Yellow flowered silk gown fragment

Status

Not on view

Date1750-1760

Medium/TechniqueSilk brocade

DimensionsOverall: 12 9/16 in. × 19 3/4 in. (31.91 cm × 50.17 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1949

Object numberW-1528/C

DescriptionThis vibrant fabric is bright, golden yellow with floral springs brocaded throughout the fabric. The main motifs are smaller than life and fairly isolated, but the overall repeat is greater than 11 inches. Between the motifs, the ground is dotted with white, daisy-like flowers. This recalls the early, denser ground patterning immediately preceding the production of this fabric.

The texture of the bright ground is created by an alternating uncut corduroy technique. This is created by floating a supplementary warp over the plain weave foundation. Each supplementary warp floats over 5 wefts before being secured underneath one. The odd textural pattern is created by alternating the tie-downs after every six supplementary warp. (Note that the supplementary warps are thicker than the foundational yarns.) Thus, if you follow a tie-down for the length of 6 warps, you will arrive at the center, or apex, of the floats of the next section. (The tie-downs for that section will be 3 wefts in either direction.) Though the basic corduroy or uncut velvet warp float techniques were known in every major weaving center at the time, the alternating of the float positions increases the complexity of performing the weave significantly.

The large bouquet motif consists of pink roses and purple flowers with pink centers that resemble daffodils done in a discontinuous weft brocade. The entire bouquet shows only rose leaves. Bouquets of the same form are also present with the pinks and purples reversed. Altogether, the bouquets contains three shades of green, four shades of pink, and four shades of purple. The small bouquet motifs consist of purple flowers with long, pointy aloe vera leaves. Again, the flowers in this motif resemble purple daffodils.

The ground is dotted with white daisy-like sprigs that are all oriented in the same direction, pointing up and to the right. Some of the sprigs have two bloom, some have a bloom and a bud, and some only have a single bloom.

The fabric from selvedge to selvedge measures 19 3/4, which is a common width for production in either England or France. The selvedge shows two green stripes.

Some mistakes are visible in the brocade of this fragment, with stripes of colors where they should not be. A small piece of plain woven white fabric is stuck to the back floats of the main bouquet motif. The roughness of the weave may suggest that it is from a previous mounting effort.

A line of stitches is visible in white Z-spun 2-ply S thread 2 1/2 inches from the top, exactly horizontal. Additionally, there is evidence of seams along both selvedges that leave 3/8 inch seam allowances. All the thread from these seam lines has been removed. There are additional stitch holes on the center right edge that do not appear to have formed a seam.

Markings"A-446" is written on the back in ink.

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