Brocade

Art Historical Context

Step into the lavish world of 16th Islamic textiles with *Brocade*, a example of woven luxury from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Islamic Art collection. This panel, measuring 71½ inches long and 27 inches wide, features silk woven with metal-wrapped threads a brocading technique. Brocading involves supplementary wefts that float over the ground weave to create raised, shimmering patterns—often floral motifs here, evoking the paradisiacal gardens celebrated in Islamic art and poetry. Crafted anonymously by skilled artisans, likely in a major weaving center of the Ottoman or Safavid empires, t...