Textiles

TEXTILES. — The most recent excavations show that the art of weaving goes back to the most remote Stone Age. The discoveries made in Egypt, as in the Nordic countries, especially in the pile-dwelling settlements of Switzerland and Lake Constance, reveal that human civilization knew the technical problem of weaving from its very beginnings; and already in the Paleolithic, alongside simple plaited fabrics, true woven textiles are found.

How much of the material was imported into individual countries cannot be determined. Egypt at first preferred linen; the Nordic countries of the Bronze Age seem to prefer wool, but in an earlier period they too seem to have preferred linen. These fabrics, already in the early Stone Age, were worked, or had rich borders. Fabrics of twilled weave (twill) have been found even among the pile dwellings. The fabrics were originally worked on a loom, as can be deduced from the representations in the tomb of Mehentutze at Thebes (ca. 2100-2000 B.C.), where a weaving workshop with two horizontal looms is seen. Representations of vertical looms are often found in a later period, although the horizontal loom was still used. The vertical one in fact served above all for the production of tapestry fabrics. Even Penelope's loom, according to a vase painting of the 5th century B.C., was a heavy loom used for the manufacture of brocaded fabrics or tapestries. The work was done above all by women, as Homer relates. Pliny provides similar information (Hist. nat., VII, 74). Particularly fashionable were embroidered ornaments, the invention of which is attributed to the Phrygians. Little has been preserved of the original fabrics of classical times. The finds in the Crimea give an idea of their appearance. They were for the most part executed with the finest tapestry technique; among the Romans too, similar fabrics made on horizontal and vertical looms are found. A notable source for knowledge of the fabrics of the early Christian era is provided by the discoveries of Dura-Europos, destroyed around 250 A.D. There are found, among others, already a series of important examples of silk fabrics, still partly of classical type, partly with a technique and decoration already known from the tombs of Egypt. Another famous site of finds is Palmyra, where a partly related technique and type are encountered. As materials, wool and linen are found above all; cotton is rare. Extremely precious were silk fabrics (serica), which partly as already manufactured fabrics, partly as thread or raw silk, came from China. Generally they were combined with linen, cotton or wool thread (subserica); the weft was of silk. Fabrics dyed purple were fabrics of pure silk, whose color was obtained from two qualities of murex: that of Tyre was considered the best. Very rare were fabrics interwoven with gold, the invention of which was attributed by Pliny to King Attalus (Attalica peripetasmata). These precious fabrics were called aurata vestis. Remains of such gold-woven fabrics are found in the National Museum of Budapest.

From the 4th century onward the preserved testimonies of the textile art become numerous: Egyptian tombs have preserved garments and tablecloths, and the Church venerable relics, such as, for example, the Holy Robe in Trier, the Shroud in Turin, the Veil of the Madonna at Chartres, the two tunics of the Treasure of the Sancta Sanctorum in the Sacred Museum of the Vatican, and the dalmatic of St. Ambrose (v.) in Milan. Most of the precious fabrics served as wrappings for relics in the great treasures of cathedrals such as Aachen, Conques, Maastricht, Monza, Sion, St-Maurice, Liège, Durham. Remains of such fabrics are preserved in the great collections of fabrics in Paris, Berlin, London, Lyon, Brussels, New York. The silk fabrics found in Egyptian tombs seem for the most part to be imported, especially from Persia. Important data for the classification of fabrics are provided by literary sources, first of all the Liber Pontificalis: they deal with their provenance, their technique and their use. Large fabrics and embroideries were used to adorn churches and palaces, they hung before the doors, between the columns, surrounded the Ciborium (veil), were arranged around the altar and in the apse. Tablecloths of great value were placed on the altar and on the tombs of the saints (pallea, mafortes), others smaller covered the chalice and paten. Not only the major churches, but also the minor ones possessed notable collections of them, as appears from the Charta Cornutiana of the year 471 containing the inventory of a small church near Tivoli (Lib. Pont., I, pp. CXLVI-VII). The fabrics of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople were woven with gold, and it is known that Justinian donated to this church altar cloths with gold embroidery and precious stones, while Leo III had executed for St. Peter's in Rome alone 164 carpets and 91 by Gregory IV. The Liber Pontificalis further informs of great donations also for the minor churches of Rome. Moreover it is gathered from Gregory of Tours and Paul the Deacon that the Nordic churches did not lag behind in possessing important collections of more or less precious fabrics.

