Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800

This fascinating exploration will appeal to anyone interested in art history, fashion and style, textile design and world history

The golden age of European navigation brought a breathtaking variety of textile designs to travel across the globe. These textiles blended the traditional designs, skills and tastes of the cultures that produced them with those of their destinations, resulting in objects that are both beautiful and historically intriguing.

While previous studies have focused on this story from the viewpoint of trade, Interwoven Globe is the first book to investigate it as a history of design — and to approach it from a universal perspective. Richly illustrated texts examine the interrelationship of textiles, commerce and taste from the Age of Discovery to the 19th century, providing detailed discussions of more than 120 works.

From India, with its renowned mastery of dyed-and-painted cotton, to the sumptuous silks of Japan and China, Turkey and Iran, the paths of influence are traced westward to Europe and the Americas. Shaped by an emerging worldwide visual culture, the fashion for the ‘exotic’ in textiles, as well as in other goods and art forms, gave rise to what can be called the first global style.