{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O73356"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73356/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BD5182/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BD5182/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BD5182","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O73356/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O73356","accessionNumber":"CIRC.501-1965","objectType":"Dress fabric","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This block-printed tusser silk was probably exhibited in the British India Pavilion of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878.  The delicate floral sprays are overprinted in gold, which would have been an less expensive alternative to embroidering the silk.  \r\n\r\nThomas Wardle was a leading textile manufacturer and dyer working in Leek, Staffordshire.  He took over his father's dyeworks in the early 1870s, and went on to become one of the leading British textile manufacturers of the late 19th century.  \r\nWardle was recognised as an expert on the Indian silk industry.  He first visited Bengal in 1885, and he lectured widely on the importance of the tusser (wild) silk of India.  The textured, brown fibres of tusser silk were notoriously resistant to dye, which Wardle successfully overcame in the early 1870s by first bleaching the silk.  He exhibited numerous examples of tusser silk in the silk culture court of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition of 1886 and in the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition of 1887.  The Times reported on the luxurious drapes and divans of Wardle's displays, which sat alongside glass cases filled with the cocoons of silk worms.   He later became a founding member of the Silk Society and was knighted for his contribution to the industry.","physicalDescription":"Dress fabric of hand-woven and hand-printed Tusser silk. With detached floral sprays in red, green and gold on a natural ground.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Thomas Wardle","id":"A8968"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Woven","id":"AAT53642"},{"text":"Block printed","id":"AAT53289"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Hand-woven and hand-printed silk","categories":[{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2006BD5182"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES309168"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Dress fabric","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Leek","id":"x30876"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1875","earliest":"1870-01-01","latest":"1879-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"108.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"94.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Originally A.P. 51(2) 1879","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Dress fabric of hand-woven and hand-printed Tusser silk, Thomas Wardle, Leek, ca. 1875","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Published in 'British Textile Design in the Victoria and Albert Museum' ed. D. King (Tokyo 1980). Vol. III, pl. 95"}],"production":"AP 51 (2) - 1879\r\nReason For Production: Retail","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CIRC.501-1965"],"accessionNumberNum":"501","accessionNumberPrefix":"CIRC","accessionYear":1965,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2003-01-22","availableToBook":true}}