Printed Textile Document

Dateca. 1760

Maker Nixon & Amyand or Nixon & Co

MediumLinen warp, cotton weft.

DimensionsOverall: 76 x 34in. (193 x 86.4cm) Other (Repeat): 38in. (96.5cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1966-81

DescriptionCopperplate print: in red on natural tabby woven ground. Design of birds, trellises and flower-filled cornucopias. No blue threads in selvedges.

Label TextEnglish printed textiles of a large scale were typically referred as "furnitures." By 1842, The British Register of Designs designated that all prints over 12 by 8 inches were to be considered "furnitures." While this was stated over fifty years after this piece was created, it stylistically remains true for earlier periods.

This peice was produced by the firm Nixon & Amyand or Nixon and Company. In 1752, Francis Nixon is credited with developing a thickener that made it possible to print with copper plates and dyestuffs on woven cottons. This design appears in Nixon's pattern book containing impressions from the company's copper-plates, and bears the inscription "75 @ 10d."

Wealthier British and American consumers purchased these large prints for bed curtains, slip covers, etc, often making a room all matching or "en suite."