Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in coloured silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name comes from Italian broccato meaning 'embossed cloth', o
Cope and chasuble; Brocade of Lyon. 19th Century
Silk brocade fabric, Lyon, France, 1760–1770.
Detail of hair-sash being brocaded on a Jakaltek Maya backstrap loom.
Large Yunjin brocade loom, Nanjing, China, 2010
The Jacquard machine is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. The resulting ensemble of the loom
This portrait of Jacquard was woven in silk on a Jacquard loom and required 24,000 punched cards to create (1839). It was only produced to order. Charles Babbage owned one of these portraits; it inspired him in using perforated cards in his Analytical Engine. It is in the collection of the Science Museum in London, England.
A Jacquard loom showing information punchcards, National Museum of Scotland
A schematic diagram of the Jacquard system
19th century Engineering drawing of a Jacquard loom