Textile with Flora
Unknown Artist
c. 1500s
Medium
silk, linen, silver thread
Dimensions
90.8 × 59.4 cm · mounted: 97.8 × 66.7 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1954.321
About this artwork
This luxurious furnishing fabric might have been a wall covering or part of a long robe. The pattern of floral bouquets framed by curved leaves was popular in Italy, Spain, and Turkey during the 16th century. Darkened by oxidation, the fine silver weft, or horizontal, threads would have once shone brightly and glittered in the flickering candlelight that illuminated rooms before electricity. The preserved selvage edges reveal the width of the original loom; the edge’s color and style may even in...