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Source Description
This extravagant Italian velvet with three heights of lush crimson pile is lavishly embellished with gold-thread loops. Large pomegranate patterns such as this were fashionable in Europe for more than a century, about 1420 to 1550, and were often featured in paintings and in large wall tapestries. Variations occurred in pattern details, pile height, and gold thread. Since pomegranates symbolized eternity, fertility, and resurrection, these velvets were often used in Roman Catholic churches. This pomegranate pattern inspired the cope, or cloak, worn by the Archbishop of Canterbury when he officiated the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
147465
label
Velvet with Pomegranate Pattern
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
147465
contentType
object
title
Velvet with Pomegranate Pattern
description
This extravagant Italian velvet with three heights of lush crimson pile is lavishly embellished with gold-thread loops. Large pomegranate patterns such as this were fashionable in Europe for more than a century, about 1420 to 1550, and were often featured in paintings and in large wall tapestries. Variations occurred in pattern details, pile height, and gold thread. Since pomegranates symbolized eternity, fertility, and resurrection, these velvets were often used in Roman Catholic churches. This pomegranate pattern inspired the cope, or cloak, worn by the Archbishop of Canterbury when he officiated the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011.
date
1450–1500
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79926585
genreSpecific
Velvet
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 300.9 x 56.5 cm (118 7/16 x 22 1/4 in.)
cul
Italy, Florence, 15th century
accession
1973.2
Source extras
tec
silk, gold thread; velvet: three heights of cut pile, gold thread loops
tombstone
Velvet with Pomegranate Pattern, 1450–1500. Italy, Florence, 15th century. Silk, gold thread; velvet: three heights of cut pile, gold thread loops; overall: 300.9 x 56.5 cm (118 7/16 x 22 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1973.20
collection
Textiles
citations
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 104
citation
McWilliams, Mary, “Ambitious Decoration” Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 36 no. 03, March 1996
page_number
Mentioned & reproduced: p. 5
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. 6, fig. 5
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:33:46.398000
sourceId
147465
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
silk, gold thread; velvet: three heights of cut pile, gold thread loops
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e2a0bd377bc86482