ten feet high by three and a half
wide, at twenty-four livres a sheet." In 1779 an apartment in Paris
was advertised to lert, having "a pretty boudoir with China paper in
Plate IV— "THE CHINESE GARDEN"
A hand-blocked landscape paper, made in Alsace about 1840, after designs by French artists
The illustration shows two widths out of the ten forming the complete picture
S65
m^i^.
(1) The .Macaw frieze designed by the gifted French painter, J. Francois
Auhertin, the favo\irite pupil of Puvis de Cliavannes
% ../^
(2) Isola Bella, originated about 1840
(;i) Panier Fleuri, originated about 18:50 by I.uigi
Testoni, at the Italian wall pa])er factory
in San Pier d'Arcria, near Genoa
Plate V— THKEE HAND-BLOCKKD ALSATIAN PAPERS
360
(1)
w
Plate VI— MODERN MACHINE-PRINTED ZUBER PAPERS
Except No. 3, which is liand blocked
367
- V If «A
Plate VII— MODKUX MACIIINK-PRINTED ZUBER PAPERS IN THE CHINESE STYLE
308
WALL PAPERS
sinall figures representing arts and crafts, thirteen sheets with height
of eight feet ten inches and combined width of thirty-seven feet." In
1781 "a China wall paper, glazed, blue ground, made for a room
eighteen feet square, with gilt moulding."
THE FOLLOT COI.LECTION
The most interesting exhibition ever made of ancient wall papers
was by the late Felix Follot at the Paris Exposition of 1900. The
writer was fortunate enough to have lent him a copy of the privately
printed little book prepared by M. Follot with the title "Papiers
peints, a I'exposition universelle internationale de 1900." At this
point it is important to note that the French name for wall papers is
still papiers peints (painted papers), inherited from the period when
they actually were painted.
M. Follot had spent forty years in getting together his collec-
tion, and the honour of organising the exhibition was only a just
reward. According to M. Follot, there was a maker of "flock papers
for hangings" at Rouen, in 1610, named Le Fran9ois. Also, in 1688,
Jean Papillon, an engraver, invented the kind of wooden block that
is still used in printing wall papers. M. Follot adds that, despitti the
invention of the block, certain papers for screens, furniture and hang-
ings continued to be illuminated by hand until 1793.
Oddly enough, it was at a wall paper factory, the famous Royal
Manufactory of Reveillon, that the French Revolution broke out on
April 18th, 1789. Reveillon employed over 300 workmen and bought
designs from Huet and other famous artists. A rumour had been
circulated that the workmen were to be taxed 15 sous a day and that
"bread was too good for them." A mob assembled and proceeded to
pillage the factory, throwing the furniture and fixtures out into the
street. The troops were called out, and then, as Carlyle puts it:
"What a sight! A street choked up with lumber, tumult and
endless press of men. A Paper- Warehouse eviscerated by axe and
fire ; mad din of revolt ; musket volleys responded to by yells, by mis-
cellaneous missiles, by tiles raining from roof and window, tiles,
execrations and slain men! — There is an encumbered street, four or
five hundred dead men ; unfortunate Reveillon has found a shelter in
the Bastile."
Reveillon fled to London, where he passed the rest of his hfe.
In 1791, Jacquemart & Benard succeeded to his business and brought
3Cy
Plate VIIl— DKSIGXKD IN f:NGLAND, MADI, IN Al.SACl,
Modern liantl-blocked paper in the Adam style, designed by the English architects, Murray &
Durand, on the basis of an ancient Wedgwood piaqiie and an Adam vase
370
WALL PAPERS
out many important scenery papers, amongst them the "Stag Hunt,"
which has himg for about a century on the walls of a room in the old
Andrew Safford house at Salem, Mass., and which, when illustrated
in Country Life in America, in November, 1911, was identified by
Harry Wearne. Another famous wall paper maker of the period
was Joseph Dufour, who in 1814, brought out the famous "Cupid and
Psyche" series, which is still being reprinted from the original blocks
(Plate III, 2).
Amongst the first wall paper makers in America was Josiah Bum-
stead, of Boston. He travelled in France in 1824 and in 1834, and
left behind him an interesting diary which his son kindly lent to a
friend of the writer. Bumstead visited the Zuber works in Alsace
and writes that Zuber had succeeded, in 1829, in making the first
paper in continuous rolls at his paper factoiy in Ropperswiller, and
had sold the English rights for five thousand dollars. In 1850, Zuber
brought back from Manchester, in England, the first wall paper print-
ing machine used in France (like the chintz roller-printing machine,
with rollers around the circumference of a huge drum), and in a few
years almost all wall papers were machine printed in designs that were
mostly bad.
WIIJ.IAM MORRIS
The first note of effective protest was sounded by William
Morris, some of whose wall papers were shown at the exposition in
London in 1862. Eight papers designed by William Morris are
illustrated on Plates XII and XIII. Morris regarded wall papers
as of prime significance in the decoration of a house and in his lecture
on the "Lesser Arts of Life," says:
"Whatever you have in your rooms, think first of the walls, for
they are that which makes your House and Home, and if you don't
make some sacrifice in their favour you will find your chambers have
a kind of makeshift, lodging-house look about them, however rich and
handsome your movables may be."
Even more attractive than Morris's own papers are some of those
designed by one whom he inspired, Walter Crane (Plates X, XIV).
WALL PAPERS IN AMERICA
The early use of wall papers in America is established by the
following letter printed in the British Decorator of December, 1909.
371
(1) MuUcr'.s laiiioiis Ituscs ])aper (;2) Delia llobhia blue ground with
Classic cameo frieze in grey
(3) Relief effects in wall paper
(4) Copied fr.im an old drappry (5) A delightful quilted effect ((i) Worsted l)rocatelle in wall
Jirint of 1840 |)apcr
Plate IX- SIX WALL PAPKRS MADK IX FUANCK
All hand-blocked exce|)t 5. I, 3, (> are from the original blocks
372
AVALL PAPERS
Evidently the paper wus to be painted by hand in water colours in the
Chinese style.
On January 23rd, 1737, Thomas Hancock, of Boston, Mass.,
wrote to John Rowe, Stationer, I^ondon, as follows: "Sir: Inclosed
you have tlie Diniensions of a Room for a Shade Hanging to be done
after the same pattern I have sent per Captain Tanner, who will
deliver it to you. It's for my own House and entreat the favour of
you to Get it Done for me to Come Early in the Spring, or as soon
as the nature of the Thing will admit.
"The pattern is all was I^eft of a Room Ijately Come over here,
and it takes nuich in ye Town and will be the only paper-hanging for
Sale wh. am of opinion may Answer well. Therefore desire you by
all means to get mine well Done and as Cheap as Possible, and if they
can make it more beautifid by adding more Birds flying here and there,
with Some Landskips at the Bottom, Should like it well. Let the
Ground be the same Colour of the pattern. At the Top and Bottom
was a narrow Border of about 2 Inches wide wh. would have to mine.
About three or fom- years ago, my friend Francis Wilks, Esq., had a
hanging Done in the Same manner but much handsomer, sent over
here from Mr. Sam Waldon of this jjlace, made by one Dunbar in
Aldermanbury, where no doubt he, or some of his successors may be
found. In the other part of these Hangings are Great Variety of
Different Sorts of Birds ; Peacocks, Macoys, Squirril, Monkys, Fruit
and Flowers, &c.
"But a greater Variety in the above mentioned of Mr. Waldron's
and Should be fond of having mine done by the Same hand if to be
mett with. I design if this pleases me to have two Rooms more done
for myself. I Think they are handsomer and Better than Painted
hangings Done in Oyle, so I Beg your particular Care in procuring
this for me, and that the patterns may be Taken Care of and Removed
with my goods."
Just as I am writing this chapter, comes the announcement of the
death of my friend, Kate Sanborn, who was the historian in America
of "Old-Time Wall Papers." With wonderful patience she per-
severed year after year in collecting photographs of ancient papers,
mostly picture papers and mostly imported, that had hung for gen-
erations on the walls of American homes. These she has preserved
for all time on the eighty-three j)lates of the only important book
that has ever been published on the subject.
87.'5
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Miss Sanborn's enthusiasm for picture wall papers was due to
early inspiration. She was born at Hanover, N. H., in a room dec-
orated with scenes from the Bay of Naples, illustrated on Plates
58-62 of her book. As she herself writes:
"Although a native of New Hampshire, I was born at the foot
of Mount Vesuvius, and there was a merry dance to the music of
mandolin and tambourine round the tomb of Virgil on my natal morn.
Some men were fishing, others bringing in the catch; farther on was
a picnic party, sentimental youths and maidens eating comfits and
dainties to the tender notes of a flute. And old Vesuvius was smok-
ing violently. All this because the room in which I made my debut
was adorned with a scenic paper."
Other papers illustrated by Miss Sanborn are:
Plates 12, 13, 14, The Cultivation of Tea, a hand-painted
Chinese paper imjjorted about 1750. Plates 12, 13, Stencilled papers
from Nantucket. Plates 22, 23, Papers with landscape repeats at
Clarendon, N. H., and in Salem, Mass. Plate 28, Washington
memorial paper. Plate 29, Dorothy Quincy wedding paper, imported
for her marriage to John Hancock in 1775, and still hanging on the
walls of the north parlour of the Dorothy Quincy house in Quincy,
Mass. Plates 34, 35, Pizarro in Peru, in the Ezra Western house at
Duxbury, Mass. Plates 36, 37, Tropical Scenes, from the Ham
house at Peabody, Mass. Plates 38, 39, On the Bosporus, from a
liome in Montpelier, Vt. Plates 56, 57, Scenes from Paris. Plates
65-69, The Adventures of Telemachus. Plates 71-76, The Olympic
Games, made in France, and imported to Boston about 1800, but
never hung. Plates 77-79, The Lady of the Lake, scenes illustrating
Scott's famous poem, and still hanging in good condition on the walls
of houses in Greenbush, Mass.; Wayland, Mass.; Portsmouth, N. H.
Plates 81-83, The Seasons, a grey monotone on the library of Pro-
fessor Young at Hanover, N. H.
BAXDBOXES
Nor should I forget the "little sisters" of wall papers, bandboxes,
so many of which were adorned with scenes block-printed on paper.
A large collection of these was made by my friend, the late Alex-
ander W. Drake. Many of them bear the names of the wall paper
manufacturers who printed them. The most important part of this
collection was acquired for the New York Cooper Union Museum.
374
Plate X— WALTKH CRANirS "MACAW"
III many respects the most delightful paper ijroduced by the famous English firm that William Morris
founded. Nr* the strength of the design and the gentleness of the colouration. Walter Crane
stands at the head of all modern designers of wall paper, in the opinion of many
375
a,
O =
«5
>i< C
O r.
'SI .=
WALL PAPERS
ANCESTORS OF WALL PAPERS
From the design point of view there are three principal types of
wallpapers: (1) Picture papers; (2) Pattern papers; (3) Texture
papers. The texture papers are those that imitate or suggest the
texture of other materials, such as velvets, tapestry, embroidery, satin,
damask, leather, wood, stone, plaster, etc. (Plates XVIII, XIX).
From the decorative point of view the ancestors of picture wall
papers are not only detached paintings and prints on canvas and wood
as well as paper, but also picture tapestries, and especially the paint-
ings and drawings that have been, in all ages from the cave man down,
applied direct to walls. The most important examples are the coloured
paintings, some flat and some in low relief, that have been preserved
on the walls of the mastabas, pyramids and temples of ancient Egypt
(as illustrated by the inner walls of the mastaba of Perneb at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art ) ; the mural paintings of ancient Rome,
which inspired Raphael and Giulio Romano, as well as Robert Adam,
Huet and David (as illustrated by the Boscoreale frescoes at the
Metropolitan Museum) ; and the glorious mural frescoes of the Italian
Renaissance which have immortalised the names of Botticelli, Ghir-
landajo, Mantegna, Da Vinci, Michelangelo and a score of others
(as illustrated by PoUaiuolo's Saint Christopher at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art).
Vividly do the Boscoreale frescoes show what the ancient Greeks
and Romans used instead of wall paper. Buried in the year A. D. 79,
in a Roman country house near Pompeii, by the eruption of Vesuvius,
these frescoes lay concealed for over 1800 years, until excavated in
1901 and brought to this country in 1903. The richness of the colours
is surprising. Dried into the plaster over eighteen hundred years ago,
the reds and yellows, greens and blues are still wonderfully alive.
The way in which they contrast and blend testifies to the skill of the
journeyman mural painter of the period.
The walls of one whole room have been set up at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in what is said to be their original position. The walls
are without relief, all the colimins and architectural details being
painted on flat plaster with forced perspective and forced shadows to
give the semblance of form and reality. The room looks much larger
than it really is. This is the result of deliberate intention. On every
side the eye is met by out-of-door scenes, with distant sky. The
illusion is splendid. Those familiar with the famous Alsatian "El
877
( 1 ) Compton
(2) I.ily and Pciiiicgranato
(3) Pimpernel (4) Fruit
Plate XII— FAMOUS PAPERS BY WILLIAM MORRIS
378
(1) Giirdcii tiilij)
(3) Iris
YTWk
(3) Trellis (4) Hoiun ,i.>
Plate XIII— FAMOUS PAPERS BY WILLIAM MORRIS
3T9
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Dorado" wall paper will have a good mental picture of what I mean.
The architecture pictured in the Boscoreale frescoes is not
realistic. In fact, much of it is impossible. The artist has made
columns graceful at the expense of strength, and has piled structural
masses where they would be theatrically effective. He was avowedly
not imitating nature but producing decoration. This is shown not
only by the fancifulness of the architecture, but also by the repetition
of scenes. Repetition is what separates decoration from the art that
imitates or interprets nature. Nature seldom repeats and never
exactly. Of ornament and pattern, repetition is the backbone. In
repetition, as in most other things, excess is easy — particularly if it
is done by machine. Modern wall papers surround us with obtrusive
stupidities repeated a thousand times. No wonder that many of the
wall paper manufacturers bring out a new set of patterns every year.
In this Boscoreale room, that consists of main room and alcove — -
the alcove being the part next to the windowed wall — ^the repetition
is sufficient to make ornament without making monotony. The north
and south walls of the main room ai"e alike, each consisting of three
panels, the outer two of which are the same reversed. That is to say,
only two different panels appear on the two walls, panel A and
panel B, the former four times and the latter twice.
The symmetry, however, is not exact. The mask and the god-
dess in the middle panel of the north wall are not the same as the
mask and the goddess in the middle panel of the south wall. There is
also variety in the masks and the statues of the outer panels and many
minor differences, some of which were clearly intentional. As in
Oriental rugs and Renaissance tapestries and other examples of
genius in ornament, the repetition that brings balance and reduces
natural forms to human terms is relieved by happy variety in detail.
The west or windowed wall of the room consists of three panels,
the outer two of which are the same, reversed. The middle one shows
a bowl of fruit with parrot above. The outer two show a grotto,
fountains and bright-coloured birds.
The Boscoreale frescoes would be interesting to reproduce on
modern walls, with the brush on canvas or with the block paper.
PATTERN AND TEXTURE PAPERS
Chinese wall papers and those based on them (Plates II, IV)
occupy an intermediate position between picture papers and pattei-n
380
Plate XIV--FAMOUS PAPERS DESIGNED BY WALTER CRANE
In the upper left corner, Fig and Peacock; in the upper right, Golden Age; in the lower left corner. Wood
Notes inspired bv Shakespeare's Midsummer Xiglit's Dream; on the right. Peacock
381
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3 S
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U 51
WALL PAPERS
papers. The absence of accentuated light and shade and of the archi-
tectural perspective so pronounced in Chvssic papers like "Psyche
at the liath" (Plate IIL 2) gives Chinese pictures an effect that
lessens the illusion and brings thein nearer to decoration, even when
there is nuich less repetition than in the IJoscoreale frescoes. Also,
the Chinese passion for nature and for the pastel colours in nature,
contrasts strongly with the Classic preference for architecture and
strong coloiu's.
