In yesterday's post we looked at an exhibition of precious textiles from the Renaissance in Prato, let's continue the thread (pun intended) for another day and look at some examples of textiles from another museum - Palazzo Mocenigo, the Venice-based Museum and Study Center of the History of Fabrics and Costumes.
The first example is part of the table decoration for one of the rooms of the palazzo: the velvets such as the allucciolato brocade in the first image (from the 16th century) featured silver and gold threads and were designed to reflect the light. They produced particularly intriguing effects when employed to enrich a table decorated with glass objects such as chalices and fruit stands (the picture doesn't make justice to the textiles).
The second picture shows assorted samples of rare and valuable fabrics including ciselé and embossed velvets. We will discover further events and exhibitions at Palazzo Mocenigo in the next few days, so stay tuned.
Special thanks to Chiara Squarcina, Director of Palazzo Mocenigo, and to the Mocenigo staff, in particular Monica Giani at the ticket office for facilitating my visit to the museum.
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