Of such silk fabrics, examples are that of Trier, coming from the tomb of St. Paulinus, and the other with a hunting scene coming from the monastery of Mozac, said to have been donated by Pepin in the 8th century and today preserved in Lyon. In the early Middle Ages a great luxury is noted in clothing; St. Jerome already complains of it (PL 22, 410, 535). Unfortunately no entire silk garments of that period have been preserved, but only small fragments coming especially from the tombs of Antinoe (today in Paris and Lyon); but from the figurations of the consular diptychs or from the mosaics (Ravenna, S. Vitale) and from the miniatures (Rossano codex) it is still possible to form an idea of those silk garments richly adorned with gold and embroideries. Ausonius relates that he had received from the Emperor Gratian a tunica palmata with the portrait of Constantius (PL 19, 928, 943). Asterius of Amasea (d. ca. 410) in a sermon compared men to painted walls decorated with hunting scenes (PG 40, 165). This fashion seems to have dominated the entire Mediterranean basin. Truly the tunic, which from the 5th century onward supplants the toga, as is gathered from the frescoes of the ancient Christian cemeteries or from the finds of the Coptic tombs, is for the most part adorned only simply with round or square appliqués on the shoulders or on the front above the knees (orbiculi) or else with narrow stripes and galloons (clavi) which in the better examples were woven into the fabric and in the more common ones only sewn on. Particularly precious silk fabrics were also used for the cushions on which reliquaries were placed, as is read in the Liber Pontificalis and as is found in the Treasure of the Sancta Sanctorum, where those cushions are provided with precious borders (periclysin de chrysoclavo).

As for their origin, it is known from the Liber Pontificalis that during the early Middle Ages the fabrics came for the most part from the East: there are indications of silks coming from Syria (de tyreo), from Byzantium (de blati bizanteo), from Alexandria (pannum alexandrinum) and toward the end of the Middle Ages from Cyprus (de opere Cyprensi), from Asia (de panno tartarico) and from Syria (diapro de Antiochia). Even if many of the denominations of such fabrics became—

(phot. Biblioteca Vaticana)
STOFFE - Early Christian brandeum with traces of blood, an object of great veneration in the Middle Ages: very worn white damask linen cloth sewn onto another damask linen cloth - Vatican Sacred Museum, Treasury of the Sancta Sanctorum.

black, later became generic, originally certainly indicated the place of manufacture. Knowledge of the various workshops is still very uncertain, and it is therefore difficult in many cases to determine the country of origin of the fabric. Indeed, weavers moved with great ease from one place to another, carrying their own decorative motifs with them. In the late Empire (4th-6th centuries) the major centers are Egypt with Alexandria and Antinoopolis; Byzantium and Syria with Tyre and Berytus. Especially in Egypt the ancient Hellenistic tradition is preserved until the 5th century, with geometric motifs and simple colors, as in the figurations of the classical period. Egyptian products occur in many Western Treasuries, as at Sens, in Aachen and in the treasury of the Sancta Sanctorum, perhaps worked at Antinoopolis, as the excavations carried out in that city have proven. The attribution of damask cloths to Syria is not yet entirely certain, but it is very plausible if one compares the motifs of these cloths with the same motifs found in the mosaics of Antioch, of Apamea and also of Palestine. For the classical type a good example is the large cloth that is in S. Ambrogio in Milan with knights and lions (vol. I, col. 987); that of the Nereids at Sion or the story of Joseph at Sens. To the 7th-8th centuries belong the five-color cloths, with a red background, such as the Annunciation (v.) and the Nativity or the Samson (v.) of the Sancta Sanctorum. They are of red, purple, brown, green and white silk, twill with a double-thread warp. In them one discerns, especially in the ornaments, a certain relation with Sassanid art.

The much sought-after market for raw silk that flourished in Persia in the Sassanid era (226-632) is not yet well known. And of the few remaining pieces of Sassanid fabric, such as the dragon fragment of London, the pheasant of the Sacred Museum in the Vatican, or the boar of Berlin, the date is unknown, and even the place of origin remains uncertain. However, even after the Arab conquest of Persia, it seems that local weavers did not immediately change their style and technique, as the cloth with the cocks of the Sancta Sanctorum demonstrates. A numerous group of cloths with two animals facing each other within circles still clearly shows the influence of Sassanid textiles, as can be seen in the beautiful cloth of the Sancta Sanctorum, which by its color, design and technique may be believed to have been worked in one of the great centers of Asia Minor. The Treasures of Sens, Huy, Liège, Sion, Nancy preserve other examples of the kind.