The wall paper and chintz patterns of the last half of the
eighteenth century illustrate wonderfully the conuiiingling of the
artistic souls of the East and of the West. We have, indeed, many
bas-relief effects in grey monotones and duotones which are purely in
the Classic vase-style (Plate IX, 2, 3), yet we have even more con-
tinued-story scenes done in the Chinese manner but with Classic motifs
and details. Striking examples .of this mixed style are the patterns
of Huet and his school.
In the Empire period and the first half of the nineteenth century,
we discover papers approaching nearer to the large illusions of Euro-
pean mural paintings and tapestries, and the Chinese influence dis-
appears from floral patterns like Miiller's famous "Roses" (Plate
IX, 1), and from verdures (Plate III, 1).
In drawing the distinction between the Chinese and the Classic,
we should not exaggerate unduly if we made the statement that
Chinese decoration is produced by the elimination of relief and shadow,
Classic decoration by repetition and balance. Characteristic of the
style of the Italian Renaissance but even more of those of the Louis
XVI and Empire periods are diaper patterns with tiny repeats, the
very minuteness of which prevents the monotony from being irksome
or offensive.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the development of
roller printing was producing in chintzes and wall papers the same
diminution of motifs that the jacquard attachment was producing in
damasks and brocades. Also, the cheaper methods of making paper
and the poverty of the world caused by the Napoleonic wars favoured
wall papers as compared with chintzes. Most significant of all, the
blind and stupid adoration and imitation of ancient Classic had caused
artists to neglect decorative art in their yearnings after the supposedly
miraculous mysteries of representative art.
Finally came the voice of William Morris, crying in a decorative
383
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riate XVI— THE JUMKL MANSION PATEH
A modern American hand-blocked reproduction of the ancient paper tliat adorned the Guard Room of the
Jumel Mansion, New York, at tlie time when Wasliington used it as headquarters
384
WALL PAPERS
desert. He worked himself with the bobbin and with the block, in
order to get close to the processes and the techniques apjjropriate to
the materials. He designed wall papers that are still justly in vogue
and printed from the original blocks (Plates XII, XIII), and
together with Walter Crane (Plates X, XIV), revivified wall paper
design in hand-blocked papers so splendidly that the result was
apparent even in the machine papers.
Fifteen years ago the wall paper industry in America was in
a sad way, and justly. The patterns were mostly bad and badly
executed. Wall paper manufacturers and salesmen talked price so
vociferously that quality was frequently overlooked. Nearly all of
the so-called designers were mere manipulators of pattern and utterly
void of inspiration and of art.
Since then there has been a wonderful uplift (Plates XVII,
XX). The vagaries of Art Nouveau, which, for a time, hindered
the development of American wall papers alarmingly, have been
forgotten and from the idiocies of the European Futurists we have
remained aloof. Instead of merely rehashing modern European
papers our designers are now studying the documents of the past —
damasks, brocades, velvets, chintzes, tiles, decorative paintings and
tapestries and wall papers — and producing patterns adapted for the
comparatively small repeats of roller printing today. Freely during
the past ten years have they borrowed from contemporary chintzes
and cretonnes, sometimes wisely, but often with a slavish fidelity that
encouraged the use on the walls in paper, of the same pattern that in
chintz upholstered and draped the furniture and windows, paralysing
the occupants of the room with constant bombardment of monotony.
Monotony is, of course, an easy sin for wall paper to commit.
It is easy to paste the walls, over with a pattern a thousand times
repeated of which even a hundred repetitions are too nmch. It is
easy to make too large and too noticeable a pattern that in miniature
is inoffensive or even pleasing. It is easy, in trying to secure hand-
blocked or textile effects, to exaggerate the oddities whilst losing the
virtues. One can get more pattern for one's money in wall paper
than in other material. Consequently, most apartments and houses
overwhelm one with the noise of the designs papered on the walls.
The dining room moans in dark verdure ; the living room screams with
a polychrome trellis ; the reception room threatens with an exaggerated
stripe, and the chambers suffocate with tiresome florals.
385
Plate XVII— AN AMERICAX HAND-BLOCK KU PAPER
Ihe finest wall paper ever made in the United States, containing 120 oolours each
printed slowly and laboriously hy hand
386
WALL PAPERS
No wonder that niiiny architects and decorators turn with relief
to the papers that emphasise texture and minimise pattern, such as
the ingrains with their felt-like surface; the grass cloths with their
reproduction of the strong line effects of the Japanese originals; the
very remarkable imitations of plain and illuminated leathers; the
flock papers with their coating of silk or woollen powder reproducing
plain and figured velvets; tekko and the other papers that simulate
satins and damasks and moires; the reproductions of verdure tapes-
tries, most of them not in real tapestry hut in needlework tapestry
texture produced by overprinting with short vertical and horizontal
lines; and, last but not least, the imitations of marble and tiles, and
plaster, and stone. Especially are the tile effects appropriate for bath
rooms, and the Caen stone effects for halls and for connecting rooms
that must be "pulled together" with a background that has architec-
tural dignity. ( For tcwture papers, see Plates XVI 11 and XIX) .
Amongst the best of the modern American papers copied from
those used in America over a century ago are the ones that hang in the
Octagon room of the Jumel Mansion (Plate XVI); the Canton
paper, from the Lee Mansion in Marblehead, Mass.; the Cordova
paper from the Captain Taylor house in Chelsea, Mass. ; the Cervera
paper, from the house in New Hampshire where Mrs. Larz Anderson
was born; the Stanwood-Mansfield paper, in Chinese Chippendale
design from the Mansfield house in Gloucester, Mass.; the Paul
Revere paper from the Paul Revere house at 19 North Square,
Boston; the papers in the Longfellow birthplace, Portland, Maine.
Papers that everyone should know about are those pictm-ing the
flags, shields and banners of the United States and our allies. There
is a magnificent one of Old Glory, with red and blue in flock, which
contrast richly with the white stars and white alternate stripes that
are in plain paper. For indoor display of patriotism, paper flags are
not only effective but also inexpensive, especially at the present time
when bunting is in such small supply and great demand.
HOW WALL PAPERS ARE MADE
The four principal methods of making wall paper are: (1) with
the brush; (2) with brush and stencil; (3) with blocks; (4) with
rollers. The brush method, inherited from the Chinese, is seldom
employed in Europe or America, for lack of artists having sufficient
mechanical dexterity. The stencil method is used principally in the
387
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(I) All Italian damask paper
I
I
(J) A Louis XV paper slainpeil
ill gold
(;i) A Cliinese Horal with broken-
rib pronnd
!in^;i lip ii^ii ii||!
IMIL
(4) Based on embossed leather bid
not in leather colourings
(.)) Chinese banilioo ])anel effect
on liackeround
((i) A Hococo paper reproduced
from the hall of the Longfellow
home, Portland. Maine
»/*■
(7) Chenon^eau, reproduction of a
paper originally printed in
Paris, and hung in John Bar-
low's house, Liberty Street,
New York, in 1859
(8) A Rococo paper reproduced
from an old English paper
in the house of Stephen A.
Osborne, East Danvers, Massa-
chusetts, in 1858
(9) Louis XV Shepherdess, repro-
duced from paper hung in the
old Livingston Manor House at
Catskill, New York, over 75
years ago
Plate XX—AMERICAN WALL PAPER PATTERNS
390
WALL PAPERS
manufacture of i)icture friezes, many of whjch are in every way
admirable and should he hetter known than they are. Block printing,
which is done entirely by hand, is intermediate in rapidity and effect
between brush work and roller work. The blocks are of wood and
from 18 to 21 inches square. The design is carved in relief on the
surface, sharp lines being produced by copjier ribbon and dots by
copper pins driven into the wood. There is a separate set of blocks
for each colour of the design, and each colour is separately printed
and the roll allowed to dry before the next colour is applied. While
the rollers used in the machine printing of chintz and cretonnes are
of copper with the pattern incised, the rollers used in the machine
printing of wall paper are of wood with the pattern in relief. The
outlines are formed by copper ribbon driven into the wood, and the
body of the design is filled in with felt. The dots are formed with
copper pins, as in the hand blocks.
In roller-printed papers, the size of the pattern unit (the repeat)
is absolutely limited by the size of the roller (its width and circum-
ference). In block-printed papers, whilst there is theoretically no
limit to the size of the design, practically it is limited bj' the cost of
the blocks, which in very large scenic and picture papers run into the
lumdreds. With the brush, there is no reason for any repeat at all
except such as is called for by the laws of good taste.
Machine-printed papers, on account of their very limitations,
are safer for the average paperhanger to use. Picture and large-
pattern papers are difficult to space and arrange in rooms much cut
up by windows and doors and often come out badly at the corners.
But even with machine-printed papers it is possible to secure panelled
and frieze and crown effects by the use of appliques, borders and
friezes and detached motifs being printed on a separate roll, cut apart
with a very ingenious applique cutting machine and pasted around,
above or over the regular side wall paper. The development of these
applique papers is of recent date and due principally to an American
finn who have made a noteworthy success of "carrying coals to New-
castle;" in other words, of exporting wall papers to London. The
same firm's leather papers also deserve especial mention because of
their unusual merit (Plate XIX).
With wall papers are very properly grouped those cloths that
are specially sized or prepared by different manufacturers for appli-
cation with paste by paperhangers. Some of them with glazed sur-
891
(1) City Hall Park, New York
(i) The Statue of Liberty
Plate XXI^MODKRN PATHIOTIC WAI.I. PAPI'.KS
Designed in 1917 by Charles Jeltrup, a Freneli designer working in Xew York
392
WALL PAPERS
face are for bath rooms and kitchens, and some are adapted to serve
as ground -for decorative painting or stencilhng. Some emphasise
the texture of the basic mushn or canvas or burhvp, whilst others add
metal effects or imitate the texture of leather or Japanese grass cloth,
or are ovei-printed with small wall paper patterns. The surface effect
of these prepared cloths is much softer and more agreeable than that
of most plasters and wall papers.
Credit for illustrations: Plates I, IV to \I1I, XV, Harry Wearne; Plate 11, the Metro-
politan Sluscnni of Art; Plates III, IX, A. 1.. Diainent & Co., American representatives of
Dcfosse & Kiirtli; Plates X, XII to XIV, A. K. Hiilkeley, Anieriean rejjresentativc of Morris &
Company; Plates XVI to XX, M. H. Hirge & .Sons Co'.
CHAPTER XIX
DRAPERY AND FURNITURE TRIMMINGS
GiMPs^ Galloons, Braids, Borders, Cords, Tassels, Tufts and
Other Upholstery and Drapery Ornaments
Trimmings are made-up ornaments applied to costumes as well
as to upholstery. The French word is passementerie, and the French
excel in the creation of them. The French also understand how to
use them, and seldom err on the side of "too much" or "too little."
To some pretentious and contentious Americans, trinmiings are
taboo. They do not regard them as sufficiently "structural." They
maintain that whilst self-fringes are legitimate, a sewed-on fringe is
insincere and dishonest. In other words, they think in phrases
instead of in facts, and trust to memory instead of taste for their
decorative decisions.
The growth of the trimming business in New York during the
past ten years has been extraordinary. The improvement in
designs has also been extraordinary, and has been accompanied by
equal improvement in processes of manufacture, especially in dye-
ing and matching colours. The rampant tassels and fringes that once
were admired as "rich and elegant," have long since been removed from
the sample lines and are illustrated on Plates IX and X merely to
show from what depths we have risen.
The most numerous ancient trimmings that have survived are
those made in Egypt from the third to the tenth centuries, and called
Coptic, from the native name of the country. These Coptic trimmings
are borders and galloons, mostly figured in tapestry weave, made for
application on garments, or woven as an integral part of theuL Some
of the garments are self-fringed and others have tapestry panels
framed in bands of long loops of linen wefts, which look more like
multiple bullion fringes than like the uncut velvet which they really
are. Similar tapestry borders and galloons were also made in Amer-
394
i}]g|AQflizA(flIi//iiflfli!iu
Plate I— FRIXGES DE LUXE
395
^^l
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
ic.i centuries ago by the Peruvians, and there are important collec-
tions of them in the Metrojjolitan and other American and European
museums, notably in the Natural History Museum of New York.
The fringes on the Peru\'ian examples are noteworthy. One of them
shows a double row of pendent triple tassels.
The evidence for trimmings earlier than the Coptic is mainly
pictorial and literary. The ancient Assyrian bas-reliefs show trim-
mings not only on royal robes, but especially on the trappings of the
horses, which are (juite as elaborate with large tassels as is the ancient
Japanese armour displayed at the Metropolitan and other nuiseums.
Greek and Roman costmnes were less adorned than those of the
Orient, but from the Greek vase-paintings we can see clearly that
woven galloons were in common use. The Egyptian statues and
painted reliefs show us that long before the Assyrians flourished,
trimmings were used to make beautiful Egyptian costumes and espe-
cially Egyptian head-dresses.
This evidence, however, concerns costume trimmings. Evidence
about ancient upholstery and drapery trimmings is conspicuous by its
absence. Even in the famous sixth century mosiac portraits of
Justinian and Theodora and tlieir courts, still preserved at Ravenna,
in Italy, few of the trimmings adorn the draperies. Byzantine paint-
ings and ivories, which give us so liiany costume tassels and galloons,
are comparatively silent about upholstery. Not imtil we reach the
Gothic fifteenth century do the tapestries and the illuminated manu-
scripts and other paintings pictui'e adetpiately the kind of fringes and
galloons and tassels employed to adorn cano{)ied thrones and beds,
and royal tents and carriages. Most of tliese trinunings were rich
with gold and were, of course, used in harmony with the slender
vertical effects of the Gothic style until, at the end of the fifteenth
centiny, Renaissance horizontal bands and borders began to introduce
classic balance. The best illustration of fifteenth century tassels with
which I am acquainted is in one of Jean Foucquet's manuscript
miniatures. It shows square velvet pillows carrying a heavy tassel
at each corner.
The heyday of trimmings, and the period from which most
ancient ones have been preserved, is the Baroque seventeenth century.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century people began to get tii-ed
of the flatness and straight lines and narrow plain and tasselled fringes
of the Renaissance and endeavoured in large ciu'ves and bold reliefs to
897
Plate III— VELVET FIGURED GIMPS
398
Plate IV-VEI.VKT FIGURKU BOHDKUS
399
Plate V— OPENWOHK GIMPS
400
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
express their idea of the principles that should dominate art. Rubens
and Rembrandt are the representative painters, and Bernini and
Borromini the representative architects. All owed much to Michel-
angelo, whose sculptural genius forced the sculptural point. of view
into the fields of architecture and painting and trimmings, as well as
sculpture. Indeed, the Barocjue style of the seventeenth century
might justly be described as the sculptural style, distinguished by
passion for a wealth of ornament in relief. During the Renaissance
the facades of houses had been comparatively flat, but as soon as the
Baroque influence became dominant every Avindow had to have a
heavy pediment or tabernacle all its own, and buildings fairly bristled
with heavy architectural mouldings. The point of view was quite like
that of the architect who recently in Country IJfc in America claimed
that wood panelling is the logical covering for the interior w^Us of a
room, "because the mouldiiigs cast a shadow." Naturally, the flat
ornament of tapestries and wall papers would be quickly defeated in
a shadow contest.
Being the sculptm-al style /;«/• eoccellence , Baroque is naturally
the style of "Tassels Triumphant" and "Fringes Rampant" (Plates
IX and X). Not until the last half of the nineteenth century could
the world be persuaded again to adopt the monstrosities of the seven-
teenth. But in adopting them the nineteenth century lost the symmet-
rical dignitj' of the originals, and plastered the ancient models over
with fussy details and detached gewgaws which the seventeenth
century would never have accepted.
In the minds of the vulgar, not to like the style of I^ouis XIV
is a proof of good taste and democratic simplicity. Even more than
the Rococo of Ijouis XV is it disdained by the decorative penny-a-
liners of the public prints. Yet, as a matter of fact, the style of Louis
XIV, though massive and magnificent, is so well balanced and justly
proportioned and exquisitely executed as to be a liberal education for
those who wish to put themselves en rappori with the best that has
been thought and done. Louis XIV fringes and tassels and borders
are the result of good taste winnowing out the vices and preserving the
virtues of Italian and Flemish Baroque; and Louis XIV trimmings
are vastly superior to those of the first half of the seventeenth century.
