the.com/brocade
fabric so rich it wore the weight of empires and bankrupted the lords who flaunted it
means A heavy decorative fabric woven with raised patterns, often in silk and threaded with gold or silver.
from From Spanish and Portuguese 'brocado,' itself from Italian 'broccato' — meaning 'embossed' or 'figured cloth,' built on 'brocco,' a twig or spike, which traces back to Latin 'broccus' (projecting, like a tooth). The thread of the name is the raised pattern itself: the cloth seems pricked and pushed up from beneath, as if tiny spikes lifted the design into relief.
- raised threads
- woven, not embroidered, despite looking stitched on
- gold-laced
- often woven with real gold or silver thread
- byzantine guard
- emperors banned commoners from owning certain silks
- name origin
- from Italian broccato, meaning embossed cloth
- loom marathon
- complex patterns took weeks on a single loom
brocade de lyon — french silk brocade from lyon, center of european brocade production since the 16th century
brocade de venecia — venetian brocade with gold thread, produced in venice during the renaissance as luxury export fabric
brocade chino — chinese silk brocade from suzhou and hangzhou, featuring traditional dragon and phoenix motifs