"Ciselé velvet altar-frontal.
Italy, possibly Florence, second half 16th or early 17th century.
Acquired in Italy.

The pattern, in red on silvery white, is a variant of [the previous example]. The pattern unit measures 42 x 14 cm. The frontal has been carefully assembled from a number of pieces - including a further variant of the same pattern - and edged with gold braid.

The weave of the section illustrated is similar to that of [the previous example]. The second variant in this frontal differs in that the ground weave is based on 1.3 broken twill instead of tabby. Both these velvets have selvages of light green silk warp threads with stripes of cream, brownish (actually pink and yellow threads alternating) and cream silk warp threads."

European Textiles in the Keir Collection 400BC to 1800AD, Monique King and Donald King, Faber and Faber, London, 1990

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