Rubelli | Santo

Inside a lattice of ivy sprays an Agnus Dei alternates with a deer and a tree of life. The iconography is Italian and fifteenth-century, and the lozenge framework holding it is the standard device of that period: a grid that is also an ornament, so nothing is left as background.

The lozenges repeat every 29 cm, small enough that a cushion will show the alternation between the two subjects and read as a pattern rather than as a fragment. Eleven percent metallic weft draws parts of the ornament; a silk pile on a silk and viscose ground carries the rest, at 280 g.

All three colourways are chiné, the pile yarn dyed before weaving so the colour breaks along the pile instead of lying flat. 60 cm wide, woven by hand at Cucciago at a few centimetres a day. Made in Italy.