Description

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 in 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).

Imperial Measurements: Repeat continuous, width 21 ½ inches, length 11 yards.

Metric Measurements: Repeat continuous, 54.6 cm, 10 m.