Deep red velvet with offset repeat pattern of gold disks. The foundation is plain weave formed by a red silk warp and tan silk weft; the supplementary warp pile is red silk. The velvet pile is voided in the areas where the coin dots appear, and supplementary gold wefts are floated in pairs to the surface in these areas, bound in twill with the secondary ivory warp.

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See more objects with the tag metallic, royalty, clergy, churches, dots, coins.

Object Timeline

-0001	We photographed this object.
1902	We acquired this object.
1970	We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2001	We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2013	This was an Object of the Day.
2014	We exhibited this object.
2021	You found it!

Textile (Italy), possibly 13th century

This is a Textile. It is dated possibly 13th century and we acquired it in 1902. Its medium is silk, metallic and its technique is supplementary warp pile (velvet) in plain weave foundation, with continuous supplementary weft patterning. It is a part of the Textiles department.

This opulent velvet with a pattern of offset gold disks was most likely imported to Europe from a production center along the Silk Road like Tabriz, a city in Persia used as a capital by Mongol rulers. Chinggis Khan often spared artisans such as weavers during his conquest of Persia, relocating them closer to the Mongol homeland. When he reopened trade along the Silk Road in 1240, fine silks, often called Tartar silks, began pouring into Europe. They were used in garments and furniture, and were prized by aristocratic Mongols and Europeans alike because they proclaimed the affluence of the owner and acted as stores of wealth. A pattern similar to this one, with gold disks on a red ground, appears on the cope of St. Louis Toulouse in a 1317 painting by Simone Martini at the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Velvet with Gold Disks.

This object was donated by John Pierpont Morgan. It is credited Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.

Drawing, Design for Acratherm Gauge, May 19, 1943
brush and gouache, graphite, pen and black ink on illustration board.
Gift of Honeywell, Inc..
1997-10-6

Fragment of woven velvet with pomegranate pattern surrounded by a framework of branches, in red silk pile and gold supplementary weft patterning.

Panel (Italy), 15th century
silk, linen, wool, and metallic yarns.
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-833-a/j

Length of printed velvet with a pattern of curving artichoke forms in rows that alternate direction; inside each artichoke is a curvilinear flower and stem. Printed in silver metallic pigment on a soft, irregular pink ground.

Textile (Italy), 1900–30
foundation warp and weft: cotton; pile warp: silk.
Bequest of Erskine Hewitt.
1938-57-1226-a

Our curators have highlighted 9 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

white dish with a dark blue rim and blue polka dots across the rest of the interior.

Dish (Germany), ca. 1930
glazed earthenware.
Gift of Victor Wiener.
2001-28-99

Panel (Iran)
silk and metal-wrapped silk-core threads.
1977-119-1

Square panel of stretched, unbleached linen with four circles, each 11.5 inches in diameter, placed in the four quarters of the square. Each circle is produced by the progressive counter-clockwise placing of linen yarns across the diameter of the circle. A relief effect is created in the center of each circle as the yarns cross and build up one upon the other, casting a shadow.

Panel, Study for Ford Foundation wall panels, 1967
linen.
Gift of Sheila Hicks.
1969-25-1

Its dimensions are

H x W: 53 × 26 cm (20 7/8 × 10 1/4 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile (Italy), possibly 13th century; Previously owned by Stanislas Baron ; silk, metallic; H x W: 53 × 26 cm (20 7/8 × 10 1/4 in.); Gift of John Pierpont Morgan; 1902-1-385

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Making Design.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2AVEr/
Accession Number 1902-1-385
Object ID 18130825