Table cover
Unknown Artist
late 16th–early 17th century
Medium
Silk and metal thread
Dimensions
L. 55 x W. 38 inches (139.7 x 96.5 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Velvets
Culture
Italian
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Samuel H. Kress, 1946
Accession Number
46.109.2
Art Historical Context
This elegant table cover, crafted in Italy during the late 16th to early 17th century, exemplifies the opulence of Renaissance and early Baroque decorative arts. Woven from luxurious silk and metal threads on velvet, it measures 55 by 38 inches (139.7 x 96.5 cm), making it perfectly suited to adorn a grand dining table. Now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, it entered the collection as a gift from Samuel H. Kress in 1946. Velvet textiles like this were highly prized in Italian households of the period, symbolizing wealth and refin...