Designs for Embroidered Borders with Floral Motifs

Drawing with a variety of design motifs for embroidery typical from the 19th century, which saw a revival of styles, including the Calssicism of Greece and Rome, Renaissance styles, Rococo and Neoclassicism. These revivals were linked to the "collector mania" that took place especially after 1850, and coincided with the Romantic movement in literature that saw in the past an escape from modernity. Some of the most common design motifs that emerged from this renewed interest in antiquarianism were naturalistic and floral motifs, including thin garlands and bundles, vases, classical musical instruments, and ribbons.

This drawing presents a variety of designs for embroidered borders featuring floral motifs and other motifs typical of the neoclassic revival of the nineteenth century. Most of the decorative motifs in the borders are executed in between two pairs of stripes, some of them undulating, colored with pastel shades of blue, green, pink, or yellow. The center of the borders includes a variety of thin undulating garlands of stylized flowers and leaves, sometimes decorated with ribbon bows. Other motifs include an undulating vine with bundles of red grapes and large leaves, stylized acanthus leaves, egyptian square-edged scrolls, and small rosettes. The designs are outlined with thin black lines, and most of them fully rendered with watercolors, although some of them are unfinished, showing part of the design in black and white and the other part with colors.