I have just returned from another wonderful buying trip in France, and this was one of the many textile treasures discovered ~*~ This wonderful textile is a large, bed curtain made from a stunning Toile de Nantes printed in 1815. This toile is titled " Les Amours du Chevalier" ( loves of the Knight). This toile was printed in Nantes , manufactured by Favre Pteitpierre in 1815. This toile was printing using large copper plates that had been  intaglia etched. This  toile is printed in a stunning madder , deep purple. It was printing using an iron mordant, and then plunged into a madder bath to achieve the wonderful tone of purple. Often the fabric ground turned a pinkish tone from the madder bath, so these textiles were then laid into the fields for a long period of time so that they could be sun bleached to achieve the natural ground tone. The printing was complicated, and time consuming.   It tells a story of the loves of a knight, the night  prays to the Virgin to find a most beautiful love, and it ends in marriage. It seems to be set during the times of the crusades of Egypt , with the wonderful camps  ~ This is a rare and wonderful find, very large textile created from this toile. This curtain panel  would have been used as a very large bed curtain, draped from the ceiling using a ceil de lit. The panel is pieced, using 2 full widths of this stunning toile and a narrow width on the side to increase the width. This fabric is a plain weave cotton, medium weight. The top has wonderful 19th century hooks for hanging from the ceil de lit, and lovely cream linen tape . This is hand stitched to the textile.  There are later reinforced machine stitches along some of the hand stitched panels. Most likely , it was re-used and even enlarged in the mid 19th century ( evident from the machine stitching on the joined panels) , and then tucked away! ~ It is extremely rare to find these large textiles, and it is in stunning condition for its age ~  a wonderful find , ideal for any textile collection ~ ( #21)


MEASUREMENTS : This textile measures 83 inches wide at the bottom by 128 inches long ( drop) (10.66 feet long ) . The top is gathered and measures 53 inches wide ~

Condition: This textile is in as found, not recently washed condition. This textile is in wonderful condition for its age. The bottom of the panel has some holes along the bottom edge and a 4 inch tear that runs from the bottom up one of the panels. The body is in extraordinary condition! ~ There are some pale storage marks  but really it is just stunning !. ~*~

 

~*~* ~** ~*~You will never have to pay any Customs or Duty charges on my textiles posted to an address within the United States, as I have already imported all of my European textiles and have paid any fees for you~*~ My shipping is always fast, so you can expect your purchase to arrive between 1-3 days after payment within the USA~*~

. ~ Please see my other Antique French fabric auctions by clicking View Sellers Other Items~*~

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