Constantinople too seems to have imitated, besides the Syrian textiles in Hellenistic style, those of Persia. Some of these imitations are so perfect as to suggest Persian weavers transplanted to Constantinople: thus the "Emperor" of Mozac at Lyon, the king "Jazdağird" at Berlin and the "knights" at S. Ambrogio in Milan. Alongside these silk textiles are found, especially in the numerous cemeteries of Egypt, simpler fabrics in wool and linen. As for technique, for the most part such textiles are worked in the characteristic Coptic manner; but among the Hellenistic purple-colored (chermes) ones, some are found woven in loops. Among the textiles of the 6th-7th centuries are seen ornaments in linen worked in various colors or even in purple color.

With the Arab conquest of Egypt (640) this technique does not cease immediately, but continues still for a long time alongside that used for Islamic textiles. The major finds occurred in the great cemeteries of Ahmim-Panopolis, of Antinoopolis, Crocodilopolis and Saqqārah. The first systematic excavations were conducted by Napoleon (1798-1801) and the related finds went for the most part to enrich the Museum of Turin. But also the major museums, such as those of London, Paris, Lyon, Berlin, Brussels, Florence, Cairo etc. possess collections of Coptic textiles of notable value. Church vestments, such as the one found in Berlin, are very rare. Generally they are simple tunics and mantles that covered the dead in the tombs.

With the progress of Islamic civilization a new flourishing of the textile art is observed: but it brings only slowly to a transformation of the motifs. The taste of Byzantium and the art formed in Egypt, Syria and Persia, the great textile centers, still predominate above all. Oriental sources give notice of a series of places of production, which on the other hand the inscriptions woven into these precious textiles also serve to localize. It is still above all the reliquaries that make known magnificent examples partly woven of gold. Egypt is the most important center of production, and Ibn Gubajr, who from Sicily went in 1183 to visit Mecca, already describes such textiles that decorated the Ka'bah there. The principal commercial emporium was Alexandria, the factories were instead mainly at Damietta and Tinnis with a royal manufactory, and there were moreover some at Dabika, Dumaina and Tuna.

Favored by ship commanders were the textiles with golden flowers (dabiki), and with representations of hunting and of battles. And as particularly precious were purchased in Egypt the beautiful fabrics of linen and of batiste. The textiles woven of gold were manufactured above all for the caliphs. The ornaments were arranged in such a way as to recall Coptic ornamentation. Beautiful examples are provided us by the necropolises of the Fatimid period with their finds coming from Egyptian use.

An important center of textile art becomes, under the Norman kings, the manufactory of Palermo (Regium Ergasterium). The galloons woven in gold, such as are still found in many mitres at Anagni, Capua, Monza, at Bamberg (mitra cum aurifrisi) and in Mass vestments, as at Ascoli Piceno, were destined above all for export. The most beautiful piece coming from these manufactories is certainly the mantle with the decoration in Arab taste that in 1133 was executed at Palermo for King Roger II. Interesting in this textile is the mixture of Arab and Byzantine motifs. Great increase had the Sicilian textile art when, after the Norman campaign of 1147, Greek workers transplanted themselves near Palermo, although the Arab element still prevailed. The magnificent textile with peacocks at St-Sernin in Toulouse shows this interesting mixture of elements. Even if the works of the Sicilian school are not as numerous as Falke still believes, this school nevertheless exercised a very notable influence on the formation of the Italian schools, above all on the school of Lucca with its splendid brocades of gold and silver. Through the textiles adorned with inscriptions, such as that of the caliph al-Muqtadir Billāh (608-32) of Bagdad, that which is at Autun of a minister of Cordova, or that of the Seljuq sultan Kai Qobād which is at Lyon coming from Konia, one discerns in the most varied centers of the Islamic world a flourishing of textile workshops whose style remains linked among them.

