Bonnelles is an all-over pattern of leaf motifs, hand block-printed so that each impression varies slightly from the next, then framed with handmade embroidery picked out in contrasting dots. The layering of print and stitch gives the surface real depth at close range. It takes its name from the mid-nineteenth-century chateau in Les Yvelines built for the duchesse d'Uzes, heiress to the Veuve Clicquot champagne fortune.
The ground is a linen blend, 88 per cent linen with 12 per cent viscose, woven 127 centimetres wide and made in India at a substantial 325 grams per square metre. The handwork asks to be seen, so it suits curtains and upholstery in rooms where the detail can be read, a drawing room chair, a bedroom blind, a headboard.
