by Mary Teresa Fowler

Created on: April 16, 2009

Elegant Curtains

Your home is your castle and your windows look out on your kingdom. Your curtains should frame your world with elegance and splendor. They should be visions of luxury created uniquely for your home. Every elegant curtain originates with luxury itself.

Gold Brocade Curtains

Nothing says luxury more than pure gold. Gold brocade curtains made history three hundred years ago in Bohemia(now in the Czech Republic)during the Purim Of The Curtains. Gold brocade curtains were stolen at that time from the governor's palace in Bohemia.

The governor believed the culprit to be a Jewish merchant, Enoch Altschul. He ordered his troops to storm the Jewish community. At the last moment, the real thief Hradek, a chamberlain, confessed his evil deed. The Jewish community was spared from death. This dramatic period in the history of Prague had resulted from the theft of a governor's beloved treasure - his gold brocade curtains!

The luxury of brocade curtains can still be featured today in your decor. Brocade is a fabric which was originally made from silk. Brocade is believed to have started in China or Japan where silk was woven with threads of gold and silver.

Silk weaving is also considered to have been a presence prior to the Sasanid dynasty in Iran. The use of gold was prohibited after the Sasanid dynasty. Silk weaving then ceased in Iran. Silk weaving was revived during the Safavid period.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed the perfection of brocade in France, Italy, and Spain. The word brocade is believed to have originated from the Spanish "broccado" and the Italian "broccato" meaning embossed cloth or cloth of gold and silver.

The Syrian silk brocade is referred to as "brocard" or "brokard" in its land of origin. The word "brokard" meant the work of Brahim. Traditional beliefs credit St. Brahim with the creation of brocade.

Ornamental features and motifs are always emphasized as additions to the base silk in brocades. This process gives the fabric its raised or embossed appearance. The motifs are added to the base. Motifs can include flowers, foliage, scrollwork, pastoral scenes, or other designs. Some craftsmen even worked their poetry into their brocade design.

In the nineteenth century one can notice English influences in some brocade designs from India. The craftsmen were adapting then to suit their British rulers.

Murshidabad in West Bengal is the home of the famous Baluchari sari. The Baluchar technique of weaving uses untwisted silk thread

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