- France, Lyon, c. 1760–5
- Brocaded silk and 'chenille'
- Inv. 201
Fabric fragment
The composition of this fragment of brocaded silk and chenille is typical of French taste of the time with its undulating floral design, interwoven with draping held by cords and tassels of great elegance and decorative effect.
Produced in Lyon, it can be attributed to one of the most outstanding artists of the manufactory created there in the reign of Louis XIV on the initiative of Colbert who did much to encourage the art of French silk, the fame of which has lasted to the present day.
The silk was used as decoration of the palace at Nancy, which housed Stanislas Leszczynski, the former king of Poland, and father-in-law of Louis XV.
Stanislas Lesczynski; Besselièvre Colletion. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian through Stora, at the sale of the Besselièvre Collection, Drouot, Paris, 16–17 December 1912.
H. 85 cm; W. 69 cm
Paris 1988
The textile Museum, Lyon. Paris: 1990, p. 75.
Lyon 1988
Pierre Arizolli-Clémentel, Soieries de Lyon. Commandes royales au XVIIIe s. (1730–1800), exhibition catalogue. Lyon: Musée Historique des Tissus, 1988, p. 57–61, 113, no. 8–9.
New York 1999
Katharine Baetjer and James David Draper (eds.), 'Only the Best'. Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, exhibition catalogue. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 122–3, cat. 58.
Lisbon 2001
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, 2001, p. 124, cat. 98.