The thrill of the chase!

At the recent Montpelier Fair, I passed a big furniture stand and a cardboard box, suitcase size. Seeing a bit of pink print, I dug in and found a hoard of remnants of my favourite Indienne prints, all pinky red. A burly trader said there was another box if I was interested - was I???
With beating heart and shaky hands I counted over 200 smallish pieces, ideal for cushions, and some much bigger panels, enough for several pairs of bedroom curtains. Some were as new, bright and unused, others had tack holes round the edges and some were very faded - a very motley lot
The dealer then volunteered that they were all toile de Jouy (which they were not) and they had all come from the greniers (attics) of the Chateau de la Brede, the seat of the Baron Montesquieu near Bordeaux. By strange coincidence I had read that week in my copy of Aladin, the French trade magazine, that the papers of the original 18c. Baron, a world-famous philosopher, politician and writer, were being removed from the chateau to be put in an official archive. The box holding the fabric was an official one with an archive label 'borrowed ' by the rascally trader! So provenance o.k., but how had they been used? He told me they came from the cupboards and attics and I think that they must have been used to decorate the panelling in three or four rooms and the cut-offs had also been saved by a thrifty housekeeper. There is quite a lot of genuine Jouy toile, late 18c. and this is a rustic genre design on good quality linen, nice and bright and with lots of useful cameos to make cushion centres, called L'Escarpolette, The Swing, The greater part of this hoard is late 19c. Indiennes, charming and colourful, but not of the same rarity or value. See Tracking Red Indiennes Blog., for more about Indiennes from this lot.

Tracking Red Indiennes

I find the Indiennes, produced in France in the last half of the 19th C. a source of delight - they come in many colours but the pink and red ones showing birds, insects and foliage are my favourites. They became very fashionable in France when the Empress Eugenie was on the throne and she had a passion for 'la nature' particularly as depicted in the Indian prints imported on the East India trading routes. French mills were quick to copy and re-design the gorgeous Eastern flowers, bamboo foliage and some of the birds might well have come out of French gardens, but many were very exotic with extravagant plumage and tails. They were all done in a pleasing naturalistic style and the scenes were often embellished with pretty butterflies, bees and other insects all in flight amongst the foliage. The earlier prints had very small birds and the foliage was often delicate, like bamboo or long grasses, but towards the end of the century they became coarser and the birds became rather fierce-looking raptors with large beaks and claws. They were printed on very fine cotton, and probably glazed so they have often faded in the windows and are rather flimsy - I have used several panels in my own house which I thought too fragile to sell to others and have devised a way of lengthening both the size and their life-span in my own way -the birds are multi-coloured and so are various small flowers. These are in my visitor's cloakroom, so pay them a visit one day!

PRINTS CHARMING

Many of the pretty modern printed cottons are in fact adaptations of older ones - often with small changes in colour shades, the spacing of the designs and other changes like tiny spots, or 'vermiculite' or sea-weed backgrounds omitted - they are pretty enough but still, to me, lose some of the vintage charm of the originals - the whites are very ice cold, and the other colours do not have the mellow shades that make them easy to blend with other colours. I particularly like the 1890s patterns, called Indiennes full of exotic Eastern flowers and others which often have border designs, with little ovals of garden tools or little birds and lots of bows and ribbons weaving in and out, usually in soft pinks and reds in the main parts, with touches of grey, blue and yellow. Green is quite rare as it was a very fugitive dye which faded badly, and not popular with French decorators. The Indiennes are usually printed on very fine cotton so they are often damaged. A later Post will give you my ideas on using fragile fabrics, and more examples of Indiennes

I sometimes find small remnants of these charming old cottons, unused and unfaded and use them to make the small sack-like bags that hang from the bars of travailleuses, which are folding, cross-legged portable sewing baskets, very popular with Edwardian ladies who spent a great deal of the day working on their needlework, and no doubt moved the work-bag about the room to get a good light and keep the materials clean and tidy.  I have sold a great many, refurbished with Indiennes and new frills, and lots seem to go to knitters and tapestry workers who like to have everything tidy and to hand!

PORT LOUIS CITADEL MUSEUM

Some years ago I made an opportunity to visit the Citadelle, Port Louis, near Lorient, Brittany, to see a brilliant array of goods shipped in the great importing days of the East India Companies. Not only were there wonderful examples of the textiles, decorations, and clothing made with the chintzes, including some Toile de Jouy inspired by these exotic designs, but there were also examples of porcelain and other goods made for the European market, and in addition, some interesting, details of the lay-out of the slave ships, complete with model figures of the crews and passengers, and many other models of the fortress and the sail ships in times of war - so there was much to interest children and people keen on naval history. Both my husband and I thought it was one of the most fascinating places to visit and the huge fortifications were on a vast scale with rooms for ammunition, powder, etc. all open to the public for a modest entrance charge. Check times and dates   If you were camping with children and the weather was typical rainy stormy SAtlantic type, it is a good place to lose them for a few hours, there is so much to intrigue and see.

 The nearby harbour of Lorient was one of the main bases of German Uboats during the last war, but now Lorient is the centre for a big gathering of Celtic musicians, singers and dancers every August - a strange mixture of ancient and modern; the Uboats were latest technology and the songs and dances go back to medieval times.  All through the day small groups of musicians wander round the town in their local costumes and rehearse and dance at street corners which makes it a good spectacle.

