Fabrique de Saint Ruf, Lyon, France - Design for a Woven or Embroidered Border of the Fabrique de St. Ruf - 1805-1815 - T-Shirt

Three large chrysanthemum-like blooms stand across a warm ochre ground, with a scalloped band of small leaves running beneath them like a hem.

Visual Elements & Composition

The design is a painted horizontal border drawn in white highlights on ochre, which dominates the composition. The three full-headed flowers, each with radiating petals, sit across the upper half on stems furnished with buds and leafy sprays. Smaller buds rise between them at the upper edge. Along the lower half, rows of small lobed leaves form continuous arches, edged with a fine line, so the lower contour repeats in a clear, rhythmic outline. The flowers hang from the top edge while the foliage fills the base, giving the band a balanced, top-heavy structure.

Meaning & Symbolism

Large composite blooms like these were a favoured motif in early nineteenth-century textile design, valued for a bold, naturalistic form that could be woven or embroidered at scale. This sheet comes from the Fabrique de Saint-Ruf, a silk house in Lyon, the city that led European silk weaving in the period. Its catalogue date of 1805 to 1815 places it in the decades when Lyon workshops produced flowered and bordered textiles in quantity. The repeated blossoms and regular arches show a border planned for continuous use along the length of a cloth, with motifs spaced before the pattern was translated onto the loom.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A border is meant to be read as a band that runs across a surface, and a tee offers exactly that: the chest and sleeves form a wide field where the flowers can sit above the scalloped foliage. The repeating arches read clearly from across a room as well as up close, so the design keeps its structure as the shirt moves with you.