CULTIVATION OF ITALIAN SILK

had been imported from the East, but in 1444 it was enacted thaton every farm there should be planted at least five mulberry treesannually until the number reached fifty.

The successful cultivation of Italian silk, together with thegrowing power, wealth, and industrial activity of Venice, Genoa,and Milan, gave an enormous impetus to the textile industry, andthe splendid productions of their looms, together with those ofFlorence, were used not only by the wealthy nobles and citizens ofItaly, but were largely exported to France, Flanders, and England, tobe used for ecclesiastical vestments or the dress of princes and nobles.

Many beautiful patterned fabrics from the various North Italian

inflorescence isthe distinctivefeature.

Plate 2(facing page 3)is an interestingexample ofdamask bro-cade ; the pat-tern is plannedon ogival lines,flattened toform hexagonalshapes withinwhich are thetypical pome-granates withtheir radiatinginflorescencesurrounded by

cusps of ground damasks. The coloured illustration given onplate 43 is a bold and effective pattern, more conventional in itsinterpretation of natural forms than .plate 2, but equally decorativein its patterning.

A beautiful example both in technique and design is given infig. 34, taken from a fragment of a yellow and crimson lampas ; theradiation of the pomegranate towards in place of from the centralflower, is an interesting and unusual variant of this type of pattern.

About the middle of the 16th century the Venetian andGenoese looms began to take precedence in the production ofsplendid patterned fabrics, especially velvets and brocades. Plate44 represents one of the most beautiful of the Venetian brocades,

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looms are extant, in which the radiating Florentine

Fig. 34.—Florentine Floral Pattern.

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