Brocade (Span. brocado). This term is applied to a kind of figured silk resembling on the one hand a damask, and on the other a piece of embroidery. To some extent it partakes of the character of both, but a piece of silk, woven on the old hand-loom with a slightly raised pattern somewhat resembling a piece of embroidered work, was called a brocade. The name is now applied to a figured silk with a satin or cord ground in which several colours are used, and in which a coloured thread (or more than one) is put in by a shuttle only travelling a short distance, or just the width of a flower or figure. This part of the pattern is technically said to be 'brocaded in.' A brocade may only be of silk on the face, and the back of some other material. Johnson defined the term as meaning 'a silken stuff variegated with gold or silver, and raised and enriched with flowers and various sorts of figures, originally made by the Chinese.' With the exception of those woven in modern times, brocades are very generally composed in part of gold, silver, or gilt silver threads.
Oriental brocades date from a remote period, but there were probably no European stuffs of this nature earlier than the 13th or 14th century, when they were made in Italy and Spain. In common with damasks, figured tissues, and other varieties of ornamented silks made in past times, Italian and Spanish brocades, dating from the 14th to the 17th century, as well as those of Persia and Asia Minor, extending over a longer period of time, are extremely valuable objects of study for the textile designer and decorative artist. Their richness, beauty, and variety of pattern are very great. The French brocades of the 18th century, and even some of quite modern date, are also interesting in an artistic sense. Fine examples of all these are to be found in some continental museums. The collection at South Kensington is very rich, and is being made available to persons at a distance by highly finished chrono-lithographs of the best pieces, already partly published under the supervision of the authorities of that institution. Some interesting specimens of these fabrics can also be seen in the museums of Manchester, Edinburgh, and Dublin.