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Object Timeline
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1973 |
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Textile, Les Coquecigrues
This is a Textile. It was manufactured by Oberkampf & Cie.. It is dated ca. 1792 and we acquired it in 1973. Its medium is cotton and its technique is block printed with some colors applied by brush, on plain weave foundation. It is a part of the Textiles department.
Flights of Fancy
Les coquecigrues features in several French expressions, such as á la venue des coquecigrues, which has the meaning and something of the feeling of “when pigs fly.” But this enchanting fabric suggests another expression, regarder voler les coquecigrues, or watching the coquecigrues fly. Coquecigrues are fantastical imaginary creatures, so watching them fly would have to be considered the worst kind of wool-gathering… daydreaming… allowing oneself to be seduced by things that do not exist.
First produced around 1792 by Oberkampf et Cie at Jouy-en-Josas, the design was popular enough to be still in production in 1818, when a white-ground version was used to decorate the bedroom of Oberkampf’s daughter Emilie, then Mme. Jules Mallet. While Oberkampf had become famous for the engraved copper plate prints now commonly called toiles de Jouy -- large-scale monochrome prints of pastoral scenes -- the company continued to produce very high-quality wood block prints in a dazzling number of colors, inspired by their Indian predecessors, hand-painted chintz.
This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Flights of Fancy.
This object was
donated by
Josephine Howell.
It is credited Gift of Josephine Howell.
- Sidewall (France)
- block printed on handmade paper.
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1931-45-10
- Print, Plate 1, from Die Folge der phantastichen Scmucksträße (Suite of...
- etching on laid paper.
- Museum purchase through gift of Mrs. John Innes Kane.
- 1942-36-28-2
- Print, Plate 2, from Die Folge der phantastischen Schmucksträße (Suite of...
- etching on laid paper.
- Museum purchase through gift of Mrs. John Innes Kane.
- 1942-36-28-3
Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.
- Print, Plate 5, from Die Folge der phantastischen Schmucksträβe (Suite of...
- etching on laid paper.
- Museum purchase through gift of Mrs. John Innes Kane.
- 1942-36-29-2
Its dimensions are
H x W: 28.6 x 43.2 cm (11 1/4 x 17 in.) Repeat H: 26.4 cm (10 3/8 in.)
Cite this object as
Textile, Les Coquecigrues; Manufactured by Oberkampf & Cie. (France); France; cotton; H x W: 28.6 x 43.2 cm (11 1/4 x 17 in.) Repeat H: 26.4 cm (10 3/8 in.); Gift of Josephine Howell; 1973-51-137
