Collections

A former fund held by the town council of Jouy-en-Josas was the starting point of the museum's collection.
It was soon enriched by the generosity of Oberkampf's descendants, especially Baron Jean-Pierre Mallet.

A policy of active acquisition, especially through purchases at auctions and regular donations, also helped to increase the collection, which now numbers close to 10,000 pieces.

The museum already has the technical equipment required for textile printing: engraving tools, carved wood blocks, and engraved copper plates and rollers. 

Many of the designs from the Jouy factory - costumes, samples, engravings, drawings, preliminary prints (tests on paper prior to printing), curtains, bed coverings - are preserved and displayed here.

For the purpose of comparison and to increase the attraction of this highly specialized collection, the museum also includes printed fabrics from other manufacturers within its scope of interests (such as those from India which inspired Toiles de Jouy and all of the European production, or those from the major French manufacturers of Nantes, Normandy, and Alsace who maintained close relationships, even if only through the circulation of motifs from one to another).

Another focus of acquisition concerns representations and memorabilia of the factory (drawings and engravings by Huet, scenes of the factory by Julie Feray ...), and the evocation of Oberkampf and his family: costumes of the eighteenth century and paintings by Boilly, Baron Gerard, and Vernet.

The collections are very fragile as most consist of printed cottons, and so are presented in rotation. Those in reserve constitute an important resource, which is accessible for researchers and producers of contemporary textiles, on request.