Several intact examples of this pattern with its
companion Anthemion Border exist: on the walls of Selso Slot (castle)
in Denmark, at the Cabinet des Estampes of the Bibliotheque Nationale
in Paris and the collection compiled by Patrice Mauny. It was printed
in 1799 by the Parisian firm of Arthur et Robert, two English
expatriates.
Graduations in the stripe width plus the
variations of color shade demonstrate the genius of the French style
for achieving the illusion of three dimensional volume on flat plane.
Because of its simplicity, the printing of unembellished stripes is one
of the more challenging type of patterns to block print. (Some of the
earliest machines appearing in the wallpaper industry were developed
for the printing of consistent, even stripes.)
The Anthemion Frieze is printed atop the stripes,
matching up to the sidewall paper at the ceiling line. Or, the frieze
can also be used at both ceiling and chair rail (palmettes pointing
down from the ceiling and up from the chair rail).
Repeat continuous
Width 21½ inches
The historic colorway image above shows two widths of the
pattern installed. Alternate colorway images show one
complete width of the pattern.