By all those for whom, among other allurements drawing them on in their
studies of Botany and Zoology, one is the gratification they feel in
learning how many of the subjects belonging to these two sections of
the natural sciences were known, and how they used to be depicted
during the middle ages, this large collection of textiles figured so
often with birds, beasts and flowers, will be heartily welcomed.
Our Zoological Society prides itself, and in justice, with treating
the Londoners with the first sight of a live giraffe; but here its
members themselves may behold, Nos. 8591-91A, p. 224; 8599, p. 228,
the earliest known portrait of that curious quadruped sketched upon
Sicilian silks of the fourteenth century.
We once listened to a discussion between English sportsmen about the
travels of the pheasant from its native home by the banks of the river
Phasis at Colchis, and the time when it reached this island. Both
parties agreed in believing its coming hither to have been somewhat
late. Be that as it may, our country gentlemen will see their favourite
bird figured here, No. 1325, p. 60.
About the far-famed hunting cheetahs of India, we have heard, and
still hear much; and on pieces of silk from eastern looms, in this
collection, they are often to be seen figured.
With regard to the way in which all kinds of fowl, as well as animals
are represented on these stuffs, there is one thing which we think will
strike most observers who compare the drawing of them here with that
of the same objects among the illuminations in old MSS. The birds and
beasts on the textiles are always very much better rendered than in the
wood-cuts to be found in our old black-letter books, from Caxton’s days
upwards, especially in such works as that of Æsop and the rest. Figures
of animals and of birds in manuscripts are hardly better, as we may see
in the prints of our own Sir John Maundevile’s Travels, and the French
“Bestiaire d’Amour,” par R. de Fournival, lately edited by C. Hippeau.
Scarcely better does their design fare in illuminated MSS. Belonging to
the Duke of Northumberland, and now in the library at Alnwick castle is
the finest Salisbury missal we have ever beheld. This tall thick folio
volume was, some time during the end of the fourteenth century, begun
to be written and illuminated by a Benedictine monk--one John Whas--who
carried on this gorgeous book as far as page 661. From the two Leonine
verses which we read there, it would seem that this labour of love
carried on for years at early morn in the scriptorium belonging to
Sherbourne Abbey, Dorsetshire, had broken, as well it might, the health
of the monk artist, of whom it is said:--
“Librum scribendo Ion Whas monachus laborabat;
Et mane surgendo multum corpus macerabat.”
Among his other tastes, this Benedictine had that for Natural History,
and in the beautifully illuminated Kalendar at the beginning of this
full missal, almost every month is pointed out by the presence of
some bird, or fish, or flower, peculiar to that season, with its name
beneath it,--for instance, “Ys is a throstle,” &c. However much the
thrush’s song may have cheered him at his work at Spring-tide peep
of day, Whas did not draw his bird with half the individuality and
truthfulness which we find in birds of all sorts that are figured upon
Sicilian stuffs woven at the very period when the English Benedictine
was at work within the cloisters of his house in Dorsetshire--a fact
which may lead the ornithologist to look with more complacency upon
those textiles here patterned with Italian birds.
For Botany, it has not gone so well; yet, notwithstanding this
drawback, there are to be seen figured upon these textiles plants and
trees which, though strangers to this land and to Europe, and their
forms no doubt, oddly and clumsily represented, yet, as they keep about
them the same character, we may safely believe to have a true type in
nature, which at last by their help we shall be able to find out. Such
is the famous “homa,” or “hom,”--the sacred tree--among the ancient
followers of Zoroaster, as well as the later Persians. It is to be seen
figured on many silks in this collection of real or imitated Persian
textiles, woven at various periods during the middle ages.
From the earliest antiquity a tradition came down throughout middle
Asia, of some holy tree--perhaps the tree of life spoken of as growing
in Paradise.--Gen. ii. 9. Some such a tree is very often to be seen
sculptured on Assyrian monuments; and, by the place which it holds
there, must have been held in peculiar, nay religious veneration. Upon
those important remains from Nineveh, now in the British Museum, and
figured in Mr. Layard’s fine work, it appears as the object of homage
for the two men symbolized as sacerdotal or as kingly personages,
between whom it invariably stands. It is to be found equally figured
upon the small bucket meant for religious rites,[459] as embroidered
upon the upper sleeve of the monarch’s tunic.[460] From Fergusson’s
“Palaces of Nineveh, and Persepolis restored,” we learn that it was
frequently to be found sculptured as an architectural ornament. When
seen done in needlework upon dresses, the two animals--sometimes
winged bulls, sometimes gazelles--which its umbel of seven flowers
is separating, are shown with bended knees, as if in worship of it.
Always this plant is represented as a shrub, sometimes bearing a series
of umbels with seven flowers sprouting, each at the end of a tangled
bough; sometimes as a stunted tree with branches growing all the way
up right out of a thick trunk with ovated leaves; but the height never
looks beyond that of a good sized man. Never for one moment can it be
taken as any conventionalism for a tree, since it is as distinct an
imitation of a particular plant, as is the figure of the palm which
occurs along with it. To us, it has every look of belonging to the
family of Asclepiadeæ, or one of its near kindred.
The few Parsees still to be found in East India, are the only followers
of Persia’s olden religious practices; and in his “Essays on the sacred
writings, language, and religion of the Parsees,” Haug tells us,[461]
that those people yet hold a certain plant--the Homa, or hom?--to
be sacred, and from it squeeze a juice to be used by them in their
religious services. To our seeming, those buckets in the left hand of
many an Assyrian figure were for holding this same liquor.
Can the “hom” of the old Persians be the same as the famous Sidral
Almuntaha which bears as many leaves inscribed with names as there are
men living on the earth? At each birth a fresh leaf bearing the name of
the newly born bursts out, and, when any one has reached the end of his
life, the leaf withers and falls off.[462]
Though unable to identify among the plants of Asia, which was the “hom”
or tree of life, held so sacred by the Assyrians and later Persians, we
know enough about that king of fruits--the “pine-apple”--as to correct
a great mistake into which those have fallen who hitherto have had to
write about the patterns figured on ancient or mediæval textiles. In
their descriptions, we are perpetually told of the pine-apple appearing
there; and at a period when the Ananas, so far from having been even
once beheld in the old world, had never been dreamed of. Among the
Peruvians our pine-apple, the “Nanas,” was first found and seen by
Europeans. Hardly more than two hundred years ago was a single fruit
of it brought to any place in the old world. A little over a century
has it been cultivated here in England; and, as far as our memory goes,
a pine-apple, fifty years ago, had never been planted in any part of
Italy or Sicily, nor so much as seen. Writing, October 17, 1716, from
Blankenburg, and telling her friend all about a royal dinner at which
she had just been, Lady Mary Wortley Montague says:--“What I thought
worth all the rest (were) two ripe Ananasses, which, to my taste, are
a fruit perfectly delicious. You know they are naturally the growth of
Brazil, and I could not imagine how they came here, but by enchantment.
Upon enquiry, I learned that they have brought their stoves to such
perfection, &c. I am surprised we do not practise in England so useful
an invention.”[463] As turnips grow in England, so do artichokes all
over middle and south Italy, as well as Sicily, large fields are full
of them. Put side by side with the pine-apple, and its narrow stiff
leaves, the artichoke in bloom amid its graceful foliage, shows well;
and every artistic eye will see that the Sicilian weaver, so fond of
flowers and nice foliage for his patterns, must have chosen his own
vegetable, unfolding its beauties to him at every step he took, and not
a fruit of which he had never heard, and which he had never looked upon.
In his description of fruits or flowers woven on a textile, let not the
youthful or unwary writer be led astray by older men with a reputation
howsoever high for learning other than botanical. Some years ago we
were reading with great delight a tale about some things that happened
in the third century, and near Carthage. Though avowedly a fiction,
most of its incidents were facts, so admirably put together that they
seemed to have been drawn by the pen of one who had lived upon the
spot. But taking one of his personages to a walk amid the hills running
down to the shores of North Africa, the writer leads him through a
narrow glen tangled over head, and shaded with sweet smelling creepers
and climbers, among which he sees the passion-flower in full bloom.
Now, as every species--save one from China of late introduction--that
we have of this genus of plants, came to the old world from the new
one, to speak of them as growing wild in Africa, quite fourteen hundred
years before they could have been seen there, and America was known, is
spoiling a picture otherwise beautifully sketched.
[459] Layard’s Discoveries at Nineveh, abridged, p. 46.
[460] Ibid. p. 245.
[461] Pp. 132, 239.
[462] The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud, or Biblical Legends of
Mussulmans compiled, &c., by Dr. G. Weil, pp. 183, 184.
[463] Letters, t. i. p. 105, London, 1763.
* * * * *
With some, there perhaps may be a wish to know what was the origin of
this collection.
As is set forth, in the “Church of Our Fathers,”[464] some thirty years
ago there began to grow up, amid a few, a strong desire to behold a
better taste in the building of churches, and the design of every
ecclesiastical accessory. Our common sympathies on all these points
brought together the late Mr. A. Welby Pugin, and him who writes these
lines, and they became warm friends. What were the results to Pugin
through our intercourse he himself has acknowledged in his “Principles
of Pointed or Christian Architecture,” p. 67. To think of anything and
do it, were, with Pugin, two consecutive actions which followed one
another speedily. While at Birmingham Hardman was working in metal,
after drawings by Pugin, and putting together a stained-glass window
from one of his cartoons, a loom at Manchester, which had been geared
after his idea, was throwing off textiles for church use, and orphreys,
broad and narrow, were being wove in London: the mediæval court at Hyde
Park, in the year 1851, was the gem of our first Exhibition. Going
back, a German lady took from England a cope made of the textiles that
had been designed by Pugin. This vestment got into the hands of Dr.
Bock, whose feelings were, as they still are, akin to our own in a
love for all the beauties of the mediæval period. While so glad of his
new gift, it set this worthy canon of Aix-la-Chapelle thinking that
other and better patterns were to be seen upon stuffs of an old and
good period, could they be but found. He gave himself to the search,
and took along with him, over the length and breadth of Europe, that
energy and speed for which he is so conspicuous; and the gatherings
from his many journeys, put together, made up the bulk of a most
curious and valuable collection--the only one of its kind--which has
found an abiding home in England, at the South Kensington Museum. Thus
have these beautiful art-works of the loom become, after a manner, a
recompense most gratefully received, to the native land of those men
whose action, some thirty years ago, indirectly originated their being
brought together.
Before laying down his pen, the writer of this Catalogue must put on
record his grateful remembrances of the kindness shown so readily
by M. Octave Delepierre, Secretary of Legation and Consul-General
for Belgium, in rendering those inscriptions of old German upon that
curious piece of hanging, No. 1297, p. 296, as well as upon another
piece of the same kind, No. 1465, p. 298. For the like help afforded
about the same, together with those several long inscriptions upon No.
