Flying Carpets, a research request - novelty print egs?

M

mercyonthesubway

Registered Guest
Hi everyone - last request for help for a while, hope someone can help.

I'm beginning to think I have rather peculiar tastes in novelty prints, but anyway... Here's a topic I'm trying to put together as a little research project at the moment: flying carpet prints.

I've only ever found identifiable 'flying carpets' in prints from the 1940s (or which really look like they're 40s). I suspect it's something to do with Hollywood's use of the motif in the Thief of Bagdad films.

But to get away from novelty prints for a moment, here's one in an earlier classic of children's literature, the carpet (which contained the Phoenix's egg when bought from a junk shop) in E. Nesbit's 'The Phoenix and the Carpet':



I have three 40s magic or flying carpet prints to show eventually, but I wondered whether anyone here had come across any examples. Here's a detail of some unused yardage that I purchased recently:



Here's the full pattern (with one of my favourite purses, which I thought went nicely with it...)



Have any of you seen a flying carpet in any other pattern? Would love to see any examples that have passed through people's hands!

Thanks all.
Lin
 
Hi Lin. I see you're in FuzzyLizzie's flickr Vintage Novelty Prints group, as I am. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1134758@N25/ That is wonderful vintage fabric you posted; great colors.
That's pretty specialized, but I'm sure there must be more flying around out there, somewhere...

Sometimes, I think I'm going to focus in, on late 40's undersea theme rayon prints. And then I go off on another tangent!
 
Originally posted by joules

That's pretty specialized, but I'm sure there must be more flying around out there, somewhere...
Click to expand...

Good one!

Funny, but I had a small piece of that same print once. Seems like I sent it to Maggie.

I can't recall anyother examples, except in vintage magazines. I'll post any I run across in the next few days.
 
Joules,

Absolutely! I only discovered the flikr group a few days ago, having been totally out of the loop for a while, as I've been so busy. You know, I have to confess, this particular unused yardage had already been posted on that group by Niesz Vintage Fabric (p. 7 of her 'Vintage fabric' group) - I snapped it up on Etsy only a couple of (three?) weeks ago and then later saw that she'd posted it on Flikr. These are my personalized photographs for possible blog posting in a little while...

Anyway, I've got lots to upload for that group - blimey. I just went through my 'main' storage (at the moment, a suitcase, so unfortunately everything's crumpled) and things got out of hand. Behold, Aladdin's suitcase!



Just speak the words 'Open Sesame' and a heap of rayon and silk begs for a dry cleaner...

Undersea sounds like a great focus - some fantastic leisure-wear out there. I have to confess, that despite the fact that I've tried to restrict myself to 'Orientalist' or 'Persianizing' images, I can still fall victim to other themes. I recently bought a 1970s Marks and Spencer vest with some great sailor figures on it... And I still love my mutilated/bleached Caribbean RAF base skirt (on the novelty print flikr group) and I don't think I could ever 'deaccession' it...
 
and: haha! I am very slow at puns....

Lizzie, did it seem like a full-on 40s print to you? That piece is so fresh, I do hesitate.

I love the perspective-crunching of these dense prints, with the cityscape behind. This one I've just been peering at. I think it's more authentic (no flying carpets in the Arabian Nights!) as it seems to have a flying horse, and perhaps a genie?



I purchased this on the rebound from a buyer who was reselling some of their stash - I'd watched it get bid out of my range the first time around. Needs a serious clean.

 
Well, the colors certainly look 40s, or maybe very early 50s. My piece was a very smooth cotton, and for some reason 40s ones seem to be more often made of rayon.
 
Yes, it's the same cloth then: creamy-smooth cotton. Not too thick, not too thin. And yes, the prints used for clothing are normally silk or rayon. I guess this weight could be for furnishings/trimmings? I don't really want to interfere with it - it's so unspoiled.

L
 
Another great reason to keep an eye on flickr. I love your trunk of magic textiles there! I'll be totally on the lookout now.
That knight on the charger is so exiting! Oh wait, it's a flying horse, isn't it? Which reminds me of another print I have....I'll go find it.
A whirling dervish? A genie?
40's rayon print:
3316232399_9616f406e7.jpg
 
Lovely print - is that a dancer with a scarf? It's difficult to see whether it's male or female - a stunning set of colours. Is that figure set in a kind of sketchy landscape or is it an ornamental pattern?
 
I wish I had a print to share with you, but I wanted to say I don't think your focus is peculiar at all - or, if it is, then it's one I completely sympathize with! :)

When I was small I had a picture book "The Flying Carpet" by Marcia Brown. Actually, I still have it and treasure it. It's a retelling of part of the Arabian Nights (Burton translation). I love this book - the illustrations, everything! She wrote and illustrated it in 1956 and her images remind me of some of the gorgeous prints you've found.

Here's a link to one of the paintings she did for the book:
http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/Images/FlyingCarpet.htm

Jen
 
Okay, I got a bit carried away and wrote a total blog-novellette on flying carpets, but this is really interesting - there's more?!

Jen, thanks so much for pointing out that book - it's 1956, so kind of reacting to the stuff I was thinking must be the high point of 'flying carpet'-ness in prints (in the 40s). I must get myself a copy.

And that dress is crazy - wow. Full-on exotica - almost like a fantasy oasis?

L
 
Jen, what a beauitful painting illustration for the childrens' book. No wonder you are still under the spell.

The red print dress is waiting to be repaired, made over somehow, as there is a terrible tear in the bodice, near the sleeve (near the point of the collar, on the left), where someone yanked it from a pile of clothing, I heard.

Lin, could we read your blog post?
 
Oh, I don't think I can post it, but if you google my ID here plus 'flying carpet' or similar, I think it's fairly easy to find. To be honest, I ended up not talking about the clothes quite so much as I first intended, but I knew that I should try and get something up while I was thinking about it (then maybe add other examples as they turn up). I got a bit carried away instead by the trajectory of the stories.

I've just registered the really spectacular collar on that red dress. Have also just been looking further at the 'finding aid' for Marcia Brown's papers and they look very potentially destracting. She's even studied painting in China...
 
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