Wallpaper border with lilacs

Unknown1812/1836

Nordiska Museet
Stockholm, Sweden

Wallpaper border made by master painter and court painter Carl Fredrik Torsselius in Stockholm circa 1820. Floral motif of white lilacs with green leaves and coarse brown twigs against blue-grey base colour. Bamboo pole in yellow and brown shades along the entire upper side. The border is hand-printed with wooden blocks in 10 colours on rough sheet paper.

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Details

Title: Wallpaper border with lilacs
Creator: Unknown
Date Created: 1812/1836
Physical Dimensions: w192 x h18 cm
More Information: Carl Fredrik Torsselius (1764-1836) was given a Swedish Board of Trade permit to print wallpaper and borders in 1812 and was the largest provider of such products in Stockholm by 1820. About 500 of his borders are preserved in Nordiska museet's collections. It is a remarkable collection of borders, narrow and wide, in bright colours or muted shades of grey. Lilacs, roses, hydrangeas on a light or dark background with the favourite motifs of the Karl Johan period, curtains, lacework, mascarons and bows. Many of the borders are available in several different colours. Torsselius printed using at the most 17 colours, which required the same number of printing blocks, more than anyone else in Sweden. Most of the borders have Torsselius' own stamp, “C. F. Torsselius” inscribed in a horizontal oval on the rear. The borders were printed on sheets of coarse rag paper, usually 63x55 cm, and after printing the sheets were cut so that the borders could be separated from one another and glued together to form lengths. Lilac borders could be cut out with bamboo poles along both sides and so could be used in both landscape and portrait format. Borders were important elements of interior design. Without borders, wallpaper looked unfinished. In France and Germany, borders were used both up by the ceiling and down by the skirting board, but in Sweden borders were usually only used at the top. In the early 1800s, single-coloured distemper-painted walls in yellow, apricot, green, blue and lilac became fashionable. These walls were decorated with printed wallpaper borders where the base colours were the same as those on the walls, but with patterns in contrasting colours. Torsselius' workshop furnished several apartments in Gamla stan, Stockholm according to this scheme in 1823. Torsselius had a shop at Riddarholmstorget in Stockholm. There, he sold his own products, as well as exclusive imported French wallpapers, borders, ceiling roses and door lintels. A large number of these are now in Nordiska museet's collections.
Materials and Techniques: Distemper on glued-together sheets of rag paper
Type: Wallpaper
Rights: Photo: Brigit Brånvall, © Nordiska museet
External Link: http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/tapetbrd/S-NM/NM.0229492A-%C3%84

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