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.