Piece
Unknown Artist
16th–17th century
Medium
Silk
Dimensions
L. 4 1/2 x W. 4 inches (11.4 x 10.2 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Velvets
Culture
Italian
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of The United Piece Dye Works, 1936
Accession Number
36.90.465
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silk velvet fragment, titled *Piece*, hails from Italy during the opulent 16th to 17th centuries, a golden age for European textile arts. Measuring just 4½ by 4 inches, it exemplifies the luxurious velvets produced in renowned Italian weaving centers like Venice, Genoa, and Florence. Thesevets were prized for their rich texture and vibrant colors, achieved through intricate looms that created a soft pile by cutting loops in the weft yarns—a sophisticated technique that demanded skilled craftsmanship and rare dyes derived from plants, insects, and minerals. In Renaissance and ea...