Broderie de Fontenoy-le-Château

About

Fontenoy-le-Château was from (1850) a high place of embroidery known as white embroidery. This luxury embroidery was exported to royal courts around the world.

The Romans brought with their art of living the refinement of decorative embroidery. This art is practiced in convents where monks produce for the sacred. Catherine de Medici, herself very skillful is said to be embroidery, popularizing in the court of France. Louis XIV's reign with Colbert promoted the luxury trade. The French Revolution put an end to the great workshops of the chasubliers who embroidered for the Church. We will have to wait until the opulence of the Second Empire for embroidery to return to the cutting edge of fashion. Here's how Julie-Victoire Daubié, the child of Fontenoy, who held an embroidery office created by her sister, sums up the story of White Embroidery:

"The white embroidery on tulle, muslin, jaconas, etc., dates from the 15th century in France. The Middle Ages knew only embroidery on silk and wool, which it reserved for objects of public ornamentation. It was in the 16th century that individuals had the right to wear embroidered clothes...