Similar paired heraldic animals, such as lions, eagles, peacocks or griffins, scenes of hunting or of battle are found as far as western Persia and central Asia. The second important center of textile production in the early Middle Ages is Byzantium. Here too, alongside the literary sources, one can count only on the knowledge of the pieces that are still found in the treasures of the churches or that from these have passed to the great museums of Europe and America. The most important workshops were those of the imperial Court of Constantinople and already the bishop Liutprand of Cremona reports how the export of purple textiles was rigorously prohibited. But great manufactories existed also in other parts of the Empire and Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela (1160-73) says, for example, that at Thebes a great number of Jewish textile workers were employed. On the other hand the textiles also came from the provinces as tribute to the capital. Rabbi Benjamin moreover reports that merchants of textiles flocked to Constantinople from all the world spreading in their turn the Byzantine textiles throughout the East. Alongside these merchants the Venetians had a preponderant part in the diffusion of Byzantine textiles which were introduced also into the great Italian ports such as Amalfi. Thus the Liber pontificalis recalls how Gregory IV (844) bought a textile with the representation of the emperor (velum habens historiam imperatoris). These textiles reached the West in great quantity especially with the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins (1204). A good example of such figured fabrics is offered by the great silk textile of Bamberg coming from the tomb of the bishop Guntero (d. in 1064), with the Emperor riding between ancient and new Rome. The fragment of a representation of an emperor was also found in a reliquary of Verdun (today in London). Otherwise the preserved pieces show for the most part representations of animals, eagles, griffins, lions or horses, for the most part enclosed in circles (orbiculi). The textiles are colored, and the most precious, coming from the imperial manufactories, have a purple-colored ground (blattia, imperialis purpura).

After a certain halt of the textile art during the 6th and 7th centuries the workshops begin to flourish again from the 8th until the 12th century. The vastness of commercial relations and the diffusion of merchandise that occurred then was never again attained afterward. Old motifs were recast and new ideas came from the East and above all from Persia, as is clearly demonstrated by the imperial mantle coming from Mozac or the winged horses among scrollwork in Hannover. Often a single animal is enclosed in a roundel, as in the magnificent fabric with elephants in Charlemagne's reliquary at Aachen. These fabrics are distinguished from Persian ones by their even greater stylization and by their stronger colors. Lacking medallions are the splendid large lions on two silk fabrics from the shrine of Anno at Siegburg, of which fragments also exist at Deutz, Düsseldorf and Berlin. The first of these fabrics is from 921-31, and bears the names of the emperors Romanus and Christopher; the second from 976-1025, with those of Basil II and Constantine VII. Also very precious were the purple fabrics with eagles, without circular framing, of Bressanone and Salzburg. Very well woven are the satin fabrics with ornaments within pointed oval fields, such as the mantle of Otto I at Merseburg or the chasuble of Bishop Willigis (d. 1011) at St. Stephen's in Mainz. Particularly prized were the fabrics worked with small circles, squares or stars. They show a double warp with a weft of colored threads. Unfortunately almost nothing has been preserved of the famous Byzantine embroideries of the early Middle Ages. The so-called dalmatic of Charlemagne at St. Peter's in Rome already belongs to a late period (cf. vol. II, cols. 1680-90), but the veils of Castellarquato with the Communion of the Apostles still show the rigid style of the earliest times (cf. vol. X, pl. XLV). Embroidery was then much used, especially for vestments such as the sakkos, the omophoria, the epimankia, the epigonatia, the mitres and the cinguli. Particularly sumptuous, in a later period, were the epitaphioi, adorned with embroideries that covered the tomb of Christ on Good Friday, such as the one at Ochrida with the name of Andronikos Palaiologos (1282-1328). There are frequent examples of these in the monasteries of the Balkans, especially at Mount Athos, Putna, Zolkma.

