Fabrique de Saint Ruf, Lyon, France - Design for an Embroidered Horizontal Border of the Fabrique de St. Ruf, - 1800–1825 - T-Shirt

This is a horizontal border of large white blossoms, long ribbed leaves, and fringed tassels hanging in swags, drawn as a design for a silk workshop in Lyon around 1800.

Visual Elements & Composition

A warm ochre-brown ground fills most of the sheet. Against it, cream-white and gold-yellow shapes do the work. Two groups of radiating white blooms rise in the upper half, each with yellow-shaded petal bases, set beneath pairs of leaves that curve outward on slender stems. Below them, a garland of scalloped yellow leaves hangs in swags, with strings of white beads and fringed drapery descending between. Twisted cords end in tasselled pendants, and bunched tassels with white fringed edges repeat along the lower edge. The composition moves between light, airy flowers above and heavy, weighted swags below.

Meaning & Symbolism

Tasselled swags and fringed drapery were standard ornament around 1800. They imitated the hangings of a room and framed a surface with the look of rich upholstery. The large white blooms reflect the exotic plant forms that were fashionable in the same years. Together, the flowers and swags pair the naturalistic botanical vocabulary of the turn of the century with the furnishing ornament that followed it. The sheet is stamped at its upper right and credited to the Fabrique de Saint Ruf, a Lyonese silk workshop, dated 1800 to 1825.

Wearing the Border

A border is built to run along an edge, and on this tee it sits across the chest as a horizontal band. The flowers rise toward the shoulders while the tassels fall toward the waist, so the design shifts with every movement of the body. Seen up close, the fringe and cords show their fine line work. Seen from across the room, the ochre field and the rising blooms read as one clear shape.