Furnishing Textile

Unknown

late 15th–mid-16th century · Three loom widths of velvet cloth of gold with allucciolato effect and bouclé loops of gilded silver metal-wrapped threads · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Italian weavers were admired the world over for their virtuosity. Here, in the technique called "firefly effect", tiny loops of golden thread stand proud of the crimson velvet's surface. Amongst the Italian weavers' international clientele were the Tudor kings of England. Henry VII and his successors loved enormous scale velvet wall-hangings, like this rare survival. Visiting ambassadors marveled at expanses of such pricey textile, woven in Tuscany and exported- at great expense- for royal use in London. Henry VII adopted the pattern's double-rose motif as his dynasty's badge: the Tudor rose. Portable and pliable, these hangings brought splendor to any space, as Henry VIII used to full advantage at the 1520 temporary meet with his French counterpart, François 1er- evocatively coined by contemporaries, "the Field of the Cloth of Gold".

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 15th–mid-16th century

Medium

Three loom widths of velvet cloth of gold with allucciolato effect and bouclé loops of gilded silver metal-wrapped threads

Culture

Italian, Florence

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1966