A hanging of early 18th century ‘Bizarre’ silk

Italy or France, circa 1705-1710

The red silk damask ground brocaded in metal thread and silk, with a design of gadrooned urns and waisted vases holding pomegranates and flowers set amid abstracted tapering scrolls. Hans Cristoph Ackermann, in ‘Seidengewebe des 18. Jahrhunderts - I: Bizarre seiden’, publ. Abegg Stiftung, Riggisberg 2000, pp. 219-263, dates this type of ‘Bizarre’ design, with semi-natural depictions of flowers, vases and architectural elements, to the years 1705-1711.

The term ‘Bizarre’, now commonly applied to silks of this type, was bestowed by Vilhelm Slomann, who first classified them as a distinct group (Bizarre Designs in Silks, publ. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen, 1953), and offered a mistaken theory that they were woven in India. The name persisted, and later work confirmed their European origin and dated them to the period between 1690 and 1720. Elements of the extraordinary designs were determined to be derived from Japanese, Ottoman and Indian textiles - one of which influences is suggested here by the rather Japanese repeated circle motif put into the brocade. There is evidence for the weaving of ‘Bizarre’ silks in London and the Netherlands, but France and Italy were the pre-eminent sources.

The fashion for ‘Bizarre’ silk was superseded by that for the symmetrical and regular ‘Lace patterns’, which became popular from around 1715, before finding some small echoes in the combined large floral motifs and small architectural vignettes of the ‘Naturalistic’ silk designs of the 1730’s. This level of extravagant abstraction was not seen again in European design, however, until the early 20th century.

Made up of four full loom widths, each 50cm wide and consisting of panels adapted from previous use as a dress fabric.

Bordered with metal braid and backed with green silk.

222cm (87⅜”) high and 206cm (81⅛”) wide.