Like some very grand ancestor of the 21st-century elephant pillow*, today's highlighted textile is a French tapestry from the Louvre. Woven with wool, silk, and metallic thread in Aubusson, it was possibly inspired by Persian miniatures and, according to the Museum, represented a rekindling of France's affinity for exotic themes in textile design in the 1840s. More on the creators here.
*Just a few reminders of contemporary examples here, here, and here.
Related past post: A Little Post-Holiday Splendour and Navigating the Maze.
Update 2.1.11.
[Elephant Headdress, Bamileke Artist, Cameroon, 19th century,
glass beads, wood, cloth, raffia, 17 1/2 inches.]
And the official results are in! Participants at the High's Collectors' Evening 2011 voted to add to the Museum's permanent collection the 19th-century African elephant headdress mentioned here a few weeks ago. But five other new pieces wll be coming to the High, too. Click here for details.
Update 2.2.11.
[Interior design by Kristen Buckingham. Photograph by Simon Upton, originally published in Elle Decor, March 2009.]
A quick note: I made the pillow comparison because elephant pillows have lately been a more widespread trend (and are made of cloth) but the tapestry certainly reminds many of us of Zuber's L'Hindoustan. Emile de Bruijn of Treasure Hunt just put together a wonderful L'Hindoustan post highlighting its connection to Basildon Park.
Posts
8 comments:
This is phenomenal! Reminds me of 19th century French Grisaille wallpaper by Zuber or Dufour.
JWC --
Yes! And I first thought of of Zuber's L'Hindoustan, too.
That's the great elephant in India.
The Louvre Elephant Tapestry is just a treasure! Thanks for posting it, Courtney. It's lovely! ; )
Barbara -- I thought you might appreciate it!
Oh how incredibly lovely....on this snow day (2) this week. May I post the textile....I am working on a post with an elephant.
best-
pve
Patricia -- glad the timing worked out nicely on this one! As long as the credit line is used, I think it will be fine to post.
Wow some of the textures are scary
But still, wonderful ideas.
Post a Comment