Bizarre Silk at the Metropolitan Museum is the Daily Pic by Blake Gopnik

Bizarre Silks

The Metropolitan Museum shows psychedelic textiles from circa 1700

Published Dec. 12 2013 4:25PM EST

articles/2013/12/12/bizarre-silk-at-the-metropolitan-museum-is-the-daily-pic-by-blake-gopnik/silk-daily-pic_uqpssy — (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1964)

articles/2013/12/12/bizarre-silk-at-the-metropolitan-museum-is-the-daily-pic-by-blake-gopnik/silk-daily-pic_tnkucy

The term of art for this kind of textile is “Bizarre Silk”, and it couldn’t be more appropriate: This silk could pass as acid-test Art Nouveau, but it’s actually a fabric from an as-yet-unidentified source in early 18th-century Europe that shows an influence from as-yet-unidentified Asian cultures.

Blake Gopnik

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Bizarre Silk at the Metropolitan Museum is the Daily Pic by Blake Gopnik

The Metropolitan Museum shows psychedelic textiles from circa 1700

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Blake Gopnik