American circa 1825-1850
Colorway A - two widths shown
B
The Farmers' Museum © Richard Walker
This splendid example of a provincial “Rainbow” pattern was discovered lining a small trunk in Fly Creek, New York. Attempting to imitate the shimmering effect of woven silk, the rainbow or irisé (pronounced eer-ee-zay) technique was invented by Michel Spoerlin in 1819 in the French region of Alsace. Rainbow wallpaper became wildly popular in France in the 1820’s. By the late 1820’s they had arrived in America and remained popular into the 1840s. This pattern dates from approximately 1830 and is clearly an American copy of “the latest French style”; it displays the simplicity of design and scale of ornament typical of provincial domestic papers of the time.
Imperial Measurements: Repeat 18 inches, width 18 ½ inches, length 11 yards, straight match.
Metric Measurements: 45.7 cm, 47 cm, 10 m.
InquireSamples are available for all Adelphi Paper Hangings patterns. Standard pattern samples are 12 inches by 23 inches and are available for $15. for each pattern. Small samples, business envelope size, are available on request, at no charge (limited to 10 per customer).
Color choices for our patterns are not limited to those shown.
All Adelphi patterns can be custom colored to better acknowledge the paper's context. Additional lead time is required for all custom work.