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Shawl

Herault and Leon

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom

Woven wool shawl depicting on a bright red ground huge fantastic flowers blossom from delicate floral trails and attenuated slanting cones with their roots in the end borders and their curling tops forming a symmetrical pattern round one of the flowers in the centre of the shawl. At either end, these long cones and trails interlace through the tracery of a gothic arcade. Besides gothic windows and pinnacles there are figures in niches, some looking distinctly Chinese, and banners with heraldic eagles.

The end borders are formed by the ends of the plant-filled cones and roundels with tracery. The side borders are of meandering plants growing from a Chinese vase in each corner. Within is a narrow band of Gothic ornament, projecting into the field. All round the edges is woven a fringe with little tassels.

The end pieces are broad areas of black, pale orange, pale blue, red, green, dull yellow, and pale green. The ends of the warp are printed in these colours, changing to uniform red before the border is finished. These are the colours found in the weft, plus a darker marron red, white, and pale pink.

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  • Title: Shawl
  • Creator: Herault and Leon
  • Date Created: 1839/1840
  • Location: Paris
  • Physical Dimensions: Length: 134 in without fringe, Width: 66.75 in, Length: 309 cm, Width: 169 cm
  • Medium: Woven in wool and cotton on a silk warp
The Victoria and Albert Museum

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