Influenced by the East and by Byzantium are also the oldest fabrics of the Middle Ages in Italy. It is certain that after the death of Manfred many textile workers left Sicily and carried their art to Lucca, to Venice. Thus here too one notices a mixture of Byzantine and Saracen motifs, although Venice turns more toward the East. These are for the most part two-colored fabrics, such as yellow on a dark background, often red, with figures of confronted animals, free on the surface. Thus the galloon on the chasuble of Bl. Bernardo degli Ubertini (d. 1133) at S. Trinita in Florence could be considered a product of the Venetian workshops, renowned for their "surifrisia", while the dalmatic found in the tomb of Benedict XI (d. 1304) at Perugia recalls the fabrics of the Far East. Magnificent embroideries have been preserved at Anagni, whose hangings can perhaps be identified with the fabrics that, according to the papal inventory of 1293, are connected with Cyprus, while the dossal preserved there reveals affinities with the Roman school of painting of the time. An altar cloth of the Sancta Sanctorum in the Vatican Museum, in white embroidery, is inspired by a still primitive ornamentation. More advanced is the design of the cloth of Bl. Benvenuta Boiani at S. Pietro in Cividale (d. 1292). Such works appear identical to the embroideries in "opus Theotonicum". Venice visibly exercised its influence also on the workshops of southern Germany, among which the principal one is that of Regensburg, and already Wolfram von Eschenbach praises the "zendel", workshops of this city. Given the high cost of raw silk, the German weavers used linen thread for the warp, so that these fabrics have a certain rigidity. As material for the weft, for the figures, gold threads wrapped around thin gilded gut were much used. Of this fabric two groups can be distinguished: one with saints and scenes from the New Testament, such as the altar hanging of the cathedral of Regensburg with the figure of Bishop Henry II (1277-96) or that of Waltburg with the Nativity of Christ. The other consists of smaller pieces, very numerous, with griffins, falcons, lions and eagles that stylistically are related to the Italian fabrics. Ancient motifs such as the apotheosis of Alexander are also encountered. A very Byzantinizing fabric with this theme is also preserved at Würzburg. It is interesting to note how the use of these half-silk fabrics of Regensburg was prohibited at Cluny

("Statutum est ut nullus scarlatas, aut barracanos, vel preciosos burellos, qui Ratisponi hoc est apud Raines-bors fiunt, sive picta quolibet modo stramina habeat": Statuta Cluniacensis, by Peter the Venerable, 18: ed. M. Marrier, Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, Paris 1614, col. 1359: PL 189, 1031).

With the Gothic, in the 14th century, Lucca and Venice assumed primacy in the silk industry. Very soon throughout Europe the demand for these precious s. grew and consequently important workshops arose also in Genoa, Milan, Ferrara, Bologna and above all in Florence. Bruges is one of the principal centers of the trade in Italian silks, where the Scandinavian countries, England and Russia made their purchases. Even today brocades and velvets are found in many great cathedral treasuries, as once in Danzig, Aachen, Sens, Conques or Andechs, and in the museums of Rome (Museo d'arte industriale and Museo sacro vaticano), Florence, London, Berlin, Cleveland etc. Particularly beautiful s. are also seen reproduced in paintings. Typical of Lucca are the jaspers with glossy ground and matte design, which recall the majolicas known as diasperate. With the exception of the Palermo s., the influence of Chinese silks now appears clearly, even in the workmanship, in part actually copied. The division into pointed ovals is still recognizable only by thin tendrils; within the interior of branches bent into spirals or forming circles are contained figures of animals, palmettes and flowers. Little by little the tendrils were transformed into trees springing from the earth and from rocks. The s. of Lucca sometimes have figures imitating Arab models, besides feudal castles, pavilions, ships, human figures. In the second half of the 14th century the representations come alive. The animals play and fight among themselves and the hunting scenes recall the ivories of the period. For ecclesiastical purposes religious motifs are also used. Venice, in contrast to Lucca, shows few Chinese motifs, but mostly animals of European model, represented calmly, as in Italian paintings. In the 15th century even some great artists such as Antonio Pisano or Jacopo Bellini prepared designs of s.

Even more evident is the influence of China in the Persian s. of the 14th-15th centuries. Their characteristic is the thick thread that stands out in relief on the colored silk-thread weft. They preserve the great central motif in the field in the form of a pointed oval in which pairs of animals are represented. Good examples are found in the Treasury that was once in Danzig. From Turkestan probably come the marvelous s. of the tomb of Cangrande in Verona (d. 1329) with Arabic inscriptions. Similar to these are the Egyptian fabrics of the 14th century, found at el-Azam and at Dronka near Assiut. In Spain, especially in the Kingdom of Granada, stoffe with arabesque motifs were manufactured in this period. And not even after the conquest of Granada (1492) do such stoffe immediately disappear in the style of the Alhambra.

