Panel of lace-patterned silk 1720s French In Le dessinateur, pour les fabriques detoffes dor, dargent et de soie, a manual for the silk designer published in 1765, one of the textile terms included is persienne. It is described as a weave structure with characteristics that correspond to those of many so-called lace-pattern silks of the 1720s. The principal feature of this fabric was, according to the author, Antoine Nicolas Joubert de lHiberderie, the juxtaposition of two contrasting foundation weaves—a dark or boldly colored satin weave and a white plain weave—that were augmented by brocading in additional colors of silk and possibly one or more metallic threads.¹ It is unclear in Le dessinateur whether persienne was a purely technical term or whether it also described a style. In addition to the technical definition given in the 1765 publication, evidence that persienne referred to a style as well as a structure is provided by labels inscribed on the drawings of such designs dat