A fabric similar to brocade with a raised design, or sometimes a type of marble with color contrasts.
The French spelling of 'brocatel,' from Italian 'brocatello.' It refers to both textile and stone, suggesting decorative materials generally. The marble meaning developed because of the color patterns resembling brocade designs.
It's wild that the same word got applied to both fancy cloth and marble—both have that raised, elaborate pattern quality. Renaissance designers noticed the marble looked like brocade and started calling it by the same name!
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