Ancient and widespread in origin, woven checked designs like this, formed by bands of different coloured warp and weft threads, became the basis of Scottish plaids. These plaids or tartans were standardised and made commercially available in the early 19^th Century – an era of rapid industrial advancement set against a romantic and idealised view of the past and a heightened sense of Scottish identity. The production of tartan fabrics and ribbons was not limited to Scottish mills; south of the border established centres of weaving such as that at Norwich (where this stole may have originated) also supplied the specialist tartan warehouses opening in London and elsewhere. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, when many trade restrictions were lifted, Paris embraced the tartan craze in the spirit of the Auld Alliance.