Tree of life and mashrabiya

This drawing by Hilaire Colcombet is a 20th century depiction on silk of a doe from the Golden Temple of Amritsar in Punjab (India).

The images on this silk were flat-screen printed almost to the shade, with the exception of the mashrabiya enhanced with green.

The textured patterns were produced with the technique known as “saber” velveting. Saber velveting, one of the most prestigious techniques used by the silk manufacturers in Lyon, was developed by Saint-Etienne’s Charles Rebours in the 1850s. The silk company Colcombet, whose Charles Colcombet would later found Bucol, was producing saber velvet silk shortly after its introduction.