With the eighteenth centm-y the world of styles received a new
orientation. The impulse away from the heavy classicism of Baroque
towards natin-e, and towards Chinese art, introduced the unsymmet-
401
Plate VI— TASSEL F.DGIKGS
403
Plate \ai— BUM.ION FUINGES
403
i
W.V^.!;, Ji.-"-,' '-' '^9m^^-^MUSUR£>
i
Plate VIII— CUT FRINGES
404
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
rical forms of Rococo, lowered the relief effects and made them
uneven, and, by lessening the scale of decoration, made interiors and
furniture more liuman and more homelike. The trimmings of Louis
XV are lighter in weight and in colour, and less regular in shape, than
those of Louis XIV.
With Louis XVI the world returned to straight lines and to
classicism, hut retained all the delicate pastel colours and the exquisite
grace that under the Chinese influence had developed in France in the
reign of Louis XV. I>ouis XVI trimmings are slender and flat and
straight as compared with those that preceded them, and though
avowedly copying ancient Classic and Renaissance, are less emphatic
than either. Rut, of course, there are numy fringes and tassels which
are just as good I^ouis XVI as they are Renaissance. Louis XVI
and the corresponding English style of Adam preferred cut fringes,
usually with delicate ornamentation, to the elaborate bullion fringes
of the Raroque seventeenth century, and of Regence and Georgian
Rococo. Heavy bullion fringes and heavy tassels came into vogue
again under the Empire, and under the Second Empire were exag-
gerated into grotesque perversions of the types illustrated on Plates
IX and X.
At this point it is, perhaps, well to explain that a bullion fringe
is uncut and has twisted loops, so that as compared with a cut fringe
it is full of curves, and is heavy-looking. It is the sort of fringe that
would naturally be most popidar in a Raroque period.
The most important single word in the world of trimmings is
gimp. Gimp cord is the dominant featin*e of the majority of uphol-
stery and drapery trimmings, which without it would lack body.
Gimp has the same initial meaning as the French guii)ure, which is
a cord whipped (guipe) or twist-covered with silk. Rut gimp has
introduced bewilderment into the minds of many by broadening its
meaning from the twist-covered cords to the ribbons and galloons
made by twisting and braiding and sewing and crocheting and weav-
ing them together. Galloons are apt to be made of metal, and the
word suggests military costume trimmings even when it falls from
upholstery lips. Rraid suggests the process of braiding or pleating,
though often used for wo\'en ribbons and tapes whose texture
resembles that of braid. Very wide gimp braids are often called
borders.
The most important machines in a trimming factory are the spin-
40.')
< S
X E
C/2 ■
. DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
ning alley and the hand looms, the former for making gimp cords,
the latter for making gimp braids. In weaving some of the more
complicated gimps, the jacquard attachment is used. Generally, how-
ever, treadles lift and depress the slender silk warps which bind and
cover the cords, and which sometimes are looped over wires to form
cut or uncut velvet figures. The coarse cords of the weft are usually
passed back and forth by hand in a small shuttle. In making fringed
gimps the weft cords loop over a hook while they are being bound by
the warps into the heading. About both the loom and the all-hand
processes employed in a trimming factory, there is an infinite variety
which is fascinating and even bewildering. The possibilities seem
endless.
Endless also are the uses of gimps, not only of the cheap and
insignificant and often perishable ones carried in stock in large quan-
tities by upholstery and drapery departments, but also of permanently
dyed and artistically conceived and skilfully executed gimps like
most of those selected for illustration. It is not only a question of
hiding tacks on upholstered furniture and box lambrequins; it is also
a question of introducing line and colour effects that are an impor-
tant part of the composition and that make the chair seem more like
a chair, and the lambrequin more like a lambrequin, and the lamp
shade more like a lamp shade. Certainly the "silk fringe that depends
from many large silk shades not only seems appropriate but is also
eminently useful from the illumination point of view. Bell cords
elaborately tasselled are no longer the sine qua non of a pretentious
parlour, even of a hotel parlour, but cords and gimps are freely
employed to hold back draped curtains. Pillows, unfortunately, are
now seldom tasselled, but silk and metal gimps often finish the seamed
edges. The stems of chandeliers are still twisted over with silk cords
and often tasselled, sometimes above the lamps, sometimes below.
Seldom do we use the elaborate canopies beneath which the beds of
our forefathers groaned, yet in the completion of sofas and couches
and wall panels we often find trimmings necessary, whilst some of our
best architects and decorators bestow much time and trouble upon
balls and cords and tassels for the shades and curtains and portieres,
and even for the mirrors and pictures of fine interiors.
It is much like eating with your knife. If you are merely a rich
owner, or an amateur or uneducated decorative salesman, cheap trim-
mings of weighted silk or mercerised cotton or plain cotton may seem
407
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
to you good enough to adorn the most elegant homes; but if your
knowledge has been extended by the successful experience of others,
you will have in trimmings another detail to think about and worry
over, and you will endeavour by the study of ancient books and
engravings and paintings to supplement the evidence that is accessible
in the form of ancient trimmings that are still preserved to be studied.
In this way trimmings will acquire for you a deep decorative meaning.
Unfortunately, the collections of trimmings that exist in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and in Cooper Museum are compara-
tively small and unimportant, whilst those in Dresden and Berlin and
Vienna are full of "horrible examples" developed in the nineteenth
century from Baroque originals. Furthermore, the literature on the
subject is scanty, and the treatment in books bearing broader titles
is faulty and inadequate. Invaluable to the trade and consequently
to the public would be a careful study of the relation of laces and
embroideries to upholstery and drapery trimmings, furnishing as they
have so many motifs that are still employed by the makers of gimps.
Just as cutwork in Italy developed into full-fledged needlepoint lace,
so lace insertions and edgings and embroidered and woven borders
and knotted and other self -fringes were thickened and strengthened
with gimps into trimmings easy of application, specialised for the use
to which they are put, and costing from fifty cents to fifty dollars a
yard.
Plate I shows three elaborate fringes of unusual excellence. The
upper is of golden yellow silk figured with green and black, for appli-
cation on light-weight fabrics. The middle one, for damasks and bro-
cades, has a heading of gimp lattice work figured with velvet, and a
bullion skirt with hangers of silk-covered flat copper wire. The bottom
one is a heavy fringe for velvets, with heading of red velvet on gold
warp ground, and skirt of tassels strung one above another. It is
interesting to note that the weave of loom-made gimp braids tends
to produce rep grounds.
Plate II shows a group: (1) a curtain loop; (3) a flat silk-
twisted skirt with tassel ends hung by two cords from a cross bar;
(2) and (4) show two Chinese tassels of American design, one con-
structed on a wooden, the other on a plaster form; (5) a Venetian
tassel. Plate III illustrates velvet figured gimps; Plate IV, velvet
figured borders; Plate V, openwork gimps; Plate VI, tassel edgings;
Plate VII, bullion fringes; Plate VIII, cut fringes.
408
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
Plate XI shows fringes from the collection of the ancient Eng-
lish decorative firm of Morant, who, it is said, never sold a sample
and for many years confined their business to reproductions from
their ancient sample line: No. 1, in red silk with ball and vellum
fancy liangers ; No. 2, the reverse of a red and gold spaced fringe with
running tied trellis ; No, 3, in red and gold twist, shaped and tufted ;
No. 4, in cream terra cotta, with knotted tufts ; No. 5, in red, with a
gold twist trellis front ; No. 6, a red silk galloon, with velvet figures,
tufted top edging and tufted fringe crocheted and tufted; No. 7, in
cream and rose, red and green, trellised and tufted; No. 8, a green
fringe, shaped and tufted.
In the introduction to the catalogue of the Morant collection of
velvets, damasks, brocades, etc., M. Jourdain, the well-known Eng-
lish writer on embroidery, lets fall the following remarks anent
trimmings :
The stools at Knole, besides the upholstered seat, have the frame-
work of wood tightly covered with velvet, and the feet trimmed with
a short tufted fringe. One of the Knole X chairs shows the character-
istic fringe with a trellis heading. The other X chair has arms, seat
and stretcher ornamented with a deep fringe, fastened by large gilt
nails, whilst a short tufted fringe finishes the seams of cushions, arms
and seats. The Elizabethan fringes were straight ; also those of James
I and Charles I, but shorter in the latter reign. Handsome fringes
are characteristic of Jacobean upholstery, extremely thick and of
twisted silk, frequently with headings of figured velvet and knotting.
Full tasselled fringes came in with the Restoration ; the short-stranded
tassels were carried around the top and sides of the tall padded backs
coming into use, whilst the back and chair seat have the hanging fringe,
which is often caught up in festoons. In the reign of William and
Mary a flat galloon often took the place of the full fringe and event-
ually displaced it, and this galloon was used to form panels upon the
upholstery, which was often of two colours of velvet, with the galloon
between. Gold fringes were frequently used in great houses. During
the Queen Anne period the movable upholstered seat was sunk, and
therefore nails, galloons and braids became unnecessary features. In
1756 Mrs. Delany writes that "Lady Hillsborough has a very good
house furnished all with yellow damask with an open border of
burnished silver that edges all the hangings." Hepplewhite, in the
last half of the eighteenth century, says that leather seats and backs
409
Plate X— KUIXGKS UA.VIPAXT
These were once greatly admired
410
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
should be tied down with tassels of silk or thread. A bed at Hare-
wood, of about 1 774, shows the drapery of the deep valance weighted
with its heavy straight fringe, and also the cords with large tassels,
which were a feature of the upholstery of the period. A second bed
in the same house, which was designed by Robert Adam, has two
valances of velvet: a plain upi^er one, scalloped and fringed and hung
at every lap with heavy tassels, and a lower draped valance caught
up in the centre by cord and tassels, as in the window draperies of
Sheraton's plan of a drawing room (1793). Sheraton's book also
shows several other similar arrangements of festoons, heavy fringes,
cords and tassels. During the Empire period in England, the chair
back and seat were stuffed and braids and borders framed the cushion.
Braids were used to hide the nails, and ball fringe was nmch used.
Plate XII shows two interior views from the residence of James
Deering, at Miami, Florida, planned and decorated by Paul Chalfin.
I introduce them because this residence represents the best that has
been accomplished in original trinunings on this side of the Atlantic.
Inspired by familiarity with French trimmings, ancient and modern,
Mr. Chalfin, with the enthusiastic co-operation of an American manu-
factui'er, created scores of fringes and tassels and galloons and edg-
ings that adequately finish furniture and draperies of surpassing
merit. Especially are the colour eflfects noteworthy. It goes almost
without saying that a man of Mr. Chalfin's experience and training,
which are none the less practical because backgrounded by scholarship
and travel, would employ gimps and braids and fringes effectively to
accentuate the outlines of damask wall paiiels, silk covers and spreads,
valances and side curtains. Rut he has done more than this; without
losing any of the desired line and pattern effects, he has so composed
the colours of his trimmings, and so contrasted and blended them with
the colours of the sin-faces they adorn, that the result is colour harmony
as vivacious as it is complete. Let those who will lean on the charts
fathered or grandfathered by Chevreul; Mr. Chalfin has proved in
the actual materials that for matching colours most of the so-called
chromatic laws end where good taste begins.
Amongst the numerous trimmings in the Ijouis XVI Chinese
room illustrated on Plate XII, the two varieties of Chinese tassels are
prominent. These two tassels, one shaped over a plaster, the other
over a wooden model, and illustrated in detail on Plate II, are, of
course, totally unlike any tassels ever conceived by the Chinese them-
411
T3-'f*i-*x
im
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Reading t'ruin top: Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7 Reading from top: Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8
Plate XI— FRINGES FROM THE MORANT COLLECTION
413
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
selves, who like them long and slender and cut; but they do most
admirably fit into Europeanised Chinoiserie of the type that dom-
inated France and England in the eighteenth century. The shape of
this tassel is based on the keynote of Chinese architecture, the roof,
derived from the ancient square tents with centre and corner posts,
which in China preceded more nearly permanent buildings of wood
and tiles. The oval pendants complete this idea admirably.
The other interior on Plate XII, built around an ancient iron
bed, and rhyming with Louis XV rather than Louis XVI, is free
from Chinese suggestion but trimmed with equal completeness. The
embroidered bell pull and its tassel are ancient, though they agitate
the lover of modern electric candles; and the painted satin that forms
the ground of the bed draperies is also ancient; but the other fabrics
and all the trimmings were made in America. The tassels on the plat-
form spread are elaborate and beautiful. The large rosettes on the
pulls that hold the bed ciu-tains are intricate with colour which picks
out and gives a thrill to the faded tones of the adjacent painted pat-
tern. The numerous fringes speak for themselves, even though repro-
duced on such a small scale, and without colour. Visible, too, in the
illustrations are the tassels and other trimmings of the window
draperies, and the gimps that adorn the skirt of the bed ; but the tiny
tufts that supplement the edging of the net over-spread hardly show
at all, though significant, even important, in the colour scheme of the
bed as a whole.
Perhaps the most interesting, at any rate the most generous, use
of tassels in this residence is in the room where they hang from trellised
cords to form the valance of the window draperies, wliich down below
they tie back in pairs, whilst from the lighting fixtures of the ceiling
they depend beneath each candle and the centre.
Amongst books on the subject of trimmings the most pretentious
are two portfohos published, one in Dresden, the other in Austria,
and both illustrating the taste of twenty or thirty years ago. The
German one is entitled "Posamenten fiir Mobel und Dekorationen,"
and was published by the Dresden "Zeitschrift fur Posamenten-
Industrie." The Austrian one was published by S. O. Czeiger.
Volume III of Emanuel Bocher's "Manuel des travaux a I'aiguille"
is devoted to tassels (glands); and Volume IV to cords, braids and
knots (conies, tresses, nwuds), with detailed description and illustra-
tions of how to make them. The small collection of trimmings in the
413
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DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY TRIMMINGS
Nuremberg Museiun isiisted in the catalogue of "Stichereien, spitaen
und pozamentier-arbeiten." The article on "La Passementerie," by
P. Verneuil in Volume XXIII (1908) of the magazine "Art et
Decoration," treats the archseology of the subject interestingly, and
then illustrates and describes ultra-modern trimmings. In .the
Connoisseur for 1909 there is a short article on Spanish trimmings
entitled "Puntas and Passementeries." Macquoid, in his monumental
work on English furniture, illustrates many gimps and fringes as
they appear in actual use on ancient chairs and couches, and, of course,
the drapery portfolios of Lenoir and many others show trimmings as
part of curtains, portieres and lambrequins.
The author is indebted for Plates I to VIII and XII to Edward Maag; for Plates IX
and X to S. O. Czeiger; for Plate XI to the Morant collection. •
CHAPTER XX
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
Texture is Latin for weave. Texture means surface qualities
as distinguished from colour and form. Texture is only skin deep.
Texture means those qualities that in textiles are pre-eminent,
reaching perfection in damasks and brocades and velvets and tap-
estries. It is only by analogy that we speak of the texture of wood
and marble and metal. Compared with textiles, wood and marble
and metal have little texti re.
But with leather it is different. Leather seems even to surpass
the textiles on their own ground. Leather, when shaped with dies
and stippled and carved with punches and chisels, and then illuminated
in colours, especially with gold and other rich lacquers applied upon
a ground of silver leaf, acquires a texture that in luminosity outshines
the surface of damask and velvet, and in richness does not pale before
tapestry or brocade.
Of coin-se, there are leathers and leathers. Some of them are
mere painted imitations of the reality. Some of them have no texture
at all, and might just as well be painted canvas or paper, like the
Japanese and wall paper leathers.
But with the imitations, near or remote, this account has nothing
to do. All of the leathers illustrated are ?-eal leathers, made rich in
texture by actual tooling and illumination.
Extraordinarily rich and beautiful is the leather illustrated in
colour on Plate I, from the house of Titian, the famous Venetian
painter of the sixteenth century. This jjiece of leather was brought to
this country by the late Henry G. Marquand, president of the board
of trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to whom was due the
attempt to develop in America the art of tooling and illuminating
leather in the ancient fashion, an attempt made successful by the
co-operation of the great architect and decorator, Stanford AVhite.
