Ottoman chest
Category
Furniture
Date
Unknown
Materials
Chintz, Wood
Measurements
375 x 565 x 570 mm
Order this imageCollection
Greys Court, Oxfordshire
NT 195545
Summary
Footstool consisting of glazed chintz cover over cotton clad frame work with padding. Chintz decorated with pink and white flowers and birds of paradise, to match screen. Fabric is a GP&J Baker design named Paradise Bird.
Full description
Glazed chintz cover over cotton clad frame work with padding. Chintz decorated with pink and white flowers and birds of paradise, to match screen. Fabric is a GP&J Baker design named Paradise Bird. The word 'chintz' is taken from the plural of the Indian word 'chint' which means "broad and gaudily printed fabric". Chintz was originally glazed calico textiles, initially specifically those imported from India, printed with designs featuring flowers and other patterns in different colours, typically on a light plain background. Since the 19th century the term has also been used for the style of floral decoration developed in these calico textiles but then used more widely, for example in chintz-ware and wallpaper. Chintz has a smooth, shiny glazed finish and a dull back. Fully glazed chintz is finished with a compound that stiffens the fabric. To create the glaze a finishing solution is applied. While the finishing solution is only partially dried it is 'friction calendered'. This is when fabric is passed through a calendar in which a highly polished (and usually heated) steel bowl/roller rotates at a higher speed than the softer bowl /roller against which is works thus producing a glaze on the face of the fabric. If the finishing solution is starch or wax based, the effect is temporary. If resin based it is permanent. This perhaps implies that the fabric on this suite is glazed with starch or wax based finishing solution, as it seems to have lost some of its shiny finish.