Mise-en-Carte (Point-Paper)

Description

Designs for silk weaving were drawn by professional artists who had often trained in flower painting, a skill that could be deployed for the decoration of objects besides textiles. The designs were painted on the point paper grid, which then served as a guide to the person mounting the threads on the loom. The artists’ names do not appear on these technical drawings; only the companies that commissioned the designs and wove the silk are identified.

Provenance

Wolfgang Ruf, Gallerie Ruf, Rastatt, Germany, by 1996 [invoice, May 11, 1995; incoming receipt RX20745, June 8, 1995; in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1996.

Mise-en-Carte (Point-Paper)

Nicholas Guerin et Cie

1760s

Accession Number

148904

Medium

Opaque watercolor with traces of graphite over an etching in black ink on cream laid paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 43.5 × 54.1 cm (17 3/16 × 21 5/16 in.); Sheet: 44.8 × 56.4 cm (17 11/16 × 22 1/4 in.)

Classification

design

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Neil P. Frankel, Nina Hancock, Robert D. Kleinschmidt; Royalties from F. Schumacher and Company