4,16
Plate I— ANCli:XT ITAIJAN I.KATHI-'.R FROM TH|-. HOUSK OF TITIAN, BROUGHT
TO THIS COUNTRY HY HKNRY C. MARQUANI)
417
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
The texture of this piece of leather is a revehition to those who
know only leathers of modern inspiration. The design in gold has
been exalted against the flat, blue groinid marvellously by the tooled-in
lines and tiny circles and raised outlines. In nothing but leather, and
in nothing but yellow and blue lacquers on silvered ground, could
such colour and such texture be produced. It rivals and surpasses
the texture of the richest brocades and the most sumptuous tapestries.
It is one of those decorative documents that are an immediate and
complete answer to those who ignorantly and impertinently ask:
"Why seek inspiration in the past?"
Plate VI shows, also in colour, another piece of sixteenth century
Italian tooled and illuminated leather. Very remote this from the
rough oxhides and tinted moroccos attached to the seats of much
modern furniture. Here we have the innate possibilities of leather
taken advantage of to the utmost. The illustration shows the upper
part of a leather pilaster, the lower part of which is also preserved.
The spiral bands of the column are differentiated from each other
even more marvellously than in the original marble that was the
inspiration of the leather. The colours are a liberal education in
polychrome composition: gold outlined in black for the column, with
red background between it and the straight, narrow border; gold on
green for the capital at the top and for the horizontal band of
acanthus leaves below; red lined with black circles for the jewel in
the centre of the leaf at the very toj): all possessing the peculiar toned
and crackled lustre that time produces on leather that has been
lacquered in colour on silver. Uniquely beautifid would be a mantel
panelled or a room framed in leather cohunns like this.
Of course the leather industry is an ancient one. Shaggy hides
were used for coats and blankets ages long before the development of
the loom. Dressed and dyed and painted and beaded leather belts
and clothing and tents and draperies are likely to have long preceded
woven ones. But the designs show that tooled and illuminated
leathers were the descendants rather than the ancestors of elaborate
weaves, and were in fact at first an attempt to reproduce the glories
of gold damasks and brocades.
Unfortunately the monk Theophilus in the twelfth century did
not make the tooling and illuminating of leather one of his diversarum
artium. But he did, in Chapter XIX of Book I, show how to prepare
leather for illumination by painting it with gypsum whiting.
418
J'late 11— GKOllGIAN LEATHER WITH RED FLOClv GROUND
419
Plate III— ANCIENT PORTUGUESE CHAIR-BACK IN CHISELLED LEATHER
Showing the tree design with doublet lions
Piute I\- EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SPANISH LEATHER PANEL
In gold and blue on green
430
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
The first part of Europe to acquire a reputation for decorated
leathers was Spain. Spain is just as nuich the home of leather as
China of silk, Egypt of linen, India of cotton, and Flanders of wool.
Yet, oddly enough, guadamacis and guadamaciles, the common
Spanish names for figured leathers, are not Spanish but Moorish.
They are derived from the name of the city of Ghadames, in the
Sahara, which is still an imijortant leather market, and which a
twelfth century Arabic writer speaks of as "Ghadames, the city that
ghadamesian leather comes from."
In 1197 Alfonso the Ninth, in presenting the town of Castro de
los Judios to Leon Cathedral, fixed the taxes to be paid at two hun-
dred sueldos, a fine hide, and two guadamacis. These taxes had
existed since the reign of Ferdinand the First, that is to say since
the middle of the eleventh century. So that -the common belief in
Spain that guadamacileria, or the art of decorating leather, crossed
from Mohammedan Africa into Spain in the early Middle Ages seems
to have a very definite basis in fact.
However, none of the eleventh or twelfth century Spanish
leathers are known to be in existence, so that the details of the work-
manship must be left in obscurity. But at the Cluny Museum there
are two small coffers, dating from the fourteenth century, adorned
with animals cut out of leather and applied on velvet. Ramirez de
Arellano, in a bulletin of the Spanish Sociedad de Excursiones, says
that the earliest guadamacileros were accustomed to imitate brocade
upon their leathers, employing beaten silver together with the colours
red, green, blue, black, white and carmine, iapplied in oils, or some-
times (contrary to law) in tempera. The guadamacileros tanned the
hides themselves, stamping the pattern from a wooden mould, and
then engraving on the leathers with chisels and punches. The hides
were those of rams. The spaces between the ornament were some-
times left natural, but usually coloured red or blue. Gold in the
place of silver is said to have been first introduced between 1529 and
1543. It was applied as follows:
The guadamacileros smeared with oil the parts they wished to
be figured in raised or sunk relief, and then imposed the gold leaf.
Upon this they applied heated iron or copper moulds and stamped the
pattern. The moulds required to be moderately hot, because if over-
heated they burned the hide, and if not hot enough the gold was not
permanent. The superfluous gold was wiped away with lint.
4.21
Plate V— ANCIKNT SPANISH LKATHER SHOWING LARGE POMEGRANATES
FRAMED IN ZIGZAG HALO
433
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
The sixteenth century Ordinances of Cordova tell lis much about
the industry. They provided that every applicant for a license as
quadamacilero must prove himself, in presence of the examiners;
able to mix his colours and design with them; and* to make a canopy
with fringe, as well as "a cushion of any size or style that were
demanded of him; nor shall he explain merely by word of ujouth
the making of the same, but make it with his very hands in what-
soever house or place shall be appointed by the mayor and the over-
seers of the craft aforesaid."
It was also provided by these Ordinances that the pieces of
leather were to be dyed, not with IJrazil-wood, but with madder, and
that the size, whether the hide was silvered or painted, was to be
strictly uniform, namely, "the size of the primitive mould," or "three-
quarters of a yard in length by two-thirds of a yard, all but one inch,
in width." The Ordinances of lo(57 established the penalty of death
for every guadamacilero who should seek in silvering his wares to
palm off tin for silver.
These leathers were used, not only as hangings for the walls, and
as carpets for the floors of palaces and castles, but also as table covers,
counterpanes, bed and window and door drajjcries, cushion covers and
pillow tops, and as upholstery for the seats and backs of chairs and
benches and travelling litters.
The ancient romantic poem of that characteristically Spanish
hero, the eleventh century Cid Campeador, tells us that the two chests
with which he deceived the Jewish money lenders, Rachel and Vidas,
were covered with guadainacis. As the poem reads :
"With j'our advice I wish to build two chests,
Filling them with sand that they may be very heavy,
Covered with guadamacis and well locked,
The guadamacis red and the locks well gilded."
However, the chest preserved at Bm-gos as one of these "coffers
of the Cid," in which the archives and other sacred treasures of the
cathedral have been deposited for many centm-ies, and which undoubt-
edly dates from about the lifetime of the Cid, is not covered with
leather.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Cervantes, the
author of Don Quixote, introduces a guadaiiiaci into his play entitled
Vie jo Zelozo:
"Enters Hortigosa carrying a guadamaci and in the skins of the
423
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
four corners should he painted Rodamonte, Mandricardo, Rugero
and Gradaso (from Boriardo's Orlando Innamorato and Ariosto's
Orlando Furioso). Rodamonte should have her face veiled.
"Hortigosa — Lord of my soul, moved and impelled by the great
fame of the great charity of Your Grace, I have had the boldness to
come and supplicate Your Grace to do me a great mercy, charity, alms
and good works, by buying this guadamaci. Just see how fine it looks.
The pictures seem almost alive."
This guadamaci of Cervantes was apparently much like the seven
now in the Cluny Museum, which were installed in a house at Rouen
at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and were described by
M. de la Queriere in 1830, in his "Recherches sur le cuir dore,
anciennement appele or basane." These guadamacis, which the spell-
ing of the names would indicate as of Spanish origin, picture Rome
and the heroes of Rome, Sctevola, Codes, Torquatus, Calpurnius,
Curtius (Curcio) and Manlius, on panels six feet seven inches high by
three feet four inches wide. The background is in gold stippled with
tiny triangles, and the figures with their clothing, arms and armour,
and other accessories have all been patterned with irons of various
figures. The rest is painted like an ordinary picture. No part shows
the stamped impression of a block. Especially noble is the figure of
Rome, with the attributes of Pallas, surrounded by military trophies,
and with the wolf at her feet nursing the divine twins. Of Spanish
seventeenth century guadamaciles, the South Kensington Museum
has an interesting collection ornamented with flowers, and foliage,
birds, cupids, pomegranates, on green, white, blue and gold grounds.
The first European city to acquire a special reputation for
leather was Cordova. It was so far ahead of Seville, Barcelona,
Ciudad Real, Valladolid and the others, that their decorative leathers
also were known throughout the world as cueros de Cordoba (Cor-
dova leathers), or cordovanes. Ambrosio de Morales wrote in the
sixteenth century: "So many guadamacis are made in Cordoba that
in this craft no other capital can compare with her ; and in such quan-
tities that they supply all Europe and the Indies. This enriches
Cordoba and also beautifies her, for the gilded, wrought and painted
leathers being fixed upon large boards and placed in the sim in order
to be dried, by reason of their splendour and variety make her prin-
cipal streets right fair to look upon."
On August 26, 1567, before the mayor of Cordova and the two
421.
Plate VI— TWKSTKD COMiMN WITH CAPITAL IN ANCIKNT ITALIAN TOOLKD
AND ILLl'MINATKI) I.KATHKU OF THK SIXTKKNTH CKNTURY
425
Plate VII— ANTIQUE CHIXESE GKOUGIAN SCREEN
Plate VIII— ILLUMINATED LEATHER OF THE FRENCH REGENCE
430
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
inspectors of the trade, Pedro de Blaiicas was officially examined and
approved in "cutting, working and completing a guadamaci of red
damask with gold and silver borders on a green field, and a cushion
with green and crimson decoration, faced with silver brocade."
Halls in the sixteenth century in Spain were often embertished
by surrounding them with arches wrought of leather in relief and
superposed on leather. As a rule the arches were gilt and silvered
and rested on pilasters or columns (compare Plate VI). When
pilasters were used, their centres would be ornamented with Italian
devices such as flowers, trophies, cameos and foliage. Landscapes
with a far horizon and no figm-es, known as boscaje or jnntura verde,
were painted on the spaces between the arches, so that the general
effect was that of a pavilion with arches on all sides, displaying every-
where a wide expanse of fertile countrv. ' V\ ^
Especially in Spanish chin-ches and cathedrals in'the sixteenth
century were quadaviaciles used as tapestry and carpets, also some-
times as altar frontals like the one' that, hangs in the chapel of San
Isidro in Palencia cathedral, and in at least one instance as the crown
for an image of the Virgin.
The names of more than forty of the old Cordova guadamacileros
have been preserved. Four of them made a contract in 1557 to pre-
pare cut and painted guadamaciles for a palace at Rome. In 1587,
two of them, together with two painters of Cordova, contracted to
make a number of guadamnc'is for the Duke of Arcos, the guada-
macileros recei^'ing three rcales for each piece, and the painters two
and a half reales, the money paid by instalments as the work pro-
ceeded.
In Venice the art of gilding leather was highly developed in the
sixteenth century, and the patterns are similar to those of the textiles.
A splendid examjile is one illustrated in coloin- by Francis I^enygon
in the Art Journal in 1911. Fioravanti, in 1564., writes that "all
important people are now interested in the work, and it is the height
of fashion in Rome, Naples and liologna." Montaigne says that at
Rome rooms are ordinarily better furnislied than in Paris, especially
as the walls are himg with a great deal of gilt leather. Mission,
travelling in Italy at the beginning of the eighteenth century, notices
the gilt leather hangings in the houses of the nobility and wealthy citi-
zens of Venice. During the seventeenth century there were seventy-
one shops in Venice engaged in the business, and the makers of
427
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
cuoridoro formed an important branch of the guild of painters, but
during the eighteenth century the number of shops dwindled to four.
Long before Italy and Flanders and France and England began
to copy the Spanish guadamaciles , they had their own leather indus-
tries, and the leather trunks, chests, coffers, cases, sheaths, bottles,
saddles, chair seats and backs for the nobility were often made of cuir
bouilli, stamped and tooled and painted in gold and polychrome, and
of the most exquisite workmanship. Indeed, leathers in the Middle
Ages had an importance relatively much greater than ever since, in
spite of the wonderful development in the sixteenth century in Italy
and the Netherlands, as well as in Spain, of gilded leathers of the
guadamaci variety. Nor did the development of tapestries in France
and Flanders, in the fourteenth century, and the extraordinary vogue
of tapestries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, seem at all
to hinder the increasing use of leather on walls and floors.
An extraordinary assemblage of mediaeval European leathers
was that of the famous Spitzer collection, catalogued with rare
wisdom, by Alfred Darcel, in 1891. With regard to the phrase cuir
bouilli (literally "boiled leather") M. Darcel shows that it is descrip-
tive of the process that made heavy leathers ready for stamping and
tooling, soft at first and growing hard with time. Savary's Diction-
naire du Commerce, published in 1748, says of cuir bouilli: "It is a
strong leather that has been boiled in wax mixed with certain gums,
resins or sizes, which are understood only by those who use them, and
which they keep secret." The phrase is one employed particularly
by makers of sheaths and cases and bottles, etc. The statutes of Paris
of 1560, say that "no master of said trade of sheath maker shall make
bottles of leather except of cow or ox leather, because other leather
is not suitable and said bottles shall be boiled in new wax and none
other."
Amongst the most remarkable of the seventy-five pieces of leather
work in the Spitzer collection is an Italian cross case, eighteen by six
inches, of the early fourteenth century. It is made of pieces of black
leather engraved and stamped and sewed together. The ornamenta-
tion consists of maple leaves and spiral stems framing a unicorn,
dragons, a deer, a hare, a boar and birds. On the sides and top,
thrice repeated, is a coat-of-arms, that of the Aldobrandini, sur-
mounted by mitre and crozier. An Italian fourteenth century case
for an ivory diptych is eleven by nine inches, and in brown leather,
430
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
stamped, painted and gilded. Amongst the painted ornaments are a
dog, a rabbit, birds, swans, etc., vivaciously modelled and standing out
boldly against a ground engraved in spirals. An Italian book box of
the fifteenth century is delightfidly adorned with a large eagle and
rinceaux, and has silver lock and hinges in the shape of double fleur-
de-lis. A Spanish hunting bottle of the sixteenth centiny, ten inches
high by eight wide, by four and one-half thick, bears characteristic
arabescpies in orange, brown, black and white leather, stitched on to
brownish-red ground. Besides the main mouth of the bottle above,
there is a tiny spout for pom-ing, at the side. An Italian bookcase,
of the end of the fifteenth century, nine inches by seven, bears the
arms of the Duke of Milan and the initials of the Duke G. M. A
most precious Spanish wooden cabinet of the sixteenth century,
twenty-two inches high by thirty -one wide, and foiu'teen deej}, has the
door in the centre and tlie faces of the surrounding drawers panelled
with tooled and gilded leather, whose golden ornaments rise on a
ground painted azure. The panel on the door carries a fountain sur-
mounted by Cupid and flanked by full-length figures of Philip II
and his queen, Margaret of Austria. A French coffer of the end of
the fourteenth century, four and one-half inches high, by twelve long,
by nine deep, is in brown leather with painting and gilding almost
gone. The cover shows a lady and a gentleman in costumes of the
period of Charles VI, sei^arated by banderoles bearing inscriptions
that are illegible. The handle and elaborate lock are of copper, and
copper bars attach the leather that is engraved in concentric rinceaux
of delicate form.
Amongst interesting instances of the early use of leather in
interior fiu'nishing are the following: In 1380, Charles V of France
gave to his brother, the Duke of Orleans, a house that contained "twenty-
four pieces of vermilion leather of Aragon, and carpets of Aragon
leather, to put on the floor in summer." In 1416, the Duke of Berry
had a room of red leather, adorned with coats-of-arms ; and Queen
Isabella of Bavaria had leather carpets to match the summer hangings
of one of her rooms. In 1496, Jehan Garnier, a saddler of Tours, had
the sum of four livres, fifteen sous tournoys, granted to him for "a
large white ox-skin, delivered and consigned by him to a painter
whom the king Charles VIII had sent for from Italy, whom the queen
had ordered to make and paint the hangings of her bed."