4456, p. 92, the writer is equally indebted to Dr. Appell; and, without
the ready courtesy of the Rev. Eugene Popoff, the writer could not have
been able to have given the Greek readings, hidden under Cyrillian
characters, worked by the needle all around the Ruthenic Sindon, No.
8278, p. 170.
17, Essex Villas,
Kensington.
[464] T. i. pp. 348, &c.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE
OF THE COLLECTION OF CHURCH VESTMENTS, DRESSES,
SILK STUFFS, NEEDLEWORK, AND TAPESTRIES
IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK.
_Part the First._
Page
CHURCH-VESTMENTS, SILK-STUFFS, NEEDLEWORK AND DRESSES 1
_Part the Second._
TAPESTRY 294
_The Brooke Collection._
NEEDLEWORK AND DRESSES 312
_Lent by Her Majesty, and by the Board of Works._
TAPESTRY 324
INDEX I. Alphabetical 339
INDEX II. Geography of Textiles 355
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS.
No. Page
84. HOOD OF A COPE. Embroidered (Coloured plate).
_Flemish, 16th century_ _Frontispiece_ 3
1269. SILK AND GOLD DAMASK.
_Sicilian, 14th century_ 37
1362. SILK DAMASK. (Coloured plate.)
_North Italian, 16th century_ 74
1376. PART OF THE ORPHREY OF A CHASUBLE.
_German, 15th century_ 82
1376. PART OF THE ORPHREY OF THE SAME CHASUBLE.
_German, 15th century_ 82
4068. STRIP OF RAISED VELVET. (Coloured plate.)
_North Italian, 16th century_ 90
7004. SILK DAMASK. _Italian, late 16th century_ 113
7039. SILK DAMASK. _Byzantine, 14th century_ 123
7043. SILK DAMASK. _Sicilian, 15th century_ 125
7795. SILK DAMASK (BACK OF A BURSE). _Italian, 16th century_ 145
8264. SILK AND GOLD TISSUE. _Sicilian, early 14th century_ 166
8265. LINEN AND SILK TEXTILE. _Spanish, late 14th century_ 166
8331. LACE EMBROIDERY. _Milanese, late 16th century_ 197
8605. SILK DAMASK. _Italian, 14th century_ 230
8607. SILK DAMASK. _Sicilian, 14th century_ 231
8626. SILK DAMASK. _Italian, end of 14th century_ 239
8667. SILK AND GOLD EMBROIDERY. PORTION OF AN ORPHREY.
(Coloured plate.) _German, 15th century_ 252
8702. SILK AND LINEN DAMASK. _Florentine, 16th century_ 264
8704. PART OF THE ORPHREY OF A CHASUBLE. _Flemish,
very late 15th century_ 264
9182. PART OF THE ORPHREY OF THE SYON MONASTERY COPE.
_English, 13th century_ 275
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
PART THE FIRST.
_Church-vestments, Silk-stuffs, Needlework, and Dresses._
64.
Chinese Mandarin’s Tunic of Ceremony embroidered in various coloured
flos-silks and gold upon an orange-red satin. Chinese. 4 feet high by 6
feet round, modern.
Sprawling all in gold and lively colours, both before and behind, upon
this rich garment of state, is figured, with all its hideousness, the
imperial five-clawed dragon, before which, according to the royal
fancies of that land, the lion turns pale and the tiger is struck with
dumbness. In the ornamentation the light blue quantity of silk is very
conspicuous, more especially upon the broad lower hem of this robe.
78.
Chasuble of crimson velvet, with both orphreys embroidered; the velvet,
pile upon pile, and figured with large and small flowers in gold and
colour, and other smaller flowers in green and white; the orphreys
figured with the Apostles and the Annunciation. Florentine, late 15th
century. 4 feet 3½ inches by 2 feet 5½ inches.
Like most other chasubles, this has been narrowed, at no late period,
across the shoulders. The velvet is very soft and rich, and of that
peculiar kind that shows a double pile or the pattern in velvet upon
velvet, now so seldom to be found. On the back orphrey, which is quite
straight, is shown St. Peter with his keys; St. Paul with a sword; St.
John blessing with one hand, and holding a chalice, out of which comes
a serpent, in the other; St. James with a pilgrim’s hat and staff:
on the front orphrey the Annunciation, and St. Simon holding a club,
but his person so placed, that, by separating the archangel Gabriel
from the Blessed Virgin Mary, a tau-cross is made upon the breast; St.
Bartholomew with a knife, and St. James the Less with the fuller’s
bat. For their greater part, the Gothic niches in which these figures
stand, are loom-wrought; but these personages themselves are done
on separate pieces of fine canvas and are applied over spaces left
uncovered for them. Another curious thing is that in these applied
figures the golden parts of the draperies are woven, and the spaces
for the heads and hands left bare to be filled in by hand; and most
exquisitely are they wrought, for some of them are truly beautiful as
works of art.
79.
Cope, crimson velvet, with hood and orphrey embroidered, &c.
Florentine, late 15th century. 9 feet 5½ inches by 4 feet 6 inches.
This fine cope is of the same set a part of which was the beautiful
chasuble No. 78, and, while made of precisely the same costly
materials, is wrought with equal care and art. Its large fine hood is
figured with the coming down of the Holy Ghost upon the infant Church,
represented by the Blessed Virgin Mary amid the Apostles, and not
merely this subject itself, but the crimson colour of the velvet would
lead us to think that the whole set of vestments was intended for use
on Witsunday. On the orphrey, on the right hand, the first saint is
St. John the Baptist, with the Holy Lamb; then, Pope St. Gregory the
Great; afterwards, an archbishop, may be St. Antoninus; after him a
layman-saint with an arrow, and seemingly clad in armour, perhaps
St. Sebastian; on the left side, St. George with banner and shield;
under him St. Jerome, below whom, a bishop; and lowermost of all St.
Onuphrius, hermit, holding in one hand a cross on a staff, in the
other a walkingstick, and quite naked, saving his loins, round which
he wears a wreath of leaves. All these subjects are admirably treated,
and the heads done with the delicacy and truth of miniatures.
84.
Hood of a Cope, figured with the Adoration of the Wise Men. Flemish,
16th century. 1 foot 8½ inches wide, 1 foot 4½ inches deep.
This is one of the best preserved and the most beautiful works of the
period in the collection, and is remarkable for the goodness of the
gold, which is so plentifully bestowed upon it. It is somewhat large,
and the three long hooks by which it used to hang are still attached,
while its fine green and yellow silk fringe is a pleasing specimen of
such a kind of decoration.
540.
Purse in crimson velvet, embroidered with comic masks, and mounted in
chased steel damascened in gold. Attached is a crimson Band with a
Buckle of cut and gilt steel. Milanese, 16th century. 11½ inches by
11 inches.
The rich crimson velvet is Genoese; the frame, an art-work of the
Milan school, is figured with two monsters’ heads, and two medallions,
one containing a naked youth seated, the other a nude female figure
standing. On the front of the bag are applied two embroideries in gold
and coloured silk, one an owl’s head, the other that of a full-faced
grotesque satyr; on the back is another satyr’s side-face. At one
time, such bags or ornamental purses, under the name of “gibecières”
in France and England, but known in Italy as “borsa,” were articles
of dress worn by most people; and “the varlet with the velvet pouch”
will not be forgotten by those who have read Walter Scott’s novel of
“Quentin Durward.” The expressions, in English of “cut-purse,” in
Italian “taglia borse,” for a pickpocket, are well illustrated by this
gay personal appendage.
623.
Piece of Edging; ground, purple thread-net; pattern, bunches of
flowers, of two sorts alternated, in various coloured flos-silks.
Italian, 18th century. 5 feet 5 inches by 5 inches.
Intended for a border to a dress or to a bed-quilt, and no attention
shown to the botanical exactness of the flowers, most of which are
seemingly tulips. A large coverlet is edged with a broad piece of
needlework, after this manner, in the collection.
624.
Piece of Edging; ground, purple thread-net; pattern, large flowers,
mostly the same, embroidered in various coloured flos-silks, within
scrolls and foliage. Italian, 18th century. 8 feet 3 inches by 11
inches.
Probably by the same hand as the foregoing piece, and equally
care-less of botanical exactness in the flowers.
625.
Cushion-cover, oblong, centre in striped cherry-coloured silk, the
border of open work embroidered in various coloured flos-silks upon a
net of purple thread. Italian, 18th century. 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet.
The only difference in the way of the stitchery is that the
geometrical pattern shows the same on both sides.
626.
Quilt for a Bed; ground, an amber-coloured cotton, figured with a
net-work of ovals and squares in diapered raised crimson velvet, the
ovals filled in with a floriation of crimson and green raised velvet;
the squares, with a small vase having a flower-bearing tree, crimson
raised velvet. This is the centre, which is bordered by a like kind
of stuff 11 inches deep; the ground, primrose yellow; the pattern,
ovals, enclosing a foliage bearing crimson and amber-tinted flowers,
and placed amid boughs bearing the same coloured flowers; on both edges
this border has three stripes--two crimson raised velvet, the third
and broader one a pattern in shades of purple--all on a light yellow
ground; at the ends of the quilt hangs a long party-coloured fringe
of linen thread; the lining of it is fine Chinese silk of a bright
amber, figured with sprigs of crimson flowers, shaded yellow and white.
Genoese, 17th century. 5 feet 11 inches by 3 feet 10½ inches.
627.
Quilt for a Bed; ground, brown canvas; pattern, all embroidered scales
or scollops jagged like a saw, and overlapping each other in lines,
some blue and green shaded white or yellow, some amber. The border
is a broad scroll of large flowers, among which one at each corner,
the fleur-de-lis, is conspicuous. This again has a scollop edging of
flowers separated by what seem two Cs interlaced. French, 17th century.
7 feet 8 inches by 5 feet 8 inches.
673.
Chasuble of green silk, figured with animals and scrolls in gold, with
an embroidered orphrey at back, and a plain orphrey in front. Sicilian,
early 13th century. 3 feet 9¾ inches by 2 feet 2 inches.
This very valuable chasuble is very important for the beauty of its
stuff; but by no means to be taken as a sample in width of the fine
old majestic garment of that name, as it has been sadly cut down from
its former large shape, and that, too, at no very distant period.
