Antique & Vintage French Passementerie

A single tieback cord with a tassel at each end, knotted at the centre and finished in flecked chenille, bullion and cut silk. The cord runs about seventy inches .

Each tassel is built on a turned wooden mould sheathed in straw-gold silk, with twisted cords laid vertically down the mould and a band of black and gold chevron galloon at the crown. Below that sits a collerette of flecked chenille, then a skirt of mixed elements: caterpillar bobbles, twisted bullion in old rose and olive, and cut silk tufts.

Sourced from a château in France and presumably from the old of the 19th Century .

CONDITION

The chenille is matted and crushed in places, worst on the collars, and the skirts have lost their order: strands cross, and several lengths of bullion have worked loose from the ranks. Colour has gone down to a uniform tea-gold, with the old rose and olive surviving mainly where the skirt shaded them. The cord is sound along its length and both moulds are firm.

DETAILS

Form — tieback cord, two tassels
Tassel — 10 in / 25.5 cm overall
Skirt — 5 in / 12.5 cm
Cord — approx. 70 in / 178 cm
Materials — Wood , Cotton ,  silk and chenille by appearance
Colours — straw gold, old rose, olive, black
Provenance —  a château in France
Date — last quarter of the 19th century . 

Silk passementerie tassel on a twisted cord, as a curtain tieback sourced from a French château.

Tassel 10 in, of which the skirt is 7 in.

The cord is a heavy plied silk rope in honey gold shot with madder red, worked with a large knotted boss above the tassel head.

The tassel is built on turned wooden forms in a stack. A small bead covered in a worked gold mesh sits at the top. Below it, a cylindrical neck closely wound in madder silk. Then a ball bound in madder with a crossed lattice of gold braid laid over it, a madder collar beneath, and a second and wider dome in the same worked mesh. A ring of knotted bosses in cream, gold and madder finishes the head, and the skirt falls from it.

The skirt is bullion, 7 in deep, in three colours run together — madder red, honey gold and cream — the twisted cords hanging full and close, some looping at the base rather than cut.

The colour has survived here to a degree . The madder is still red rather than gone to straw, and the gold and cream are still distinct from one another.

Passementerie of this construction is French work of the nineteenth century.

Tassel 10 in overall. Skirt 7 in deep.

CONDITION

Wear at the top of the madder neck, where the covering has lifted and a pale band shows beneath it, with a few loose fibres.

Surface abrasion along the cord, which has raised a light fuzz over parts of its length.

A few skirt cords pulled out of line, and minor fraying where the cord has been knotted.

The tassel is otherwise in good order . The skirt is full with no bald areas and no losses, every element of the head is present, the mesh over both domes is unbroken, the knotted bosses are complete and the colour is strong throughout.

DETAILS

Form — tassel on a twisted cord, as a curtain tieback

Tassel — 10 in overall (25.5 cm)

Skirt — 7 in deep (18 cm), bullion

Cord — length to be confirmed

Construction — turned wooden forms, mesh-covered bead and dome, madder-wound neck, gold strapwork over a madder ball, knotted boss ring, three-colour bullion skirt

Colour — madder red, honey gold and cream, well preserved

Provenance — French château, per the source

Date — 19th century (assessed; comparable work dated 1870s to 1890s by a specialist dealer)

Sold as — see the note on quantity below

Pair of silk passementerie tassels mounted at either end of a single twisted cord, as a curtain tieback sourced from a French château. Tassel 7 in, cord over 80 in.

Each tassel is built on a turned wooden form. The head is bound in fine silk cord laid in a strapwork lattice over the ball, with a corded neck above it and a knotted silk ring at the top where the cord enters. Below the head sits a collar of moulded rosettes. Below that, an openwork netted skirt worked in knotted silk with rose and olive threads run through it. The skirt is silk bullion, the twisted cords laid close and cut level.

The colour throughout has oxidised to a deep straw, with rose and olive surviving in the netting where the light has not reached.

One of the two tassels has lost its rosette collar. In its place is the bound silk foundation the collar was mounted on, now frayed and lifting. The two tassels no longer match.

Passementerie of this construction is French work of the nineteenth century. A specialist dealer in the field dates comparable tassels, also from a château source, to the 1870s to 1890s.

