Point Paper (mise-en-carte)
c. 1880
Medium
Opaque watercolor (gouache) over graphite with black ink on mold paper
Dimensions
42.7 × 49.7 cm (16 7/8 × 19 5/8 in.); Matted: 46 × 55.8 cm (18 1/8 × 22 in.)
Classification
accessory - paper design
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
217073
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This watercolor design of water lilies and other aquatic plants on paper is a mise-en-carte, or weaving draft, meant to serve as a bridge between the original design and the woven textile. Prepared on paper with a grid pattern whose lines represent warps and wefts, such drafts provided instructions for preparing the loom and for color usuage. Professional mise-en-carte readers were sometimes employed to assist the weavers and help them understand the designer's intensions. -A Global View: Recen...