Q. I want my Victorian fainting couch to look like Sigmund Freud’s. Where can I find upholstery fabric in Persian kilim patterns?
A. One of the most famous pieces of furniture in the world, Freud's couch, above, was where his patients reclined as their psyches were probed. It was not, however, a fainting couch or a chaise longue, like your Victorian antique. The couch where the likes of the composer Gustav Mahler and the American poet H. D. were treated was a decidedly more homespun affair hidden beneath a slipcover: a plump muslin-covered underbody with an integral sausagelike roll at one end, a large detached cushion for back support and two low fabric-covered platforms.
That analytic couch is still a feature of the cozy antiquities-strewn study at the Freud Museum at 20 Maresfield Gardens in London, a handsome brick mansion where the psychoanalyst lived from 1938 until his death a year later; it remained the home of his daughter Anna, a child psychoanalyst, until 1982. (Photographs and information are at freud.org.uk.)
The couch wasn't, however, upholstered in a kilim, which is a Middle Eastern rug with no soft pile. Then as now the couch — said to have been a gift to Freud from a patient around 1890 — was draped with a velvet-textured late-19th-century Qashqai Shekarlu wool carpet colored red and blue and patterned with flowers and diamond medallions. It was piled with soft cushions in moody shades of red, gold and green; a Persian carpet hung on the wall behind.
Freud would sit in a green velvet chair at the head of the couch while patients would recline, supported in a semi-upright position by the cushions.
In case you are wondering why the father of psychoanalysis used a finely made tribal carpet as a slipcover, it is instructive to remember that before the 20th century, Oriental rugs and carpets often were deployed anywhere but on the floor. The paintings of artists like Vermeer depict tables covered with Oriental carpets, which were too highly prized to be stepped on. That use became popular again in the late 19th century, when fashionable interiors began taking their aesthetic cues from nomadic tents and sultans' palaces, thanks to Orientalist modes of decoration inspired by Western explorers' treks to Africa and the Middle East.
It's an idea worth reviving. Almost any Middle Eastern rug with a geometric pattern could serve as a Freudian slip. Just make sure it is velvety in texture rather than rough. A standard flat-weave kilim — which is pile-free and can feel like a pot scrubber against the bare skin — won't do.
Seekers of design authenticity will be happy to know that Persian carpets like the one on Freud's couch, made by the Shekarlu tribe of the Qashqai federation, are fairly plentiful and affordable. Whether made in the 1890s or last week, Qashqai Shekarlus sell for $600 to $2,500 or so, depending on condition, size and rarity, and they often have some combination of geometric medallions and stylized flowers. (If you're shopping online, check the various spellings in popular use: Qashgai, Kashgai, Qashqay, Gashgai, Gaschgai, Ghashghai and Qashqa'i, as well as Qashqai.) As to size, Freud's carpet is about five feet by eight; if you want to upholster your fainting couch with an actual carpet, buy one that's large enough.
Fabrics with Orientalist patterns are available from numerous manufacturers. Ralph Lauren Home has upholstery fabrics that recall Middle Eastern textiles; Gustave Kilim printed linen ($141 a yard) and Ibiza Rug printed cotton ($111 a yard) are available in spicy colorways that echo Freud's office palette (store locations: rlhome.polo.com or 888-475-7674). Thibaut, a venerable wallpaper and fabric manufacturer in Newark, offers appropriate designs in its Tamarind collection, including Kilim ($48 a yard) and Istanbul Damask ($40 a yard), both printed on cotton duck (information and locations: thibautdesign.com or 800-223-0704). Waverly is another resource, with patterns like Paddock Shawl ($33 a yard); information and stores: waverly.com.
And I'd recommend a stone patterned vinyl floor tile ($1. per sq. ft.) for the Roman vomitorium in the hallway.
if you can hold it in that far.
|
- bill 2-15-2007 4:51 pm
A. One of the most famous pieces of furniture in the world, Freud's couch, above, was where his patients reclined as their psyches were probed. It was not, however, a fainting couch or a chaise longue, like your Victorian antique. The couch where the likes of the composer Gustav Mahler and the American poet H. D. were treated was a decidedly more homespun affair hidden beneath a slipcover: a plump muslin-covered underbody with an integral sausagelike roll at one end, a large detached cushion for back support and two low fabric-covered platforms.
That analytic couch is still a feature of the cozy antiquities-strewn study at the Freud Museum at 20 Maresfield Gardens in London, a handsome brick mansion where the psychoanalyst lived from 1938 until his death a year later; it remained the home of his daughter Anna, a child psychoanalyst, until 1982. (Photographs and information are at freud.org.uk.)
The couch wasn't, however, upholstered in a kilim, which is a Middle Eastern rug with no soft pile. Then as now the couch — said to have been a gift to Freud from a patient around 1890 — was draped with a velvet-textured late-19th-century Qashqai Shekarlu wool carpet colored red and blue and patterned with flowers and diamond medallions. It was piled with soft cushions in moody shades of red, gold and green; a Persian carpet hung on the wall behind.
Freud would sit in a green velvet chair at the head of the couch while patients would recline, supported in a semi-upright position by the cushions.
In case you are wondering why the father of psychoanalysis used a finely made tribal carpet as a slipcover, it is instructive to remember that before the 20th century, Oriental rugs and carpets often were deployed anywhere but on the floor. The paintings of artists like Vermeer depict tables covered with Oriental carpets, which were too highly prized to be stepped on. That use became popular again in the late 19th century, when fashionable interiors began taking their aesthetic cues from nomadic tents and sultans' palaces, thanks to Orientalist modes of decoration inspired by Western explorers' treks to Africa and the Middle East.
It's an idea worth reviving. Almost any Middle Eastern rug with a geometric pattern could serve as a Freudian slip. Just make sure it is velvety in texture rather than rough. A standard flat-weave kilim — which is pile-free and can feel like a pot scrubber against the bare skin — won't do.
Seekers of design authenticity will be happy to know that Persian carpets like the one on Freud's couch, made by the Shekarlu tribe of the Qashqai federation, are fairly plentiful and affordable. Whether made in the 1890s or last week, Qashqai Shekarlus sell for $600 to $2,500 or so, depending on condition, size and rarity, and they often have some combination of geometric medallions and stylized flowers. (If you're shopping online, check the various spellings in popular use: Qashgai, Kashgai, Qashqay, Gashgai, Gaschgai, Ghashghai and Qashqa'i, as well as Qashqai.) As to size, Freud's carpet is about five feet by eight; if you want to upholster your fainting couch with an actual carpet, buy one that's large enough.
Fabrics with Orientalist patterns are available from numerous manufacturers. Ralph Lauren Home has upholstery fabrics that recall Middle Eastern textiles; Gustave Kilim printed linen ($141 a yard) and Ibiza Rug printed cotton ($111 a yard) are available in spicy colorways that echo Freud's office palette (store locations: rlhome.polo.com or 888-475-7674). Thibaut, a venerable wallpaper and fabric manufacturer in Newark, offers appropriate designs in its Tamarind collection, including Kilim ($48 a yard) and Istanbul Damask ($40 a yard), both printed on cotton duck (information and locations: thibautdesign.com or 800-223-0704). Waverly is another resource, with patterns like Paddock Shawl ($33 a yard); information and stores: waverly.com.
- bill 2-15-2007 4:58 pm [add a comment]
And I'd recommend a stone patterned vinyl floor tile ($1. per sq. ft.) for the Roman vomitorium in the hallway.
- L.M. 2-15-2007 8:22 pm [add a comment]
if you can hold it in that far.
- bill 2-15-2007 8:26 pm [add a comment]