Mise-en-carte and Sample for Velours Miniature with a Dancing Couple and a Bundle of Flowers and Leaves
Mise-en-carte (weaving pattern) for "velours miniature" (a), a type of velvet that was often decorated with sewing points and repetitive small ornaments with contrasting colors, which was particularly fashionable towards the end of the 18th century and during the reign of Louis XVI, often decorated with colorful garlands of flowers and leaves, as well as other naturalistic motifs and garden trophies. This design consists of a dancing couple, dressed with matching costumes colored with purple, green and yellow, their skin colored with pink, above a large branch with stylized flowers and leaves, rendered with the same colors as the dancers. These motifs lie above a vertical stripe with scalloped edges, bordered by small lozenges colored alternatingly with purple and yellow, and decorated inside with alternating scrolling motifs that are outlined with light blue, and some of them colored with red.
Placed below the mise-en-carte is a fabric sample (b) with a fragment of what would have been the finished textile: the portion of the body of the dancer that can be devised is made with threads of pastel yellow, blue and pink, and the pattern in the background is executed with silver threads and cream glossy threads.
Placed below the mise-en-carte is a fabric sample (b) with a fragment of what would have been the finished textile: the portion of the body of the dancer that can be devised is made with threads of pastel yellow, blue and pink, and the pattern in the background is executed with silver threads and cream glossy threads.
Artwork Details
- Title: Mise-en-carte and Sample for Velours Miniature with a Dancing Couple and a Bundle of Flowers and Leaves
- Artist: Anonymous, French, 18th century
- Date: ca. 1775–1800
- Medium: Watercolor on squared paper; Velvet
- Dimensions: Image: 14 3/16 × 9 3/4 in. (36 × 24.7 cm)
Sheet (mise-en-carte, a): 10 1/4 × 7 11/16 in. (26.1 × 19.5 cm)
Sheet (fabric sample, b): 1 5/16 × 1 11/16 in. (3.3 × 4.3 cm) - Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
- Object Number: 28.118.12(a,b)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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