Fragment
Unknown Artist
early 18th century
Medium
Silk, metal thread
Dimensions
Overall: 23 x 9 1/8 in. (58.4 x 23.2 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Woven
Culture
Italian, Venice
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Nanette B. Kelekian, in honor of Olga Raggio, 2002
Accession Number
2002.494.541
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silk and metal-thread fragment, woven in Venice during the early 18th century, offers a glimpse into the city's golden age of luxury textiles. Measuring 23 x 9⅛ inches, it showcases intricate floral and leafy motifs—hallmarks of Venetian decorative arts—that evoke the opulent Baroque style transitioning into Rococo elegance. As a product of Italy's renowned silk industry, centered in Venice, such pieces were crafted by skilled guild weavers using advanced looms to interlace shimmering silk with metallic threads, creating a luminous, tactile surface that caught the light in grand...