Plate No. 062 · fabric

Brocade

Brocade is figured cloth with the ornament woven in extra threads: supplementary wefts, often gold or silver, float across the back and surface only where the design needs them, so the figures sit on the cloth like low relief. Where damask is one color playing two finishes against each other, brocade is added material, which is why it reads richer, heavier, and stiffer. Woven silk brocades traveled the Silk Road from China; Renaissance Italy and the Lyon looms made them the cloth of thrones, vestments, and state portraits.