This silk panel combines the most expensive of materials with the most complex of weaving techniques. It is a brocaded silk which makes use of polychrome silk and real silver thread to create the pattern on a greenish ground. The technique of brocading allowed different colours to be introduced into the pattern of a fabric in specific, sometimes very small areas. It was laborious work for the weaver. This is probably a French silk because its width conforms to the regulations laid down by the guild of silk weavers (Grande Fabrique) which attempted to control the quality of all products made in the city of Lyon.
The style of design is often associated with an innovative designer called Jean Revel (1684—1751) who is credited with introducing motifs that were more naturalistic than those in previous silk design. His ideas were probably the result of contact with the tapestry workshops at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins in Paris. Luxuriant foliage was a hallmark of many tapestry borders and his innovation was to find a way of achieving similar effects in a different form of weaving.Panel of brocaded silk in polychrome and silver threads. The pattern is symmetrical about a vertical axis and comprises of flowers and foliage in shades of red, green and fawn. The ground is brown.
A band of narrow silver braid has been sewn round three of the edges suggesting it has been used as a hanging of some type, perhaps attached to a wall or made into a lectern or pulpit fall.Panel of brocaded silk in coloured and silver threads, probably made in Lyon, France, 1730-1735