Embroidery too reaches a great flowering in Italy. Here as well Oriental art, and above all Byzantine art, exerts a notable influence, as the antependium of S. Maria at Zara demonstrates. This technique is also in vogue for the trimming of mitres, of which good examples are preserved at Urbino and in S. Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. But the most valuable pieces seem to have been imported into Italy from England, and numerous copes in "opus anglicanum" are found in cathedral treasuries, as at Anagni and at the Lateran the one of Boniface VIII, in the Museum of Pienza the cope of Pius II, and another in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican. Already in the year 1098 the Fathers of the Council of Bari admired an embroidery of English origin, and from the 12th century until the 14th century the popes sought out English fabrics. Thus Eugene III (1145-50) received a cope of Lincoln, Adrian IV (1154-59) another beautiful embroidery. After 1350, however, in all the northern countries a decline of this art of the needle is observed, which must be connected with the progress of the Italian silk stoffe. Embroideries were often employed also for tapestries: in imitation of the tapestry of Bayeux they were arranged around the frieze, one above the other, as in the Tristan tapestry (Wienhausen). In the course of the 15th century these embroideries are almost no longer used by the Church for the altar, but serve above all as borders and ornamentations of chasubles. Particularly famous, in this genre, were the works coming from the manufactories of Cologne, of Flanders, of Burgundy.

With the Renaissance and the 15th century the richness of stoffe reaches, especially in Italy, an even higher point. If in the 14th century the production of stoffe still concerned exclusively the guilds and industrial art, now even the great artists, such as, for example, Antonio Pollaiolo, Botticelli, Sassetta, Leonardo and Bellini, occupied themselves with designing the models; Florence, Siena and Venice were the centres of this art; but alongside these, others arose, such as Milan and Genoa. While the design and the technique change very little, the textile art devotes itself above all to the production of sumptuous velvets which are no longer smooth, but present above all the pomegranate motif. The most beautiful pieces, with enamelled colours, are manufactured mainly in Venice, where the velvet weavers already from 1247 had from the Great Council the faculty of constituting themselves into a guild of their own. The new designs were then in the 15th century used also for other stoffe such as damasks and brocades. It can be said that there is no cathedral treasury or museum in which magnificent examples of them are not found. Thus in the Museo dell'Opera of Siena, at Orvieto, Spoleto, Montefiascone, Gandino or in the Museums of London, New York, Boston, Paris, Lyon, Berlin, Milan, Rome etc. there are still now precious collections of such velvets, in part dated by the coats of arms of their donors. Here too painting provides good datable examples, especially in the Venetian school with Crivelli and Bellini. From the middle of the century, alongside the pomegranate motif, others appear. Thus Florence produces stoffe in gold with a design of coloured contour or stoffe of silk in two colours with bands of tendrils, palmettes and coats of arms. Characteristic of Florence are above all the figured stoffe with scenes of the New Testament, mostly in two colours. They were used as trimmings of Mass vestments, as on a dalmatic of the Treasury of Halberstadt. The gold thread, in use in the 15th century, disappears at the beginning of the 16th century, when instead a thinner and more compact silver thread appears. Among the most precious products of this school are the panels with the story of St. John the Baptist in the Cathedral of Florence, designed by Antonio Pollaiolo between 1466 and 1473. Magnificent too are the embroideries of the antependium of S. Maria Novella which are said to have been designed by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Securely dated (1475) is the antependium in S. Francesco at Assisi, offered by Sixtus IV, in the middle of which St. Francis is seen kneeling. Equally precious is the chasuble of gold stoffa woven for King Matthias Corvinus and bearing his coat of arms (1458-90). An important place in the northern countries during the 15th century is held by figured fabrics. The great series that Louis I of Anjou ordered in Paris for the Chapel of his castle at Angers, and which was brought to completion around 1470, constitutes the first testimony of a genre of which Arras became the principal centre of production. The four representations drawn from the lives of Sts. Piat and Eleutherius, executed in 1402 in the workshop of Pierrot Feré for the Cathedral of Tournai, belong to the capital works of the beginnings of this art. Most of the tapestries ordered by the dukes of Burgundy were also executed at Tournai. This art is magnificently represented by the series of 4 great tapestries with hunting scenes owned by the Duke of Devonshire. Alongside these are found representations drawn from Nordic mythology, as in the tapestry of Palazzo Doria in Rome, of 1459. The most splendid and famous series is constituted by the tapestries of the lady with the unicorn (ca. 1510), coming from the castle of Boussac, now in the Museum of Cluny in Paris.

