{"id":499,"date":"2013-03-01T22:26:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T22:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/01\/european-machine-made-tapestries-2\/"},"modified":"2013-03-01T22:26:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T22:26:00","slug":"european-machine-made-tapestries-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/european-machine-made-tapestries-2.html","title":{"rendered":"European Machine-made Tapestries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nEuropean Machine-made Tapestries<\/div>\n
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\nYears ago I worked for an on-line appraisal company where
\nclients sent in pictures and descriptives of items for which they wished
\nprofessional identification and comments. 
\nMy area was 19th<\/sup> C and 20th<\/sup> C European and American
\ntextiles. More than \u00bd of all textiles I viewed were late 19th<\/sup> C,
\nearly 20th<\/sup> C European machine-made tapestries.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTapestries have a long textile history.  Many world areas created woven pictorial
\ntextiles to adorn their interiors.  With
\nthe invention of the Jacquard loom, intricate patterns could be woven much more
\nquickly than patterned textiles woven entirely by hand.  However, there is something very special
\nabout the hand-woven tapestries created in workshops by highly trained
\nweavers.  These were very large pieces,
\nmade to hang on the walls of palaces and manor houses of the wealthy.  They could be taken with the household goods
\nand furniture when the family moved from one residence to another.  Too often they were altered (by cutting to
\nfit a smaller space) but remaining tapestries offer a view into a world that
\nappreciated a different aesthetic. 
\nThese textiles were allegorical, depicting mythology as well as
\nreligious themes, many showed bucolic, pastoral scenes of peasant life.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt comes as no surprise, then, that during the last decades
\nof the 19th<\/sup> C the newly emerging middle class wished to emulate the
\nhighly esteemed home furnishings of the past. Many industries, especially the
\ntextile industries, were being modernized with efficient machinery that was
\nsupposed to closely mimic hand- crafted products.  Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes not so much.  But they definitely were able to produce
\nmodestly priced goods.  The demand for
\ntapestry-like textiles to drape over furniture pieces, and occasionally hang on
\nthe walls resulted in the production of thousands and thousands of small
\nweavings.  They also were
\nallegorical.  The themes were rural and
\nmythological but in keeping with the great interest in foreign travel
\n(especially in the Middle East and North Africa) many featured scenes of exotic
\nlands as well as century-old European life.<\/div>\n
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\nHow can one identify these textiles?  Hand-woven tapestries, whether antique or
\nmodern, have a discontinuous weft, while machine-made textiles have a weft that
\ncontinues along the reverse of the fabric. 
\nAt times, some of this continuous weft is trimmed to reduce bulk but
\nthis leaves a fuzzy appearance on the reverse. 
\nSecondly, the size is much smaller than antique, usually rectangular, to
\nfit over the top surface of furniture (table tops and pianos).  Thirdly, the color of these newer textiles
\nis much softer, with a grayed background (suggesting age?) and a more pastel
\npalette.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThere are still many of these textiles to be found in thrift
\nand antique shops.  While many may have
\nfaded and damaged areas they are perfect for pillows.  Imagine a bookcase lined with some of these samples or used as
\nmatting for vintage photographs.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European Machine-made Tapestries Years ago I worked for an on-line appraisal company where clients sent in pictures and descriptives of items for which they wished professional identification and comments.  My area was 19th C and 20th C European and American textiles. More than \u00bd of all textiles I viewed were late 19th C, early 20th…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}