The inventory of Catherine de Medicis, published byM.Bonnaffe,
431
Plate XI— PORTFOLIO IN GOLD LEAF DESIGN
Reproduced from the back of an Italian cardinal's chair
4S2
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
gives some idea of the richness of ilhiminated leather in France in the
last half of the sixteenth century. ^Ve find here gold and silver hang-
ings on an orange ground, with the queen's cipher ; others with orange
mountings, gilded or silvered, on a violet ground; others, again, sea-
green, with mountings similar to the preceding, or else red, with gold
and dove-coloured mountings; or hlue, with gold, silver and red
mountings; not to speak of the many funeral hangings, in which
silver figures rise against a hlack background.
MAKING GILDED LEATHERS IN FRANCE
The only satisfactory treatise on the art of making gold and silver
leathers was written by M. Fougeroux de Bondaroy, and published
in 1762, as part of Volume XVII of the great Description des Arts
et Metiers, of the French Academy of Sciences. It has illustrations
of tools and processes and an excellent glossary of technical terms.
He says:
"The hangings of gold leather that come to France from Flanders
are abnost all made at Lille, Brussels, Antwerp and Malines, the last
being the most esteemed. Very beautiful ones are made at Venice,
which we try to imitate. The industry was established in Paris about
two centiu'ies ago, by workmen from Flanders, and has been con-
tinued by their successors. But because of prejudice, the hangings
from Holland and Flanders have had the preference, although those
made here were quite as good and quite as beautiful. It must, how-
ever, be admitted that our hangings have never been able to equal in
perfection the gold leathers coming from England, as well as those
coming from Venice. We are compelled to admit that these last tvfo
surpass ours in brilliancy, beauty of design and durability. A great
advantage of leather hangings is the fact that they are less damaged
than cloth and wool by dampness and insects ; they lose little of their
brilliance with age; they collect little dust, and that little is easily
removed by washing with a sponge ; they do not furnish nests for the
moths in summer that lay their eggs in other tapestries. Yet their
ancient vogue no longer continues, and nowadays we see them rele-
gated to the entrance halls of coimtry houses. Leather hangings are
made of skins of calf, kid or sheep, which seem gilded; which are
silvered, raised in relief and sewed together. In Paris, sheepskins are
usually used, although calf and kid are more beautiful and more
durable; but they cost more. After the skins are softened and made
433
Plate XII— EDGINGS FOR BOOKCASKS AND TABI.KS
434
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS
smooth, they are cut to fit the engraver's block or die, usually about
sixteen by twenty-three inches. Then the side where the hair was,
which is smoother and firmer than the other, is sized with great care;
and leaves of silver about three and one-fourth inches square are
applied and beaten home with a fox's tail. The parts of the surface
that are to be gold or red or blue are varnished with the proper
lacquers. The one that produces gold is a light brown (Fougeroux
gives the receipt for making it), and the result is so much like gold
that even an expert nmst examine closely to tell the difference. Gold
leaf is seldom used, because it costs too much, but sometimes imitation
gold leaf (copper), or imitation silver leaf (tin) are employed.
Besides the reliefs received from the block or die in the press, other
ornament is often tooled in from chisels or patterned punches called
'irons.' The patterns are tiny florals, rosettes, squares and circles."
The nuiseums of Belgium and Holland, especially the Rijks
Museum at Amsterdam, and the Antitpiarian Museum at Utrecht,
are rich in ancient leathers, some of the sixteenth, but more of the
seventeenth century. The drawing room of the great Flemish painter,
Rubens, was hung with green leather, adorned in gold with chimeras
and children grouped around vases and pillars. That prince of dec-
orative style, Fouc(juet, whose magnificence aroused the jealousy of
his king, Ivouis XIV, liad at his famous chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte "a
rich hanging of tapestry of ciiir (lore from Flanders, consisting of
eight pieces." In the last half of the seventeenth century, the great
prosperity of Holland enabled every burgomaster to have a gilt
leather room in his house. Possibly they preferred leather because of
its cleanliness, the hygienic standards being higher among the Dutch
than elsewhere at this period. In the last half of the eighteenth
centmy the Dutch still continued to use leather, when in England
and France it had been crowded out by wall paper. The designs of
Dutch leathers run to tulips and carnations.
Plate II is interesting, not only because it is English Georgian,
but especially because it is one of the few "flock" leathers that have
survived. The process of figm'ing leathers in flock is similar to the
process employed on wall papers, or in Germany on linens for the
imitation of Italian velvets, long before paper was practicable. Plate
III shows a Portuguese chair back bearing the tree design with lions,
an echo of the ancient Assyrian tree design, preserved in the carved
stone tablets of the ninth century B. C, lent by Mr. Morgan to the
435
TOOLED AND ILLUMINATED LEATHERS.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Plate V shows an ancient Spanish
leather panel with zigzag halo and large pomegranate. Pliite VIII
is a splendidly typical French leather of the Regence period. Plate
IV is a Spanish eighteenth century leather in gold and blue on green.
Plate IX is a screen composed of ancient Spanish leather pictures
from Avignon. Plate X is an ancient Louis XVI painted leather
screen, in six panels of four pictures each, now at Biltmore. Plate XI
shows a modern portfolio with design from the back of an Italian
cardinal's chair, in gold leaf on antiqued calf. Plate XII shows
leather edgings of the kind used today on bookshelves and. tables.
Plates XIII and XIV show two modern leather screens, one in Per-
sian, the other in I^ouis XV design.
The author is iiulebted for the illustrations of this chapter to Cliarles R. Yandell & Co.
CHAPTER XXI
WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DECORATIVE
TEXTILES
Books, All of Which Are in the Library ov the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Neav York
Especially do I wish to acknowledge my appreciation of Mkjeon,
Les Arts du Tissu (Paris, 1909), a most useful and readable hand-
book. It has inspired me to attempt in English what its author, the
Curator of Medifeval and Renaissance Art in the Louvre, accom-
plished in French. Because of its simplicity of arrangement and
lucidity of style, it continued to render me invaluable assistance
long after my own book had far outgrown the scale of its predecessor.
M. Migeon's book contains 17.5 illustrations; separate bibliographical
lists on "Decorative Silks," "Embroideries," "Tapestries and Rugs,"
and "Laces" and an index of names.
Equallj^ important as a constant companion of students and
amateurs of Decorative Textiles is Errera, Etoffes Anciennes et
Modernes (Brussels, 1907), the small but invaluable catalogue of the
Textile Collection of the Brussels Museum, prepared by Madame
Isabelle Errera, and containing no less than 600 halftone illustrations.
Noteworthy for its wealth of illustrations of historic silks is Cox,
Soieries d'Art (Paris, 1914), the text of which is such as would be
expected from the learned Director of the Lyons Textile Museunu
Splendidly instructive historically is the introduction to Rock,
Textile Fabrics, a descriptive catalogue of the woven stuffs in the
South Kensington Museum (London, 1870).
But the best British handbook on the subject is Cole, Ornament
in EuroiJcan Silks (London, 1899), generously illustrated and with
an adequate index.
Most important of all books on the subject, with over 600 large
and superior illustrations, some in colour, is Falke, Kunstgeschichte
438
BIBLIOGRAPHY
der Seidenwcberei (Berlin, 1913), which is all the more valuable
because backgrounded by the 330 monumental plates of Lessing,
Gewebe-Sammlung , that reproduces with wonderful detail of pattern
and texture, and largely in colour, the principal woven treasures of
the Berlin Museum.
Cox, I.' Art (Ic Decnrer les Tissns (I>yons, 1900), is back-
grounded by the magnificent textile collections of the Lyons Museum,
and has splendid plates, many of them in colour, and an important
historical preface and descriptions by Raymond Cox, who prepared
the work for the Chamber of Commerce of Lyons, to serve as a monu-
mental guide to the masterpieces contained in their Textile Museum.
The illustrations include Coptic and other Tapestries, Oriental Rugs
and Laces, as well as Byzantine, Persian, Sicilian, Italian and later
Damasks, Brocades and Velvets.
Backgrounded mainly by the textile collections of the Vienna
Museum is Dregek, Kunxtlerische EntwicMung der Weherei und
Stickerei (Vienna, 1904), with one volume of text, two volumes of
plates, and an excellent index.
Indispensable to all who wish to become acquainted with the
textile collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the supple-
ment to the Bulletin of the Museum (May, 191.5), entitled "The
Textile Collection and Its Use."
Large volumes of coloured plates are: Dupont-Auberville,
Orncvieut des Tissus (Paris, 1877), and Fischbach, Ornamentc der
Gewehe (Ilanau, 1882). The author of the latter was Director of
the Art Industrial School at St. Gall in Switzerland, and the book
was also published in England, with plate descriptions in English as
well as the original German. Fischbach, Wichtigsten Wehe-
Ornamente, with 214 coloured plates and an historical introduction
(Wiesbaden, 1901), was a much more ambitious attempt, and
included hundreds of patterns made accessible during the intervening
generation by the extraordinary growth and development of textile
collections in Euroj^ean nuiseums. Fischbach's own collection, it is
interesting to note, is now a part of the collection of the New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and contains many examples that were
reproduced in his books.
Textiles and Textile Designs, including Tapestries, Laces and
Rugs in the Paris Musee des Arts Decoratifs, will be found illus-
trated, but imperfectly and without adequate descriptions, in Series
439
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
IV, VI, XII of the Nouvelles Collections de VUnion Centrale pub-
lished in Paris serially by Guerinet. See also Volume VII of Le
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, also issued serially by the same publisher.
Finely illustrated volumes are: Pasco, Catalogue of the Badia
Collections (Barcelona, 1900), which is now a part of the Morgan
collection in the New York Cooper Museum; Coknu, La Collection
Besselievre (Paris, n. d. ), the cataloguer being the Librarian of the
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, and the 116 examples taken mostly from
the XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries, with a few from the XV and
XIX; GuiFFREY-MiGEON, La Collection Kelekian, 100 plates of
Venetian and Oriental damasks, brocades, velvets and rugs (Paris,
n. d.) ; Cluny Museum, Etoffes Anciennes, mostly of the XVI,
XVII, XVIII centuries; Dumoxthier, Etoffs d'Ameuhlement
(Paris, 1909 and. 1914), two separate books on Empire Decorative
Textiles by the Administrator of the French Mobilier National;
Dtjmonthier, Etoffes et Tapisseries, on French Decorative Textiles
and Tapestries of the XVII and XVIII centuries by the same author;
KuAiscH, Muster Orient alische Gewebc und Druclxstoffc (Dresden,
1893), illustrating 212 patterns of Oriental woven and printed fabrics
in the Dresden Museum.
Clouzot, Le Metier de la Soie, is an illustrated history of silk
weaving in France from 1466 to 1815, together with the history of
Toile Imprimee (Chintzes and Cretonnes) in France from 1759 to
1815 (Paris, n. d.) ; Michel, Etoffes de Soie (Paris, 1852), is an
exhaustive literary history, with splendid index, of the commerce,
manufacture and use of Silk, Gold and Silver, and other precious
textiles in the Occident, princiiially in France, in the Middle Ages;
Pariset, Industries de la Soie (Paris, 1890), is a history of silk,
largely from the industrial point of view.
Blanchet, Tissus Antiques (Paris, 1907), illustrates and dis-
cusses learnedly Coptic, Early Medieval, and early Swiss textiles.
Algoud, Le Velours (Paris, n. d.), is a volume devoted entirely
to Velvets, with a valuable preface and splendid illustrations. On
velvets as now made in England, see Vallance, Velvets, Velveteens
and Plushes (Art Journal, 1891, p. 230 +).
SPANISH, MOHAMMEDAN AND PERSIAN
Artinano, Tejidos Espanoles (Madrid, 1917), is the sumptuous
illustrated catalogue of the Madrid Exposition of Spanish Textiles;
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sakke-Maktix, Miihammedamscher Kitmt (Munich, 1912), is three
splendid volumes containing 2;)7 plates, partly in colour, with impor-
tant and extensive text, illustrating amongst other objects exhibited
at the world-famous Munich, 1910, Exhibition of Mohammedan Art,
Damasks, Brocades, Velvets, Embroideries and Oriental Rugs;
Maktin, Persische Staff c (Stockholm, 1899), is a volume devoted to
Persian Textiles with Personages, dating from 1550 to 1660; Martin,
Persische Prachtstoffe (Stockholm, 1901), a volume devoted to the
splendid Persian fabrics in Castle Rosenborg at Copenhagen.
CHINESE AND JAPANESE
TizAC^ Etoffes de la Chine (Paris, n. d.), is devoted by the
Curator of the Musee Cernuschi to the woven and embroidered silks
of China. Verneuii,, Japanese Textiles (Paris and London, 1910),
in 80 coloured plates illustrates 200 choice woven examples for
importers, museums and private collections; Tokio Museuai, Orimon-
Ruizan, in ten volumes and in colour, illustrates vividly Old Japanese
Textiles and Wall Coverings.
SHAWI-S AND coverlets
Blair, Paisley Shawls (Paisley, 1904), is devoted by the Chair-
man of the Textile College of Glasgow to the history of the now
extinct industry that so successfully reproduced on the shuttle loom
the effects of the Oriental Cashmere shawls made on the tapestry
loom, or by the embroiderer in small pieces; Hall, Handtaoven Cover-
lets (Boston, 1912), helps to immortalise "Hickory Leaf," "Lee's
Surrender," "Sally Rodes," "Old Ireland," "Downfall of Paris,"
"Declaration of Independence," and many other Colonial patterns,
illustrating many of them in black and white and in colour.
More ambitious in what they attempt than in what they accom-
phsh are Harmuth, D/cf/oHrt/vy of T'extiles (New York, 1915),
which is nevertheless of great importance as a record of names actually
used in the American market; Heiden, Textilkunst des Alterthums
bis der Neuzeit (Berlin, 1909) ; Heiden^ Handworterbuch der
Textilkunde (Stuttgart, 1904).
The best book for technical students of mechanical weaves is
Watson, Textile Design and Colour (London, 1912) . An up-to-date
modern technical handbook is Nystrom, Textiles (New York, 1916).
441
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
LACES AND EMBROIDERIES
The largest book on Laces is Ricci, Antiche Trine Italiane
^Bergamo, 1908), in two volumes, the first devoted to Needle Lace,
and the second to Bobbin Lace, and both carrying a wealth of illus-
trations and text which bring out the facts about the Origin and
Development of European Laces in Italy in the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. An English translation has been published by J. B.
Lippincott Company of Philadelphia.
An excellent small book is Jacksox-Jesurum^ Histori/ of Hand-
made Lace (London, 1900). Besides the general history of Laces, it
contains valuable dictionary of Laces (pp. 107-206), as well as a
glossary of terms and an excellent index. It is richly illustrated,
has an excellent descriptive bibliography in Chapter XI, and entirely
supersedes Palliser^ History of Lace, the third edition of which was
published in London in 1875. Also helpful is Jourdain^ Old Lace
(London, 1908) . Indispensable because of its illustrations is Pollen,
Seven Centuries of Lace (London, 1908).
A good introduction to the study of French Laces is Lefebure,
Dentelles, constituting his report on Class 84 at the Paris Exhibition
of 1900, and translated into English (New York, 1912) by Margaret
Taylor Johnston. The little volume is well illustrated. Larger and
more comprehensive is Lapauze, Le Poinct de France (Paris, 1905) .
Laces of the Paris Musee des Arts Decoratifs are illustrated in
Series VII of the Nouvelles Collections.
Dkeger, Entwicklungs geschichte der Spitze (Vienna, 1910), is
backgrounded by the Lace collections of the Vienna Museum.
An excellent illustrated catalogue is that of the Ricci sale of six-
teenth and seventeenth century laces. New York, 1915.
For the history and description of machine-made Laces see
FelkiNj Hosiery and Lace (London, 1876) ; Henox^ Tulles et
Dentelles Mecaniques (Paris, 1900).
