Sample book of swatches

19th c.

Sample book of swatches: cotton, plain weave, block printed

37.5 × 11.7 cm (14.8 × 4.6 in)

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Not currently on view

In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

The Department of Textiles has in its collection many important showpieces but also copious holdings of fabric samples, or swatches—about 58,000 in all—from countries such as England, Scotland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, and the United States. Some samples have been preserved in book form, which affords a broad view of production usually linked to a particular time, place, or technique. This large-format volume contains about 3,000 samples of printed cottons. A notation inside the cover attributes the book to Mulhouse, a city in the Alsace region of France famous for its textile production. -A Global View: Recent Acquisitions of Textiles, 2012-2016, April 8-September 5, 2016

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