Silk is a fine, lustrous natural fibre produced by the larvae of the silk moth, which spin cocoons of continuous filament, and the term also refers to the luxurious fabrics woven from it. Silk is strong, smooth and takes dye exceptionally well, giving it a depth of colour and sheen unmatched by other natural fibres.
Silk production originated in China, where it was practised for thousands of years before the technique spread along trade routes to the Middle East and eventually to Europe. Italy became a leading centre of silk weaving in the medieval and Renaissance periods, and from the seventeenth century Lyon in France dominated European production of patterned silks. In England, Huguenot refugees settled in Spitalfields in London, where an important silk-weaving industry flourished in the eighteenth century. Antique silks include damasks, brocades, lampas, velvets, taffetas and satins, used for dress, wall hangings, curtains and upholstery, and silk was also widely used for embroidery. Silk is vulnerable to light, which fades and weakens it, and some late nineteenth-century silks were weighted with metallic salts, causing them to split or shatter. Collectors value original colour, intact weave and fine design.
