Le Feu
Designer Yvonne Clarinval French
Manufacturer Tassinari & Chatel French
Not on view
Salamanders and fire have long been associated with one another. Perhaps because these moist-skinned creatures so often live inside old logs used for firewood, they are legendarily thought to be able to live in, withstand, or even extinguish fires. This unusual textile, woven by a manufacturer of high-quality silks in Lyons, brings to mind the so-called bizarre silks produced in that city during the eighteenth century. It depicts salamanders in the midst of smoking flames (the motif has been widely used through the ages—especially for heraldic devices), probably in a representation of fire as one of the four elements.
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