TEXTILES AND DESIGN.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Pair of salesman's pattern books, containing over 1,000 finely woven textile samples. A prepossessing collection of textile swatches for clothing or furnishing, likely produced in Norwich for selling to the German market. Using the whole spectrum of colours, the designs incorporate stripes, geometric shapes, diaper patterns, zigzags and chevrons, floral and foliate motifs, and ikat designs.The samples are arranged by pattern under titles in German and, at times, French and Italian. These include, for example, Weisbodige Croisé (white strips and colour chevron-pattern stripes), Rothbodige Köper (thick red stripes alternating with those of other colours), and Cuttni (multicolour swatches with fine diaper or lozenge patterning). The samples are woven from wool, a factor - together with their design - that points to their origin in Norfolk."The presentation of choice in the books of samples from Norwich is literally fascinating, with some pages so stunning and dazzling in their effect and we might argue that it could be the effect of the whole page that seduces the buyer, rather than the individual sample... The almost infinite variations of colour and pattern, accentuated in their intensity in the context of a book or card, create an eye-catching and infectious spectacle" (Mitchell).Accompanying these books are two other unrelated sets of several dozen samples, both dating from later in the 19th century and at least one from France.Provenance: Cora Ginsburg (1910-2002), the expe

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