Duplan Silk Corporation figured silk crepe fabric sample; 1921.
date: label: Date made
content: 1921
notes: label: Description
content: Duplan Silk Corporation Silk crepe fabric sample; 1921. Figured crepe meteor. Woven at Duplan's Hazelton, Pa. mill. All silk crepe weave fabric with a fine twilled, satin-like face. The large allover, leaf-like Jacquard figure is produced in a crepe de chine weave, the dull, matte surface of which stands out very clearly by contrast with the lustrous surface of the background. Color is Lagoon (medium blue-green). Punctures are visible throughout fabric. A sample has been taken from the corner with pinking scissors.
label: Description
content: Jean Leopold Duplan, a French businessman, founded Duplan Silk Company in New York in 1898 as an extension of his silk weaving plant in Lyons, France. The 1897 American tariff spurred Duplan to supply the American silk market with domestically made cloth. Duplan Silk began producing artificial silk (now known as rayon) as early as 1911. The lustrous artificial silk was spun from cellulose and a gelatin extracted from seaweed. Duplan himself was quite secretive about the artificial silk production process, keeping the looms in a separate, boarded section of the mill. Eventually, Duplan Silk produced silk velvets, formulated its own dyes, and printed fabrics in its own mill.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: Associated Place
content: United States: New Jersey, Allentown
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: American Silks
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content: American Silk Industry
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content: American Textile Industry
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the Duplan Silk Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T04255.000
label: accession number
content: 66772
label: catalog number
content: T04255.000
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Fabric Length
label: Object Name
content: Fabric Sample
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: blue-green (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: figured crepe (overall style)
label: Physical Description
content: jacquard woven, compound weave (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 29 1/2 in x 40 in; 74.93 cm x 101.6 cm