Object details
Accession number
T17w8
Primary Creator
Italian
Full title
Garment Fabric
Creation Date
about 1600-1625
Description
Geometric, stylized floral
Provenance
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner possibly in Florence or Venice, probably by 1903.
Dimensions
44.5 x 39.4 cm (17 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.)
Display Media
Silk ciselé voided velvet
Web Commentary
Among the most luxurious silk textiles produced in Europe, velvets are fabrics woven with an additional warp, which creates a plush pile surface. Patterns are made by leaving portions of the design free of pile (called voided velvet). Combining cut and uncut pile loops produces contrasts in both color and texture. This technique (called ciselé velvet) embellishes the design since cut pile appears darker than the uncut pile.
Velvets made in Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries displayed unusual colors and interesting textures. Decorated velvets were often used for garments and interior furnishings such as drapery and wall hangings. In these situations, velvet catchs light in various ways, revealing subtle gradations of color.
Source: Kathy Francis, "Velvets," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 118.
Permanent Gallery Location
Short Gallery
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 134. (as Italian)
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), p. 172, no. 134. (as Italian or Spanish, 1600-1625)
Kathy Francis in Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 118, ill. (as Italian or Spanish, about 1600-1625)
Rights and reproductions
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