François Carquillat
George Washington

CultureFrench
Titles
  • George Washington
Datec. 1876
Made inFrance
MediumJacquard-loom-woven silk on paper mat with copper-alloy foil decoration
Dimensions10 7/16 × 8 3/8 in. (26.5 × 21.3 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Toni and Ralph Wallingford Endowment Fund
Object numberB.2015.19
Not on view

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

This woven portrait of George Washington was made on a Jacquard loom. Joseph-Marie-Jacquard of France invented the Jacquard loom in 1801, which enabled intricate patterns and pictures to be automatically woven into cloth. When textiles from the Jacquard loom first came on the market, they demonstrated the latest improvements in silk weaving, and they were inexpensive, often small enough to be enclosed into a letter. They also served as souvenirs on visits to events that highlighted technological advances–essentially grand trade shows–such as the Great Exhibition of 1851 held at the Crystal Palace in London or to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.

In this textile, George Washington is portrayed based on a portrait painting by Gilbert Stuart, and it bears an American eagle holding a shield with garland. As with this example, woven Jacquard portraits are noted for their seamless assemblage of weaves that could simulate a range of tonal values and often rendered portraits of historical and public figures. Typically they are formed by contrasting warp and weft (black warp with white weft or white warp with black weft). These woven portraits imitate the look of engravings or etchings and the silk pictures were often issued mounted and matted, like prints.

A French draftsman, Allardet translated Stuart’s painting of Washington in drawn form in order for it to be converted to the woven example. No biographical information has been found on this artist.


ProvenancePrivate collection, United States; [Armstrong Fine Art, Chicago], as of November 2014; purchased by MFAH, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Inscribed, below image, center: WASHINGTON.
Recto: Inscribed, below image, left: Carquillat tex.
Recto: Inscribed, below image, right: Allardet del.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Double-weave Coverlet
1831
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.35
Double-weave Coverlet
c. 1876 or later
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.38
Double-weave Coverlet
c. 1860–1880
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.67
scan from file photograph
c. 1835–1855
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.32
Double-weave Coverlet
1840
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.86
Double-weave Coverlet
mid-19th century
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.93
Double-weave Coverlet
Harry Tyler
1843
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.2015.6
Double-weave Coverlet
Harry Tyler
1839
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.2004.8
Woven Tied Beiderwand Coverlet
John Redick
1852
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.83.6
Woven Tied Beiderwand Coverlet
John Denholm
1839
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.90.7
Double-weave Coverlet
Ira Hadsell
1851
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.36
Beiderwand Coverlet
Jacob W. Bohn
1846
Cotton and wool, Jacquard-loom-woven
B.76.37