Merchants, Princes and Painters

Book excerpt: Silk was one of the great social signifiers of the later Middle Ages, and it is represented in a profusion of paintings from the period, demonstrating the opulence of the patron's own dress. This large book, illustrated throughout with such paintings and with surviving silks, takes a multifaceted look at medieval silk, its production and trade, the various grades of textile, the garments, church vestments drapes and coverings which were made from it, and their decoration, as well as the social context of silk as a high status item, the pageantry of official occasions, and the sumptuary legislation designed to control silk production. A beautiful book, every bit as opulent as its subject.