1999
Precious Silks
Medieval Textiles from Europe to China

Medieval silk fabrics already enjoyed great popularity with connoisseurs and collectors in the nineteenth century. Today, they are important testimonies to the history of culture, economy and technology. In the Middle Ages, such textiles were highly appreciated on a par with silver or gold. Initially they came from the Byzantine world or countries further east, which at this time were culturally far superior to the Christian West.

When the Mongols became a great power in the thirteenth century, Chinese themes spread westwards. We encounter such patterns on various fabrics, which mark the early days of silk weaving in Venice and Lucca. These Italian cities, which maintained intensive trade relations with the East and North, became new textile centres when the Christian outposts in the Middle East fell to Islam. Growing demand in Europe also promoted production centres here. The weaving techniques were complex and at the beginning eastern models were closely followed. As the fourteenth century progressed, Italian designers found their own style with virtuoso combinations of figurative, animal, vegetable and architectural motifs.