A rich woven fabric of silk and wool, used as a pictorial covering to walls and for upholstery. This kind of weaving was known to the Egyptians and to Oriental nations from the earliest times, and to the Greeks and Romans. It was practised in many parts of Europe, and Edward III. granted privileges to workers in London. In the fifteenth century. Arras was a great centre of the industry, but in the sixteenth century Brussels was in the ascendant, and large quantities were imported thence by Henry VIII. In the time of Elizabeth, William Sheldon (q.v.) established works at Barcheston in Warwickshire, and much of his work is still in existence. In the next century, in 1619, the Mortlake factory was established under the direction of Sir Walter Crane. It was well patronized by both James I. and Charles I., but afterwards declined. Tapestry was still woven at Fulham and also in Ireland in the eighteenth century. An important revival of the art in England took place at Merton Abbey, Surrey, under the direction of William Morris, who produced his first work after a design of Walter Crane in 1881, and afterwards many notable pieces from the designs of Burne-Jones and others.