A magazine devoted to Laces and Embroideries is the Bullentin
of the Needle and Bobbin Club (New York, 1916).
embroideries
The most useful single book on Embroideries is Errera,
Brod cries A nciennes, a richly illustrated catalogue of the collection in
the Brussels Museum (Brussels, 1905). The practical side is well
treated in Christie, Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving (London,
442
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1912); Day-Bucklk. Art in Needlework (London, 1914), and
Hands, Church Needlework (London, 1909). A peculiarly domestic
and Colonial form of art is treated in Webster, Quilts and How to
Make Them (New York, 1915).
Lefebure, Embroider If and Lace (London, 1888), translated
from the French and annotated by Alan S. Cole, combines two arts
not unskilfully in small space, while Aleori), Needlework as an Art
(London, 1886), with fine illustrations of splendid pieces, such as
the Syon Cope and Charlemagne's Dalmatic, scants lace but also
admits tapestry and furniture, while giving the main space to
Embroidery.
Other helpful books on Embroideries are Kendrick, English
Embroidery (London, 1904) ; Jourdain, English Secular Embroid-
ery (London, 1910); and Townsexd, Embroidery, or the Craft of
the Needle (London, 1907).
Martin, Stickereien axis dem Orient (Stockholm, 1899), shows
18 plates of Persian, Bokhara and Anatolian embroideries from his
own collection. Quaint and interesting are the subjects treated in
Huisir, Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries (London, 1913).
carpets and rugs
The most important book on Oriental Rugs is Martin, History
of Oriental Carpets before 1800 (Vienna, 1908). Here alone is the
story of the historical development of the art told adequately. Here
the work of Lessing and of Bode is brought to its full fruition. If a
museum can afford but one book on the subject, this should be the
one. It is luxuriously illustrated, with text illustrations of other
forms of historic art, which help to explain the design course of
knotted floor coverings.
The largest book on Oriental Rugs is Clarke, Onental Carpets,
the English edition of the three huge volumes containing 148 photo-
gravure i^lates, besides nmch introductory text, published in Vienna
(1892-96) by the Austrian Commercial Museum. A supplementary
volume containing 25 plates in colour, with introduction by Bode, text
by Frederick Sarre, and descriptions by Dreger, was published in
Leipsic in 1908.
Other books containing large plates of Oriental Rugs are:
Robinson, Eastern Carpets (London, 1882); Hendley, Asian
Carpets, XVI and XVII century designs from the Jaipur palaces
44S
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
(London, 1905) ; Andrews^ One Hundred Carpet Designs from
Various Parts of India (London, 1906).
The best American books on the subject are those of Mum ford,
IjEWIs and Hawi.ey, the hitter being preferable for classification pur-
poses. Very helpful is the catalogue prepared for the Tiffany Studios
by Mrs. Ripley (New York, 1907), the subtitle of which is "Ruqs of
the Chinese Empire. A mile-post in American connoisseurship is Dr.
Valentiner's Early Oriental Rugs (New York, 1910), the cata-
logue of a loan exhibition held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Important also is the catalogue of the Ballard Collection of Ghiordes
Rugs (St. Louis, 1916), and the sale catalogue of the Clarke Collec-
tion of Chinese Rugs (New York, 1915).
Indispensable as a small handbook of the subject is the illus-
trated Guide to the Collection of Carpets of the South Kensington
Museum.
MACHINE-MADE CARPETS AND RUGS
Humphries, Oriental Carpets (London, 1910), contains an
important chapter on Joseph Marie Jacquard and machine-woven
rugs. Still more important on the same subject is the article The
Making of Tapestry and Brussels Carpets (Art Journal, 1895,
p. 237+), and Millar, The Making of Carpets (Art Journal, 1908,
p. 19+). The early history of Savonneries is told in Dupont^
Stromatourgie (Paris, 1632).
TAPESTRIES
The best handbook on the subject is my own Tapestries, their
Origin, History and Renaissance (New York, 1912), with 4 illus-
trations in colour and 147 in black and white, a comprehensive name
and subject index, besides a separate index of Bibliography, chapters
on the Bibliography of Tapestries, the Tapestries at the Metropolitan
Museum, the Texture of Tapestries, the Bible in Tapestries, History
and Romance in Tapestries, Tapestry Point of View and Perspective,
The Care of Tapestries, Tapestry Signatures and Makers, Tapestry
Design and Cartoons, French Tapestries, Flemish Tapestries, Eng-
lish Tapestries, Gothic Tapestries, Renaissance Tapestries, American
and other Tapestries.
The first two handbooks on the subject were Muntz, La
Tapisserie (Paris, 1881), with English translation (London, 1885);
^44
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and GuiFFREY, Histoire de la Tapisserie (Tours, 1886). The next
was Thomson, History of Tapestry (London, 1906), who added
much to our knowledge of English tapestries; and added still more
in 1914, when he published his finely illustrated Tapestry Weaving
in England.
^ A monumental and definitive work on the Gobelins is Fexaili,e,
Etat General de la Manufacture des Gobelins, in five volumes (four
volumes already published), with hundreds of large photographic
illustrations and a wealth of documents and records giving everything
that could throw light on the activities and products of the Gobelins.
A perfect small handbook of the Gobelins is Guiffrey, Les Gobelins
et Beauvais (Paris, 1908), with 94 illustrations in halftone; Badin,
La Manufacture de Tapisseries de Beauvais (Paris, 1909), illustrates
30 Beauvais tapestries, and prints many documents bearing on the
history of that establishment.
The best book on Gothic and Renaissance tapestries is Guiffrey,
Les Tapisseries (Paris, 1911), in the Molixier series of Arts
Appliques a I'Industrie, with splendid illustrations and an excellent
index.
The most important illustrated works on the collections of dif-
ferent countries are : ( 1 ) Spanish, Vau:ncia, Tajnces de la Corona
de Espafia (Madrid, 1903) ; Tapestries and Carpets from the Prrado
(New York, 1917) ; (2) Austrian, Birk, Niederlander Tapeten und
Gobelins, published in the first four volumes of the Vienna Jahrbuch
(Vienna, 1883-6) ; (3) French, Guichard, Les Tapisseries Decor a-
tives du Garde Meuble (Paris, 1881); Sartor, Les Tapisseries de
Rheims (Rheims, 1912) ; I^oriquet, IjCs Tapisseries de la Cathedrale
de Rheims (Paris, 1882) ; Les Tapisseries de la Cathedrale d' A tigers
(Leipzig, 1892), containing 72 photographs of the Apocalypse set;
(4) Swedish, Boettiger, Svenska Statcns Sanding af Vdfda Tapeter
(Stockholm, ) ; Italian, Muntx, Ia's Tapisseries de Raphael an
Vatican (Paris, 1897) ; (.5) American, Yvovi.KV., Collection of Tap-
estries (New Voi-k, 1913) ; ((5) Swiss, \Veese, Die Casar Teppiche
(Berne, 1911).
Important books on Flemish Tapestries are: Wauters, Les
Tapisseries Brmrelloises (Brussels, 1878); Soil, Les Tapestries de
Tournai (Tournai, 1892).
The best museum catalogue is Destree, Les Tapisseries des
Musees Royaux du Cinquantenaire (Brussels, 1910), with many
41.5
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
illustrations. The best national inventory is Guiitrey, Les Tapis-
series du Garde Meuble (Paris, 1900).
The first important book published on Tapestries was Jubinal,
Les Anciennes Tapisseries Histoirees, in two volumes, with 123 large
hand-coloured line plates from drawings by Victor Sansonetti (Paris,
1838). The largest book on tapestries is the great Histoire Generale
de la Tapisserie (Paris, 1874-84) ; the French volume by Guiffrey;
the Flemish volume by Pinchart; the Italian, German and English
volumes by Miintz.
The most extensive bibliography is Guiffrey^ La Tapisserie
(Paris, 1904), with 1083 titles and an excellent index.
Splendidly illustrated exhibition catalogues are : Wauters^ Les
Tapisseries Histoirees a V Exhibit ion Beige de 1880 (Brussels, 1881) ;
Destree, Tapisseries a I'Exhihition d'Art Ancien Bruxellois, 1905
(Brussels, 1906); Chefs-d'Oeuvres d'Art Ancien a l' Exposition de
la Toison d'Or, Bruges, 1907 (Brussels, 1908).
Catalogues of important American exhibitions are those of:
Boston, 1893; Washington, ; Brooklyn, 1913; Avery Library,
New York, 1914; Buffalo, 1914; Philadelphia, 1915.
The best sale catalogues are those of the Somzee sale, Brussels,
1901 ; the Spitzer sale, Paris, 1903; the Berwick and Alba sale, Paris,
1877; the Lowengard sale, Paris, 1910.
Important American sale catalogues (all New York) are the
Marquand, 1903; White, 1907; Poor, 1909; Garland, 1909; Yerkes,
1911; Hoe, 1911; Robb, 1912; Lydig, 1913.
The best catalogues of private collections are: Spitzer, 1890;
Gaillard, Paris, 1904; Le Roy, 1908; Kann, 1907; Hoentschel (now
part of the Morgan Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art),
1908; Morgan, Paris, 1913; Tuck, Paris, 1910.
CHINTZES AND CRETONNES
The most important illustrated works on the subject are:
Ci-oupcoT, Histoire de la Toile Impriniee en France, printed in the
same volume with Ci.ouzot^ Le Metier de la Soic, listed above;
Clouzot, La Manufacture de Jouy, in ten parts, of wliich five have
already been published, at Versailles; Huet, Desseins pour la Manu-
facture de Jouy — ^two portfolios illustrating the designs made by the
famous Jean Baptiste Huet and other lesser lights for Oberkampf
to use on printed cloths at Jouy, now preserved in the Paris Musee
41.6
BIBLIOGRAPHY
des Arts Decoratifs, and published as Series IX and IX bis of the
Nouvelles Collection de I'Union Centrale; Forrer, Die Zeugdruche
der hyzantischen, romanischen, gothischen und spdtern Kunstepochen
(Strasburg, 1894) ; Forrek, Die Kunst der Zeugdrucke vom Mit-
telalter bis zur Empirezeit (Strasburg, 1898).
RouFFAER, De Batik-kunst in Nederlandsch-Indie (Utrecht,
1914), is a monumental volume on Batik work.
economic and legislative history of the industry in France in the XVII
and XVIII centuries.
WALL PAPERS
The two books on the subject are Sanborn, Old Time Wall
Depitre, La Toile Peinte en France (Paris, 1912), is an
Papers (New York, 1905), with many illustrations of the European
hangings used by our American forefathers; Jennings,
(I^ondon, ), an illustrated handbook for dealers.
Important historical studies are: Clouxot, La Tradition du
Papier Peint en France (Gazette des Beaux- Arts, 1912) ; Clouzot,
Papiers Peints de I'Epoque Napolienne (Gazette des Beaux- Arts,
1914) ; FoLLOT, Papiers Peints a I'Exposition de 1900, the privately
printed report of the committee that organised and installed the
exhibit of historical wall papers.
Other magazine articles are: Bruehler, Die Tapete und
Elsass (Das Kunstgewebe in Elsass — Lothringen, Strasburg, 1900) ;
Vaixance, Wall Papers (Magazine of Art, 1904) ; Vallance, New
Designs for Wall Paper (Art Journal, 1902).
For modern processes of manufacture see illustrated articles in
the Decorative Furnisher and in the Wall Paper News (New York).
A valuable portfolio illustrating modern reproductions of his-
toric French Wall Papers, most of them printed from the original
blocks, has been published by the American agents, A. Iv. Diament
& Co. (Philadelphia, ).
The literature of Trimmings and Illuminated Leathers is scanty
and unsatisfactory. I have given some refei-ences in the text of Chap-
ters XIX and XX.
INDEX AND GLOSSARY
The illustrated definitions of textile terms contained in this
volume, sujjply a long and frequently expressed want. To facilitate
their use as a Glossary, the Index has heen made unusually complete.
For obvious reasons the Index does not include the plate pages, or the
chapter on Bibliography, except as regards the heading, Museums, to
which special attention is called.
