DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62931#0207
RETROSPECT
IN a retrospective glance over the history of the weaving
industry, especially in relation to pattern, the strong vitality,
and remarkable persistency of certain early distinctive features
of Eastern design and texture, are clearly seen through many
historic periods.
Doubtless the remarkable continuity of traditional craftsman-
ship in China, India, and Persia, the early cultivation of silk and
cotton by the inhabitants of these countries, and their skill in
the weaving of splendid tissues of varying degrees of delicacy,
ornamented by beautiful and significant patterning, necessarily
exercised a controlling influence upon early European fabrics, by
reason of the large importation of silk, cotton, and woven fabrics
as articles of commerce ; and also by reason of the fitness, beauty,
and vitality of Eastern patterning. There is no doubt that the
Eastern influence was also largely extended by the industrial and
commercial activity of the Saracens, or Arabian craftsmen, and
merchants throughout the Mediterranean littoral.
Possibly some of this continuity has necessarily resulted from
the practical and universal conditions of the loom, which, as may be
seen in the chapter devoted to this subject (page II), had under-
gone various changes and developments which culminated in the
Jacquard loom of 1804. It must be remembered, however, that
the development of these appliances for weaving was only to
simplify or expedite the process of weaving, and they did not produce
anything more complex or more beautiful in pattern than before.
The silken fabrics of Byzantium of the 10th century (plates
II, 14), the Florentine velvets and brocades of the 15th century
(plates 2, 38-41), the Indian and Persian brocades and the Chinese
silks of the 17th—18th centuries (plates 15—20, and 26-29), all
woven on the old draw-loom type, may be compared with the
French Empire patterning (plates 71, 72), produced in 1810—13 on
the Jacquard loom.
H 113
IN a retrospective glance over the history of the weaving
industry, especially in relation to pattern, the strong vitality,
and remarkable persistency of certain early distinctive features
of Eastern design and texture, are clearly seen through many
historic periods.
Doubtless the remarkable continuity of traditional craftsman-
ship in China, India, and Persia, the early cultivation of silk and
cotton by the inhabitants of these countries, and their skill in
the weaving of splendid tissues of varying degrees of delicacy,
ornamented by beautiful and significant patterning, necessarily
exercised a controlling influence upon early European fabrics, by
reason of the large importation of silk, cotton, and woven fabrics
as articles of commerce ; and also by reason of the fitness, beauty,
and vitality of Eastern patterning. There is no doubt that the
Eastern influence was also largely extended by the industrial and
commercial activity of the Saracens, or Arabian craftsmen, and
merchants throughout the Mediterranean littoral.
Possibly some of this continuity has necessarily resulted from
the practical and universal conditions of the loom, which, as may be
seen in the chapter devoted to this subject (page II), had under-
gone various changes and developments which culminated in the
Jacquard loom of 1804. It must be remembered, however, that
the development of these appliances for weaving was only to
simplify or expedite the process of weaving, and they did not produce
anything more complex or more beautiful in pattern than before.
The silken fabrics of Byzantium of the 10th century (plates
II, 14), the Florentine velvets and brocades of the 15th century
(plates 2, 38-41), the Indian and Persian brocades and the Chinese
silks of the 17th—18th centuries (plates 15—20, and 26-29), all
woven on the old draw-loom type, may be compared with the
French Empire patterning (plates 71, 72), produced in 1810—13 on
the Jacquard loom.
H 113