Friday, September 19, 2014

Sage green Splendeur at Compiègne

all photos Le style et la matière/St Tyl

The Salle de Conseil at the château de Compiègne has only a few elements in it - 
but oh, 
what there is is a precious sight.


Compiègne was one of the only châteaux, along with Versailles and Fontainebleau, where the king held Council. The tapestry behind the bureau shows the Passage of the Rhine by Louis XIV.


Velvet bedecked with passementeries and a lampas carefully cut-out and applied  
to form a rolling leafy border.

all photos Le style et la matière/St Tyl

At the window,
the here uncut border of lampas with its tawny ground weave sets off the oak leaf pattern.The leaves detach themselves from the ground with finely woven effect of cast shadows.

3 comments:

  1. Lampas is one of the textile world's most glorious creations and so finely-woven this must been to be cut out and sewn onto velvet. Beautiful color, too.

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  2. Yes, it is stitched on to the velvet. Imagine cutting into those all those layers of silk threads to make the border. It took a steady hand.

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  3. What a wonderful homage to wool! And a great education for myself. I had never thought of cheaper wools coming from dead animals - uch! Beautiful images, I love the textures here.

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