Bizarre silk

Last updated
Bizarre silk of circa 1715 features a geometric, diagonal design overlaid with stylized flowers and leaves. Silk satin with supplementary weft patterning bound in twill (lampas). Detail of a sleeved waistcoat, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.2007.211.40. Bizarre silk textile France c 1715.jpg
Bizarre silk of circa 1715 features a geometric, diagonal design overlaid with stylized flowers and leaves. Silk satin with supplementary weft patterning bound in twill (lampas). Detail of a sleeved waistcoat, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.2007.211.40.

Bizarre silks are a style of figured silk fabrics popular in Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Bizarre silks are characterized by large-scale, asymmetrical patterns featuring geometrical shapes and stylized leaves and flowers, influenced by a wave of Asian textiles and decorative objects reaching the European market in these decades. Bizarre silks were used for both clothing and furnishings. [1] [2] As a description, the term was first used by Dr. Vilhelm Sloman in the title of a book, Bizarre Designs in Silks published in 1953 in Copenhagen. [3]

Contents

Development

The modern name "bizarre silk" reflects the bold colors and lavish use of textured gold and silver threads as well as the distinctive elongated asymmetrical patterns of silk fabrics woven in France, Italy and Britain from about 1695 to 1720. [1] [4] Woven silk designs of the 1670s had featured patterns of decorated stripes, but in the 1680s and 1690s these were replaced by the earliest "proto-bizarre" patterns, which featured exotic elements based on artifacts imported from the East Indies, China and India "indiscriminately combined with the current European taste for bulbous Baroque scrolls." [5] At their most extreme, from 1700 to 1705, bizarre silks feature "some of the most extraordinary shapes to be introduced into silk design" before the development of Art Nouveau in the early 20th century. [5] Characteristics of these designs include diagonal emphasis with stretched and distorted botanical motifs. [1] [5]

The development of bizarre designs among the English silk weavers of Spitalfields can be dated quite closely based on surviving textiles and documents. Around 1707 and 1708, bizarre designs combined distorted florals with architectural elements such as arches, canopies, pergolas, and diagonal fences. [6] From 1709–10, the scale of the patterns was reduced and elements of chinoiserie and japonaiserie appeared. After 1710, the bizarre shapes are deemphasized in favor of "increasingly profuse semi-naturalistic flowers". [7] The bizarre period ended with the new fashion for lace-patterned textiles and naturalistic florals in the 1720s. [7]

Technique and applications

Bizarre silks were woven on the drawloom, and the colorful patterns were brocaded or created with floating pattern wefts (lampas). At the height of the fashion, the average repeat of a bizarre silk pattern was 27 inches (69 cm) high and ten inches (26 cm) wide, repeating twice across the width of the fabric. [4] These large-scale designs were perfectly suited to the popular mantua, a woman's gown with long, flowing lines and few seams, and were also popular for men's waistcoats and furnishings. [1] [4]

The strong reds, yellows and oranges in textile design drawings of this period are codes for various types of metallic threads. [8]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Takedo and Spilker (2010), p. 209
  2. 1 2 Takedo and Spilker (2010), p. 52
  3. Museum studies, vol. 18 (1992), p. 92. Art Institute of Chicago.
  4. 1 2 3 Sewell (2010), p. 497
  5. 1 2 3 Rothstein (1994), p. 11
  6. "Panel of bizarre silk satin : Chinese Export for the European Market, ca. 1708–10". Cora Ginsburg. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Rothstein (1994), p. 12
  8. Brown (1996), p. 7
  9. "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1990–1991: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 49, no. 2 (Fall, 1991)". MetPublications, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 51. Retrieved 25 February 2017.

Related Research Articles

Damask Reversible figured woven fabric

Damask is a reversible figured fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin weave and the ground in weft-faced or sateen weave. Twill damasks include a twill-woven ground or pattern.

