Textile Fabrics

Synopsis

Textile Fabrics: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Church-vestments, Dresses, Silk Stuffs, Needlework and Tapestries, forming that Section of the Museum. Like every other specific collection of art labour among the several such brought together within these splendid halls of the South Kensington Museum, this extensive one made from woven stuffs, tapestry, and needlework, is meant to have, like them, its own peculiar useful purposes. Here, at a glance, may be read the history of the loom of various times and in many lands.

Here may be seen a proof of the onward march of trade and its consequent civilizing influences. Here we take a peep at the private female life in ages gone by, and learn how women, high-born and lowly, spent or rather ennobled many a day of life in needlework, not merely graceful but artistic. Here, in fine, in strict accordance with the intended industrial purposes of this public institution, artizans, designers, and workers in all kinds of embroidery, may gather many an useful lesson for their respective crafts, in the rare as well as beautiful samples set out before them.

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