Cleveland Museum of Art

Procurator’s Velvet Stole

Date

c. 1575–1600

Medium

Alto e basso silk velvet

Culture

Italy, Venice

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

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