Goldwork (embroidery)

Goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads. It is particularly prized for the way light plays on it. The term "goldwork" is used even when the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper. The metal wires used to make the threads have never been entirely gold; they have always been gold-coated silver or cheaper metals, and even then the "gold" often contains a very low percent of real gold. Most metal threads are available in silver and sometimes copper as well as gold; some are available in colors as well.
Goldwork is always surface embroidery and free embroidery; the vast majority is a form of laid work or couching; that is, the gold threads are held onto the surface of the fabric by a second thread, usually of fine silk. The ends of the thread, depending on type, are simply cut off, or are pulled through to the back of the embroidery and carefully secured with the couching thread. A tool called a mellore or a stilleto is used to help position the threads and create the holes needed to pull them through. The threads most often have metal or gold leaf wound around a textile thread, or threads treated with an adhesive and rolled in powdered gold or other metal.
Goldwork was originally developed in Asia, and has been used for at least 2000 years. Its use reached a remarkable level of skill in the Middle Ages, when a style called Opus Anglicanum was developed in England and used extensively in church vestments and hangings. After this period it was also used frequently in the clothing and furnishings of the royalty and nobility throughout Europe, and still later on military and other regalia. The same silver and gold thread were also used heavily in the most expensive tapestries, especially during the Renaissance. Goldwork is currently a fairly uncommon skill, even among embroiderers who work in other free embroidery styles; it is now most commonly used for the highest-quality church vestments and art embroidery. It has always been reserved for occasional and special use only, due both to the expense of the materials and time to create the embroidery, and because the threads – no matter how expertly applied – will not hold up to frequent laundering of any kind.
Embroidered goldwork is distinct from the even more luxurious cloth of gold, where similar gold threads are woven through the whole piece of textile. Such gold textiles are similarly ancient, perhaps older, being mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible. Evidence exists for the use of woven (not embroidered) gold thread around the Mediterranean and Western Asia as early as the 4th century BCE, as fillets, ribbons, and bands or borders applied to garments.
Goldwork was originally developed in Asia, and has been used for at least 2000 years. In China, it possibly dates back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1570 BC – c. 1045 BC) according to archaeological studies, but was certainly in use by the Eastern Han dynasty (25 to 220 AD).
It had reached ancient Rome soon after 189 BC, initially made in Pergamum (modern Bergama in Western Turkey). King Attalus I probably established large state workshops there, and the gold-embroidered cloth was known as "Attalic" cloth. Pliny the Elder credited Attalus I with inventing the technique, but this is most unlikely. The toga picta, worn by generals in their Roman triumphs, and later consuls and emperors, was dyed solid purple, decorated with imagery in gold thread, and worn over a similarly-decorated tunica palmata.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, it was generally reserved for garments of the nobility and church hangings and vestments, and as a luxury technique survived from ancient times in the Middle Ages. It featured significantly in Byzantine dress and church textiles, and was sometimes worn by musicians and servants in uniform. When illiteracy was common and thus written materials had less impact, "images and the visual realm [had] more power over the senses and the mind. ... The pomp and circumstance created by the awe-inspiring use of metal threads in church work was observed keenly by kings and emulated where possible.
In China, gold embroidery is a traditional Chinese craft with a long history which was originally used in the imperial palaces and temples. Chinese goldwork, including application of gold leaf, gold powder, gold thread (as embroidery or as woven textile with the exception of Nasīj) in clothing and textile, as well as the silver-work version, originated in ancient China and was used at least since the Eastern Han dynasty (25 to 220 AD) or prior, with possible usage in the Shang dynasty (c. 1570 BC – c. 1045 BC). Since the Zhou dynasty (c.1046 to 256 BC), Chinese embroidery had been used as a social class marker. In China, embroidery in gold was found on imperial and ceremonial dress, and religious dress, and other textile objects. Chinese goldwork often used red silk threads for couching, adding a warmer tone to the embroidery.
One of the two important branches of Chinese gold embroidery is the Chao embroidery which was developed in Chaozhou, Guangdong province since the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD) and the gold- and silver-coloured embroidery of Ningbo, which mostly uses gold and silver metallic threads.
Gold embroidery is attested in the Mycenean and Wessex bronze age culture dating back to 1700 BC although it was only used for weapons. The record of gold embroidery extends far back in English history. Thomas of Ely noted the Abbess of Ely, St. Etheldrada, who died in 679, was adept at embroidering goldwork and made St. Cuthbert a stole and maniple richly embroidered in gold and adorned with gems. Embroidery was thought to be a fitting activity for noblewomen, both those within and outside of convents.
By late antiquity golden silk embroidery technology was introduced to Europe from Asia.
Goldworken silk thread technology were also adopted by Italian weavers. Italian centers of silk production (Lucca, Venice, Florence, and Milan) producing cloth of gold started appearing after the Crusades. Even after golden silk thread was produced for millennia in Europe, golden silk thread was still associated with its origins in China. The producing of gold cloth became common in Europe, such as France and Italy by the 16th century.
After this period it was also used frequently in the clothing and furnishings of the royalty and nobility throughout Europe, and still later on military and other regalia. The Imperial and Ecclesiastical Treasury in Vienna displays vestments decorated with accomplished Or nué in the form of saints.
Or nué ('shaded gold') is a special technique invented in the 15th century, wherein many threads of passing or Japan thread are laid down parallel and touching. By varying the spacing and color of the couching stitches, elaborate, gleaming images can be created. This is commonly used to depict the garments of saints in church embroidery.
The use of goldwork in South Asia predates the arrival of the Greeks in 365–323 BC. Metal thread embroidery in the subcontinent uses precious and semiprecious stones and wire in distinctive ways. It is certain that the use of gold and silver embroideries, known as zari, was used in South Asia in the 15th century. Gold thread which was made out of beaten metal strips wrapped around a silk core was introduced in the subcontinent from Singapore.
A variety of threads exists, in order to create differing textures.
In addition, paillettes or spangles (sequins of real metal), small pieces of appliqued rich fabric or kid leather, pearls, and real or imitation gems are commonly used as accents, and felt or string padding may be used to create raised areas or texture. Silk thread work in satin stitch or other stitches is often combined with goldwork, and in some periods goldwork was combined with blackwork embroidery as well.