{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1436095"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1436095/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MP9427/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MP9427/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020MP9427","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU1732","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FE5861","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1436095/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1436095","accessionNumber":"CIRC.112A-1934","objectType":"Furnishing fabric","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>This furnishing fabric has been printed using engraved copper plates. The introduction of copper-plate printing in the 1750s encouraged new possibilities in the development of printed textiles design, allowing a fineness of detail and delicacy of drawing which had not been achieved in earlier woodblock-printed textiles. It also allowed much larger pattern repeats, which made it particularly suitable for bed hangings.<br><br><b>Places</b><br>Robert Jones's factory at Old Ford, Middlesex (now London), where this fabric was printed in 1769, was one of the leading textile printing works in England at that time. The importance of the factory can be assessed by the advertisements for the sale of its premises and equipment in 1780. These show that the printworks occupied 67 acres and the assets included '200 copper plates and 2,000 blocks and prints, most of which are esteemed patterns calculated for a general course of foreign trade'.<br><br><b>Materials & Making</b><br>The fabric is a fustian, woven with a linen warp and cotton weft, as British law prohibited the production of all-cotton cloth at the time it was printed. (The legislation was brought in originally to protect the wool and silk industries.) In 1774, under the influence of developments in the home production of cotton pioneered by the textiles industrialist Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), the previous ban on printing all-cotton fabric was finally removed.","physicalDescription":"Panel printed with a fishing party approximately centred. Selvedges intact at each side. Lined with plain cotton. One vertical seam in lining, and a length of narrow linen tape stitched down it in another vertical line.The edges of the printed textile are turned in under the lining. There are a number of small holes in the front of the textile, where the edges have been sewn down through the lining to secure them.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Robert Jones & Company","id":"A9201"},"association":{"text":"manufacturers","id":"AAT25230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"linen (material)","id":"AAT14069"}],"techniques":[{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Linen and cotton, printed from engraved copper plates and wood blocks with pencilled (painted) blue","categories":[{"text":"Furnishing fabrics","id":"THES280526"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2020MP9427","2017JU1732","2012FE5861"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"016","id":"THES310811"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"furnishing fabric","id":"x40574"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1769","earliest":"1769-01-01","latest":"1769-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"MA/1/F773/1","id":"ARC159222"},"association":"Archive record"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"122","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"93.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This group of textiles was purchased from antique dealers Messrs. J Kyrle Fletcher, 79 High Street, Newport, Monmouth (see Museum file MA/1/F773). Mr Kyrle Fletcher wrote to the museum on 8 September 1934 offering them : \"we have had sent to us for disposal a very fine curtain of old English chintz decorated in coloured copper plate design...This curtain which is roughly 8 feet by 10 feet is arranged in 6 groups each of which is signed and dated.\"\r\nA second letter mentions \"our clients were asking for 30 guineas for the curtain, and we advised it being offered to the Victoria and Albert Museum at a lower price which we fixed\" (the museum paid £24). There is no further reference to provenance.\r\n\r\nWhen the textiles arrived they were described as \"1 chintz curtain (in 4 parts)\". It was agreed that the acquisition should be shared between Textiles and Circulation Departments : minute on file from Mr Wace, Keeper of  Textiles : \"I would suggest that of the main curtain two widths be reserved for Textiles and one width for Circulation, and the valance should also go to Circulation\". Reply from Mr Kennedy of Circulation :\" We shall be glad to have one width and a valance. I suggest to Mrs Clayton that a small photograph be taken of the whole curtain before it is divided, so that it can be shown with the sections which we shall to make for purposes of circulation [sic].\"\r\n\r\nTherefore it seems that the large curtain with six scenes was divided up, and now comprises T.140, Circ.112 and Circ.112a. One of the original three valances must also have been divided, as there are now four pieces of valance (T.140 a&b, Circ.112 b&c). It is likely to be the two Circ numbered pieces, as only one valance was reportedly sent to Circ.\r\n\r\nA piece of the same design is in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.","historicalContext":"The ground is a mixed fabric with linen warp and cotton weft, as the textile was printed while legislation was still in place banning the production of all-cotton textiles in England. This legislation was repealed in 1774.","briefDescription":"Furnishing fabric, printed cotton and linen, 1769,  English, Robert Jones at Old Ford","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hefford, Wendy, Design for Printed Textiles in England from 1750 to 1850, V&A, 1992, pl.12-13."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\r\nRobert Jones was a leading English textile printer during the 1760s and 1770s. This example indicates the high quality of his production. It was printed using a combination of techniques. Two separate engraved copper plates made the design. Colours were added by wood block, and indigo blue 'pencilled' or painted in with a brush.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["CIRC.112A-1934"],"accessionNumberNum":"112","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1934,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-07","recordCreationDate":"2018-03-19","availableToBook":true}}