From the exhibition
Design for a Woven Fabric
· circa 1850

This richly colored textile design features a deep crimson ground scattered with delicate botanical motifs rendered in blue, purple, gold, and cream. Flowering branches with trailing vines extend across the composition, punctuated by geometric ornaments in the Greek key pattern. The scattered arrangement of naturalistic flora against the saturated ground exemplifies nineteenth-century fabric design, when industrial printing technology enabled manufacturers to produce complex, multi-colored patterns at scale. Such designs drew inspiration from earlier chinoiserie and European decorative traditions, reflecting the period's fascination with botanical accuracy and ornamental density. The paper support and hand-drawn details suggest this served as a designer's presentation piece for textile manufacturers.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com CC0