Velvet with Pomegranate Pattern
Unknown Artist
1450–1500
Medium
silk, gold thread; velvet: three heights of cut pile, gold thread loops
Dimensions
300.9 × 56.5 cm
Classification
Velvet
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1973.20
About this artwork
This extravagant Italian velvet with three heights of lush crimson pile is lavishly embellished with gold-thread loops. Large pomegranate patterns such as this were fashionable in Europe for more than a century, about 1420 to 1550, and were often featured in paintings and in large wall tapestries. Variations occurred in pattern details, pile height, and gold thread. Since pomegranates symbolized eternity, fertility, and resurrection, these velvets were often used in Roman Catholic churches. This...