Tassel 7 in long, 2.5 in wide. Cord over 80 in.

CONDITION

One tassel has lost its rosette collar entirely. The silk foundation beneath is exposed, frayed and lifting away. This is the principal fault and it means the pair is no longer matched.

The netted skirts are damaged on both tassels, with broken knots, dropped loops and loose thread ends through the rose-coloured cords.

Fraying and loose ends throughout, at the heads, at the necks and along the cord.

The bullion skirts are full on both tassels, hanging straight and cut level, with no bald areas and no losses to the fringe. The wooden forms are sound and the strapwork binding on both heads is intact and tight. The cord runs its full length unbroken.

DETAILS

Form — pair of tassels at either end of one cord, as a curtain tieback

Tassel — 7 in long (18 cm), 2.5 in wide (6.4 cm)

Cord — over 80 in (203 cm)

Construction — turned wooden form, silk-bound strapwork head, moulded rosette collar, netted skirt, silk bullion skirt

Colour — oxidised straw, with rose and olive surviving in the netting

Provenance — French château

Date — 19th century (assessed; comparable work dated 1870s to 1890s by a specialist dealer)

Faults — one rosette collar lacking, netting damaged on both, fraying throughout

Sold as — one pair on one cord

A pair of French passementerie curtain tiebacks, each a single cord ending in one large hand-worked tassel. The heads are wound over a shaped mould in cream and olive silk laid in a lattice, finished with a dense ruff and topped by a netted bead with a blue crown where the cord enters. Below the ruff hang three tiers of small covered bobs, each one wrapped by hand and spotted in blue, green and rose over a tan ground, interleaved with cut fringe and fine twisted cords. The pair comes from a renowned French château , several pieces of which have been catalogued together.

Condition : bobs are missing from the tiers, with the greater loss on one tassel of the two, and short lengths of bare cord are left where they hung. The cut fringe is frayed and broken along the lower edges, with slipped and loose threads throughout. Both tassels have faded to an overall tan, and the original blue, green and rose survive at full strength only on the sheltered faces of the bobs. The ruffs are flattened and abraded, and there is general dust and soiling in the heads and skirts. The cords are sound along their length.

Measurements: each tassel 12 in long and 3 in wide, each cord approximately 60 in. Sold as a pair, one tassel per cord.

A passementerie curtain tieback with a single large tassel, from a French château group. The head is a turned mould dressed in vertical braids of olive and rust over a pale ground, cinched at the neck with a narrow gilt-metallic band, and finished below with a deep ruff of moss-green cut velvet. Beneath the ruff the skirt falls in chartreuse and olive floss, overlaid with a dense hanging mass of small terracotta drop tassels, each individually bound and knotted onto its own cord in staggered tiers. The suspension cord is a heavy two-tone twist of olive and rust.

The colouring is the pull of the piece: acid-green and burnt terracotta together, the greens gone soft and the terracotta gone dusty, in a combination that reads as neither decorative-shop reproduction nor anything currently made.

Sourcing: acquired as part of the same French château group as the other passementerie in this collection, and attributed to the nineteenth century. 

MEASUREMENTS
Tassel: 10 in / 25.4 cm
Cord: approximately 60 in / 152.4 cm
Sold as a single tieback

CONDITION
Sold as found, with a repair. The suspension cord detached at a point above the tassel and has been rejoined with a wrapping of blue-grey thread that does not match the original colours; loose fibre is present on both sides of the join and an ornamental element appears to be missing at that point. The repair is old, visible, and shown close-up in the photographs.

Beyond the repair the tassel is intact and full: the head is firm, the braiding is sound, the velvet ruff is dense, and the skirt and its drop tassels are mostly complete with little losses . Colours have softened throughout with age, and there is general dust with scattered loose threads through the floss.


Photographed as received and sold as found. Please review all images, particularly the repair, which form part of the condition description.

A pair of passementerie curtain tiebacks in the French manner, each carrying a single tassel on a long twisted cord.

Each head is a turned mould wrapped in fine ecru silk thread laid in close horizontal courses, banded with rose and coral corded verticals, and overlaid at the waist with a diamond lattice of burgundy cord through which a band of gold silk shows in the openings. A ruff of dense moss-green cut velvet sits above the head and a second, deeper ruff below it, giving the tassel its stepped profile.

