
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: Recent Acquisitions of Textiles, 2012-2016, April 8-September 5, 2016

Jeronimo de Bran
Lucas Emil Vorsterman (Flemish, 1595-1675) after Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607-1674)

Jan Lievens
Lucas Emil Vorsterman (Flemish, 1595-1675) after Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599-1641)

Portrait of Emile Zola
Marcellin Gilbert Desboutin French, 1823-1902

Library Ladder
William France (born England, 1759–1838) London Made for Badminton House, Badminton, Gloucestershire, England