Length of Cut and Uncut Velvet

Lush, stylized foliage emanates from the central axis of this cut and uncut velvet fabric. Such patterns were influenced by 17th-century garden designs digested in the prints of André Mollet (c.1600–1665) and others. Multicolored velvets like this one were called jardinière, from the French word for garden, or Genoa, for the Italian city which first made them famous. Developed in the early 17th century, they remained popular as furnishing fabrics for several hundred years.