Abbeville— 163
Achmim — 332
Adam, Robert— MQ, 377, 405, 411
Afghan rugs — 18.5
Afghanistan — 223
Alcazar carpet factory — lt3, llS
Alen^on lace — 97
Alexander the Great — 13, 197
Alfonso IX— 421
Altman Collection — 208, 213, 223, 309
American decorative silks — 8-11, 357
American War of Independence — 343
American tapestries — 239, 245
Ammaniis Marcellinus — 13
animal patterns — 35, 37; Chinese — 175,
177; Turkish rug — 197; Persian rug
—204, 208
Anjou, Duke of — 259
Anne, Queen — 409 [ — 391
.■i])plique: lace curtains — 101 ; wallpapers
arabe (arabian) laces — 105
Arabian Nights — 37
Arabic letters used decorativcly — 31, 213
Aragon — 431
Arcos, Duke of — 427
Ardebil rug — 208
Aretin— 271
Ariosto — 424
Aristotle — 11, 13
Aries — 332
armure — 1 1, ()9
Arras tapestries — 248, 255, 284; coun-
terfeit— 259
448
Art Nouveau — 156, 385
Assisi, Francisco d' — 295
Assyrian — 22, 106, 397, 435
Asterius, Bishop — 23
Aubusson tapestries — 233, 235, 237, 309;
designs — 235; dyes — 235; rugs — 156;
savonneries — 1 55 ; signatures — 235
Augsburg — 335
aune (English ell) — 277
Aurelian — 13
Axminster — 145, 149
B
217
-287
Bagdad — 31,
Baku— 189
bandboxes — 374
Barberini family-
Barcelona — 424
Barnum, P. T.— 233
Baroque— 45, 47, 248, 284, 397, 401, 408
basket weave — 57, 69, 115
Bastille— 369
Batum — 1 89
Bayeux tapestry — 115, 121
Beauvais tapestries — 233, 235, 237, 297-
301, 309, 313
Beauvais-Boucher ta])estries — 301
Belouche rugs — 185
Bergamo rugs — 199
Beshir Bokharas — 185
binders — 77, 171
block-printing, origin of — 322, 324, 335,
S63, 369, 391
INDEX AND GLOSSARY— Continued
block-printed tapestries — 228 ; chintzes
—321., 335, 31.7, 385; wall paoers—
363, 385
bobbin— 1, 2, 25, 56, 85, 99, 128, 306,
385
bobbin fabrics — 2, 57, 61, 231
bobbin laces — 95, 97, 105
body brussels — 167
Bokhara rugs — 183-185
Bologna — 39
bonnaz machine — 101, 106
Boscorcale frescoes — 377, 380
Boston — 263, 265, 373
braids— 405, 407, 409
brides — 97
brocades, weave of — 6, 61, 69, 416, 418
brocart — 6
brocatclle — 2, 5
broche— 63, 69, 183
broche — 1, 63
Bruges — 39
Bruges lace — 97, 105, 330
brush— 363, 387
Brussels mark — 283
Brussels tapestries — 237, 248, 283, 284
brussels carpets — 7, 156, 157, l63, 165;
laces — 97; lace curtains — 101
Buddhist symbols — 1 75
Buffalo tapestry exhibition — 237, 245
Bunistead, Josiah — 371
bullion fringes — 405, 408
Burano — 97
buratto— 91, 95, 319
burlap — 56, 57
Burnc-Jones — 106, 239, 317
Byzantine — 23, 109, 397
Byzantine Empire — 13, 18, 23
Cabistan rugs — 193
Caen stone — 387
Cassarius, Bishop — 332
Cairo — 31
camel's hair — 217
Carlyle— 369
carpeting — 139, 163; origin of brussels
— 156
carpets and rugs (for hand-made, see
rugs), brussels — 157, 163, 165; chen-
ille axminster — 157, 158; cross-stitch
— 157, 171; cut and uncut — 163;
embroidered rugs — 171 ; European and
American maehine-uiade — 157-173;
iesigng
hooked — 157, 171, 173; ingrain — 157,
160, 161; leather— 423, 431; sehna
axminster — 169, 171; Smyrna — 158,
160; spool axminster — 167, 169; tap-
estry- 157, 167; velvet— 157, l67;
Wilton— 157, 163, l65
cartoons— 277, 279, 287, 303, 321
carved leather — 116
Cashmere (Kashmir) — 133
Cashmere rugs — 1 95
Caucasian rugs — 186-195, 223;
and colours of — -191
Cennini, Cennino — 335
Chaillot— 147, 149, 153, 155
Chalfin, Paul— 411
Charlemagne — 29, 30, 35, 109, 233
Charles Martel — 30. 233
Charles I — 303, 409
Charles II — 305
Charles V, Emperor — 15, 143, 186, 268,
273, 275, 279, 283; of France— 431
Charles VI — 431
Charles VIII — 15, 431
chenille axminster — 157, 158
Chevreul— 411
Chichi rugs — 193
Chicago — 265
China famous for silk — 11,
421
Chinese— 2, 11, 18, 21, 32,
401, 411, 413; brush — 36
dale — 127; cloud band— 208, 211, 213;
colour symbolism — 177; letters used
decoratively — 21, 213; painting — 361-
363; paper — 358, 361 ; pen — 363; por-
celain— 18, 21; rugs — 174-183; silk
designs — 21; symbolism — 177; tap-
estries—227 ; wail paper — 36l, 363,364
Chinoiseries — 342, 413
chintzes and cretonnes — 228, 322-357,
385; cloths used — 357; origin of the
words — 322; painted — 322, 324, 330,
332; Indian— 330, 332; English— 332,
343, 347; French— 332, 337, 343;
German — 335 ; Italian — 335 ; Jouy
prints — 337, 343 ; processes — 343, 347,
351; silk— 357
chintz designers: Huet — 343; Morris
—347 ; Wearne— 347
chiselled effects in rugs— 211
Christ — 109
Christian IV— 303
Cid Campeador — 423
Clarke, Sir C. I'urdon — 174
449
15, 18, 91,
35, 47, 48,
3 ; Chippen-
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Classic— 259, 310, 364, 383
claw and ball foot — 177
Clement XI— 2t5
cluny laces — 99
cisele velvet — H
Coeurdoux, Father — 330
Colbert— 153, 235, 284, 289
Colonial— 133, 171
colour harmony — 411
compartment borders — 27 1 ; rugs — 2 1 1
Conde — 309
Confucian symbols — 175
Constantine — 13
Constantinople- 23, 30, 186, 189
copper — 135
copper-plating printing — 343, 347
Coptic— 7, 29, 85, 109, 227, 397
corded — 97
Cordova — 423, 424, 427
cords— 405, 407
corduroys — 7
cotton— 1, 11, 35, 56, 69, 79, 101, 179,
199, 204, 208, 211, 221, 228, 361, 407,
421
Crane, Sir Francis— 301, 303, 305
Crane, Walter— 106, 371
crash — 56
Crefeld Textile Museum— 15
Crete— 105
cretonnes (see chintzes)
crewels— 106, 127, 133
crocheting — 85, 105
Cromwell — 305
Cufic — 31, 199
cuir bouilli — 430; dore — 435
cuoridoro — 430
Cumberland, Duke of — 147
cut work — 91, 408
D
Daghestan rugs — 193
damasks— 63, 73, 77, 79, 409, 416;
weave of — 5-6, 61 ; definition of — 1 ;
origin of word — 29
damasks, brocades and velvets — 1-53,
335
Darcel, Alfred — 430
Darius — 29, 106
Dark Ages — 361
David— 377
decorative art, philosophy of — 380
denim — 57, 6l
dentelle — 91
450
derby damask — 77
design motifs, animal — 35; Chinese — 21
Chinese and Rococo — 48 ; doublet — 22
Empire— 49, 53; Louis XVI— 49
Persian — 37; pomegranate — 41
Sicilian — 37; vase — 41; Venetian — 39
designers (see chintz designers, tapestry
designers, and tvall paper designers)
diaper (diaspre) — 9
Dionysius Periegetes — 18
Directoire — 53
discharge printing — 351
Donegal — 149
Don Quixote — 245, 423
doublet patterns — 22, 23, 27, 31
double warp tapestries — 306
dragon— 175, 177, 211
Drake, Alexander W. — 374
draperies— 394, 397, 407, 413, 418, 423
draw loom — 2
drawn-work- — 91, 95
Dufour, Joseph — 371
Dupont, Pierre — 153; Louis — 155
dj'e-painting — 332
dyes— 319, 321, 330, 332, 394, 423
E
East India companies — 330
Ecbatana — 217
Egyptian — 1 57, 227 ; chintzes — 324 ;
paper — 358, 361 ; trimmings — 394, 397
Egypt famous for linen — 11, 421
Elizabethan — 133, 409
ell (French aune) — 163, 277
embroideries — 106, 138; American — 133;
Chinese — 133; English — 121, 127;
Flemish — 121 ; Florentine — 121 ;Indian
— 133; origin and definition — 106, 109;
tools and stitches — 138
embroidery machines — 99, 101
Empire — 49, 53, 155, 165, 383
esparto — 36 1
etamine— 56, 57, 105, 319
Fabriano — 3 6 1
Felletin tapestries — 235
Ferdinand I, Emperor of Spain — 421
Fereghan rugs — 204, 217
filet italien lace — 77, 91, 95
filling — 54
Flanders famous for wool — 1 1
INDEX AND GLOSSARY— Continued
Flanders lace — 97, 105
flax velours — 1
Flemish Renaissance — 271; laces — 97;
leathers — 133, t.35; wool — 421; tap-
estries— 32
fleurs-de-lis-^27
floated cfl^ects — 69
flock papers — SGi; leathers and linens
—435
Florence — 39
Follot, Felix— 369
Foucquet, Nicolas — 28t, 287, 435 ; Jean
—397
Fougeroux on leathers — 433
Francis I — 15, 277.
French laee curtains — 101
French Revolution — 369
fringes— 91, 179, 183, 394, 401, 407,
408, 409, 423
Fulliam — 147
Futurists — 385
friezes — 391
frescoes — 377
Galla Placidia— 29
galloons— 394, 397, 405, 409
gauzes — 31, 73, 105
Genoa— 41, 91, 364
George III — 364
Germain, Saint — 29
Ghadames — 42 1
Ghiordes rugs— 197; knot— 183, 199, 204
gimp^ — 405
glazed chintz— 322; cloths— 391, 393
globe and cross of Empire — 267
Gobelins— 147, 153, 155, 233, 237, 239,
309, 284-297
gold— 63, 79, 95, 109, 115, 133, 315,
317, 397, 408, 409, 416, 418, 421,
433, 435
Golden Fleece — 121
Goodyear, Professor — 358
Gorevan rugs — 223
Gotliie— 39, 41, 45, 248, 259, 268, 271,
315, 321, 397
grass cloths— 387, 393
grass rugs — 171
Greek language — 23
Greek textiles — 109, 227; paper — 358
grosgrain — 11, 57, 63
grosgrain damask — 9
gros point — 133
grotesque ornament — 45, 310
guadamacis— 421, 423, 424, 427, 430
guadamaeilcros — 121, 423, 427
Gucnje rugs — -193
guipure— 91, 97, 101, 405
Guise, Duke de — 279
Guli Hinnai motif — 204
gypsum— 418
Gyze, George — 199
H
Hamadan rugs — 217
Hancock, Thomas — 373
hangers — 108, 409
hangings, leather — 433
Harewood — 411
Harold — 121
Harun-al-Raschid — 37
hatchings— 227, 251, 255, 315
headings — 408, 409
hemp — 1 1
Henri 11—287
Henry III — 97, 140
Henri IV— 15, 153, 284, 287
Henry VI — 38 .
Henry VIII— 127, 279
Henriques rug — 143
Hepplev?hite — 409
Herati motif— 204, 213, 217
Herez rugs — 223
Herodotus — 332
Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince of — 295
high warp— 56, 228, 231, 289
Hindoo— 138, 322; wall papers — 36l
Hispanic Museum — 247
Hispano-Moresque — 30, 31
Hoentschel Collection— 155, 309
Holbein rugs — 199
Holy Roman Empire — 30, 38
hom" (tree of life) — 22
Homer — 109
Honiton laee — 97
hooked rugs— 157, 171, 173
Huet, Jean Baptiste— 301, 369, 377
Hundred Years War — 263
iconoclastic — 35
illuminated leathers (see leathers)
India — 133; chintzes — 322, 330, 332;
home of cotton — 11, 421; rugs — 223,
226
indiennes— 322, 332
ingrain carpets — 157, 160, l6l
451
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Irish point lace curtains — 101, 105
Ispahan rugs — 221
Italian Renaissance (see Renaissance)
Italy — 15, 39, 408; paper — 361; leather
— 418, 427, 435
Jacobean — 409
Jacquard, Joseph Marie — 15; attachment
2, 99, 165, 169, 383, 407; tapestries—
9, 69, 227, 228, 306
Jacquemart et Benard — 369
Japan, sericulture in — 11, 15
Japanese— 11, 387, 393, 397, 4l6
jaspe — 56, 57, 73, 77
Jenghiz Khan — 32
Jerusalem — 30
Jewish — 106
Joanna the Mad — 279
John the B;iptist— 121
Jones, Inigo — 364
Joseph II — 155
Jourdain, M.— 399
Justinian — 13, 15, 22, 23
Jute— 11, 56, 79
K
Kang-hi— 179
Kann Collection — 299
Karadagli rugs — 204
Kashan — 37
Kashan rugs — 204, 208, 221
Kazak rugs — 191
Kent, Sir William— 364
Khorassan rugs — 223
Khotan — 11
Kidderminster — 145, 160
Kien-lung — 179
Kirman rugs — 221
knitting — 85, 105
Knole— 409
knotting — 85, 105
knots, rug — 183, 199, 204
kowtow — 364
Kublai Khan— 32
Kulah rugs — 197
Kurdistan rugs^ — 204, 221
laces— 83-105, 408; Flemish— 97; French
97; Italian— 91, 97; machine— 97, 99,
105; origin and definition of — 85;
origin of bobbin laces — 9''> ; origin of
the name — 91
452
lacis — 91
lace curtains— 83, 85, 101, 105
lace machines— 97, 99, 101, 171
lacet— 91
lacquers— 416, 418, 435
Ladik rugs— 199
Lafontaine — 310
lambrequins — 407, 415
lampas — 2, 6
Latin language — 23
leathers, tooled and illuminated — 416-
437 ; Cordova — 423, 424, 427 ; Flemish
— 433, 435; French — 430, 431, 433,
435; gold and silver — 433, 435; origin
of — 418, 421; Spanish — 421, 423,
424, 427; Venetian— 427
I>eavers, John — 99
Lebrun, Charles— 47, 279, 289
Leo X— 268, 291, 303
Lesgliian rugs — 193
light and shade— 251, 401
line contrast; — 251
linen- 1, 7; 11, 29, 35, 101, 361, 421
lisses (leashes) — 2, 56, 228
loom, development of — 2-5; 54-56;
trimming — 407
Louis XIII— 45, 153, 284, 287
Louis XIV— 47, 97, 179, 284, 289, 293,
309, 401, 435
Louis XV— 47, 48, 49, 179, 293, 295.
313, 401, 405, 413
Louis XVI— 49, 163, 179, 295, 313, 337,
383, 405, 411, 413, 437
Lourdet, Simon — 153; Philip — 153
low warp — 56, 289
Lucca — 39
Lyons — 1 5
M
Macartney, Lord — 364
machine laces — 97, 99, 105; rugs — 157-
173; wall papers — 391
made in America — 8
madras — 105
Mantegna— 305, 377
Marco Polo — 32
Marie Antoinette — 8
Mantua, Duke of— 279
Marquand, Henry G — 41 6
Martial— 109
Martin, Dr. F. R.— 174, 213
Margaret of Austria — 275, 431
materials— 77, 235, 289, 310, 315, 321,
357
INDEX AND GLOSSARY— Continued
M.ixiniilian— 279, 283
Mazarin — 284
Mecca — 30
Mechlin lace— 97
Medicis, Catherine and Marie de — 287,
431
mercerized — 1, 61, 63, 77, 407
Merton tapestries — 239, 317
M ielielangelo — 401
Middle Ages— 421
Milan— 39; Duke of— 431
inille-fleur— 21, 32, 35, ISS, 2;)9, 317
Mina Khani motif — 204
Ming period — 21, 179
Minneapolis — 263
mohair — 1
Mohammedan (Saracenic) — 29, 30, 31,
35, 37, 38, 115, 186, 197, 233, 361, 421
Mongols — 82
monk's cloth — 56
Moorish — 143, 421
moquette — 163, 165
Morant — 409
mordants — 332, 351
Morgan, J. Pierpont — 155, 267, 271,
287, 295, 309, 315, 435
moroccos — 418
Morris, William— 53, 106, 169, 239,
317, 371
Mortlake tapestries— 237, 239, 287, 301,
303, 305
Mosul rugs — 217
Mt. Vernon — 156, l63
mulberry tree — 11, 15, 17, 23
Mulhausen— 337, 347, 351
muslin — 31
MUSEUMS
and Public Collections
(See also credit notes and bibliography.)