The skirt is worked in ecru bullion — tightly twisted silk cords hanging free — interleaved with looped picot braid in burgundy and gold and hung with a ring of small ornamental drops, each a miniature tassel with a wrapped ball head in gold, coral or olive. The suspension cord is a two-tone twist of sage and rose.

This is deep, layered passementerie work of the kind made for formal curtain treatments, with every element built up by hand: wrapped moulds, laid courses, netted lattice, and a skirt assembled in tiers rather than cut from a single fringe.

The colours have mellowed with age into the soft moss, ecru and faded rose that make old passementerie worth having; the palette is quieter now than the day it left the workroom, and that is the state collectors and decorators look for.

Sourcing: acquired as part of a French château group, and attributed by the source to the nineteenth century. Offered here on that basis. The tiebacks themselves carry no maker's mark, label or date.

MEASUREMENTS
Tassel: 7 in / 17.8 cm
Fringe skirt: 4 in / 10.2 cm
Widest point: 2.5 in / 6.4 cm
Cord: approximately 60 in / 152.4 cm
Sold as a pair, one tassel to each tieback

CONDITION
Sold in used antique condition. Both tassels are structurally sound with the heads firm, the wrapping intact, the lattice unbroken and the skirts mostly full. Colours throughout have softened and toned with age. There is reddish-brown patching across the moss velvet ruffs on both tassels, general dust and soiling, and scattered loose and lifted threads through the bullion and the ornamental drops, with one longer loose thread at the skirt of one tassel.

Photographed and sold as found. Please review all images, which form part of the condition description.

Pair of Antique French Silk Passementerie Tassel Tiebacks, Sage & Gold, Chateau Find

A matched pair of single-tassel passementerie curtain tiebacks in sage green silk cord with woven gold banding, each cord gathered at a wrapped ball knot before terminating in a single tassel with a full cut-fringe skirt. Per the seller, this pair was sourced from a French château estate; this provenance is presented as the seller's stated sourcing information rather than a documented or independently verified chain of ownership.

Each tassel: approximately 9" long, with a fringe length of approximately 5". Cord: approximately 70" as displayed in its looped, doubled configuration.

Condition: one tieback's cord shows a section that has become detached along its length; this is disclosed plainly and shown in photos. Beyond this, general soft age-appropriate wear is consistent with a genuine 19th century textile. Sold as a pair, as found, no restoration or repair carried out.

Antique French Silk Passementerie Double-Tassel Tieback, Chateau Find

A single passementerie curtain tieback made from twisted silk cords gathered into a woven ball knot, with two tassels hanging below the knot. Each tassel head is a two-part construction: a smaller netted ball finial above a larger woven diamond-lattice ball, sitting over a dense ribbed collar and a full cut-fringe skirt. The silk shows a rich, color-shifting range from deep burgundy and rust to warm gold and mauve depending on the light, characteristic of hand-dyed or shot-silk threads.

Cord: approximately 60" (152.4cm). Tassel bodies: approximately 6" (15.2cm) each.

Sourced from a French château estate , The double-ball tassel head and rosette-knot cord construction are consistent with 19th century French passementerie drapery trim.

Condition: General soft wear consistent with age; sold as found, no restoration or cleaning carried out.

Pair of Antique Gold Silk Passementerie Double-Tassel Tiebacks

A matched pair of passementerie curtain tiebacks, each made from multiple twisted gold-toned silk cords gathered into a large woven rosette knot, with two lattice-headed tassels hanging below each knot — four tassels total across the pair. Each tassel head is built as a woven diamond-lattice ball over a firm core, topped by a smaller knitted ball finial, with a wrapped ribbed collar transitioning into a full cut-fringe skirt below.

Each tieback: cord approximately 60" (152.4cm), tassel bodies approximately 6" (15.2cm) each.

This construction — multiple cords gathered into a rosette knot with paired lattice-head tassels — is consistent with 19th century French passementerie drapery trim, produced for grand-scale curtains where a substantial tieback was needed. 

Condition: warm gold coloring is consistent across all four tassels once accounting for photo lighting; general soft wear and slight fringe frizzing are consistent with genuine age. Rosette knots and tassel heads are structurally intact with no separation. Sold as a pair, as found, no restoration or cleaning carried out.