Duplan Silk Corporation figured silk crepe fabric sample; 1921.
Duplan Silk Corporation figured silk crepe fabric sample; 1921.
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- Description
- Duplan Silk Corporation Silk crepe fabric sample; 1921. Figured crepe meteor. Woven at Duplan's Hazelton, Pa. mill. All silk crepe weave fabric with a fine twilled, satin-like face. The large allover, leaf-like Jacquard figure is produced in a crepe de chine weave, the dull, matte surface of which stands out very clearly by contrast with the lustrous surface of the background. Color is Lagoon (medium blue-green). Punctures are visible throughout fabric. A sample has been taken from the corner with pinking scissors.
- Jean Leopold Duplan, a French businessman, founded Duplan Silk Company in New York in 1898 as an extension of his silk weaving plant in Lyons, France. The 1897 American tariff spurred Duplan to supply the American silk market with domestically made cloth. Duplan Silk began producing artificial silk (now known as rayon) as early as 1911. The lustrous artificial silk was spun from cellulose and a gelatin extracted from seaweed. Duplan himself was quite secretive about the artificial silk production process, keeping the looms in a separate, boarded section of the mill. Eventually, Duplan Silk produced silk velvets, formulated its own dyes, and printed fabrics in its own mill.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Fabric Length
- Fabric Sample
- Date made
- 1921
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- Associated Place
- United States: New Jersey, Allentown
- Physical Description
- silk (overall material)
- blue-green (overall color)
- figured crepe (overall style)
- jacquard woven, compound weave (overall production method/technique)
- Measurements
- overall: 29 1/2 in x 40 in; 74.93 cm x 101.6 cm
- ID Number
- TE.T04255.000
- accession number
- 66772
- catalog number
- T04255.000
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Duplan Silk Company
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Textiles
- American Silks
- American Textile Industry
- American Silk Industry
- Textiles
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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