Though now almost blue, its original colour was green. The warp is
cotton, the woof silk, and that somewhat sparingly put in; the design
showing heraldic animals, amid gracefully twining branches all in gold
and woven, is remarkably good and free. The front piece is closely
resembling the back, but, on a near and keen examination, may be
found to differ in its design from the part behind; on this we see
that it must have consisted of a lioncel passant gardant, langued,
and a griffin; on that on the part in front, a lioncel passant, and
a lioncel passant regardant. When the chasuble was in its first old
fulness, the design on both parts came out in all its minuteness;
now, it is so broken as not to be discernible at first. In front the
orphrey is very narrow, and of a sort of open lace-work in green and
gold; on the back the orphrey is very broad, 1 foot 1½ inches, and
figured with the Crucifixion, the Blessed Virgin Mary standing on our
Lord’s right hand, St. John the Evangelist on His left; below, the
Blessed Virgin Mary crowned as a queen and seated on a royal throne,
with our Lord as a child sitting on her lap; lower still, St. Peter
with two keys--one silver, the other gold--in his left hand, and a
book in the right; and St. Paul holding a drawn sword in his right,
and a book in his left; and, last of all, the stoning of St. Stephen.
All the subjects are large, and within quatrefoils; as much of the
body of our Lord as is uncovered on the Cross, and the heads, hands,
and feet in the other figures, as well as those parts of the draperies
not gold, are wrought by needle, while the golden garments of the
personages are woven in the loom.
This very interesting chasuble has a history belonging to it, given
in “The Gentleman’s Magazine,” t. lvi. pp. 298, 473, 584, by which we
are taught to believe that it has always been in England; belonging
once to it were a stole and maniple, upon which latter appliance
were four armorial shields, which would lead to the idea that it had
been expressly made for the chapel of Margaret de Clare, Countess of
Cornwall, who is known to have been alive A.D. 1294. That time quite
tallies with the style of the stuff of which this chasuble is made;
and though now so worn and cut away, it is one of the most curious in
this or any other country, and particularly valuable to an English
collection.
675.
Piece of the Bayeux Tapestry; ground, white linen; design, two narrow
bands in green edged with crimson (now much faded) with a very thin
undulating scroll in faded crimson, and green between them. English,
11th century. 3¼ inches by 2½ inches.
Though done in worsted, and such a tiny fragment of that great but
debated historical work, it is so far a valuable specimen as it shows
the sort of material as well as style and form of stitch in which
the whole was wrought. In the “Vetusta Monimenta,” published by the
Society of Antiquaries, plate 17, shows, in large, a portion of this
embroidery where the piece before us is figured; and, from the writing
under it, we learn that it was brought away from Bayeux by Mrs.
Stothard, when her husband was occupied in making drawings of that
interesting record. There is not the slightest reason for believing
that this embroidery was the work of Matilda, or any of her ladies of
honour, or waiting maids; but all the probabilities are that it was
done by English hands, may be in London by order, and at the cost, of
one or other of three knights from Bayeux, who came over with William,
on whom he bestowed much land in England, as we have already shown in
the Introduction to this Catalogue, § 4.
698.
Door-curtain, ground, yellow and gold; pattern, in rich raised green
velvet, two small eagles with wings displayed, and between them a
large vase, out of which issues a conventional flower showing the
pomegranate, surmounted by a modification of the same fruit amid
wide-spreading foliations. Milanese, 16th century. 8 feet 8 inches by 6
feet 6 inches.
Though the golden threads of the ground in this magnificent stuff
are much tarnished, still this piece is very fine, and may have been
part of some household furniture wrought at the order of the Emperor
Charles V, whose German eagle is so conspicuous in the design, while
the pomegranate brings to mind Spain and Granada.
699.
Piece of Embroidery; ground, a brown fine linen, backed with strong
canvas; pattern, female figures, monkeys, flowers, shells, &c. in
coloured worsteds. French, late 17th century. 8 feet 9 inches by 8 feet
3 inches.
This large work is admirably done, and a fine specimen both of the
taste with which the colours are matched, and the stitchery executed;
and it may have been intended as the hanging for the wall of a small
room.
700.
Lady’s dress, white silk; embroidered with flowers in coloured silks
and gold and silver threads. Chinese, 18th century. 4 feet 2½ inches.
Worked by order, very probably of some European dame, at Macao or
Canton, and exactly like No. 713 in design and execution. The gold and
silver, as in that, so in this specimen, are much tarnished.
701.
Lady’s Dress, sky-blue satin; brocaded with white flowers, in small
bunches. French, late 18th century. 4 feet 7 inches.
702.
Christening Cloak of green satin, lined with rose-coloured satin.
Chinese. 5 feet 8½ inches by 3 feet 6¾ inches.
A fine specimen, in every respect, of Chinese manufacture; the satin
itself is of the finest, softest kind; whether we look at the green or
the light rose-colour, nothing can surpass either of them in tone and
clearness. Few European dyers could give those tints.
In its present form this piece constituted an article to be found,
and even yet seen, in very many families in Italy, Germany, and
France, and was employed for christening occasions, when the nurse or
midwife wore it over her shoulders, like a mantle, for muffling up the
new-born babe, as she carried it, in state, to church for baptism.
In this, as in other specimens of the Museum, there was a running
string at top by which it might be drawn tight to the neck. Those who
have lived abroad for even a short time must have observed how the
nurse took care to let a little of this sort of scarf hang out of the
carriage-window as she rode with baby to church. The christening cloth
or cloak was, not long since, in use among ourselves.
703.
Christening Cloak of bright red satin. Italian, 18th century. 5 feet by
5 feet 11 inches.
The material is rich, and of a colour rather affected for the purpose
in Italy.
704.
Christening Cloth or Cloak of murrey-coloured velvet. Italian, 17th
century. 8 feet by 5 feet 5 inches.
The pile is soft and rich, and its colour, once such a favourite in
the by-gone days of England, of a delicious mellow tone. Like Nos. 702
and 703, it robed the nurse as she went to the baptismal font with the
new-born child, and has the string round the neck by which it could be
drawn, like a mantle, about her shoulders.
705.
Lady’s Dress of brocaded satin; ground, dull red; pattern, slips of
yellow flowers and green leaves. Italian, late 18th century. 4 feet
10½ inches.
The satin is rich, but the tinsel, in white silver, tawdry.
706.
Skirt of a Lady’s Dress of brocaded silk; ground, white; pattern,
bunches of flowers in pink, blue, yellow, and purple, amid a diapering
of interlaced strap-design in white flos-silk. French, 18th century. 3
feet 3 inches.
Good in material, but in pattern like many of the stuffs which came
from the looms of the period at Lyons.
707.
Christening Scarf of white brocaded silk. Lucca, 17th century. 5 feet
square.
Of a fine material and pleasing design.
708.
Piece of green Silk Brocade; pattern, lyres, flowers, ribbons with
tassels. French, 18th century. 5 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 8 inches.
709.
Skirt of a Lady’s Dress; ground, bright yellow, barred white; pattern,
a brocade in small flowers in gold, green, and red sparingly sprinkled
about. Italian, 18th century. 7 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 4 inches.
A pleasing specimen of the time.
710.
Piece of White Silk, brocaded with flowers in white flos-silk, and
in silver, between bands consisting of three narrow slips in white.
French, 17th century. 5 feet by 4 feet 6 inches.
When the silver was bright and untarnished, the pattern, so quiet in
itself, must have had a pleasing effect.
711.
Christening Scarf of silk damask; ground, light blue; pattern, flowers
in pink, white, and yellow. Levant, 18th century. 5 feet 5 inches by 5
feet.
Garish in look, still it has a value as a specimen of the loom in the
eastern parts of the Mediterranean; the blue diapering on the blue
ground shows, in the architectural design, a Saracenic influence.
712.
Piece of Damask Silk; ground, crimson; pattern, flowers and vases in
white and green. Italian, 17th century. 8 feet 9 inches by 1 foot 9
inches.
Rich in substance, and intended for hangings in state rooms.
713.
Skirt of a Lady’s Dress; white silk embroidered with flowers in
coloured silks, and gold and silver. Chinese, 18th century. 3 feet.
Though well done, and by a Chinese hand, very likely at Canton or
Macao, for some European lady, it is far behind, in beauty, the
Chinese piece No. 792.
714.
Christening Cloak of yellow silk damask; pattern, bunches of flowers.
Lucca, 17th century. 7 feet 10 inches by 5 feet.
Like other such cloaks, or scarves, it has its running string, and is
of a fine rich texture.
715.
Piece of Silk Damask; ground, dove-coloured white; pattern, large
foliage in pale green. Italian, 18th century. 4 feet 8 inches by 3 feet
8 inches.
A fine material, and the bold design well brought out.
716.
Christening Cloak of pink satin damask. Italian, 18th century. 4 feet 8
inches by 4 feet 6 inches.
The little sprigs of fruits and flowers are well arranged; and the
pomegranate is discernible among them.
717.
Piece of Silk Brocade; ground, stone-white chequered silk; pattern,
deep blue garlands and bunches of flowers, both dotted with smaller
flowers in silver. Italian, 17th century. 3 feet 8 inches by 3 feet.
718.
Piece of Embroidered Silk; ground, sky-blue; pattern, leaves, flowers,
and fruit, in white silk. Italian, 18th century. 3 feet 8 inches by 3
feet.
The embroidery is admirably done, and the pomegranate is there among
the fruit.
719.
Door-curtain, crimson worsted velvet; pattern, flowers and foliage.
Italian, 17th century. 10 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 3 inches.
A very fine and rich specimen of its kind, and most likely wrought at
Genoa.
720.
Piece of Silk; ground, white; pattern, flowers and foliage, embroidered
in gold thread and coloured silks. Chinese, 18th century. 3 feet 2½
inches by 1 foot 6½ inches.
Another specimen of Chinese work done for Europeans, and most likely
after an European design; in character resembling other examples in
this collection from the same part of the world.
721.
Piece of Silk; ground, white; pattern, flowers and pomegranates
embroidered in gold and coloured silks. Neapolitan, 17th century. 3
feet 3 inches by 1 foot 5 inches.
The design is rich, the flowers well-raised, and the gold unsparingly
employed.
722.
Cradle-coverlet; white satin quilted, after a design of fruits, and
branches of leaves upon a chequer pattern. French, 18th century. 3 feet
2½ inches by 3 feet.
Among the fruits the symbolic pomegranate is not forgotten, perhaps as
expressive of the wish that the young mother to whom this quilt may
have been given by a lady friend, might have a numerous offspring,
hinted at by the many pips in the fruit.
723.
Door-curtain of silk damask; ground, crimson; pattern, scrolls in gold
foliage, and flowers in coloured silks. Italian, early 17th century. 6
feet 7 inches by 3 feet 5 inches.
This is a fine rich stuff; it is lined with purple satin, and must
have been very effective when in use.
724.
Chasuble of woven silk; ground, white; pattern, floral scrolls in
green, and lined pink; the cross at the back and the two stripes in
front in gold lace of an open design. French, 18th century. 4 feet 2
inches by 2 feet 5 inches.
The open-worked lace is good of its kind.
725.
Altar-frontal of crimson velvet, ornamented on three sides with a
scroll ornamentation in gold, and applied; and with seven armorial
bearings all the same. French, 17th century. 6 feet 1 inch by 2 feet
6½ inches.
