The tree of life is one of the oldest motifs in textile decoration, and this one comes from a document in the Rubelli archive. It is worked all over, with no clear top or bottom to the design, so the eye moves through it rather than up it.
What the lampas does is imitate embroidery: the figure sits proud of a linen-mixed ground and catches light along its edges the way a laid stitch would. The vertical repeat is 94 cm and the horizontal 70 cm, half the 140 cm width, so two trees fall across the cloth and the scale is architectural rather than domestic. Rubelli rates it for regular use, which makes it a fabric for a chair or a headboard as readily as for a curtain. Made in Italy.
