Textile Fragments from 18th-century France

Brocade-woven Silk with Metallic Thread
ca. 1700-1800
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Brocade-woven Silk with Metallic Thread
ca. 1700-1710
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Brocade-woven Silk with Metallic Thread and Velvet Elements
ca. 1750
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York houses about 6,500 cataloged textile fragments, with only a relative few on display at any one time. The majority were donated by past generations of wealthy collectors who nearly always were working with specialized dealers in order to locate and obtain such remarkable survivors. Those shown here were produced in France between 1700 and 1800, the first group for the luxury market and a second group for ordinary household use.

Brocade-woven Silk with Metallic Thread
ca. 1760-1769
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Brocade-woven Silk with Metallic Thread
ca, 1750
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Figured Silk Satin
ca. 1785-1795
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Figured Silk Satin
ca. 1795-1799
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Printed and Hand-colored Silk
ca. 1780
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Printed Cotton (from engraved Copper Plate) 
ca. 1760-1800
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

 Block-printed Cotton Chintz (by Oberkampf & Cie)
ca. 1787
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Block-printed Cotton
ca. 1799
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Block-printed Cotton (by J.J. Meiller & Cie)
ca. 1775-1800
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Block-printed Cotton (by Oberkampf & Cie)
ca. 1792
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Block-printed and Resist-dyed Linen
ca. 1750-1800
France
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Block-printed and Resist-dyed Cotton
ca. 1775-1800
France
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum