Cloth of gold or gold cloth (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Tela aurea'') is a

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

woven with a

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

-wrapped or spun

weft In the manufacture of cloth, warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread (yarn), thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical ''warp'' yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom (frame) while the horizo ...

—referred to as "a spirally spun gold strip". In most cases, the core

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. '' Thread'' is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern ...

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

, wrapped (''filé'') with a band or strip of high content gold. In rarer instances, fine

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

and

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

have been used as the core.

History

While cloth of gold has been popular for ecclesiastical use for many centuries, the earliest mentions of the use of cloth of gold are found in Vedic texts of South Asia. Earlier uses can be traced back to Central and South Asia where ancient Irani peoples have mentioned use of a fabric woven with gold. In eastern Asia, Chinese weavers had also used the technique of weaving gold into silk fabrics to create designs. Under

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henr ...

, its use was reserved to royalty and higher levels of nobility. Cloth of gold continued to be the fabric of choice for royalty, nobility and the elite across the globe for centuries as a show of wealth and power. It is also used today by companies such as Charvet for neckwear. Few extant examples have survived in Roman provincial tombs. Later producers of cloth of gold include the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Italian weavers, particularly in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

. Dating from the 1460s the Waterford cloth-of-gold vestments are made from Italian silk woven in Florence. The panels were embroidered in Bruges which was the centre of the medieval embroidery industry. A similar ''cloth of silver'' was also made. It is still made in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and Europe today.

Use at Coronation of King Charles III

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

re-used the Supertunica made from cloth of gold at his

coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

on 6 May 2023. The full-length, sleeved coat is an important historic textile from the royal collection, weighing around two kilograms. It has been worn at several previous coronations in the United Kingdom.

Other

* Cloth of gold is not to be confused with various goldwork embroidery techniques that date back to antiquity, though the type of goldwork thread called "passing" is identical to the weft thread of cloth of gold. * Most modern metallic fabrics made in the West are known as lamé. * ''Cloth of gold'' is a familiar name occasionally applied to the venomous '' Conus textile'' species of cone shell. * ''Tilsent'' is a luxurious silken cloth interwoven with flattened threads of gold or silver.

Images

File:Goudlaken satijnbinding voorzijde.jpg,

satin A satin weave is a type of Textile, fabric weave that produces a characteristically glossy, smooth or lustrous material, typically with a glossy top surface and a dull back; it is not durable, as it tends to snag. It is one of three fundamen ...

-weave cloth of gold, front File:Goudlaken satijnbinding achterzijde.jpg, satin-weave cloth-of-gold, back File:Goudlaken keperbinding voorzijde.jpg,

twill Twill is a type of textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and d ...

-weave cloth-of-gold, front File:Goudlaken keperbinding achterzijde.jpg, twill-weave cloth-of-gold, back

References

* ''The Roman Textile Industry and Its Influence. A Birthday Tribute to John Peter Wild''. Edited by Penelope Walton Rodgers, et al.

Bibliography

* Joycelyne Gledhill Russell: ''The Field of Cloth of Gold: Men and Manners in 1520''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1969

External links

* {{Fabric Woven fabrics