PALAMPORES, MEZZARAS AND SHAWLS

You could write pages on any one of these lovely textiles, wall hangings, bedcovers, shawls and clothing. I have long had a pair of curtains in my dining room (see earlier Post titles: Heavenly Curtains and knew they were from a famous firm of French cloth manufacturers, Braquenie, whose printing blocks and designs had been bought some time ago by Pierre Frey. They are copies of an antique design called Le Grand de Genne.(Genoa.) It is well known that the Italians there copied some of the palampores from India, mid 19c. and they were worn as shawls by ladies over their crinoline dresses for warmth and protection - These were called mezzaras and are very desirable in good condition. The palimpores were produced on the Indian Coromandel Coast from the 16th C. in an unbelievably complicated process, then called chintz, i.e. painted cloth. The different colours were applied by hand with a little pointed bamboo stick with a small reservoir, or by hand-applied carved or etched blocks and there were endless treatments of dyes, mordants, waxing, washing, bleaching etc. till the design reached its completion - often more than 8' square and occasionally done in pairs, usually on very fine, smoothly woven Indian cotton which could be painted with great accuracy. See the new reference book Chintz, (detailed illustrations and many facts) by Rosemary Crill, of the V.and A. Museum, out this year. More later!

FRENCH ADVENTURES

If ever you think of going on a quick trip to France to look at the Belles Brocantes of France, but don't want to tackle the slightly daunting business of arranging travel, accommodation and sourcing the best markets, with not too much knowledge of the language, you might like to think of joining my good friend and long -time stallholder at antique fairs, Rosie Murton, who is now taking small groups to good markets near to Paris, organises transport door to door, advises on money, exchange,and how to bargain for the desirable items you want for your home or garden. She will provide all the know-how and practical help you will need to buy successfully and bring (modest) amounts of your purchases back with you in her own vehicle. She has been sourcing from markets all over France for years and is much admired for her good eye as well as her excellent contacts over there.. She is also a very helpful and friendly person, will give you an enjoyable time and look after you in every way. The accommodation is central, clean and simple, good meals can be shared with one or two others and as the bedrooms are shared, you might prefer to come with a friend . The tour is well planned and energetic, with no frills, early starts to catch the markets, but it will set you off in the right direction for future bargain hunting. Sue S. recently returned with a lovely load of stuff after her first trip, was elated to have sold most a couple of weeks later at a Northern Fair at a handsome profit. Tally Ho! AllonsY! This 'puff'' is totally unsolicited by Rosie, I would just like to help her get this good small project going.
Contact Rosie Murton 01952 883 709

Time Warp

I have always been interested in, and attracted to, the bold patterns of painted walls in Elizabethan houses ever since I saw some at Queens Hoo, nr. Tewin, Herts, which was owned by an aunt. So when I saw an article and photos about a young artist, Melissa White, who was painting wall hangings and plaster decorations, I contacted her, hoping that my old handspun, hand-woven linen might be useful in re-creating ancient decorations. She was, by chance, coming this way on a course run by a good friend of mine, Victor Chinnery, who is a leading expert on Tudor furnishings and buildings, so it all came together and she spent a night here and went on to the Merchants House in Marlborough with its fabulous painted 'Rainbow' room, brilliant stripes all round and a wonderful staircase with 'shadow' bannisters opposite the real ones, in a building open to the public. They went on to Exeter where the Museum there has rescued a complete English pannelled room from the Hearst archives/stores in USA, never unpacked (!), set it all up in the Exeter Museum, and it turns out that it had all been taken from a building a few streets away - what a coincidence! She did some work there later. Now Melissa has started designing 'Elizabethan' cushions on hemp, linen and vintage velvet remnants and you can see her work on line.. She can be contacted at http://www.fairlyte.co.uk/ for info. and commissions. If you have any really nice vintage velvet, I will pass on messages for her.

A legendary Dealer

I was lucky to meet Bryony Thomasson early in my time as a French junk and brocante dealer.

She was a highly intelligent, well educated lady who left a business career as recruiting officer in the electrical industry, to become the best known dealer in artefacts, folk art and rustic items from La France Profonde. She was used by many major film wardrobe directors during the time of Fleurette and other productions showing the true poverty and tragic stories of the paysans. She lived in a small terrace house in Fulham and her living area was an incredible showcase of everything that she collected and loved from the farms and small workshops in France.There was a cascade of string and ropes, nets for chickens, rabbits, hammocks for sick horses, halters, girth webbing, whips and blinkers - piles of the roughest sheets, sacks, seed bags and curls of horsehair for filling mattresses, hanks of coarse thread for weavers, as well as her own special collections, (not for sale )- tiny buttons from uniforms, silk and cotton foulards (neckerchiefs worn inside the shirt collar) and then the rows of all the old clothes, especially men's which are always so hard to find; berets, les bleues working trousers, jackets and her beloved smocks in polished cotton worn by the maraicheurs (small market garden dealers)to go to market and to wear at Mass and also the quarterly hiring fairs. She was so generous with her experience and deep knowledge and much loved and respected by her French suppliers. She drove a tall red van with a stove, some bedding and a bicycle at the ready. She was first at every fair on her bike wheeling down the aisles and there would be piles awaiting her arrival. Her collections of vintage clothing inspired several top couturiers and her strong language and stories of intrepid travels endeared her to many. Her constant companion was the maraicheur Jean- seen above.