Double cloth Woven textile type

Double cloth or double weave is a kind of woven textile in which two or more sets of warps and one or more sets of weft or filling yarns are interconnected to form a two-layered cloth. The movement of threads between the layers allows complex patterns and surface textures to be created.

Mantua (clothing) Draped and pleated womans dress

A mantua is an article of women's clothing worn in the late 17th century and 18th century. Originally a loose gown, the later mantua was an overgown or robe typically worn over stays, stomacher and a co-ordinating petticoat.

Morris & Co.

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875) was a furnishings and decorative arts manufacturer and retailer founded by the artist and designer William Morris with friends from the Pre-Raphaelites. With its successor Morris & Co. (1875–1940) the firm's medieval-inspired aesthetic and respect for hand-craftsmanship and traditional textile arts had a profound influence on the decoration of churches and houses into the early 20th century.

1700–1750 in Western fashion Clothing in Europe and areas under its influence from 1700-1750

Fashion in the period 1690–1740 in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by a widening silhouette for both men and women following the tall, narrow look of the 1680s and 90s. This era is defined as late Baroque/Rococo style. The new fashion trends introduced during this era had a greater impact on society, affecting not only royalty and aristocrats, but also middle and even lower classes. Clothing during this time can be characterized by soft pastels, light, airy, and asymmetrical designs, and playful styles. Wigs remained essential for men and women of substance, and were often white; natural hair was powdered to achieve the fashionable look. The costume of the eighteenth century, if lacking in the refinement and grace of earlier times, was distinctly quaint and picturesque.

Textile design

Textile geometry is the creative and technical process by which thread or yarn fibers are woven together or interlaced to form a flexible, functional, and decorative cloth or fabric which is subsequently printed upon or otherwise adorned. Textile design is further broken down into three major disciplines, printed textile design, woven textile design, and mixed media textile design, each of which utilize different methods to produce a surface ornamented fabric for variable uses and markets. Textile Design as a practice has evolved to become an industry integral to other disciplines such as fashion, interior design, and fine arts.

Silk in the Indian subcontinent Overview about silk in the India subcontinent

Silk in the Indian subcontinent is a luxury good. In India, about 97% of the raw mulberry silk is produced in the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Mysore and North Bangalore, the upcoming site of a US$20 million "Silk City", contribute to a majority of silk production. Another emerging silk producer is Tamil Nadu where mulberry cultivation is concentrated in Salem, Erode and Dharmapuri districts. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and Gobichettipalayam, Tamil Nadu were the first locations to have automated silk reeling units.

Brocade Textile produced by brocading; in general, any richly figured fabric, often incorporating metal thread

Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian broccato meaning "embossed cloth", originally past participle of the verb broccare "to stud, set with nails", from brocco, "small nail", from Latin broccus, "projecting, pointed".

Justacorps

A justacorps or justaucorps is a long, knee-length coat worn by men in the latter half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century. The garment is of French origin, and was introduced in England as a component of a three-piece ensemble, which also included breeches and a long vest or waistcoat. This ensemble served as the prototype of the frock coat, which in turn evolved into the modern-day three-piece suit.

Shot silk Fabric with warp and weft in two different colors, producing a changeable effect; most often a plain-woven silk or synthetic

Shot silk is a fabric which is made up of silk woven from warp and weft yarns of two or more colours producing an iridescent appearance. A "shot" is a single throw of the bobbin that carries the weft thread through the warp, and shot silk colours can be described as "[warp colour] shot with [weft colour]." The weaving technique can also be applied to other fibres such as cotton, linen, and synthetics.

Slip (needlework)

In needlework, a slip is a design representing a cutting or specimen of a plant, usually with flowers or fruit and leaves on a stem. Most often, slip refers to a plant design stitched in canvaswork (pettipoint), cut out, and applied to a woven background fabric. By extension, slip may also mean any embroidered or canvaswork motif, floral or not, mounted to fabric in this way.

