Four-color Velvet with Medici Armorial in Rosettes
Unknown Artist
1450–1500
Medium
silk, velvet: cut pile and voided
Dimensions
211.5 × 40 cm · mounted: 222.3 × 49.5 × 7.6 cm
Classification
Velvet
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1943.67
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This polychrome velvet displays the heraldic design of the Medici family of Florence, where it was probably made. The device of crimson balls on a yellow ground appears in the centers of the colorful rosettes. Gilt-metal thread forms the heraldic ground in more lavish examples. The striped selvage helps identify the late 15th-century dating. The rosette pattern created with four colors of pile warp is silhouetted on the ivory satin weave foundation, known as voided velvet. Its color scheme and t...