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Object Timeline

-0001

2010

  • We acquired this object.

2024

  • You found it!

Textile (France)

This is a Textile. It is dated ca. 1755 and we acquired it in 2010. Its medium is silk and its technique is damask. It is a part of the Textiles department.

This 18th-century French damask features a single-color design that shows early influences of neoclassicism: scaled-down designs, open space around pattern motifs, and large repeats. Textiles during this period favored patterns with floral urns and vases surrounded by symmetrical floral and vine motifs, such as those found in this piece. Swaths of ribbons and arabesques were also common. Unlike the naturalistic English silks of the same period, French floral patterns were more stylized and formal. This style gradually replaced the curvaceous rococo and ushered in a period of taste for less ostentatious furnishing fabrics.
Woven European silks are a special strength of the museum’s textile collection, which includes lampas, velvet, brocade, satin, and damask examples. This piece would continue to strengthen our holdings, especially of mid-18th-century damasks with intact selvages.

This object was donated by Harry Hinson. It is credited Gift of Harry Hinson.

Its dimensions are

Warp x Weft: 254.3 x 57.2 cm (100 1/8 x 22 1/2 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile (France); silk; Warp x Weft: 254.3 x 57.2 cm (100 1/8 x 22 1/2 in.); Gift of Harry Hinson; 2010-19-1

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18739171/ |title=Textile (France) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>