Description:
Copperplate-printed, red on white cotton (toile de jouy) printed with the scene "Le port de mer," or Sea Harbor, known in the 18th century as "La marine marchande (mercahnt navy). This design features sailing vessels, maritime scenes, and architectural ruins. While the design itself dates to 17871 or 1782, it was in production for many years after. The printing information on the chef de piece or manufacturer's mark is "Manufacture de Oberkampf a Jouy - Rd96. Pres Versailles - Bon Teint." It is this stamp that suggests an ending date of 1820 for the print. Mandated by French royal decree after cottons became legal in France in 1759, all French-printed cottons had to be printed on both ends with the manufactuer's information, and whether or not the printed piece was colorfast (bon teint). Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf (1738-1815) was a French naturalized German industrialist who became famous for founding the royal manufacture of printed cottons of Jouy-en-Josas where the toile de Jouy was manufactured and was in operation from 1760-1843. This example has a vertical repeat of 39 1/2". The fragment is not a selvage (woven) width, although a selvage edge exists on the proper right side. The proper left raw edge is bound in a plain weave white linen tape. At some point after it's initial printing, this fragment was backed with a plain weave linen or linen/cotton, and secured with widely spaced diagonal quilting (running) stitches forming a trellis pattern, using coarse cotton thread. The quilting stitches are done 5-7 stitches per inch. While the design was printed by Oberkampf, it is possible the fine cotton actually came from India or England. The fabric was woven fairly finely, with a density of 48-52 ends per inch (epi) in the warp direction, and 44-48 threads per inch (tpi) in the weft. It is difficult to say whether the all-cotton fabric was woven in India or France.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.263 |
