581 - Lot of seven wooden textile printing blocks, stamps with floral patterns and leaf scrolls

Lot of seven wooden textile printing blocks, stamps with floral patterns and leaf scrolls Wood, lot of seven wooden printing blocks, also wooden stamps or textile stamps, for textile printing, for borders and larger-scale decors, with relief-carved floral patterns: 1) block with twig and leaf scrolls at the edge, 2) block with roses between dotted fields with serrated borders, 3) red-brown block with shaped outline, incomplete, 4) block with star-shaped flowers, 5) block with two large flowers between small star flowers, 6) block with wave scrolls, 7) block with lozenge-shaped medallion with leafy twig in stepped frame with volutes, incomplete. Good condition commensurate with age, edges chipped in places. Max. 20x14 cm (LxW). Until the end of the 16th century painted and printed fabrics came to Europe from India as indiennes. From the second half of the 17th century they were also made in European manufactories, for example in Geneva, Neuchâtel, Basel and Glarus. Instead of painting the patterns, they were printed there with wooden blocks, which was faster and cheaper; printed fabrics thus became a mass consumer article. In 1686 France banned the manufacture and processing of painted fabrics, which triggered a lucrative smuggling trade.