With the end of the 15th century the workshops of Brussels begin their production, and of it there are examples throughout Europe: at Florence, Milan, Madrid, and Paris. Tapestries, smaller, but very beautiful are also those produced by the Rhenish workshops such as at Mainz (Cathedral Museum), Strasbourg, Basel, Constance and in some cases also by workshops of central Germany, such as Nuremberg (Germanic Museum).

In the 16th century production extends also into Italy where it becomes a little more industrial although its stoffe continue always to be among the most beautiful in Europe. Alongside Florence and Venice great factories now appear at Milan, Como, Reggio Emilia, Bologna, Genoa and Catania. But the stoffe of Venice continued to be among the most sought after and were imitated even in Russia. On the other hand Venice in turn copied Persian and Oriental motifs. The Italian factories were then the principal suppliers of all the princely courts of Europe and Henry IV of England as well as the Queen of France made conspicuous orders at Florence. For this period too magnificent examples are found in all the great treasures of the cathedrals in Rome, Florence, Cortona, Perugia, Siena, San Gimignano, Venice, Milan and Vercelli, to name only a few of the most important localities, as well as in the great collections of the principal museums. Here too the paintings of the great masters provide, especially in portraits, excellent reproductions of fabrics. Suffice it to recall the paintings of Pontormo, Bronzino, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. With the spread of Spanish fashion, which entailed rich pleatings, it became necessary to seek a fabric with a minute pattern, while for furnishing fabrics and wall hangings larger motifs were employed. But above all the pomegranate motif was transformed in the style of the Renaissance and on occasion even replaced by vase forms. It is true that a symmetrical arrangement still remains, but the large masses generally expand and an interlacement of curving branches covers the entire surface. Among the tendrils quadrupeds and birds also appear, sometimes even monograms and coats of arms. The motifs are larger in the great wall fabrics in velvet and silk that represent trophies of arms, vases and musical instruments or grotesques. To these great wall fabrics belong borders with animals, hunting scenes or interlacements of branches. But to adorn sacred vestments, especially in Florence, special fabrics with Christian figurations were made.

In these sixteenth-century fabrics Italian weavers used the most varied techniques. Alongside velvet brocades there are damasks with analogous designs, as well as brocades in silk and half-silk. A characteristic type of use, preserved still in numerous originals and in many paintings, especially for tablecloths and handkerchiefs, are the simple linen fabrics with a woven design of animals, often paired and facing each other, or also of vases and flowers. Perugia is, in the 15th and 16th centuries, the major center of production of these fabrics, but fabrics of a similar kind appear to have been produced in Germany as well.

In the Near East too there was a revival of the textile art in the 16th century. If the influence of Venice on these manufactures is clear, on the other hand one can observe in Italy a revival of Oriental and Turkish motifs. Under the rule of the Safavids the arts flourished again and several places of manufacture are known, among which above all Ispahan with its court manufactories seems to have been preeminent. Notable furthermore Kāfān and, for the manufacture of velvets, above all Yezd in southern Persia. Magnificent gold and silver brocades, silks and velvets from these manufactures are known. These were used above all for garments, but there also existed upholstery fabrics. Figurative representations with pairs of lovers or with single figures with ornamental motifs were repeated over the surface of the fabric. Silk embroidery also flourished again with extremely lively scenes that recall contemporary miniatures. In the age of the Ottomans in Turkish textile art, at Brussa and Scutari strong Persian influences are noticeable. The velvets and brocades of these manufactures were sought after in Europe. The characteristic motif of these precious fabrics, which are seen in very numerous Venetian paintings, is that of three great moons arranged heraldically, the palmettes and the pointed ovals with pomegranates. These fabrics were mostly used for garments and are found today in almost all the principal museums. In China too the production of velvets appears to have been introduced from Persia, though it developed there only in the 17th century, while under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) the weaving of silk above all flourished. The exportation of these fabrics to Europe became considerable, however, only later, under K'ang Hsi (1662-1723) and Ch'ien Lung (1736-95), and they largely influenced Italian and French production.

