A length of early 18th century Bizarre silk

Italy or France, circa 1700-1705

The full width of blue silk damask brocaded in in silver thread and burgundy silk with a design of ho-ho birds or peacocks and sinuous plant patterns.

The term ‘Bizarre’ was bestowed retrospectively on a group of European silk and silk designs created and produced in several European countries between 1690 and 1720. Popularized following the publication of Vilhelm Slomann’s Bizarre Designs in Silks (publ. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen, 1953), the classification encompassed textiles richly woven with motifs stylized to the point of abstraction. Although no direct single root for the patterns can be determined, the influence of Indian, Japanese, and Ottoman textiles, occasioned by widening global trade, is clear. The unadulterated and extravagant Bizarre designs used here are typical of the first five years of the 18th century, prior to the gradual introduction of more naturalistic, directly representative elements.

A silk of related design is illustrated as Plate IX in Slomann’s book, and several comparable pieces are classed among the ‘high Bizarre’ silks woven at the start of the 18th century in Seidengewebe des 18.Jahrhunderts I - Bizarre Seiden (Ackermann, publ. Abegg-Stiftung Riggisburg, 2000); see nos. 87 and 101 in particular.

The textile 75cm (29½”) high and 54cm (21¼”) wide.

Bordered with silver braid and mounted on linen over a stretcher 78.8cm (31”) high and 60.4cm (23¾”) wide.

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