Object Timeline

1985	Work on this object began.
2016	We acquired this object.
2018	We photographed this object.
2024	You found it!

Textile, Lilium

This is a Textile. It was designed by Larsen Design Studio and produced by Jack Lenor Larsen Incorporated. It is dated 1985 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is silk and its technique is handwoven plain weave, warp printed. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Larsen Design Studio rediscovered older technologies that had not been fully utilized previously, with the idea of reintroducing them with a twentieth century design aesthetic. As an example, warp print technology was developed by the French in the first decade of the 19th century, but had only been used on fine, smooth silk to create small floral motifs for fashion fabrics. (1) Larsen experimented with this technology both in the United States and abroad, specifically in Korea, where he encouraged a weaving mill to explore the possibilities of a traditional silk warp. This research and development ended up with a line of fabrics, including Lillium, two decades later. By printing the warp, the flowers--larger and more densely arranged than their 19th century counterpart--have a "fuzzy" outline that re-interprets an ikat dyeing technique.
(1) "Larsen's Use of Technology" by Lotus Stack in Interplay: Perspectives on the Design Legacy of Jack Lenor Larsen (University of Minnesota, 2001)

This object was donated by Longhouse Reserve. It is credited Cowtan and Tout Larsen Archive Collection, Gift of Longhouse Reserve.

This glossy white porcelain vase is shaped like a squared bottle with curving handles at each side, arcing out from the shoulders to join the vase near the top of the long, narrow neck. The line of the handle and side is a smooth S curve. Painted on the front and side are large orange-brown lilies, one on each side, with muted green-brown foliage. Smaller white and yellow daisies are painted at the base of the lilies, growing up from the straight bottom edges of the vase.

Two-Handled Vase Vase
porcelain, vitreous enamel.
Gift of Arthur Altschul.
1994-117-3

Its dimensions are

H x W: 645.2 × 128.3 cm (21 ft. 2 in. × 50 1/2 in.)

It is inscribed

Printed on selvedge: Lilium a Larsen Design © 1985 by Jack Lenor Larsen, incorporated

Cite this object as

Textile, Lilium; Designed by Larsen Design Studio (United States); Produced by Jack Lenor Larsen Incorporated (United States); silk; H x W: 645.2 × 128.3 cm (21 ft. 2 in. × 50 1/2 in.); Cowtan and Tout Larsen Archive Collection, Gift of Longhouse Reserve; 2016-32-14

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/22tZLK/
Accession Number 2016-32-14
Object ID 673135631