Abstract
The word 'chintz' is thought to be a corruption of spotted cloth. Printing remained a relatively primitive method of decorating textiles in Europe until the second half of the 17th century. The formation of the English East India Company sparked the influx into the West of painted and printed Indian cotton textiles. A William Sherwin took out the first English patent in 1676. The earlist European designs were florals in the Indian manner. Patterns of European flowers returned to England as birds, flowers, trees, vines and stained glass for Victorian chintz. In France, the original and most successsful manufacturer of the distinctive printed fabrics from Jouy was Christophe Philippe Oberkampf. Copperplate printing was introduced to Jouy in 1770, probably reaching the pinnacle of achievement in the craft after 1783 when Jean-Baptiste Huet became chief designer. Huet's style was widely imitated in France and abroad, and the term 'toile de Jouy' has come to be universally applied to monochrome figurative designs wherever and by whomsoever they were produced. Oberkampf served his apprenticeship as an engraver with some leading manufacturers, including a period in Mulhouse. In Alsace, which was not part of France until 1798, the first factory had opened in 1746 in Mulhouse, and the area soon had the largest number of print-works in France.
