Orientalist Comic Opera Theme Illustrated (1 results)

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. [Toile de Nantes]. La Caravane du Caire. (The Cairo Caravan). Nantes, pour la Fosse Lionet à Montpellier c1787. Cotton pelmet (50 x 104 cm) printed in red on cream background with engraved brass roller (aluminum mordant & madder), hand-quilted with cream home-spun linen. An exotic furnishing fabric inspired by an orientalist comedy in three acts by André Grétry (1741-1813) set to a libretto by the playwright Étienne Morel de episode depicted in the cotton fabric, Husca leads Zélime to the seated Pasha, who struck by her beauty, buys her in the presence of four musicians. Chédeville (1751-1814), first performed at Fontaineb leau in 1783. The comic-opera, enormously popular with over 500 performances, tells the story of a caravan on the banks of the Nile with travellers looking forward to the pleasures of Cairo. The slaves and the beautiful Muslim girl Zélime and her French husband Saint-Phar however lament their misfortune; Arab bandits attack, Saint-Phar offers to help and is unchained by Husca, the leader of the caravan to drive back the Arabs, but he is not freed for his gallantry, asking Zélime to be liberated instead; in the Cf: Henri-René Allemagne, La toile imprimée, Paris 1942, plate 168; Sarah Grant, Toiles de Jouy (2010), plate 55 with 3 illustrations; Victoria & Albert Museum: T94-1983; Toiles de Nantes, des xviiie et xix siècles 9 décember 1977-29 janvier 1978, Musée de l Impression sur Etoffes de Mulhouse no 39, pp68-9.