By Porter Lang
You need a shallow tray, a bath thick enough to hold paint, some paint, a comb and a sheet of paper. That is the kit. Two of our sources describe it nearly the same way, and a third, the V&A, explains how the result came to be used in bookbinding.
The bath
History Girls, a multi-author blog, describes a shallow tray filled with a liquid called size. It says size is usually made from algae or other seaweed and is thick enough to carry paint. A retailer’s blog post, from a British homeware company, calls the bath water or a natural gelatinous substance, which helps colours float. The two descriptions fit together. The retailer says nothing about seaweed, and the blog does not offer a second recipe.
The paint
History Girls says the paints come in a vast range of colours laid out on a bench, with small amounts of gold and silver. The V&A, the museum, says ox gall, the fluid from cattle gall bladders, is mixed with the paint. The retailer says paints were traditionally oil-based and many artists now use acrylics. Those three statements describe different things, not a disagreement. We do not know which a given Florentine shop uses, and no source says.
The steps
According to History Girls, the marbler flicks colours onto the size with a brush, adds a little gold and silver sparingly, then drags a stylus and a comb through the colours. A second pass moves the comb side to side. The paper is lowered onto the surface, a step the post says needs a very steady hand and a cool head, and lifted out wet. It dries for hours and is stored flat. The remaining colour is swept out of the tray so the bath is clean for the next sheet. The retailer gives a shorter version: pour in the colours, drag a fine comb, rake or horsehair through them, then lay the paper on the water to transfer the pattern.
One batch of size, History Girls says, produces up to twenty-five sheets. The V&A adds that consistent results took a great deal of practice, and that drawing a comb through the paint gives different patterns, with different combs giving different results.
What the pattern is called
The retailer lists four pattern names: non-pareil, bouquet, peacock and swirl. History Girls calls peacock feathering the classic Florentine style, and says it appears after combing. The V&A says the nonpareil pattern became ubiquitous in the Victorian era. Our reading: the same few patterns are named in more than one place, so the name on a sheet tells you less about where it was made than the way the sheet looks.
Where it came from, and the Florence question
The V&A says marbling had been practised in Turkey for centuries and probably began nearby in Persia. Francis Bacon described it in 1627, calling it “chamoletting” and saying “The Turks have a pretty art of chamoletting papers”. History Girls says the technique is believed to have come from the area now called Turkey, as well as Persia and India, and not from Florence or Tuscany. The retailer says it moved west from Persia to Turkey in the 15th century, where it is called ebru.
Then Italy. The V&A, in the article we read, does not mention Italy at all. It says the first European marbled papers were probably made in early 17th-century Germany, and that the French linked marbling closely to bookbinding. The retailer says Italy was not the earliest European adopter and that until the mid-19th century France and Germany made almost all of Europe’s marbled paper. It says the art entered Europe as the Republic of Venice became a gateway to the East. Yet today, it says, marbled paper is mainly associated with Italy, and particularly Florence.
So the Florentine name is a reputation, not an origin. The sources say Florence has three marbled paper shops and that marblers and bookbinders there have passed skills down through generations. They say nothing about a protected name or a standard.
How to read a sheet
History Girls says each sheet is unique. The retailer says a pattern printed digitally onto linen is not a traditional marbling process, and it says so about its own table linens. Our reading: a repeat that matches exactly from one item to the next suggests a print and not a hand-floated pattern. That is an inference. Nothing in the sources tests it.
The retailer calls marbled sheets traditional Florentine souvenirs because they are light and easy to carry, and says they can wrap gifts, line drawers or be framed. That is the practical case for the paper in a December parcel.
Dates in order
- 15th century: marbling spreads from Persia to Turkey, retailer.
- Early 17th century: first European marbled papers, probably in Germany, V&A.
- 1627: Francis Bacon describes “chamoletting”, V&A.
- 1738 and 1853: Godfrey Smith’s marbling instructions; Charles Woolnough’s The Whole Art of Marbling, V&A.
- 1770s to 1780s: Britain reaches European output, V&A.
- Mid-19th century: France and Germany still make almost all of Europe’s marbled paper, retailer.
- Early 20th century: marbled paper mostly for fine binding, V&A.
Side by side
The V&A and History Girls agree on the tray, the comb and the origin in Turkey and Persia. They differ on India and on the time frame: History Girls says the technique goes back about four hundred years, the V&A says centuries in Turkey before Bacon. The retailer’s 15th-century date is the only one that puts the spread in the 1400s.
What kind of sources these are
A national museum’s blog, a multi-author blog by authors of history books, and a British homeware retailer’s journal post written to promote its table linens. The last is the only source on the Florentine trade, and it has a stake in the subject. We read no Florentine workshop’s own site.
What we left out
Prices, shop names, workshop visits, the older-origin claims in the retailer’s post that we could not check, and a claim about banknotes. We also left out the family history of the marbler in the blog post, since the person is living.
Quick answers
How is marbled paper made? Colours are floated on a thick bath called size, combed into a pattern, and the paper is laid on top to take it up, according to History Girls and the V&A.
Where did marbling start? Probably in Persia and Turkey, according to the V&A. History Girls adds India.
Why is it called Florentine? The retailer says marbled paper is mainly associated with Florence today, although France and Germany made most of Europe’s paper until the mid-19th century.
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Roam first. Shop later.