The armorial shield, as it stands at present, is--_azure_ a cross
ankred _sable_ between two fleur-de-lis _argent_. On looking narrowly
at the azure velvet on which these charges are worked, it is evident
that something has been picked out, and, in its place, the sable-cross
has been afterwards wrought in, thus explaining the anomaly of colour
upon colour not in the original bearing. The applied ornaments in
gold are in flowers and narrow gold lace, and of a rich and effective
manner.
726.
Cradle-coverlet of white satin; embroidered in white, with a roving
border of flowers, and fringed. French, 18th century. 3 feet 5½
inches by 2 feet 8 inches.
Rich in its material, and nicely wrought.
727.
Skirt of a Lady’s Dress; sky-blue satin, quilted round the lower border
with a scroll of large palmate leaves, and bunches of flowers, with an
edging of fruits, in which the pomegranate may be seen. Italian, 18th
century. 8 feet 9 inches by 3 feet.
The pattern in which the quilting comes out is very tasteful; and the
body of this skirt has an ornamentation in quilting of a cinquefoil
shape, and made to lap one over the other in the manner of tiles.
728.
Piece of Silk Damask; ground, bright yellow silk ribbed; pattern, white
plumes twined with brown ribbons, and bunches of white flowers. Lucca,
17th century. 8 feet 10 inches by 7 feet.
Of rich material and wrought for household use.
729.
Door-curtain of yellow silk damask; pattern, strap-work and
conventional foliage. Italian, 17th century. 7 feet 2 inches by 5 feet.
A bold design, and wrought in a good material.
730.
Cope of brocaded silk; ground, orange-red; pattern, foliage, and
bunches of flowers amid white garlands, in coloured silks. French, 18th
century. 10 feet 10 inches by 5 feet 6 inches.
The hood and morse are of the same stuff, which was evidently meant to
be for secular, not liturgical, use.
731.
Door-curtain of crimson damask silk; pattern, a large broad
conventional floriation. Italian, 17th century. 10 feet by 8 feet 10
inches.
732.
Curtain of pale sea-green damask; pattern, large leaves and flowers.
Italian. 17 feet 8 inches by 13 feet 7 inches.
The satiny ground throws up the design in its dull tone extremely
well; and the whole is edged with a border of narrow pale yellow lace,
figured with small green sprigs.
750.
Table-cover; ground, fine ribbed cream-coloured linen; pattern,
flowers, butterflies, and birds, embroidered in various-coloured
flos-silks. Indian, 17th century. 7 feet by 5 feet 6 inches; fringe 3
inches deep.
The curiosity of this piece is that, like many such works of the
needle from India, the embroidery shows the same on both sides; and
there is evidently a Gothic feeling in the edgings on the borders of
the inner square.
786.
Scull-cap of white satin; quilted after an elaborate running design.
English, 17th century, 10½ inches diameter.
Tradition tells us that this scull-cap belonged to our King Charles
the First, and says, moreover, that, at his beheading, it was worn
by that unfortunate King. The style of design would not, as far
as art-worth can speak, invalidate such a history of this royal
ownership. Its lining is now quite gone.
792.
Piece of Chinese Embroidery; ground, greyish white satin; pattern,
girls, flowers, birds, fruits, and insects in various-coloured flos and
thread silks, and gold. 11 feet by 1 foot 7 inches.
Justly may we look upon this specimen as one among the best and most
beautiful embroideries wrought by the Chinese needle known, not merely
in this country, but in any part of Europe. Putting aside the utter
want of perspective, and other Chinese defective notions of art, it
is impossible not to admire the skilful way in which the whole of the
piece before us is executed. In the female figures there seems to
be much truthfulness with regard to the costume and manners of that
country; and the sharp talon-like length of finger-nails affected
by the ladies there is conspicuously shown in almost every hand.
The birds, the insects, the flowers are all admirably done; and the
tones of colour are so soft and well assorted, and there is such a
thorough Chinese taste displayed in the choice of tints--tints almost
unknown to European dyers--that the eye is instantly pleased with the
production. The embroidery itself is almost entirely well raised.
839.
Piece of Velvet Hanging; ground, crimson velvet; pattern, large
conventional flowers and branches in yellow applied silk. Italian, 17th
century. 6 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 8 inches.
This piece is rather a curiosity for the way in which its design is
done. On the plain length of velvet a pattern was cut, and the void
spaces were filled in with yellow silk, and the edges covered with
a rather broad and flat cording, and the whole--that is, velvet and
silk--gummed on to a lining of strong canvas, having the cord only
stitched to it.
840.
Piece of Applied Work; ground, crimson velvet; pattern, large
conventional flowers in yellow satin. Italian, 17th century. 2 feet 6
inches by 2 feet 3 inches.
Here the same system is followed, but the ground is yellow satin
uncut, the crimson velvet being cut out so as to make it look the
ground, and the real ground the design, both are, as above, gummed on
coarse canvas.
841.
Piece of Velvet Hanging; ground, yellow silk; pattern, scrolls and
flowers in applied crimson velvet. Italian, 17th century. 6 feet 4
inches by 1 foot 9 inches.
Executed exactly as No. 840. In all likelihood these three pieces
served as hangings to be put at open windows on festival days--a
custom yet followed in Italy.
842.
Piece of Raised Velvet; ground, pale yellow silk; pattern, in raised
velvet, a fan-like floriation in crimson and green. Florentine, 16th
century. 3 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 1 inch.
A specimen of rich household decoration.
843.
Raised Velvet; ground, creamy white satin; pattern, the artichoke amid
wide-spreading ramifications in crimson raised velvet. Genoese, 17th
century. 2 feet 1 inch by 1 foot 8½ inches.
Intended for household furniture. When hung upon the walls of a large
room this stuff must have had a fine effect.
882.
Skirt of Female Attire; ground, coarse white linen; pattern, a broad
band of blue worsted, figured with flowers and animals in white thread,
and the broad edging of crochet work. German, 17th century. 3 feet
8½ inches by 2 feet 8 inches deep.
This piece of embroidery must have been for secular personal use, and
not for any ecclesiastical employment, and very likely was part of the
holyday dress of some country girl in Germany or Switzerland. The blue
embroidery, though of a bold well-raised character, is coarse; so,
too, is the lace below it.
1029.
An Algerine Embroidered Scarf; ground, very thin canvas; pattern,
a modification of the artichoke form, and ramifications in
various-coloured flos-silks, and parted by short bands of brace-like
work in white flos-silk. 2 feet 3¾ inches by 1 foot 3¾ inches.
Neither old, nor remarkable as an art-work.
1030.
Table-cover of linen, embroidered in white thread, with flowers, vases,
trophies, and monograms. French, 18th century. 4 feet 4 inches by 3
feet 10 inches.
This beautifully-executed piece of needlework is richly deserving a
notice from those who admire well-finished stitchery, which is here
seen to advantage. In the centre is a basket with wide-spreading
flowers, upon each side of which is a military trophy consisting of
cannon-balls, kettle-drums, other drums, knights’ tilting-lances,
halberts, swords, cannon, trumpets, all gracefully heaped together
and upholding a herald’s tabard blazoned with a leopard rampant, by
the side of which, and drooping above, are two flags, one showing
the three fleurs-de-lis of France, and the other with a charge that
is indistinct; and the whole is surmounted by a full-faced barred
helmet wreathed with a ducal coronet, out of which arises a plume of
ostrich feathers; on the other sides are two elegantly-shaped vases
full of flowers. At each of the four corners of this inner square is
the monogram A. M. V. P. T. between boughs, and surmounted by a ducal
coronet; and at every corner of the border below is a flaming heart
pierced by two arrows, while all about are eagles with wings displayed
and heads regardant, seemingly heraldic.
1031.
Piece of Silk Brocade; ground, white; pattern, large red flowers seeded
yellow, and foliage mostly light green. Lyons, 18th century. 2 feet 10
inches by 1 foot 9 inches.
A specimen of one of those large showy flowered tissues in such favour
all over Europe during the last century, as well as in the earlier
portion of the present one, for church use. The example before us, in
all probability, served as a bishop’s lap-cloth at solemn high mass;
for which rite, see “The Church of our Fathers,” i. 409.
1032.
Piece of Silk and Silver Brocade; ground, a brown olive; pattern, large
flowers, some lilac, but mostly bright crimson, intermixed with much
silver ornamentation. Lyons, 18th century. 2 feet 8½ inches, by 1
foot 8½ inches.
Another specimen of the same taste as No. 1031, but even more
garish. Like it, it seems to have served the purpose of a liturgical
lap-cloth, or, as it used to be called, a barm-cloth.
1033.
Lectern-veil; ground, yellow satin; pattern, conventional flowers
in applied velvet in blue, green, and crimson. Italian, early 17th
century. 6 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 8 inches.
In fact the whole of this liturgical veil for the deacon’s book-stand
is of the so-called “applied style;” that is, of pieces of satin and
of velvet cut out to the required shape, and sewed on the canvas
ground, and the edges bordered with a cord of silk, mostly white; and
altogether it has a rich appearance.
1035.
Bed-coverlet; ground, white thread net; pattern, flowers in white
thread. Spanish, 17th century. 6 feet 5 inches by 5 feet 3½ inches.
This specimen of netting and crochet needlework displays much taste in
its design of flowers, among which the rose and the pomegranate are
very conspicuous. It was wrought in four strips joined together by
narrow linen bands, and the whole edged with a shallow fringe.
1037, 1037A.
Pieces of Stuff for Silk Sashes; pattern, perpendicular bars,
some whity-brown figured with gold and silver flowers, some plain
olive green, and bordered on both edges of the stuff with bands of
whity-brown ornamented with sprigs of gold flowers. Oriental, 16th
century. 2 feet 4½ inches, by 11 inches.
The trimming and cross, done in tinsel, show that its last European
use was for the church; in the East, such silken stuffs, in long
lengths, are worn about the waist by men and women as a sash or girdle.
1038.
Chasuble-back; ground, green satin; design, scrolls in raised red silk
thread. 18th century. Satin, French. 3 feet 8 inches by 2 feet 2 inches.
Very likely the satin formed some part of a lady’s gown, and for its
richness was given to the church for making vestments. As a ritual
garment it could not have looked well, nor is its gaudy red embroidery
in good taste for any ecclesiastical purpose.
1039.
Waistcoat-pattern, embroidered and spangled. Second half of the 18th
century. French. 10 inches by 7½ inches.
Of such stuffs were gentlemen’s vests made in Paris under Louis XV.,
and in London at the beginning of George III.’s reign.
1194, 1195.
Orphreys for a Chasuble; ground, crimson silk; design, an angel-choir
in two rows amid wreaths, of which the flowers are silver and the
leaves gold, some shaded green; on the back orphrey are two heraldic
bearings. German, very late 15th century.
