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During the Renaissance, Italy became a major producer of silk textiles, supplying luxury fabrics to the rest of Europe. Although Italian weaving techniques remained unchanged from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, the patterns reflected a new interest in smaller, more compact compositions. The almost naturalistic patterns of the earlier textiles were replaced by more abstracted forms of nature. The smaller patterns were no less luxurious, as it became fashionable to incorporate motifs in silver or silver-gilt thread.