FABRIC OF LIFE
The English chintz tradition
Since the emergence of printed cottons in the 17th century, all-over floral designs have been a staple of the textile world. Here, Celia Rufey considers their enduring charm
Anyone who remembers ‘Chuck out your chintz’ – the advertising slogan put about by Ikea in 1996 – will recall how advocates of minimalist interiors adopted it as their catchphrase. True, some rooms were still overdecorated with conspicuous window treatments, but chintz was not to blame. This particular floral textile has been hard-wired into the English psyche since the 17th century; flowers are loved in the garden and keep returning to decorate the interior just as spring follows winter – for those who love chintz, not long to wait now. Printed textiles first took western Europe by storm in the 17th century. England at that time had no established print tradition, and patterns on furnishing fabrics were woven or embroidered. When trading ships bringing spices to England from India began to include a few pieces of colourful cotton calico, printed with exquisite patterns of flowers, animals and birds, they were a sensation. Known as chintz, from the Hindu word ‘chint’ meaning variously coloured, they became so popular that designs referring to English flowers and plants were sent back on the ships for printing in India. Textile printing began to be established in England as the Indian practice of fixing dyes and pigments with mordants (from mineral and plant extracts) was adopted, making printed textiles colourfast and washable.
Enthusiasm for printed cottons through the 17th and 18th centuries led to Acts of Parliament, the first in 1721, forbidding their use as furnishings or clothing, to protect the English wool trade. When all printing restrictions were lifted in the 1790s, the early years of the 1800s became the moment when floral prints gradually gained a distinctly English identity – the period up to 1860 is regarded as the golden age of English chintz. The drawing of floral designs in these decades is exceptional – many would argue never bettered – whether of flower sprays, trailing flowered stems, or looser arrangements with more fabric ground exposed and freer placement of pattern. The recently conserved bordered chintz curtains dating from the 1820s in Thomas Carlyle’s London house, now in the care of the National Trust, are typical of the exquisite layered watercolour effect on chintzes of this period.
English printworks began to gain an enviable reputation. ‘By the 1840s, Bannister Hall and Stead McAlpin were the two main producers of woodblock prints,’ says Gillian Newberry of Bennison Fabrics, ‘and it was in this decade that designs opened up, becoming markedly different from the exotic Indian flowers.’ Floral chintzes became the first choice for bed hangings and curtains and, being easily washable, small-scale florals were also in demand for clothing.
The list of flowers found on chintzes was influenced by Pierre-Joseph Redouté’s botanical illustrations; the best-known published from 1801 to 1824. It was not just the flowers he chose – roses and lilies in particular – but the ways in which he combined them that became an important reference for English designers who drew chintz patterns. Prince Albert’s marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840 had a surprising influence on chintz designs, too, as Sue Kerry, textile historian and GP &J Baker archivist, explains: ‘Prince Albert was keen to embrace British manufacture and culture. As a result, he swiftly moved the look of chintz for his redecoration of their various houses and palaces to a less formal pattern structure, to include textiles incorporating flowers found in the English garden: roses, hydrangeas, tulips, peonies and auriculas. The royal couple’s look would have been noted and copied.’
Many chintzes were given a starch or a glazed finish; it limited dirt penetration and the fabric could be dusted. But whether these florals have an applied finish, or no finish at all, does not determine their identity as chintz. It is the type of floral pattern, often printed on a light-coloured ground either on cotton or linen, that merits the name. The quality of early English chintzes is attracting interest again now as interior trends take more account of the natural world, and companies continue to print them. So for these timeless florals, spring is in the air and ‘cherish’ is replacing ‘chuck out’ as the new word on the block.
Jean Monro 020 7259 7280, jeanmonro.com Bennison Fabrics 020 7730 8076, bennisonfabrics.com Colefax and Fowler 020 8874 6484, colefax.com Lee Jofa at GP &J Baker 020 7351 7760, gpjbaker.com Melanie Leach ACR 01263 731019, textileconservator.co.uk Nicholas Herbert 020 7376 5596, nicholasherbert.com