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Textile Design Art Movements and Period Styles Empire France, c.1810-15, BP cotton, border pattern D425 01

Title: Textile Design Art Movements and Period Styles Empire France, c.1810-15, BP cotton, border pattern D425_01
Design Library Classification: Art Movements and Period Styles
Design Library Sub-classification: Empire
Media Type Textile Design
Identifier:
Creator(s): Unknown
Publisher:
Contributor: Design Library
Country France
Language
Subject(s)
Publication Date: c.1810-15
Image Description: France, c.1810-15, BP cotton

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Notes

"ON MAY 18, 1804, Napoleon promoted himself from first consul of France to emperor. (Later in the year Pope Pius VII came to Paris to perform the coronation but, as the story goes, was too slow for the great general, who snatched the crown from the pontiff's hands in the middle of the ceremony and put it on himself.) The style named for the period when France was an empire had begun to emerge a little earlier: it was essentially neoclassical, featuring literal copies of ancient furniture and decorative motifs. In textiles, the colors appropriate to an imperial power were popular - gold, crimson, purple, royal blue. The laurel wreath, symbol of victory, and the oak leaf or acorn, emblematic of strength, were common motifs. Dolphins, swans, acanthus leaves, and formal medallions were also favorites, and of course, the Napoleonic bee - which Napoleon appropriated from Egyptian hieroglyphics and made his personal emblem."

Source: Design Library