The document behind it is a nineteenth-century floral print on gauze, recently acquired by Rubelli, and the flowers in it are large and drawn from life rather than stylised. Translated into lampas on a silk satin ground, they have been deliberately desaturated so that the weave carries the modelling instead of the colour. The three-dimensionality survives; the prettiness is held back.
Scale is the point: a 94 cm vertical repeat with the horizontal at 68 cm, half the 136 cm width. It comes in two versions, the same weft colours run over two different grounds, which is a disciplined way to offer a design of this size. Drawn by Formafantasma. Made in Italy, for decoration rather than for hard use.
