Color schemes in 19th C French textiles, part 5 (green)

While red was used extensively in textile color schemes as mentioned in a previous post, other perennial favorites for backgrounds of French furnishing fabrics included gray, maroon, greens or browns - colors that today might seem dull. 

In this post, we'll look at all shades of green and olive backgrounds. Dark greens were a not a frequently-used color during the 19th century, even though they were a favorite of Napoleon. They became more common during the Art Nouveau period, but still not an often-produced background color. The dark green background fabric above, with roosters in a stand-off, is circa 1870. The ever-popular indienne floral is rendered in neutral tones on a forest green background, immediately below, ca. 1880.

The next, below, is a stylized print from the Napoleon III era.  Printed to look like woven silk, the pattern includes wheat heads and strawberry leaves as well as floral motifs, ca. 1870

This large-scale Art Nouveau pattern has pink lotus flowers with scrolling leaves, ca. 1900.