Cut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin Velvet

Cut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin Velvet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Faced with increasing foreign competition, especially from France, Genoa’s weavers created a niche specialization by weaving silk furniture upholstery. This decorative, polychrome velvet, achieved using multiple differently colored warps, is a fine example. Glorious velvets like this proved exceedingly sought after throughout Europe for embellishing suites of upholstered seating. This satin velvet was displayed in European Textiles and Costume Figures, on view at the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences (visible at center left in the photograph of 1938), and at Walton High School (visible at center right in the photograph of February 9, 1939) [Elizabeth Cleland, 2020]

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin VelvetCut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin VelvetCut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin VelvetCut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin VelvetCut and Uncut Polychrome Voided Satin Velvet

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.