Editing Tapestry (section)

{{short description|Form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom}}
{{about|the textile art|other uses|Tapestry (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Rea-Menzies in studio.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Weaving a small tapestry on a high-warp loom, 2022, New Zealand]]
[[File:The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestry 1.jpg|right|thumb|One of the tapestries in the series ''[[The Hunt of the Unicorn]]:'' ''The Unicorn is Found'', circa 1495–1505, [[The Cloisters]], [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City]]

<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2013 |title=Passé en Promenade en Avant |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350972070 |journal=Passé en Promenade en Avant |doi=10.5040/9781350972070|url-access=subscription }}</ref>'''Tapestry''' is a form of [[Textile arts|textile art]] which was traditionally [[Weaving|woven]] by hand on a [[loom]]. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to hang vertically on a wall (or sometimes in tents), or sometimes horizontally over a piece of furniture such as a table or bed.  Some periods made smaller pieces, often long and narrow and used as borders for other [[textile]]s. Most weavers use a natural warp thread, such as [[wool]], [[linen]], or [[cotton]]. The weft threads are usually wool or cotton but may include [[silk]], [[gold]], [[silver]], or other alternatives.
[[File:Tapestry Room from Croome Court MET DP341243.jpg|thumb|Tapestry Room from [[Croome Court]], moved to the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], hung with made to measure 18th-century [[Gobelins Manufactory|Gobelins tapestries]], also covering the chairs. 1763–71]]

In [[Late Middle Ages|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.<ref>Tapestries in the Royal Collection; Campbell (2007), xv</ref> The European tradition continued to develop and reflect wider changes in artistic styles until the [[French Revolution]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]], before being revived on a smaller scale in the 19th century.

Technically, tapestry is [[weft]]-faced weaving, in which all the [[Warp (weaving)|warp]] threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible. In tapestry weaving, weft yarns are typically discontinuous (unlike [[brocade]]); the artisan interlaces each coloured weft back and forth in its own small pattern area. It is a plain weft-faced weave having weft threads of different colours worked over portions of the warp to form the design.<ref>V&A; Mallet, Marla. [http://www.marlamallett.com/techniques.htm "Basic Tribal and Village Weaves"].</ref> European tapestries are normally made to be seen only from one side, and often have a plain lining added on the back. However, other traditions, such as Chinese [[K'o-ssu|''kesi'']] and that of [[pre-Columbian Peru]], make tapestry to be seen from both sides.<ref>Osborne, 755–756</ref>

Tapestry should be distinguished from the different technique of [[embroidery]],<ref>Osborne, 755</ref> although large pieces of embroidery with images are sometimes loosely called "tapestry",<ref>Campbell and Ainsworth, 5 – "The word tapestry is now widely used to describe a range of textiles, ... but historically and technically it designates a figurative weft-faced textile woven by hand on a loom"</ref> as with the famous [[Bayeux Tapestry]], which is in fact embroidered.<ref>Osborne, 71</ref>  From the [[Middle Ages]] on European tapestries could be very large, with images containing dozens of figures. They were often made in sets, so that a whole room could be hung with them.
[[File:The Triumph of Fame MET DT4292.jpg|thumb|''The Triumph of Fame'', probably [[Brussels]], 1500s]]