VERONICA red/blue

Repeat 19,5 x 25,5 cm. Width 145cm.

Winterthur Museum, Delaware, USA. Panel of block printed cotton dated 1760-80, provenance unknown. Original is printed brown on white ground. The brown and red colours were often achieved by printing with mordents on the printing blocks and dyed with madder. Different chemicals gave a variation of red and brown hues from the same dye pot – the untreated surfaces remained white. The printed cottons with big repeats were used both for clothing and as interior fabrics like curtains, bedspreads and covers.