The group of thirteen drawings by Arcimboldo representing the manufacture of silk and now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is accompanied by a letter from the artist which allows us to understand that it is related to a plan of decoration proposed around 1587 to Baron Ferdinand Hoffmann, the new president of the imperial Hofkammer, for some rooms in his palace in Prague. The scenes of farming and handicraft would have been set in the middle of grotesques.

The thirteen drawings accompanied by their captions accurately illustrate the different stages in the production of silk.

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 1) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	677*1100 True Color 119 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 2) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	684*1100 True Color 80 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 3) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	683*1100 True Color 70 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 4) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	681*1100 True Color 75 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 5) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	678*1100 True Color 96 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 5, detail) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	866*1020 True Color 150 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 6) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	680*1100 True Color 95 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 7) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	683*1100 True Color 83 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 8) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	671*1100 True Color 66 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 9) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	683*1100 True Color 75 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 10) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	656*1100 True Color 49 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 11) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	670*1100 True Color 64 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 12) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	681*1100 True Color 100 Kb
	Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 13) c. 1586 Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	678*1100 True Color 66 Kb