This beautifully-wrought specimen of Rhenish needlework, most likely
done at Cologne, consists of twenty-six small figures of winged angels
robed in various liturgical vestments, and playing musical instruments
of all sorts--some wind, some stringed. Of these celestial beings
several wear copes over their white albs; others have over their albs
narrow stoles, in some instances crossed upon the breast as priests,
but mostly belt-wise as deacons: other some are arrayed in the
sub-deacon’s tunicle, and the deacon’s dalmatic: thus vested they hold
the instrument which each is playing; and no one but a German would
have thought of putting into angels’ hands such a thing as the long
coarse aurochs’ horn wherewith to breathe out heavenly music. On the
front orphrey are ten of such angels; on the one made in the shape of
a cross, for the back of the chasuble, there are sixteen. At both ends
of the short beam or transom of this cross we find admirably-executed
armorial bearings. The first blazon--that to the left--shows a shield
_gules_ an inescutcheon _argent_, over all an escarbuncle of eight
rays _or_, for CLEVES; dimidiated by, _or_ a fess checky _argent_
and _gules_, for MARCK; surmounted by a helmet _argent_ crested with
a buffalo’s head cabosed _gules_, having the shut-down bars of the
helmet’s vizor thrust out through the mouth of the animal, which is
crowned ducally _or_ the attire _argent_ passing up within the crown;
and the mantlings _gules_. As if for supporters, this shield has
holding it two angels, one in a tunicle, the other in a cope. The
second shield--that on the right hand,--shows _gules_ an inescutcheon
_argent_, over all, an escarbuncle of eight rays _or_, crested and
supported as the one to the left, thus giving, undimidiated, the
blazon of the then sovereign ducal house of CLEVES.
All these ornaments, armorial bearings, angels, flowers, and foliage,
are not worked into, but wrought each piece separately, and afterwards
sewed on the crimson silk ground, which is the original one; they
are “cut work.” The angels’ figures are beautifully done, and their
liturgic garments richly formed in gold, as are the leaves and stems
of the wreaths bearing large silver flowers. From its heraldry we may
fairly assume that the chasuble, from which these handsome orphreys
were stripped, belonged to the domestic chapel in the palace of the
Dukes of Cleves, and had been made for one of those sovereigns whose
wife was of the then princely stirring house of De la Marck.
As was observed, while describing the beautiful Syon Cope, No.
9182, the nine choirs of angels separated into three hierarchies is
indicated here also; and the distinction marked by the garments which
they are made to wear in these embroideries; some are clothed in
copes, others in tunicles, the remainder, besides their narrow stoles,
in long-flowing white albs only--that emblem of spotless holiness
in which all of them are garmented, as with a robe of light. The
bushiness of the auburn hair on all of them is remarkable, and done in
little locks of silk.
For a student of mediæval music, this angel-choir will have an
especial interest; but, to our thinking, neither this, nor any other
production of the subject, whether wrought in sculpture, painting, or
needlework, hitherto found out on the Continent, at all comes up in
beauty, gracefulness, or value, to our own lovely minstrel-gallery in
Exeter Cathedral, or the far more splendid and truly noble angel-choir
sculptured in the spandrils of the triforium arches in the matchless
presbytery at Lincoln Minster. A cast of the Exeter minstrel-gallery
is put up here on the western wall of the north court, and among the
casts lent by the Architectural Society are those of the angels in
Lincoln.
Of the musical instruments themselves, we see several in these two
pieces of cut-work. Beginning with the back orphrey, marked No. 1194
at top, the first of the two angels is playing with the fingers of
both hands an instrument now indiscernible; the second, the lute;
below them one is beating a tabour with a stick; the other is turning
the handle of the gita, our hurdy-gurdy. After these we have an angel
blowing a short horn, while his fellow angel strikes the psaltery.
Then an angel robed as a deacon in alb, and stole worn like a belt
falling from his right shoulder to under his left arm, sounding the
sistrum or Jew’s harp, and his companion fingers with his right hand a
one-stringed instrument or ancient monochord. In the last couple, one
with a large bow is playing the viol, a long narrow instrument with
several silver strings.
On the orphrey,--made in the shape of a cross and worn on the back
of the chasuble, No. 1195,--the first angel plays the pan-pipes; the
second, a gittern, or the modern guitar; the next two show one angel,
as a deacon in dalmatic, jingling an instrument which he holds by two
straps, hung all round with little round ball-like bells; and his
companion, robed in alb and stole crossed at the breast like a priest,
ringing two large hand-bells; lower down, of the two angels both
vested as deacons, one blowing a large, long curved-horn, like that
of the aurochs, the other, the shalmes or double-reeded pipe. Below
these, one in alb and stole, belt-wise as a deacon, blows a cornamuse
or bag-pipe; the other, as deacon, the aurochs’ horn. Then a deacon
angel has a trumpet; his fellow, a priest in alb and crossed stole,
is playing a triangle; last of all, one plays a tabour, the other the
monochord. So noteworthy are these admirable embroideries, that they
merit particular attention.
1233.
A stole; ground, very pale yellow silk; design, an interlacing
strap-work in the greater part; for the expanding ends, a diamond in
gold thread, with a fringe of silk knots alternately crimson and green;
the lining, thin crimson silk. English or French, 13th century. 9 feet
9 inches by 1¾ inches in the narrow parts, and 2½ inches in the
expanded ends.
Another of those specimens of weaving in small looms worked by young
women in London and Paris, during the 13th century, which we have met
in this collection. As the expanded ends are formed of small pieces
of gold web they were wrought apart, and afterwards sewed on to the
crimson silk ground. The design of the narrow part has all along its
length, at its two edges, a pair of very small lines, now brown,
enclosing a dented ornament. As a liturgical appliance, this stole,
for its perfect state of preservation, is valuable; Dr. Bock says
that a stole called St. Bernhard’s, now in the church of our Lady at
Treves, as well as another curious one in the former cathedral at
Aschaffenburg, are in length and breadth, just like this.
1234.
Tissue of Silk and Cotton; the warp, cotton; the woof, silk; ground,
green; design, so imperfect that it can hardly be made out, but
apparently a monster bird in yellow, lined and dotted in crimson;
standing on a border of a yellow ground marked with crosses and mullets
of four points. Syrian, late 12th century. 6¾ inches by 4½ inches.
When perfect this stuff must have been somewhat garish, from its
colours being so bright and not well contrasted.
1235.
Tissue of Silk and Cotton; the warp, silks of different colours; the
woof, fawn-coloured fine cotton; design, stripes, the broader ones
charged with wild beasts, eagles, and a monster animal having a human
head; the narrow bands showing a pretended Arabic inscription. Syrian,
13th century. 13 inches by 2 inches.
So very torn and worn away is this piece that the whole of its
elaborate design cannot be made out; but enough is discernible to
prove an Asiatic influence. The monster, with the human face staring
at us, calls to mind the Nineveh sculptures in the British Museum.
1236.
Silk Damask; ground, crimson silk; pattern, in gold thread, two very
large lions, and two pairs, one of very small birds, the other of
equally small dragons, and an ornament not unlike a hand looking-glass.
Oriental, 14th century. 2 feet 5½ inches by 2 feet ½ inch.
A piece of this same stuff is described under No. 7034 in this
catalogue; and Dr. Bock, in his useful work, “Geschichte der
Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” t. i. plate iv. has figured
it.
1237.
Tissue of Silk; ground, dull reddish deep purple; design, a lozenged
diapering. South Italian, 13th century. 6½ inches by 5½ inches.
So thin is this web that we may presume it was meant as a stuff for
lining garments of a richer texture.
1238.
Piece of Linen, or the finest byssus of antiquity. Egyptian. 5½
inches by 3 inches.
Whether this very curious example of that rare and fine tissue known
in classic times, and later, as byssus, was of mediæval production in
Egypt, or found in one of the ancient tombs of that land, would be
hard to determine. Another equally fine and no less valuable specimen
may be seen in this collection, No. 8230.
From Dr. Bock we learn that the sudary of our Lord, given to the Abbey
of Cornelimünster, near Aix-la-Chapelle, by the Emperor Louis the
Pious, circa A.D. 820, was much like the present example.
1239.
Piece of Silk Damask; ground, creamy white; design, broad-banded
lozenges, enclosing a two-headed displayed eagle, and a pair of birds
addorsed, each within an oval. Greek, 11th century. 10¾ inches by
7½ inches.
It is said to have been a fragment of the imperial tunic belonging
to Henry II, Emperor of Germany; and not unlikely. If wrought for
the occasion, and a gift from his imperial brother-Emperors of
Constantinople, Basil and Constantine, worthy was it for their sending
and of his acceptance, since the silk is rich, the texture thick,
and the design in accordance with the ensigns of German royalty. In
shreds, and ragged as it is, we may prize it as a valuable piece.
1240.
Piece of Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, a yellowish green; design,
large elliptical spaces filled in with Saracenic figurations. The warp
is of green cotton, the woof, of pale yellow silk. South of Spain, 14th
century. 16½ inches by 4¾ inches.
This strong stuff most likely came from the looms of Granada.
1240A.
Piece of Silk and Cotton.
Another piece of the same texture.
1241.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, blue; design, circles filled in with
conventional ornamentation in crimson (now faded). Greek, 13th century.
15¼ inches by 7½ inches.
In some very small parts of the pattern, at first sight, indications
appear of four-footed animals, but the outlines are a fortuitous
combination. This stuff is poor in material, and the design not very
artistic.
1242.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, light green; design, a Saracenic
pattern formed by lines in long lozenges. South of Spain, 14th century.
9¾ inches by 7 inches.
Much like in tint and style of pattern the fine specimen at No. 1240.
In both the Moslem’s sacred colour of green may be noticed, and the
two pieces may have been woven at Granada.
1243.
Damask, silk and linen; ground, crimson and yellow stripes; design, on
the crimson stripes, circles enclosing a lion rampant, and six-petaled
flowers, in yellow; on the yellow, one stripe with flowers in white
silk, the other with flowers in gold, now faded black. Syrian, 14th
century. 7½ inches by 6¾ inches.
The quality of this damask is coarse, from the great quantity of
thread of a thick size wrought up in it. The design has no particular
merit.
1244-1244C.
Pieces of Damask; ground, gold; design, in crimson silk, broad round
hoops, marked with a golden floriation, and enclosing a lion passant,
the spaces between the hoops filled in with a floriated square topped
by fleur-de-lis. Sicilian, 14th century. Each piece about 4½ inches
square.
When whole the design of this rich stuff must have been effective, and
the fragments we here have prove it to have been sketched in a bold
free style. Unfortunately, so bad was the gold that, in places, it
has turned green. The warp is of a thick linen thread, but, though it
gives a strength to the texture, is not to be perceived upon its face.
1245.
