A figured tabby silk and metal thread lamella brocaded textile, Mediterranean Basin or Near East,

The gilt metal lamella thread used in this textile is of the type which was known as 'gold of Cyprus', in which the gilt metal was applied to a substrate of animal gut, which was then wound round a textile fibre core. This type of gilt metal thread was generally replaced by metal lamé thread from the 15th century.

A small number of silk brocades dating to the 13th century exist with diaper or spangle patterns which include rosette motifs related to the motif seen in the present example. Please see Tietzel, B, Deutsches Textilmuseum,  Krefeld, Italienische Seidengewebe, Köln, 1984, Cat. Nos. 22, 29, 32 and 33 for examples. Of these cited examples, which are ascribed to Italy, only 22 and 32 include gilt metal lamella, and in both cases the membrane is wrapped around a linen core. A similar linen and lamella thread is used in the blue-ground textile with rows of silver metal thread crescents (historically ascribed to Italy, Sicily, Spain, Istanbul and Brussa), see Erber, C., A Wealth of Silk and Velvet, Bremmen, 1993, Cat. No. G 1/1/1, p.84. The lot offered here is unusual in that the lamella is wound around a silk core, and used in combination with flat beaten metal thread (lamé), some of which is secreted within the purple tabby silk ground, suggesting expense was not a consideration when this textile was woven.  Whilst the pattern would tend to suggest a date at the beginning of the date range, the combination of two types of metal thread may indicate the piece was woven in the late 14th or early 15th century.