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Source Description
Venetian law obliged senators to wear colored textiles, in contrast to other male citizens, who wore black. The Procurator, a very high level government official, was required to wear a red stole, a cloth worn over one shoulder. So that it would read the same from front and back, the pattern reverses halfway, done by the weaver’s assistant on a drawloom. The line down the center is part of the original manufacture, enabling two stoles to be cut apart for use. The survival of an entire, uncut loom width is extremely rare. The velvet has two different heights of cut pile. The longer pile, which appears lighter, forms the pattern.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
122576
label
Procurator’s Velvet Stole
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
122576
contentType
object
title
Procurator’s Velvet Stole
description
Venetian law obliged senators to wear colored textiles, in contrast to other male citizens, who wore black. The Procurator, a very high level government official, was required to wear a red stole, a cloth worn over one shoulder. So that it would read the same from front and back, the pattern reverses halfway, done by the weaver’s assistant on a drawloom. The line down the center is part of the original manufacture, enabling two stoles to be cut apart for use. The survival of an entire, uncut loom width is extremely rare. The velvet has two different heights of cut pile. The longer pile, which appears lighter, forms the pattern.
date
c. 1575–1600
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80018944
genreSpecific
Velvet
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 142.2 x 71.1 cm (56 x 28 in.); Mounted: 147.3 x 77.5 cm (58 x 30 1/2 in.)
cul
Italy, Venice
accession
1942.829
Source extras
tec
Alto e basso silk velvet
tombstone
Procurator’s Velvet Stole, c. 1575–1600. Italy, Venice. Alto e basso silk velvet; overall: 142.2 x 71.1 cm (56 x 28 in.); mounted: 147.3 x 77.5 cm (58 x 30 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of John L. Severance, 1942.829
collection
Textiles
citations
citation
<em>Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 60, cat. no. 130
citation
Lisby, Darnell-Jamal, William Griswold, Matteo Augello, Alessandra Arezzi Boza, Massimiliano Capella, Luke Meagher, Stefania Ricci, and Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19, fig. 22
citation
Lisby, Darnell-Jamal. “The Road to Renaissance to Runway: Planning a Fashion Exhibition.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>65, no. 2 (2025): 10-11.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 11; Mentioned: p. 10
creditline
Bequest of John L. Severance
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:18:51.457000
sourceId
122576
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Alto e basso silk velvet
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
609b983456111b8b