Piece of Silk and Gold Damask; ground, crimson silk; design, a net-work
formed by cords twined into circles enclosing four V’s, put so as to
form a cross, and the meshes filled in alternately with a flower and a
leaf, each surrounded by a line like an eight-petaled floriation, all
in gold thick thread. Sicilian, 14th century. 5 inches by 4¾ inches.
The way in which the pattern affects the form of a cross in its design
is remarkable.
1246.
Silk Damask; ground, brick-red; design, within broad-banded squares,
ornamented with stars and flowers, a large double-headed eagle with
wings displayed. Greek, 13th century. 12½ inches by 8 inches.
Being so very thin in texture, it is not surprising that this stuff
is in such a tattered condition. When new, it must have been meant,
not for personal wear, but rather for church purposes, or household
use, as the hanging of walls. Its design is not happy, and the
ornamentation about the eagle thick and heavy.
1247.
Narrow Web for Orphreys; ground, a broad stripe of crimson silk between
two narrow ones of green; design, a succession of oblong six-sided
spaces in gold, filled in with a sort of floriated cross having
sprouting from both ends of the upright beam, stalks bending inwards
and ending in a fleur-de-lis, all in red silk. French, 13th century.
3¾ inches by 1-⅞ inches.
Of this kind of textile, wrought by women in a small loom, we have
before us in this collection several specimens; and what was done
by poor females at the time in England and France, it is likely was
performed by industrious women elsewhere. The fleur-de-lis upon this
fragment leads us to think of France; but Dr. Bock informs us that
laces much like this in pattern were observed upon the royal robes in
which two princes of the imperial house of the Hohenstaufen were clad
for their burial, when their graves were opened in the cathedral of
Palermo.
1248.
Piece of Silk and Gold Brocade; ground, blue silk; design, a broad
border with large pretended Arabic letters, and a griffin(?) segreant,
both in gold. Sicilian, early 13th century. 8¼ inches by 4-⅞
inches.
The heraldic monster-bird here, supposed to be a griffin, is drawn and
executed in a very spirited manner.
1249.
Linen, embroidered, in gold and silk, with the figure of a king.
German, late 12th century. Diameter 6¾ inches.
The figure of this grim-bearded personage is carefully worked, and the
gold employed is good though thin. Upon his head he wears a crown,
such as are figured upon the monuments of the time; the face is badly
drawn, but the ermine lining of his mantle is carefully represented.
1250.
An Orphrey; ground, gold; design, various subjects from Holy Writ, with
borders; the whole length figured with monsters, floriations, and an
inscription. French, 13th century. 4 feet 2 inches by 7 inches.
In all probability this orphrey belonged to the back of a chasuble,
and, as such, the subjects figured in it would find an appropriate
place there; but it ought to be observed that, in reality, it is
made up of four portions, the two narrow bands, besides the long and
the short lengths of the middle or broad parts which they border.
At top we have the Crucifixion, wherein each of our Lord’s feet is
fastened by its own separate nail. On one side of His head is the
sun, on the other the moon; St. Mary and St. John are standing on the
ground beside Him; and, at the cross’s foot, looks out a head, that
of Adam, which, whether from accident or design, has very much the
shape of a lion’s with a shaggy mane; one of the symbols belonging
to our Lord is a lion, in token of the resurrection. Some way down
a female, crowned and wimpled, bears in both her hands, which are
muffled in a veil, a golden-covered cup,--very likely Mary Magdalen,
with her vessel full of costly spikenard for anointing our Saviour’s
feet against the day of His burying. Opposite to her is St. Michael,
spearing Satan, an emblem of the great atonement, as is shown under
No. 9182, while describing the Syon Cope. Lower down we have the
three women or, as they are sometimes called, Maries, with their
sweet spices, and the angel telling them of the uprising of our
Redeemer. Lower yet, our Lord’s Ascension is represented by showing
Him seated in majesty with both His arms outstretched, within an
almond-shaped glory. On the second or shorter length, and, as far as
the Gospel history is concerned, out of its due place, we behold the
Annunciation, and a little under that subject a row of four nimbed and
seemingly winged heads, like those of the cherubim, may be symbols of
the four evangelists. At each side of these subjects runs a border of
gold wrought with lions crowned, and imaginary winged monster-animals
separated by graceful floriations; and on one of these borders, at the
lower end, is worked this inscription--“Odilia me fecit,” in nicely
shaped letters. This female name was common in Auvergne, where St.
Odilo, the sixth abbot of Cluni, was born, a son of the noble house
of Mercœur, and, to our thinking, it is very likely this Odilia was a
daughter of one of the lords of that once great family in the South of
France.
So worn away is this curious orphrey that often the several subjects
figured on in the loom, and not by the needle, can be hardly made out
till held in various lights.
1251.
Printed Silk Taffeta; ground, very light purple; design, a scroll,
block-printed in deeper purple, and edged black. Sicilian, 13th
century. 8¾ inches by 6 inches.
The boughs, sprouting into a sort of trefoil, are gracefully twined
with a bold free hand; and the scroll reminds us of much of the like
sort of ornament found, in this country, on various art-works of its
time. As an early specimen of block-printing upon silk, it is valuable
and rare.
1252.
Part of an Altar-Frontal, embroidered, in coloured threads, upon coarse
canvas; design, within a medallion, the ground, light blue and broad
border, fawn-colour, a figure, seated, holding in his left-hand a
staff, and having on his knee an open book inscribed,--“Ego sum Liber
Vite.” The figure is clothed in a girded white tunic, and a mantle now
fawn-coloured; but the head is so damaged that the personage cannot be
recognized; the probability is that it represents our Lord in majesty,
having the staff of a cross in one hand and giving His blessing with
the other. German, early 12th century, 12¾ inches by 10 inches.
1252A.
Part of an Altar-Frontal; design, the busts of two winged and nimbed
angels, within round arches, bearing between them a white scroll
with these words--“Deus Sabaoth.” This was a portion of the frontal
mentioned above. German, early 12th century. 17 inches by 7¼ inches.
In both pieces the parts now fawn-coloured have faded into such from
crimson.
1253.
Silk Damask; ground, fawn-colour; design, in light green, a sprinkling
of fleur-de-lis amid griffins, in pairs, rampant, regardant. Sicilian,
14th century. 10 inches by 8 inches.
The pattern is not of that spirited character found on many of the
earlier specimens of the Sicilian loom; the griffins, especially, are
weakly drawn. The fleur-de-lis would signify that it was wrought for
some French family or follower of the house of Anjou.
1254.
Silk Damask; ground, crimson; design, a diapering of birds pecking at a
cone-like ornament ending in a fleur-de-lis, all in yellow. Sicilian,
14th century. 5 inches by 4 inches.
A very thin stuff with a pattern of a small but pretty design. What
the birds are with their long square tails is hard to guess; so, too,
with respect to the ornament between them, like a fir-cone purfled at
its sides with crockets, and made to end in a flower, which may have
some reference to the French family of Anjou, once reigning in Sicily.
The stuff itself is poor and may have been woven for linings to richer
silks.
1255.
Shred of Silk Damask; ground crimson; design, seemingly horsemen
separated by a large circular ornament in one row, and the gable of
a building in the other, in yellow and blue. Greek, 12th century. 8
inches by 6¼ inches.
Though this stuff be thin and poor, the design, could it be well seen,
would be curious. The circle seems a leafless but branchy tree, with a
low wall round it; and the gable is full of low pillared arches with
voids for windows in them.
1256.
Fragments of Narrow Orphrey Web; ground, crimson; design, in gold
ramified scrolls, with beasts and birds. English or French, 13th
century, 10½ inches by 3 inches.
This very handsome piece is another specimen of the small loom
worked by young women, as before noticed; and may have served either
for sacred or secular use. The band is parted into spaces by a
thin chevron, and each division so made is filled in with tiny but
gracefully-twined boughs, among which some times we have a pair of
birds, at others a pair of collared dogs; at top another arrangement
took place, but no more of it remains than the body of a lion.
1257.
Silk and Thread Tissue; ground, stripes of red, green, and yellow;
design, rows of circles, large and small, with a conventional flower
between, the large circles red, the small ones merely outlined in
white. Greek, 13th century. 8¼ inches by 6 inches.
Even when new it must have been flimsy, and could have served but
for a lining. Of exactly the same design, but done in other and
fewer colours, a specimen now at Paris is figured in the “Mélanges
d’Archéologie,” tome iii. plate 15.
1258.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, yellow; design, a net-work with
six-sided meshes, each filled in with flowers and foliage in deep dull
purple. Italian, late 13th century. 14 inches by 10 inches.
The well-turned and graceful foliation to be seen in architectural
scroll-work, on monuments raised at the period, enters largely into
the design; and for its pattern, though poor for the quantity of its
silk, this specimen is very good.
1259.
Piece of a Napkin; ground, nicely diapered in lozenges, all white;
design, horizontal dark brown stripes, with a lined pattern in white
upon them. Flemish, 16th century. 24 inches by 13 inches.
Most likely Yprès sent forth this pleasing example of fine towel linen.
1260.
Embroidery for liturgical use; ground, dark blue silk; design, our
Lord, as the “Man of Sorrows,” within a quatrefoil flowered at the
barbs in gold thread sewed on with crimson silk. Italian, 15th century.
6 inches square.
The figure of our Redeemer, wrought upon linen with white silk, much
of which is worn away, is holding His wounded hands cross-wise, and
a scourge under each arm. From His brows, wreathed with thorns,
trickle long drops of blood; and the whole, with the large bleeding
gaping wound in His side, strikingly reminds us of the wood-cut to be
found at the beginning of our Salisbury Grails, or choir-books, with
those anthems sung at high mass, called graduals. In England such
representations were usually known under the name of “S. Gregory’s
Pity,” as may be seen in “The Church of our Fathers,” t. i. p. 53.
This embroidery is figured by Dr. Bock, in his “Geschichte der
Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” I. Band, 11. Lieferung, pl.
14.
1261.
The Embroidered Apparel for an Amice; ground, crimson flos-silk, now
faded; design, large and small squares, green, blue, and purple, filled
in with gold, and modifications of the gammadion, in white or crimson
silks. German, 14th century. 14 inches by 5¼ inches.
This apparel is made out of three pieces, and stiffened with
parchment; and is bordered by a narrow but effective lace of a green
ground, bearing circles of white and red, parted by yellow. The brown
canvas upon which it is worked is very fine of its kind; and the gold,
which is of a good quality, is of narrow tinsel strips. From age, or
use, the design is worn away from a great portion of the ground, and
the pattern was a favourite one for liturgical appliances up to the
16th century.
1262.
