Velvet as we know it possibly originated in China, coming to Europe via invasion and trade by the 13th century, although a cloth called kutuf (Arabic for velvet) was made in Damascus during the late 7th and early 8th centuries AD. Surviving documents from 1311 show that Pope Clement V owned velvet items, including two red pieces made in Lucca, northern Italy. Flourishing near Pisa, Lucca had been famous for silk textiles since the early 12th century, with large-scale velvet production beginning there in the early 14th century. The Tuscan city’s velvet was soon in demand throughout Europe, spread by merchants, fairs and the commissions of the wealthy and elite. When Richard II died in 1400, he left instructions that he was to be buried wearing velvet.
'When Richard II died, he left instructions that he was to be buried wearing velvet'
However, by the mid 14th century, Lucca’s domination of the velvet market began to wane due to a period of economic difficulty, partly caused by political strife and competition between towns. After the Black Death of 1348 took its toll, many velvet and silk weavers and merchants migrated to Venice, Genoa, Florence and Milan, where they established a flourishing velvet trade by the end of the century.
Denne historien er fra February 09, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra February 09, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.