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cloth of gold

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: cloth of gold
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cloth of gold, fabric woven wholly or partly of gold threads. From remote times gold has been used as material for weaving either alone or with other fibers. In India tapestries were made from gold threads as fine as silk. Cloth of gold was woven on Byzantine looms from the 7th to the 9th cent. and on those of Sicily, Cyprus, Lucca, and Venice in the 10th cent. Some narrow webs were woven in England, as well as palls of gold and silver cloth. Cloths of estate were magnificent gold tissues used to canopy or cover thrones. Baldachin, or fine cloth with gold warp and silk weft, was used ceremonially and also for rich clothing. The use of gold textiles and embroideries in the Middle Ages is illustrated by the pageantry at the meeting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520). Gold thread for weaving and embroidery is still made in India, Delhi alone producing many miles per annum, working in the ancient manner. Gold or silver gilt wire is drawn through holes, successively smaller, in a specially devised metal plate, and is used either round or flattened. Modern metallic cloth, known as lamé, is commonly made of a core yarn wound with a thin metal thread, or lamé. Various artificial metallic cloths are also produced.

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Wikipedia: Cloth of gold
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This article is about the fabric. For the snail, see Conus textile.

Cloth of gold is a fabric woven with a gold-wrapped or spun weft - referred to as "a spirally spun gold strip". In most cases, the core yarn is silk wrapped with a band or strip of high content gold filé. In rarer instances, fine linen and wool have been used as the core.

Cloth of gold is not to be confused with various gold embroidery techniques that date to the early Middle Ages, though the type of goldwork thread called "passing" is identical to the weft thread of cloth of gold. It is mentioned on both Roman headstones for women and in the Book of Psalms (psalm 45, verse 14) as a fabric befitting a princess. The Ancient Greek reference to the Golden Fleece is seen by some as a reference to gold cloth. Cloth of gold has been popular for ecclesiastical use for many centuries, and that is the most common use of this material today.

Few extant examples have survived in Roman provincial tombs. Later producers of cloth of gold include the Byzantine Empire and Medieval Italian weavers. A similar cloth of silver was also made. It is still made in India and Italy today.

Modern metallic fabrics made in the West are known as lamé.

"Cloth of gold" is a familiar name occasionally applied to the venomous Conus textile species of cone shell, [1] presumably because of its Byssus or fine hair. Byssus from some species has been made into a very fine cloth.

See also

Resources: "The Roman Textile Industry and Its Influence. A Birthday Tribute to John Peter Wild", edited by Penelope Walton Rodgers, et al.

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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cloth of gold".  Read more