Maniple; embroidered, in various-coloured silk, upon brown canvas;
design, a net-work in bright crimson, the lozenge-shaped meshes
of which, braced together by a fret, are filled in with a ground
alternately yellow charged with modifications of the gammadion in
blue, and green, with the same figure in white voided crimson. The
extremities are cloth of gold, both edged with a parti-coloured fringe,
and one figured with a lion in gold on a crimson field. German, 14th
century. 3 feet 11 inches by 3 inches.
1263.
Napkin of linen embroidered in white thread; ground, plain white linen;
design, a conventional rectangular floriation, filled in with other
floriations, and in the middle an eight-petaled flower, and in the
square intervening spaces outside a fleur-de-lis shooting out of each
corner, all in white broad thread. German, late 14th century. 23 inches
by 13¼ inches.
Like many other examples of the kind, the present one can show its
elaborate and beautifully-executed design only by being held up to the
light, when it comes forth in perfection.
1264.
Silk Damask; ground, crimson; design, a net-work in broad bands of
yellow silk and gold wrought like twisted cords, and the meshes, which
are wreathed inside with a green garland bearing green and white
flowers, filled in with a conventional artichoke in yellow silk mixed
with gold thread, and edged with a green and white border. Spanish,
early 16th century. 17 inches by 15½ inches.
As a furniture-stuff, this must have been very effective; and from the
under side being thickly plastered with strong glue, the last service
of the present piece would seem to have been for the decoration of the
wall of some room.
1265.
Silk Damask; ground, deep blue, or violet; design, a sprinkling of
small stars and rows of large angels, some issuing from clouds and
swinging thuribles in the left hand, others kneeling in worship with
uplifted hands, bearing crowns of thorns, and the last row kneeling and
holding up before them a cross of the Latin shape. Florentine, late
14th century. 21½ inches by 13 inches.
From its form this piece seems to have been cut off from a chasuble;
and the stuff itself, it is likely, was woven expressly for the purple
vestments worn in Lent, and more particularly during Passion time. At
No. 7072 another portion of the same damask is described.
1266.
Triangular Piece of Yellow Silk; ground, light yellow; design, a
netting filled in with eight-petaled roses and circles enclosing other
flowers, all in white. Greek, 14th century. 9½ inches.
Lined as it is with stout blue canvas, this piece may have been in
liturgical use, and, in all likelihood, served as the hood to some
boy-bishop’s cope.
About the boy-bishop himself and his functions, according to our old
Salisbury Rite, see “Church of Our Fathers,” t. iv. p. 215.
1267.
Tissue, silk upon linen; ground, white; design, broad circles filled
in with floriated ornamentation, bearing in the middle a five-petaled
purple flower. Italian, early 14th century. 7 inches by 3 inches.
1267A.
Another Piece of the same Tissue. 12¼ inches by 2¼ inches.
The thread in the warp of this stuff is more than usually thick; and
so sparingly is the silk employed on its pattern, that in its best
days it could have looked but poor.
1268.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, yellow silk mixed with cotton; design,
a sprinkling of eight-rayed voided stars, in dusky purple. Italian,
14th century. 5 inches by 2½ inches.
A thin stuff for linings.
1269.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, light fawn-colour in silk; design,
a large conventional flower enclosing another flower of the same
character, which is filled in with a double-headed eagle displayed, and
the spaces between the large flowers diapered with foliage shooting
from a sort of fir-cone, at the top of which are birds in pairs
hovering over the plant and having a long feather drooping from the
head, all in gold thread. Sicilian, early 14th century. 10¾ inches
by 9¾ inches.
[Illustration: 1269.
SILK AND GOLD DAMASK. Sicilian, 14th century.
Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.
]
Though not so spirited in the drawing of its pattern, and the gold so
poor and bad that it has become almost lost to the eye, this stuff
is a valuable item in the collection. The eagle, with its double
head, and wings displayed, would lead to the belief that it had been
wrought to the order of some emperor of Germany, or for some Sicilian
nobleman who cherished a love for the house of Hohenstaufen.
1270.
Part of a Maniple; ground, cloth of gold; design, in needlework, St.
Blase and St. Stephen. English or French, 13th century. 12 inches by
6½ inches.
Both with regard to its golden cloth, and the figures upon it,
this piece is very valuable. The stuff is of that kind which our
countryman, John Garland, tells us was wrought by young women at his
time, and shows, in its grounding, a pretty zig-zag pattern. The
two kneeling figures, though done in mere outline of the scantiest
sort, display an ease and gracefulness peculiar to the sculpture and
illuminations in England and France of that period. St. Blase is
shown us vested in his chasuble and mitre--low in form--with a very
long grey beard, and holding a comb in one hand--the instrument of
his martyrdom; St. Stephen is robed as a deacon, and kneeling amid a
shower of large round stones, pelted at him on all sides.
1271.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, light green silk; design, griffins
passant and fleur-de-lis in one row, fleur-de-lis and slipped
vine-leaves arising from two tendrils formed like the letter C, and put
back to back, all in gold. Sicilian, 14th century. 12 inches by 7½
inches.
The whole of this pattern is thrown off with great freedom, and an
heraldic eye will see the boldness of the griffins. The vine-leaves
are as crispy as any ever seen upon such stuffs, and the whole does
credit to the royal looms of Palermo, where it was probably wrought at
the command of the prince, for himself, or as a gift to some French
royalty. An exactly similar stuff to this may be found at No. 7061;
and it is said that the robes now shown at Neuburg, near Vienna, are
traditionally believed to have been worn, at his marriage, by Leopold
the Holy.
1272.
Silk and Cotton Stuff; ground, light purple cotton; design, small but
thick foliage, interspersed with birds of various kinds, in pairs and
face to face, in amber-coloured silk. Sicilian, 14th century. 9½
inches by 7 inches.
Though so small in its elements, this is a pleasing design, and
extremely well drawn, like all those from Palermo.
1273.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, of cotton, a light orange; design,
within a ten-cusped circle, and divided by the thin trunk of a tree,
two cocks, face to face, all in gold thread, upon a purplish crimson
ground, and between the circles an ornamentation in which a small crown
tipped with fleur-de-lis, over a lion passant gardant, is very frequent
in gold. Sicilian, late 14th century, 10¼ inches by 3 inches.
Though such a mere rag, this piece is so far valuable, as it shows
that France then got her silken stuffs from Sicily, and, in this
instance, perhaps sent her own design with her Gallic cock, and her
fleur-de-lis mingled so plentifully in it. How or why the lion is
there cannot be explained.
1274.
Silk Damask; ground, fawn-colour; design, parrots, and giraffes in
pairs, amid floriated ornamentation, all, excepting the parts done in
gold, of the tint of the ground. Sicilian, 13th century. 20½ inches
by 10½ inches.
Upon an egg-shaped figure, nicely filled in with graceful floriated
ornaments, stand two parrots, breast to breast, but with heads
averted, which (as well as their pinion-joints, marked by a broad
circle crowded with little rings on their wings, and legs and claws)
are wrought in threads of gold, all now so tarnished as to look as if
first worked in some dull purple silk. Their long broad perpendicular
tails have the feathers shown by U shaped lines, looking much like
the kind of ornamentation noticed under Nos. 8591, 8596, 8599. Below,
and back to back, or--as some may choose to see them--affronted,
and biting the stems of the foliage, are two giraffes, with one leg
raised--may be better described as tripping. They are specked all
over with quatrefoil spots, and have head and hoofs done in gold, now
faded to black. This stuff is as beautiful in design as substantial in
its material, being all of good fine silk; though so poor and sparing
was the gold upon the thread, that it has quite faded. From the curve
at the upper end, this piece seems to have been cut out of an old
chasuble.
1275.
Silk Damask (made up of four pieces); ground, brown, once purple;
design, in gold thread and coloured silks, griffins, eagles, and
flowers. Sicilian, early 13th century. 19½ inches by 19¼ inches.
At top we have a row of griffins looking to the east, mostly
wrought in gold, but relieved on coloured silks, and having at the
pinion-joints of the wing that singular circle, filled in with a small
design; then a row of conventional flowers in red, crimson, green, and
white, and, last of all, a row of eagles at rest, done mostly in gold,
slightly shaded with green, and looking west. The beasts and birds are
admirably drawn, and when the stuff was new it must have been very
fine and effective, though now the gold looks shabby.
1276.
Stole, of silk and gold damask; ground, purple silk; design, mostly
in gold, pricked out with green silk, a floriated oval, filled in
with a pair of young parded leopards, addorsed regardant, and wyverns
regardant in couples. Sicilian, late 13th century. 8 feet 4 inches by 3
inches, not including the expanded ends.
This is a magnificent stuff; but the stole itself could have been made
out of it only in the middle of the 17th century.
1277.
The Hood of a Cope; silk and gold; ground, fawn-coloured silk; design,
bands, in gold thread, alternately broad, figured with harts couchant,
and flowers with an oblique pencil of rays darting down; and narrow,
marked with rayless flowers. Underlying the latter gold band is a very
broad one of silk, figured in green, with collared dogs running at
speed towards a small swan, with sprigs of flowers, green and white,
between them. Sicilian, late 13th century. 14½ inches by 13½
inches.
The very pointed shape of this hood is somewhat unusual in the form
of this part of a cope, as made during mediæval times, in England.
The stuff is of a spirited design, and shows a curious element in its
pattern, in those golden flowers with their pencils of rays.
1278.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, black; design, a lion rampant amid
trees, all in light green. Sicilian, 14th century. 15 inches by 7¾
inches.
Very few examples occur with ground coloured black, yet the bright
green of the design goes well upon its sombre grounding. The animal
and also the leaves and trees around him are all admirably and
spiritedly drawn, and one regrets that a pattern of such merit should
have been lost upon such poor materials.
1279.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, bright green silk; design, in gold,
conventional artichokes, large and small, and harts, and demi-dogs with
very large wings, both animals having remarkably long manes streaming
far behind them. Sicilian, 14th century. 27 inches by 14 inches.
This beautifully and richly wrought stuff, with its fantastic design
drawn with such spirit, must have been, when seen in a large piece,
very pleasing. Its last use was in a chasuble of rather modern cut, to
judge from its present shape.
1280.
Small Bag to hold relics; ground, gold; design, all embroidered by
needle, white rabbits(?) segreant, peacocks in couples, face to face,
with the rabbits between them, two hearts and rows of black or purple
spots, like women’s heads, one in the middle surrounded by a wreath of
eight crimson stars, with small green flower-bearing trees, and the
whole field sprinkled with letters, now, from the ill condition of the
embroidery, not to be read. German, 16th century. 4½ inches square.
1281.
Part of a Liturgical Ornament; silk upon linen; ground, crimson, faded;
design, in yellow flos-silk, beasts and birds. Syrian, late 13th
century. 2 feet 6 inches by 7½ inches.
It does not seem to have last served as either stole or maniple, but,
apparently, was part of an altar curtain of which two were hung, one
at each side of the sacred table. Lions and dogs seated and eagles
perched amid flowers and foliage form the pattern, which is not as
well figured as those usually are which came from the eastern shores
of the Mediterranean.