Anna Maria Garthwaite

Anna Maria Garthwaite was an English textile designer known for creating vivid floral designs for silk fabrics hand-woven in Spitalfields, London, in the mid-18th century. Garthwaite was acknowledged as one of the premiere English designers of her day. Many of her original designs in watercolours have survived, and silks based on these designs have been identified in portraiture and in costume collections in England and abroad.

Lampas

Lampas is a type of luxury fabric with a background weft typically in taffeta with supplementary wefts laid on top and forming a design, sometimes also with a "brocading weft". Lampas is typically woven in silk, and often has gold and silver thread enrichment.

English embroidery Embroidery worked in England or by English people abroad

English embroidery includes embroidery worked in England or by English people abroad from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. The oldest surviving English embroideries include items from the early 10th century preserved in Durham Cathedral and the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry, if it was worked in England. The professional workshops of Medieval England created rich embroidery in metal thread and silk for ecclesiastical and secular uses. This style was called Opus Anglicanum or "English work", and was famous throughout Europe.

Corded quilting

Corded quilting is a decorative quilting technique popular from the late 17th through the early 19th centuries. In corded quilting, a fine fabric, sometimes colored silk but more often white linen or cotton, is backed with a loosely woven fabric. Floral or other motifs are outlined in parallel rows of running stitches or backstitches to form channels, and soft cotton cord is inserted through the backing fabric using a blunt needle and drawn along the quilted channels to produce a raised effect. Tiny quilting stitches in closely spaced rows fill the motifs and provide contrast to the corded outlines.

Close-bodied gown

A close-bodied gown, English nightgown, or robe à l'anglaise was a women's fashion of the 18th century. Like the earlier mantua, from which it evolved, the back of the gown featured pleats from the shoulder, stitched down to mould the gown closely to the body until the fullness was released into the skirt. Through the 1770s, the back pleats became narrower and closer to the center back, and by the 1780s these pleats had mostly disappeared and the skirt and bodice were cut separately. The gown was open in front, to reveal a matching or contrasting petticoat, and featured elbow-length sleeves, which were finished with separate frills called engageantes.

Odisha Ikat

Odisha Ikat is a kind of ikat, a resist dyeing technique, originating from Indian state of Odisha, adapted from ikat in Indonesia. Also known as "Bandha of Odisha", it is a geographically tagged product of Odisha since 2007. It is made through a process of tie-dying the warp and weft threads to create the design on the loom prior to weaving. It is unlike any other ikat woven in the rest of the country because of its design process, which has been called "poetry on the loom". This design is in vogue only at the western and eastern regions of Odisha; similar designs are produced by community groups called the Bhulia, Kostha Asani, and Patara. The fabric gives a striking curvilinear appearance. Saris made out of this fabric feature bands of brocade in the borders and also at the ends, called anchal or pallu. Its forms are purposefully feathered, giving the edges a "hazy and fragile" appearance. Ikat's equivalent usage in Malay-Indonesian language is ikat or mengikat, which means "to tie or to bind".

Mantua (Kimberley Hall)

A mantua from the collection at Kimberley Hall in Norfolk is the earliest complete European women's costume in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Also known as the Kimberley Gown, this formal dress is a mantua, a two-piece costume consisting of a draped open robe and a matching underskirt or petticoat, and has been dated to ca. 1690–1700.

<i>Waistcoat</i> (Garthwaite/Lekeux)

A man's waistcoat with sleeves of 1747 is a rare example of eighteenth century clothing for which the garment itself, the original textile design, and a dated record of both the designer and the master weaver who made the fabric have also survived. The waistcoat is part of the collection of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, number C.I.66.14.2.

William Morris textile designs Textile designs by a founder of the British Arts and Crafts movement

William Morris (1834-1898), a founder of the British Arts and Crafts movement, sought to restore the prestige and methods of hand-made crafts, including textiles, in opposition to the 19th century tendency toward factory-produced textiles. With this goal in mind, he created his own workshop and designed dozens of patterns for hand-produced woven and printed cloth, upholstery, and other textiles.

References