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Theory Of Decoration

History of Textiles

Textile weaving is, with architecture, among the oldest of the arts, and dates from the earliest periods of history. It was understood in Egypt, and records are found showing that it was practiced at a remote period in the Far East. The Chinese developed the silk looms and wove brocades of such beauty that they are cherished as museum pieces and used for inspiration to this day. For a long time the secret of the origin of silk fibre was carefully guarded. Silk cocoons were eventually smuggled into India in the head-dress of a Chinese prince and from there into Byzantium. India learned silk weaving from the expert weavers of China.

The Greeks and the civilized people of the Near East also developed textile production. Monuments of Assyrian and Persian sculpture, and Greek vases show draperies of figured fabrics. On the vases of the sixth century B. C. are found striped patterns with designs of winged horses and chariots. Since then all races have learned the art, and it has followed the course of civilization from the East to Europe and America.

The product of the silk worm and its cocoon was well known to the Romans, and silk cloth was first produced in Europe about the sixth century A. D., although up to about the year 1000 it was still mainly a product of the East. Persia, Syria and Egypt were the great weaving countries of the Middle Ages. Following the crusades, eastern workmen were brought to France and Italy. Palermo in Sicily became the greatest silk manufacturing city in the world, due to conquests in Greece and the introduction of Greek silk weavers into Sicily who were brought to the capital to instruct in their arts. The royal workshops were operated by Greek weavers. After 1300 we do not hear as much of Sicilian silks because of the flourishing weaving industry of upper Italy. Scarcely less renowned were Granada and Seville in Spain. The export of Spanish silks began as early as the ninth century. At the beginning of the twelfth century, Malaga and Seville also became weaving centers. Spanish silks held their own up to the Renaissance and in the next hundred years or so weaving was introduced into Flanders, Germany, Holland and Great Britain.

By the thirteenth century the Italian weaving industry was fully developed. The eastern competitors of Italy were being weakened by invaders. By the beginning of the fourteenth century, velvets were extensively produced at Genoa. At the same period the silks of Damascus were famous, and gave their name to the modern word "damask." In the middle of the fifteenth century, looms were established in the city of Lyons, France, and it has remained to this day one of the largest producers of textiles in the world. The industry in France made slow progress against Italian competition and with the exception of tapestry weaving it was not until the reign of Louis XIV that the weavers of France surpassed those of Italy.