Amsterdam — 420
Angers— 248, 252, 259
Auxerre — 26
Bayeaux — 110, 115
Beauvais — 263
Berlin— 9, 18, 20, 22, 23, 26, 29, 143,
199, 201, 408, 439
Boston— 109, 258, 260, 263, 265
Brooklyn— 138, 323, 325, 331, 333, 358
Brussels— 8, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20, 25, 265,
273, 278, 438, 442
Buffalo— 237, 299
Chicago— 18, 260, 265
Cincinnati— 127, 138
Cologne — 23, 79
Crefeld— 15, 18
Dresden — 18, 408, 440
Diisseldorf— 9, 18
Florence — 9, 18, 281
Gobelins — 263, 284, 317
Hamburg — 9, 18
Le Mans — 22
London: British — 121; South Kensing-
ton (Victoria and Albert) — 8, 9, 18,
22, 27, 121, 143, 145, 208, 225, 256,
261, 303, 317, 321, 424, 438, 444;
Hampton Court— 277, 279, 305
Lyons— 18, 27, 211, 438, 439
Madrid (Royal Spanish Collection) — 31,
150, 262, 267, 268, 270, 272, 274, 277,
279, 281
Maestricht— 20, 22, 27
Maidstone — 127
Metz — 29
Milan — 18
Minneapolis — 257, 263
Mt. Vernon— 154, 156, l63, 173
Munich- 18, 205
New York: Cooper Union — 18, 375,
408, 440; Hispanic — 247; Jumel
^Lansion — 384, 387; Metropolitan — 7,
17,18,36, 40, 52, 82, 1 09, 1 1 8, 1 27, 1 38,
143, 155, 171, 173, 202, 207, 208, 211,
212, 213, 215, 223, 226, 229, 247, 250,
252, 253, 255, 261, 264, 266, 271, 295,
301, 303, 309, 316, 321, 357, 360, 363,
376, 377, 393, 397, 408, 416, 437, 439,
444 ; Natural History — 232, 247, 397 ;
Public Library— 296
Niiremberg- — 18
Oldenburg— 9, 18
Paris: Cermischi — 432; Cluny — 8, 18,
25, 27, 35, 233, 267, 421, 424, 440;
des Arts Decoratifs— 18, 256, 343, 439,
440; French National Collection — 156,
281, 287, 288, 290, 292, 294, 303, 304,
305, 440; Louvre — 29, 279, 280
Philadelphia — 18
Portland, Maine (Longfellow) — 387, 390
Rome— 9, 18, 27, 109, 277
Sens— 27
Stockholm (Royal Collection) — 305
Tokio — 441
Turin — 9
Utrecht- 435
Venice — 18
.453
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Vienna (Imperial Austrian Collection) —
18, 38, 115, 121, 206, 207, 277, 279,
280, 283, 408, 439, 4'i2, 443
Worcester — 121
N
Napoleon— 15, 53, 295, 343, 383
Nebuchadnezzar — 29
needle— 85, 91, 106, 231 ; laces— 95, 105,
408
needlework — 319; tapestry — 231
New York Public Library— 283
nottingham laces — 99; lace curtains —
101
novelty lace curtains — 105
nudes — 271
o
Oberkampf, Philip— 337, 343
Orleans, Duke of— 293
Ovid— 109
papyrus — 358, 361
papiers peints — 324, 369
Papillon, Jean — 369
parchment — 358, 361
Paris tapestries — 284
Paris, Matthew — 140
Parisot, Peter— 147, 149
passementerie — 394, 415
(jatterns : animal, Mohammedan and
Christian — 35, 37; Baroque — 45, 47;
Byzantine Roman — 23, 25, 27, 29;
Chinese — 18, 21; chintzes and cre-
tonnes— 343, 347; Coptic — 29; Direc-
toire and Empire — 19, 53 ; Gothic
pomegranate — 41 ; ingrain — 160;
Italian— 39, 41; leather— 424, 427,
431, 435; Louis XIV— 47; Louis XV
and Chinese — 47, 48; Louis XVI, 49;
Mohammedan — 29, 30, 31 ; Moham-
medan Persian — 37; nineteenth and
twentieth centuries — 53 ; Oriental rug
—175, 177, 183, 185, 191, 193, 195,
197, 203, 204; Renaissance vase and
grotesque — 41, 45; Sassanid Persian —
21, 22, 23; Sicilian — 37, 38; tapestry
—309, 317
pattern papers — 377, 383
patterns, psychology of — 380, 385, 391
' Peace tapestries — 263
Pekin- 32
Pembroke, Earl of— 147
454
pen — 363
Percier and Fontaine — 155
Perneb — 377
perrotine blocks — 347
Persian— 11, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 35, 37,
39, 106, 138, 139, 155, 171, 179, 437;
rugs — 203-223
Persian-Chinese — 32, 1 83
persiennes — 322
Peruvian— 85, 227, 394, 397
Peter the Great— 247, 293
petit point— 106, 127, 133, 228, 319
Philip the Good — 121
Philip 11—127, 431
phoenix — 175, 177, 211
phulkaries — 133
picture papers — 377, 383
pile — 7, 8
Pinde Bokharas — 185
Pisa — 39
Piranesi — 310
plain weave — 56, 61
plasters — 393
Pliny— 13, 109, 324, 332, 351
point — 91; d'angleterre — 97; de flandres
— 97; de venise — 97
pole medallion — 217
Pollaiuolo — 121, 377
pomegranate designs — 41
Pompadour, Madame de — 295
portraits in tapestry — 295
Pompeii — 377
Portuguese — 330, 363, 435
pouncing designs — 330
prayer rugs — 197, 213
Princess Bokharas — 185
princess lace — 105
printed rugs — 167; chintzes and cre-
tonnes— -322-357 ; wall papers — 363-
393
punto in aria — 91
pyre — 22
Q
-163
quarter (of a yard)-
Quedlimburg — 332
R
rag carpets — 171
rags — 36l
Rameses the Great — 85
ramie — 1 1
Raphael— 268, 270, 293, 303, 377
Raphael cartoons — 303
INDEX AND GLOSSARY— Continued
Regency (Regence) — 179, 293, 313, 405,
437
Renaissance — 41, 45, 127, 133, 247, 248,
259, 268-f, 303, 309, 310, 315, 321,
364, 377, 383, 397, 401; laces— 105;
tapestries — 268-283
rep (rib)— 2, 56, 57, 228, 231, 251, 408
resists — 330, 351
reticella — 85, 91
Reveillon — 369
Rheims, Archbishop of — 295
Richelieu — 284
rocaille — 48
Rococo— 48, 248, 309, 310, 364, 401
Roger 11—15, 37, 38
roller-printing — 343, 347, 351; Amer-
ican— 357; making the rollers — 351;
wall papers— 371, 383, 391
Roman designs — 109; paper — 358
Roman Empire — 18, 91, 186
Romano, Giulio — 268, 271, 275, 377
rose point — 97, 99
Royal Bokharas — 185
Rubens— 287, 435
rugs — 32, 139, 156; American liand-
knotted and tapcstrj' — 155, 156;
definition of carpets and — 139; Eng-
lish—140, 145, 147, 149; finger— 7;
French savonnerie — 153; German and
Austrian hand-knotted — 155; Irish —
149; origin of hand-knotted — 7; pile
— 139, MO, 145, 156, 157; Spanish—
140, 143
rugs. Oriental— 169, 171, 174-226, 380;
classification of — 189, 191; chiselled
effects— 211
Russian Caucasus — 186, 189
Russian tapestries — 247
Sampler — 133
Sanborn, Kate — 373, 374
San Michele tapestries — 245
Santa Barbara tapestries — 245
Santa Sophia — 25
Saracenic — 1 1 5
Saruk rugs — 221
Sassanid Persian— 21 -23^ 31, 79, 332
sateen — 61
satin — 54, 57, 6I
satin, weave of — 5
satin derby — 61
satin damask — 9
savonneries— 147, 149, 153, 155, 157
saxony brussels and wilton — 165
Scandinavian tapestries — 247
scliiffle madiine— 99, 101, 1 06
Scipio — 275
scrim — 105
sculpture — 364, 401
seamed carpets and rugs — 163
schna knot— 133, 169, 199, 204
Sehna rugs — 213
selvages— 179, 183
Serapi rugs — 223
Serebend rugs — 203, 217
Seres — 13, 18
Seville — 424
Shah Akbar— 223
Shall Abbas motif— 203, 204, 208, 211
slied— 2, 56
shikii — 56
Shiraz rugs — 223
Shirvan rugs — 193
shuttle— 2, 54, 56, 69, 157, 231, 306,
407; fabrics— 2, 57, 61, 145, 231
Sicily— 13, 15, 37, 38, 91, 115
Siena— 39
silk— 77, 95, 133, 179, 321, 407, 408;
growing of — 11, 13, 15, 17; etymology
of the word — 13; mania — 17; printing
• — 357; tapestry — 9; weaves — 1, 57;
worm — 11, 13, 23, 25
silver— 416, 418, 420, 421
skirt — 408
Smyrna rugs — 158, I6O
soie brochee — 9
Soliman the Magnificent — 186
Soumak rugs — ^195
Spain — 15; home of leather — 421; king
of— 295
Spanish Renaissance — 127; leathers —
421, 423, 424, 427
spiders — 105
Spitzer Collection — 430
spool exminster — 167, 169
stained glass — 35
stamped leathers— 421, 431, 433, 435
stenciling— 347, 387, 391, 393
stippled — 416
strapwork — 47
straw — 361
Stromatourgie — 1 53
Strzygowski — 29
Stuart Collection — 283
Swiss lace curtains — 101
Syon cope — 121
Syria — 13
455
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
Tabriz rugs — 221
taffeta— 57, 69
tambour lace curtains — 101
Taoist symbols — 175
tapestries — 32, 35, 109, 139, 227-321,
401, 416, 418, 433; American— 239-
245, 313-315; Aubusson— 233-239,
310-313; Beauvais — 297-301, 309;
block-printed — 228 ; borders — 228,
237, 255, 268-271, 310; borders and
trimmings — 394-397; captions — 255,
279; cartoons— 277, 279, 321, 287,
303; definition of— 1, 2, 237-233;
designs — 235, 255, 309;; double warp
—231, 306; dyes— 235, 312; fading
of — 261, 279; furniture coverings —
306-321; German — 245; Gobelins —
284-297, 309; gold in — 315-317;
Gothic — 248-267-i high warp and low
warp — 56, 228, 231, 289; imitation —
227-228; Italian — 245; jacquard —
227, 228; Merton— 239; mille-fleur—
317; Mortlake — 301-305; needlework
—231; painted— 231-233, 259; petit
point— 231; price of— 227, 228, 301,
306, 310; real — 228, 231 ; Renaissance
— 268-283, 310; rugs — 156; Russian
— 247 ; Scandinavian — 247 ; signatures
— 235, 283, 301; Spanish — 245; tex-
ture— 245, 248, 251, 255, 259, 297,
299, 306, 315; verdure — 317; weave of
— 1, 63, 228-231; Williamsbridge —
245; Windsor— 245
tapestries, famous —
Arming of the King — 239; Birth of
Bacchus — 237; Capture of Jerusalem
— 261 ; Crucifixions — 265 ; Joseph —
263 ; Massacre of the Innocents — 267 ;
Mazarin — 251, 255, 267; Parnassus —
283; Prophecy of Nathan— 251, 271;
Seven Sacraments — 255, 271 ; Triumph
of the Virgin — 267
tapestries, famous sets —
Abraham— 277, 279; Acts of the
Apostles— 268, 273, 277, 291, 315;
Apocalypse— 248, 259; Beauvais sets
—297, 299, 301; Chinese— 235, 313;
David — 267; Don Quixote — 245;
Foundation of Rome — 228 ; Gobelin
sets— 289, 291, 295; Grecian drapery
—237, 313; Hardwicke Hall— 261 ;
Holy Grail- 239; Hunts of Maxi-
milian—279, 283, 291 ; Hunts of Louis
456
XV — 233; Lady with the Unicorn—
35 ; Mercury and Herse — 277 ; ]\Ieta-
morphoses — 237, 239; ^lortlake sets —
301, 303, 305; Moses— 277; Our Lady
of Sablon— 273, 275 ; Portieres of the
Gods — 233 ; Royal Residences — 233,
289; St. Peter— 263; Scipio— 275,
277, 279, 291; Trojan War- 228;
Tunis— 283
tapestry brussels — 167
tapestry carpets — 157, 167
tapestry, definition of the word — 227,
228, 231, 233
tapestry designers —
Audran— 233, 293; Berain— 297, 309;
Boucher— 235, 245, 295, 299, 301, 310;
Callet — 295; Casanova — 301; Cleyn —
303, 305; Coypel— 293, 295; Deshays
— 301; Dubreuil — 287; Dumons — 235,
299, 313; Fontenay— 299; Herter-
245; Huet — 301; Jacquer — 295;
Jecurat — 295 ; Jouvenet — 293 ;
Lagrenee — 301; Lebrun — 289, 291;
Leprince — 301 ; Lucas — 305 ; Man-
tegna — 305; Meissonier — 310; Mig-
nard — 291; Orleans — 293; Orley —
275, 279-283; Oudry— 233, 237, 293,
299, 301, 310; Poussin — 291; Pro-
caccini — 245; Raphael — 268, 273, 291,
293, 303; Restout — 293, 295; Romano
— 268, 271, 275, 305, 315; Rubens—
287; Tessier— 295; Troy— 295 ; Van-
loo — 295 ; Vermegen — 283 ; Vernan-
saal — 299; Vincent — 295
tapestry makers —
Audran — 295, 301; Behagle— 297;
Besnier — 299; Charron — 301; Comans
—284, 287, 303; Cozette— 301 ; Cretif
277; De Vos— 283; Filleul— 297,
299; Foucquet — 287; Foussadicr —
245 ; Hinart — 297 ; Kleiser — 245 ;
Maecht — 303; Mcnou — 301; Merou —
299; Morris — 239; Neilson — 301;
Pannemake r — 279 ; Picon — 235 ;
Planche — 284, 287, 303; Poyntz — 305
trimmings — -
American — 394, 41 1 ; Assyrian — 397 ;
Baroque — 397, 401; books on — ■113,
415; Byzantine— 397 ; Coptic— 394;
Egyptian — 397 ; Empire — 405, 41 1 ;
English— 409, 411; Gimps— 405, 407;
Gothic— 397 ; Greek— 397 ; illustra-
tions described — 408, 411, 413; Louis
XIV — 401 ; Louis XVI and Adam^
INDEX AND GLOSSARY— Continued
405 ; Louis XV — 401, 405 ; making of —
405, 407 ; museum collections— '108 ;
Peruvian — 397 ; Renaissance — 397
tapis — 140
tassels— 394, 397, 401, 408, 413
tatting — 105
Taxis, Francis de — 273
Tekke Bokharas — 185
tekko— 387
tempera — 42 1
Ten Commandments — 35
Teniers — 343
textiles, use of — 83
texture — (see Preface); also 248, 251,
255, 299, 315, 377, 387, 393, 4l6
Theophilus — 418
Tiiierry, Thomas— 313
Tiffany Studios — 175
Tiflis— 189
tin— 423, 435
tiraz — 37
Titian— 416
toiles peintes — 324
tooled leathers — (see leathers) ; the
process— 416, 418, 435
Toulouse, Count of — 297
Tournai— 163
tram — 54
treadles— 2, 56, 407
Trinity in tapestries — 267
Turkey carpets — 149
Turkey work — 145, 171
Turkish rugs — 195, 202; designs' and
colour of — :197
Turks— 30, 37, 138, 186
twill— 54, 57, 61
Two Sicilies— 38
u
unicorn — 127, 175
upholstery— 394, 407, 423
valance — 413
Vandyke — 145
van Orley, Bernard— 227, 275, 279, 283
vase designs — H, 45
vellum— 358, 361
velours — 7
velveteens— 7
velvets, Coptic — 7; cut and uncut — 7,
1 63 ; double-woven — 8 ; Genoese — 8,
41; modern reproductions — 79; Per-
sian—39; Venetian— 8, 39
velvet carpets — 157, l67; pillows — 397
velvets, weave of — 6-8, 163, 411, 416
Venetian— 38, 39, 91, 97, 427
verdures — 227, 228, 317; wall paper —
387
Vesuvius — 374, 377
Vinciolo, Frederic — 97
Virgil— 109
Virgin, the— 121, 127
w
wall papers — 228, 401 ; American — 385,
387 ; ancestor of — 377 ; band-boxes —
374; Chinese— 361, 363, 364, 380, 383;
English — 363, 371; European — 363;
flock- 364, 369, 387; French— 369,
371 ; in America — 371, 373; making of
—387, 391; monotony of — 385; rolls
— 358; texture papers — 387; width of
358
wall paper designers:
American — 387 ; Crane — 371, 385 ;
Huet— 369; Morris— 371, 383, 385;
Miiller— 383; Wearne— 371
wall papers, famous —
Adventures of Telemachus — 374; Bay
of Naples — 274; Canton — 387; Cor-
dova— 387; Cervera — 387; Cultivation
of Tea— 374; Dorothy Quincy— 274;
El Dorado— 377; Jumel— 387; Lady
of the Lake— 374; Longfellow— 387;
Olympic Games — 374; On the Bos-
])orus — 374; patriotic — 387; Paul
Revere — 387; Pizarro in Peru — 374;
Psyche at the Bath — 383; Roses — 383;
Scenes from Paris — 374 ; Stag Hunt — -
371; Stanwood-Mansfield- 387 ; Trop-
ical Scenes — 374
Ware, Isaac — 364
warp— 2, 7, 54, 57, 69, 99, 157, 179,
204, 228, 251, 407; reps— 57, 63;
velvets — 7
Washington, George — 163
Wearne, Harry — 347, 371
weaves —
arniure — 69; brocade — 6, 69; burlap
— 56; chintzes and cretonnes — 357;
damask — 5, 6, 73-)-; damask and bro-
cade— 6 1 -69 ; d e n i m — 57 ; derby
damask — 77; etamine — 56; gauze — 73;
jacquard tapestry — 69+; modern —
69-|- ; plain — 56-1- ; plain, twill and
satin — 54-61; satin derby — 61; rep —
457
DECORATIVE TEXTILES
56, 57; taffeta — 69 i tapestry — 56;
twill and satin — 57; velvet — 6-8, 79
weft— 2, 7, 54, 57, 157, 228, 407; reps —
57, 251; velvets — 7
whiskers — 271, 273
White, Stanford— 416
Whitney Collection — 299
Whitty— 149
Whytock, Richard— 167
William the Conqueror — 115, 121
William and Mary — 409
Williamsbridge tapestries— 245
Wilton— 145, 147, 149, 156
wilton carpets and rugs — 7, 157, 163,
165; velvets— 167, l69
Windsor tapestries — 245
wood — 361 ; panelling — 401
wool— 1, 5, 11, 179, 183, 199, 204, 321,
421
woollen damasks — 1
Yerkes Collection — 208, 211
Zuber wall paper works — 371
tP
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