This furnishing fabric was manufactured in 1904 by Chatel et Tassinari, a French weaving firm based in Lyon. It is made of velvet brocaded with silver-gilt thread. The design is a reproduction of a Florentine brocade of the period 1450 to 1500. It has nine-petalled flowers backed by leaves alternating with larger flowerheads. The two rows of flowers are joined with intertwined stems, one of which is decorated with stylised peacock feathers, one with trelliswork and the other with plain red velvet. Sprigs of leaves and mulberries grow from these stems.

Italian velvets of this kind were often used in church costume. The architect A. W. N. Pugin popularised the revival of such Gothic designs in Britain in the mid-19th century. The pattern of this fabric is also very similar to the medieval textiles reproduced by Mariano Fortuny in the 1920s. Lyon was the home of the French silk-weaving industry from the 17th century. It was a leading producer of luxury fabrics of this type.