tapestries

(noun)

A form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length (called the warp) and those parallel to the width (called the weft); the warp threads are set up under tension on a loom, and the weft thread is passed back and forth across part or all of the warps.

Related Terms

Examples of tapestries in the following topics:

  • The Bayeux Tapestry

    • Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long.
    • Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux tapestry.
    • The designs on the Bayeux tapestry are embroidered rather than woven; in this way, it is not technically a tapestry, though it is referred to as such.
    • Such tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in England, though the Bayeux tapestry is exceptionally large.
    • The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly 230 feet long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.

  • Flemish Textiles of the Northern Renaissance

    • Flemish tapestries hung on the walls of castles throughout Europe.
    • Among the most famous of Flemish tapestries is The Hunt of the Unicorn, often referred to as the Unicorn Tapestries.
    • These constitute a series of seven tapestries dating from 1495–1505.
    • The tapestries were woven in wool, metallic threads, and silk.
    • The second of the seven tapestries, often called The Unicorn is Found.

  • National Pride

    • A "national treasure" refers to shared culture which has been deemed exceptionally valuable and could be a skilled musician, such as Yo-Yo Ma, or a cultural object of great value, such as Britain's Bayeux tapestry.
    • The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly 70 metres (230 ft) long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex (later King of England) and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.

  • The Norman Invasion of 1066 CE

    • It has also been claimed that the Bayeux Tapestry shows Harold's death by an arrow to the eye, but this may be a later reworking of the tapestry to conform to 12th-century stories.
    • The tapestry depicts the loss of the Anglo-Saxon troops to the Norman forces.

  • The Opus Anglicanum

    • Embroidered pieces were used in religious and secular settings on vestments, clothing for the wealthy, and heraldic tapestries.
    • The work instead often became small applique pieces that could be added to clothing or tapestries.

  • Norman Painting

    • Norman Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 70 meters (230 feet) long which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.
    • The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.

  • Goya

    • He relocated to Rome and eventually got a position as the painter of tapestry designs for the Royal Tapestry Factory.
    • He worked as tapestry designer for five years.

  • Tiwanaku and Wari

    • Tapestries and tunics provide examples of textiles found at Tiwanaku.

  • Responding to Uncertainty in Strategic Planning

    • Scenario planning helps to understand how the various strands of a complex tapestry move if one or more threads are pulled.

  • Norse Ships in the Early European Middle Ages

    • Archaeologists also found more mundane items, such as agricultural and household tools, as well as a series of textiles that included woolen garments, imported silks, and narrow tapestries.