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Tapestry

Sculptural and Object Arts
Tapestry

Tapestry is a form of textile art traditionally woven by hand on a loom, in which the weft threads alone form the finished image and the warp threads are entirely hidden. Tapestry weave pieces using linen survive from the tombs of Thutmose IV and Tutankhamen in ancient Egypt.

Facts
Medium
Weft-faced weaving on a loom, in wool, silk, cotton or metallic thread, with the warp threads fully concealed by the weft 1
Signature Technique
Weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work. 1
Place of Origin
Ancient Egypt; tapestry-weave linen pieces were found in the tombs of Thutmose IV and Tutankhamen. 1
Notable Example
The Bayeux Tapestry, a 68.38-metre embroidered frieze, technically an embroidery rather than a woven tapestry. 1
Connections

Associated With

Renaissance, Movements
Source Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia

Works In This Form

Medieval woven tapestry cycle (the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry).

Bayeux Tapestry, Works

Embroidered narrative hanging, classed with the atlas Tapestry form.

15th-century Flemish woven hunting-scene tapestry set.

Viking-age Swedish woven wall hangings.

Modern narrative embroidery hanging commemorating the Normandy landings.

Skog Tapestry, Works

Medieval Swedish woven wall hanging.

Romanesque embroidered hanging in Girona Cathedral.

Late medieval woven tapestry cycle.

Flemish tapestry cycle woven for Henry VIII, 1540s.

Late medieval woven tapestry cycle (the Hunt of the Unicorn).

Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Tapestry, opening section, Production section and Early history / Ancient subsection
    Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom...tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work...From ancient Egypt, tapestry weave pieces using linen were found in the tombs of both Thutmose IV and Tutankhamen.
  • Tapestry, Production section
    Technically, tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible.
  • Tapestry, Ancient section
    From ancient Egypt, tapestry weave pieces using linen were found in the tombs of both Thutmose IV (d. 1391 or 1388 BC) and Tutankhamen (c. 1323 BC)
  • Tapestry, Early and High medieval section, Bayeux
    The most famous frieze hanging is the Bayeux Tapestry, actually an embroidery, which is 68.38 metres long and 0.5 metres wide
  • Associated With: Textile Arts, Tapestry, opening section
    Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom.
  • Associated With: Renaissance, Tapestry, opening section
    In late medieval Europe, tapestry was the grandest and most expensive medium for figurative images in two dimensions, and despite the rapid rise in importance of painting it retained this position in the eyes of many Renaissance patrons until at least the end of the 16th century, if not beyond.
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