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French

Textile length, 1930-1940

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

French

Title

Textile length

Year

1930-1940

Medium

Silk, metallic yarn; crepe, printed

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • silk,
  • metallic yarn

Signature / Inscription / Marks

P51793 C12 N1954 1252 (embr)

Type

  • Textiles

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

51.363

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Queen of the Insects

December 11, 2009 - May 9, 2010

These French apparel textiles from the 1930s and the 19th-century Chinese joined-apron (gun) both set the butterfly on a contrasting dark background embellished
with silk and metallic yarns. This dramatic artistic device not only evokes a painterly quality, but also alludes to the deeper symbolism of the butterfly: as an embodiment of metamorphosis. Both the Chinese and the Mycenaean Greeks associated the butterfly with rebirth, resurrection, immortality, and longevity, and the butterfly was seen as a symbol of the soul by some pre-Hispanic cultures and by the Greeks, for whom the butterfly was represented by Psyche.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Textile length with the accession number of 51.363. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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