Passing Poster

Two brocade panels are stacked into one print: above, cranes cut through stylised grasses woven in silver and olive; below, a long procession crosses a dark plain carrying bundles, baskets and a cartwheel, with snow-capped peaks along the horizon. The upper band is pure pattern, the lower one narrative, and together they read like two pages of the same book. Metallic thread lifts the figures out of the brown ground without turning them bright. The caption underneath dates the textile to 1750 and leaves the rest to the eye. Seen together the two bands turn a textile sample into a story with a beginning and an end.

The wide format suits a stretch of wall that a portrait print would leave half empty, above a sideboard, a desk or a sofa. Browns and antique golds settle easily against walnut, leather and warm white walls, and they hold their own in a room lit by lamps rather than daylight. A dark wood frame matches the lower panel; a thin brass one picks up the metallic thread. Hang it at eye level, since the lower band rewards standing close.