Sinuous lace borders interlock to form an undulating ogee lattice through Flowering Pomegranate, framing a central blossom suspended between paired, swelling fruits — pomegranates, a Byzantine fashion carried from Renaissance silk to French cotton. The source is an 18th-century block-printed quilt in the Musée de la Toile de Jouy, photographed in the gallery and redrawn by hand. Heavy woodblock outlines set against a lattice that carries the eye up the wall, giving a room clear vertical structure at a 24-inch repeat.
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The Source
Long before French woodcutters carved its form into printing blocks, Punica granatum—the pomegranate—carried thousands of years of symbolic weight. Native to ancient Persia, the tree supplied both sustenance and craft: its bark yielded tannin for curing leather, while its rind and flowers produced textile dyes. Across global traditions, the fruit became an enduring emblem of health, fertility, and renewal—buried with the ancient Egyptians for the afterlife, embroidered around the hems of Hebrew high priests' robes, woven into Christian vestments and hangings as a symbol of resurrection, and gifted at Chinese weddings as an omen of posterity.
By the Renaissance, European silk weavers had adopted the fruit as a primary motif for luxury lampas and brocatelles, the fashion carried out of Byzantium and into Europe by way of Spain.
This design originates from a 280 × 200 cm quilted and piqué bedspread produced in a small French workshop—one the museum places below the level of the Oberkampf Manufactory. With its thick, hand-drawn outlines and limited palette—originally red, black, and a deep "puce"—it carries the colours and line weight of the jafracanis imported from India, grounding centuries of global botanical symbolism in the quiet rhythm of 18th-century printmaking.
The surviving quilt was donated to the Musée de la Toile de Jouy in 2019 by les Amis du Musée de la Toile de Jouy.
The Specifications
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Source: Block-printed cotton piqué bedspread, second half 18th century, French. Musée de la Toile de Jouy, donated by les Amis du Musée de la Toile de Jouy, 2019
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Repeat: 24 in
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References: Gallery label, Musée de la Toile de Jouy. Dilys Blum, An Enduring Motif: The Pomegranate in Textiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2009–10
The Cloth
Decor Chenille
A short, dense pile with a velvet-like surface on a firm woven ground. Fine striations catch the light as it moves across the room, deepening the colour. Substantial weight keeps a clean line on upholstery and gives tailored drapery a decisive fall.
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Composition: 100% polyester
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Width: 56 in printable (57 in full)
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Weight: 400 gsm
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For: Upholstery, cushions, headboards, heavy drapery
Cotton Linen
A fine, even linen-cotton weave. Colour prints cleanly while the woven surface remains visible, keeping solid grounds from going flat without softening fine linework. Light in the hand, it falls in narrow, supple folds and filters light rather than blocking it.
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Composition: 55% linen, 45% cotton
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Width: 54 in printable
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Weight: 250 gsm
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For: Upholstery, curtains, table linens, pillows
