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Byzantine Silk

Type Object Region Eastern Roman Time 1351–1360

Imperial silk workshops centered on Constantinople produced brocade, embroidery, and ceremonial silks whose patterns fused Christian iconography with…

Timeline

  1. 1351–1354Silk workshops of the Constantinople imperial palace · Byzantine EmpireDespite financial difficulties, the imperial silk workshops still wove ceremonial purple silks and gold-thread embroideries for imperial coronations, altar cloths, and diplomatic gifts; loom techniques followed early Byzantine traditions, weaving eagles, crosses, and geometric patterns with a weft-faced pattern (samite) technique.
  2. 1355–1358Golden Horn ports · Byzantine EmpireVenetian and Genoese merchants purchased Byzantine brocade in Constantinople and carried it by Aegean routes to the Italian city-states and the French court; trade gradually recovered after the Black Death, with silk becoming a key export earning the empire hard currency and grain.
  3. 1359–1360Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireAfter the Ottomans established themselves at Gallipoli, they cut off the Anatolian raw silk routes, forcing workshops to rely on imported raw silk and stockpiles; surviving Byzantine silk fragments from this period are small in size and simplified in pattern, reflecting the decline of the empire's luxury production capacity.

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