Conventionalized chrysanthemum textile

Conventionalized chrysanthemum textile

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This highly abstract silk textile design reduces chrystanthemum blossoms to geometric, uniform shapes arranged in a tight, grid-like composition. Its pattern is likely derived from Japanese designs. The textile sample was part of a gift to the Met from Candace Wheeler's daughter, Dora Wheeler Keith, which included many textiles designed by Wheler and Associated Artists. However, it is unlikely that this sample was designed by Associated Artists. The firm rarely designed with this high degree of abstraction and the mark in the selvage, "hh of NY," does not appear on any fabric known to be designed by them. More likely, the fabric was used for a particular decorating project. Its complex weave and pattern could indicate that it is not even of American manufacture.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Conventionalized chrysanthemum textileConventionalized chrysanthemum textileConventionalized chrysanthemum textileConventionalized chrysanthemum textileConventionalized chrysanthemum textile

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.