Sep 11, 2009

Color schemes in 19th C French textiles, part 3

In the latter part of the 19th century, the color schemes were not at all what one might expect or imagine. The French textile companies were still very much influenced and inspired by the decades of indienne imports, so the array of colors they used was much less restricted than what we see today.

A very  fashionable combination, for example, was olive leaves with pink or rose-shaded flowers. Here are a couple of close-up photos of an imported early 19th century tree-of-life from India using olive and rose:

And here are a few examples of French-manufactured 19th century florals, using the same color scheme: