# Altar Frontal

- By: Spain or Italy
- Date: 1480-1550
- Medium: Silk, warp-float faced 3:1 'Z' twill weave with supplementary discontinuous facing brocading wefts forming areas of weft loops (known as bouclé) tied by secondary binding warps in weft-float faced 3:1 twill interlacing and supplementary…
- Classification: Religious/Ritual Object
- Dimensions: 100.8 × 203.4 cm (39 3/4 × 80 1/8 in.) Repeat: 84.4 × 56.5 cm (33 1/4 × 22 1/4 in.)
- Culture: Spain
- Credit line: Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/110794)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/075247de-0329-838c-3ca6-416a08d48c3b/full/843,/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Velvets fabrics often formed the foundation for the most sumptuous liturgical textiles used by European clergy. The altar frontal, a cloth that covers the front of the altar table, was once decorated with embroidery and it was likely part of a coordinating set of liturgical objects that include priests’ apparel and accessories. Variations of this popular velvet pattern were woven in both Italy and Spain and produced for many decades. A kaftan made of this design was part of the vast wardrobe of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603–17).

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0