French Shawl Design
Commissioned by Lapworth & Riley British
Anonymous, French, 19th century French
Not on view
This intricate design resembles a miniature carpet but actually relates to a printed shawl. An Inscription on the reverse indicates that the drawing was made in Paris for the London firm Lapworth & Riley. The imagery includes paisley motifs in each corner. Different cultures assigned various names to these distinctive curved shapes. In India, they were called butas (flowers) or "mangoes"; in Britain, "pines" or "cones"; in France, "tadpoles" or "pines"; and in Austria, "little onions." A shawl based on this drawing would have incorporated a different color field in each corner, allowing the wearer to display a hanging corner of blue, red, green, or black depending on how the garment was folded.
