WWI silk postcard with French flags and flowers

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c. 1915

Overview

Embroidered silk postcard in the form of an envelope. The flap of the scalloped fabric envelope is bordered with cream thread and features two crossed French flags facing inwards on fawn flagpoles.
There is a blue five-petaled flower surrounded by green leaves in the middle, with two four-petaled white flowers with yellow centres below. A single white flower with leaves is on each side of the flap beneath the flagpoles. The central leaves form a heart shape.
On the base of the insert are two depictions of the dormant buds and branches of a deciduous tree in hues of yellow, light and dark brown.
Inside the lifted flap is a small cream coloured greeting card featuring on the left side a circular depiction of a coastal balcony looking out to sea with sailing boats, under which are more branches and buds of a dormant deciduous tree. On the right hand side are the words 'A Happy Xmas' printed in blue. The reverse of the card insert is plain.
The surrounds of the postcard are made from embossed cream card with decorative floral patterns.
The reverse of the card has two central lines between which the words 'Fabrication Francaise' are printed in black. There are remnants of a message written in pencil which has either faded over time or has been deliberately erased.

Historical information

According to the Australian War Memorial, woven silk postcards were first produced in Krefeld, Germany in 1898 as a combination of printed postcards and large woven silk pictures, known as Stevengraphs. The early cards were woven on machines. Being machine made, the woven cards always maintained a high standard.
Embroidered silk postcards were first made in 1900 for the Paris Exposition. The popularity of silk postcards peaked during World War One. A thriving cottage industry began around 1915 and the quality of the early silks was quite high. However later, to satisfy demand, the workmanship was often not quite as high.
Postcard companies began to employ women to produce silks on a rough assembly line basis. The cards were generally hand embroidered on strips of silk mesh with as many as 25 on a strip. They were mostly embroidered by French women in their homes and then sent to the factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.
Some postcards were made with little envelopes which could contain a smaller card with a sentimental message.
Production continued steadily through World War One, declining substantially in 1919, until ending around 1923. An estimated 10,000,000 hand made cards were produced from 1915 to 1919.

There are a large number of silk postcards in the collection, including several groupings relating to individual soldiers and their families. This card is an example of that, having been sent to one of two young daughters of a soldier who wrote regularly to his wife and both daughters.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00670

Item type

Themes