A type of brightly colored silk or satin fabric with a rippled or watered surface, popular in historical textiles.
From Persian kamkha, possibly derived from Arabic or Central Asian languages. The term entered European languages through trade routes, referring to luxury fabrics imported from the Middle East and Asia.
Medieval nobles paid enormous amounts for camaca fabric—it was the 'designer luxury' of the 1300s-1500s because the shimmering watered effect required complex production techniques that only Middle Eastern weavers had mastered.
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