The strong exportation of Italian fabrics in the fifteenth century, both to the countries of the North and to the East, not only maintained itself but increased in the sixteenth century, so that the manufactories of Florence, Lucca, Genoa, Bologna, Milan and above all Venice became extraordinarily flourishing. The local manufactories of these countries imitated the motifs coming from Italy. The pomegranate motif is the one that remained most in vogue in this period, but its pointed oval contour is transformed into ornamental volutes. There also appear vases from which flowers and fruits protrude, as well as new motifs coming from the East, which in turn adopted Italian motifs. Particularly sought after were brocades and velvets which, with their combination of gold and satin, catered to the splendor of the Renaissance courts. Damasks and silk and half-silk fabrics were also sought after. Cotton and wool were used, alongside silk, especially for linings. Fabrics for clothing had smaller designs, while brocades and velvets intended for ecclesiastical use retained the old large designs. The most important furnishing fabrics in velvet or silk imitated architectural motifs with trophies, vases and floral designs. From the end of the sixteenth century, but especially in the seventeenth century, the demand for furnishing fabrics continually increased, both for houses and principally for churches (coverings of pillars); therefore, alongside the great factories of Venice and Genoa, new smaller workshops also worked actively. As ornament, the old pomegranate motif was still used by preference, but the design was often executed in a simplified manner, by means of hot-iron printing, in order to reduce the cost of the goods. Alongside the large motifs, smaller ones soon came into vogue, and one or two rows in different colors give velvet fabrics a note of color. In brocades and damasks too, the designs now run across the entire width. Similar fabrics, inspired by Italian models, are also found in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the pomegranate motif dominates on them. But evidently the ancient Moorish motifs still exert their influence. The ornaments here are raised from the weft, on a ground of satin and brocade, with rings of gold and silver to obtain a more sumptuous effect. From the time of Louis XIV began the triumphant rise of French silk weaving, and the factories of Lyon occupied an important place in Europe. Above all the fashion for color helped to enrich and increasingly perfect the designs, to which great artists such as Daniel Marot also contributed. One can clearly distinguish women's and men's fabrics, in that in fabrics for the clothing of the latter, small motifs such as scattered flowers were preferred, while the ample feminine skirts with their long trains required large motifs. The designs of lace also exerted a notable influence on silk fabrics, an industry that was largely encouraged especially by Colbert. But in the second half of the eighteenth century all symmetry disappears from the designs, and plant ornaments are scattered irregularly over the entire surface. Especially in vogue, as in architecture and porcelain, were the so-called "chinoiseries". The introduction of such motifs is due above all to the influence of Madame de Pompadour, who ordered from the Compagnie des Indes the importation of Chinese goods. Even more richly decorated were furniture coverings, furnishing fabrics and curtains. The first excavations of Pompeii (1748) and the interest they aroused for classical art also influenced textile artists. The furnishing fabrics of classicizing furniture were especially inspired by them. Landscapes, small pictures and putti enliven the stripes similar to pillars. One of the greatest masters is Philippe de Lasalle (1723-1803) of the silk manufactory of Pernon in Lyon, who worked for the courts of France and Russia. Jean Revel is one of the best-known designers of motifs. After the Revolution, Napoleon gave new life to the textile industry of Lyon, and J. E. Bony (d. 1825) became one of its best designers. However, textile art declined with the mechanization of technique through the work of C. M. Jacquard, who in 1805 introduced the mechanical loom in Lyon.

Despite strong French competition, Italy maintained its production in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; Venice and Genoa continued to work their famous velvets and their silks; the Venetian factories became celebrated also in this era for their red velvets on which the great pomegranate motif dominates. Particularly sought after, both in Italy and abroad, was the red velvet on gold of Genoa. The smaller factories of Piedmont, Emilia and Lucca also produced magnificent fabrics, especially those with floral designs. For clothing and hangings, fabrics with smaller designs were mostly used, as in France. In the eighteenth century the influence of French textile art appears even more clearly, especially in Turin and Genoa, where Chinese influences are also again evident. Venetian fashion is made known by the paintings of local painters, such as Tiepolo, Vittore Ghislandi and others, but magnificent examples of large furnishing fabrics are also encountered even today in the palaces of Venice, Genoa or Palermo. For Italy too, the great era of textile art closes with the reign of Napoleon. See the entries ARAZZO and MERLETTO. - See plates XCIV-XCVII.

Volfango Federico Volbach