1282.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, green; design, large ovals filled in
with foliation, enclosed with a net-work of garlands, the fruits of
which might be mistaken for half-moons. North Italy, 14th century.
13½ inches by 7½ inches.
On better material, for the quantity of its silk is small, and in
happier colours, this stuff might have been very pretty.
1283.
Silk Damask; ground, amber yellow; design, a hart, in gold, lodged
beneath green trees in a park, the paling of which is light green,
with a bunch of the corn-flower, centaurea, before it. Sicilian, 14th
century. 7½ inches by 5½ inches.
1283A.
Silk Damask; ground, amber yellow; design, the sun in its splendour, an
eagle in gold, a green tree. Sicilian, 14th century. 7¼ inches by
5½ inches.
1284.
Silk Damask; ground, amber yellow; design, a hart, in gold, lodged
beneath green trees in a park, the paling of which is light green, with
a bunch of the corn-flower before it. Sicilian, 14th century. 7 inches
by 6½ inches.
1284A.
Silk Damask; ground, amber yellow; design, a running hart, in gold,
amid foliage. Sicilian, 14th century. 8 inches by 4½ inches.
The last four pieces are, in fact, but fragments of the same stuff,
and when put together make up its original pattern, and beautiful it
must have seemed when beheld as a whole; the bird and animals are done
with much freedom and spirit; so likewise the foliage: but two of the
portions, by being more exposed to the light, are much faded, in such
a manner that the green in them has almost fled. As usual, so poor was
the golden thread that the bird and animals now look almost black, but
here and there, with a good glass, shimmerings of gold may be found
upon them. To some eyes the sun may look like a rose surrounded by
rays. At one time or another an unfeeling hand has most plentifully
sprinkled all these four pieces with flowers made from gilt paper
stamped out, and pasted on the staff with stiff glue. The silk,
especially the yellow, of this tissue was mixed with very fine threads
of cotton.
1285.
One of the Ends of a Stole, embroidered in beads; ground, dark blue;
design, very likely the head of an apostle, in various coloured and
gold beads. Venetian, late 12th century.
So like both in design, execution, and materials to the portion of an
orphrey, No. 8274, that it would seem this piece was not only worked
by the self-same hand, but formed a part of the self-same set of
vestments. The places, now bare, in the nimb and neck, were, no doubt,
once filled in with fine seed-pearls that have been wantonly picked
out. The other end of the same stole to which this belonged is the
following.
1286.
Exactly like the foregoing; but if in its fellow piece seed-pearls are
not to be seen, here they are left in part of the nimb, but especially
over the left eye. Of the large piece with the head of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, we have spoken at length, No. 8274.
1287.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, light yellow silk; design, a
reticulation of vine-branches bearing grapes and leaves, and enclosing
butterflies, an armorial shield having a royal crown over it, all in
light purple cotton. Sicilian, early 14th century. 17½ inches by
15½ inches.
The design in all its elements is so like many other specimens
wrought by the looms of Palermo at the period, that we are warranted
to presume it came from that great mart of silken stuffs during the
middle ages. So thin in its texture, it must have been meant for the
lining of a heavier material. Père Martin has figured, in his very
valuable “Mélanges d’Archéologie,” t. iv. plate xxii, a piece of silk,
now in the Museum of the Louvre, almost the same in pattern, but
differing much in colour, from the specimen before us. In the specimen
at Paris little dogs and dragons, both in pairs, come in, but here
they are wanting; so that we may learn that, to give variety to the
pattern, parts were changed. Upon the shield there is a charge not
unlike a star, rather oblong, of six points.
1288.
Damask, silk and cotton; ground, deep bluish green; design, pairs of
monsters, half griffin, half elephant, in gold, a conventional flower
in light green, enclosing a pair of wings in gold, and pairs of birds
amid foliation, with short sentences of imitated Arabic here and there.
Sicilian, early 14th century. 14 inches by 11 inches.
This is a fine and noteworthy production of the Palermitan loom, and
shows in its pattern much fancy and great freedom of drawing; for
whether we look at those very singular griffin elephants, sitting
in pairs--and gazing at one another, or the two birds of the hoopoe
family, with a long feather on the head, or the two gold wings
conjoined and erect, so heraldically tricked, with that well-devised
flower ending in a honeysuckle scroll, an ornament sprinkled all
about, we cannot but be pleased with the whole arrangement. The
combination of elephant and griffin in ornamentation is almost,
perhaps quite, unique. The pretended Arabic points to a locality
where once Saracenic workmen laboured, and left behind them their
traditions of excellency of handicraft. In Dr. Bock’s “Geschichte der
Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 4 Lieferung, pl. ix. may be
seen this curious stuff figured.
1289.
Part of a Maniple, silk damask; ground, fawn-coloured; design, an
ovate foliation amid monster beasts and birds, all in light blue silk,
excepting the heads of the birds; the feet and heads of the animals
done in gold. Sicilian, late 13th century. 13¼ inches by 7 inches.
1289A.
Part of a Maniple, silk damask; ground, fawn-coloured; design, an ovate
foliation amid small lions and large monster beasts and birds, in light
blue silk, excepting the small lions all in gold, and the heads and
claws of the others in the same metal. Sicilian, late 13th century.
21½ inches by 6½ inches.
The two articles were evidently parts of the same maniple; a
liturgical appliance of such narrow dimensions that we cannot make
out the entire composition of the very fine and admirably drawn
design upon the stuff, out of which it was cut originally. From what
is before us we perceive that there were a pair of small lions, face
to face, all in gold, a pair of wyverns segreant in green, a pair
of griffins passant, with heads of gold, and a pair of other large
animals, antelopes, with their horned heads and cloven hoofs in the
same metal; slight indications of the fleur-de-lis here and there
occur.
1290.
A bishop’s Liturgical Shoe, of silk and gold damask; ground, crimson
silk; design, eagles, in couples, at rest, in gold, amid foliations in
green silk; a small piece on the left side of the heel is of another
rich stuff in gold and light green. Italian stuff, 14th century. 11½
inches.
Such old episcopal liturgic shoes are now great rarities; and a
specimen once belonging to one of our English worthies, Waneflete, is
given in the “Church of our Fathers,” t. ii. p. 250; it is of rich
silk velvet, wrought with flowers, and still kept at Magdalen College,
Oxford, built and endowed by that good bishop of Winchester. In the
present example we have, in its thin leather sole for the right foot,
a proof that making shoes right and left was well known then.
1291.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground (now very faded), crimson silk; design,
animals, all in gold, and flowers in gold, pricked out, some in green,
others in purple silk. Sicilian, 14th century. 14½ inches by 8½
inches.
The animals are large antelopes couchant, and smaller ones in the like
posture, within flowers, along with large oddly-shaped wyverns with
the head bent down; the flowers are roses, and a modification of the
centaurea, or corn-flower. Though the gold be tarnished, the pattern
is still rich.
1292.
Taffeta, silk and cotton; ground, dull crimson cotton; design,
reticulated foliage with a conventional artichoke in the meshes, all in
pale blue. Spanish, 15th century. 7½ inches by 6¾ inches.
1292A.
Taffeta, silk and cotton; ground, dull crimson cotton; design,
reticulated foliage with a conventional artichoke in the meshes, all in
pale blue. Spanish, 15th century. 5½ inches by 5¼ inches.
As poor in material as in design, and evidently manufactured for
linings to silks of richer substances.
1293.
Silk and Cotton Damask; ground, bright crimson silk; design, floriated
circles filled in with a pair of griffins rampant, addorsed, regardant,
and the spaces between the circles ornamented with a floriated cross,
all in yellow cotton. Sicilian, 14th century. 9¼ inches by 7 inches.
A good design bestowed upon somewhat poor materials. At first the
yellow parts of the pattern had their cotton thread covered with
gold, but of such a debased quality and so sparingly, too, that it
has almost all disappeared, and, where seen, has tarnished to a dusky
black.
1294.
Silk Damask; ground, purple; design, large fan-like leaves, between
small fruits of the pomegranate, in dead purple. Spanish, late 15th
century.
Upon this specimen there was sewed an inscription, now so broken as
not to make sense, and from the style of letter, of the floriated
form, done in red and gold thread upon purple canvas, as is all the
scroll-work about it, some German hand must have wrought it.
1295.
Tissue of Cotton Warp and Silk and Gold Woof; ground, now yellow;
design, eagles in pairs, divided by rayed orbs, amid foliage all in
gold. Sicilian, middle 14th century. 6½ inches by 5½ inches.
The eagles are about to take wing, and are pecking at the rays of,
seemingly, the sun which separates them. The foliage is much like,
in form, that which so often occurs on works from the looms of
Palermo; and, in all likelihood, the ground, now yellow, was once
of a fawn-colour. Though good in design, this stuff is made of poor
materials, the silk in it is small, and the gold of such a base
quality that it has become a dusky brown.
1296.
Tissue of Flaxen Thread Warp and Silk and Gold Woof; ground,
fawn-coloured; design, eagles in pairs affronted, with a pencil of
sun-rays darting down upon their heads, and resting amid flowers all in
gold. Sicilian, middle 14th century. 8 inches by 4¼ inches.
What we said of No. 1295 is equally applicable to this specimen, in
which, however, may be seen, the corn-flower, centaurea, so often met
with in Palermitan textures of the time.
1297.
Silk Damask; ground, light green; design, within a heart-shaped
figure, a large vine-leaf, at which two very small hoopoes, one at
each side, are pecking; outside the ovals, from which large bunches
of small-fruited grapes are hanging, runs a scroll with little
vine-leaves, all now of a fawn-colour, but at first in a rosy crimson
hue. Italian, late 14th century. 15 inches by 5¼ inches.
The design for this tasteful stuff was thrown off by an easy flowing
hand; and Dr. Bock has given a good plate, in his “Dessinateur des
Etoffes,” 3 Livraison, of a silk almost the very same, the differences
being some very slight variations in parts of its colours.
1298, 1298A.
Silk Damask; ground, purple; design, amid foliage and small geometrical
figures, birds in pairs, all in rosy red, and beasts in gold. Sicilian,
14th century. 9½ inches by 3¾ inches, and 4½ inches by 4
inches.
Putting these two pieces together we make out this beautiful,
elaborate, though small pattern. What the birds may be is hard
to guess, but the beasts seem lionesses, with bushy tails, and
bold spirited griffins. Dr. Bock has figured this stuff in the
before-mentioned large work.
1299.
Damask, gold, silk, and thread; ground, dull purple; design, two broad
horizontal bands, the first charged with a hound, green, collared,
armed, and langued white, lying down with head upturned to a large swan
in gold, with foliage all about them; on the second, a dog chasing a
hart, both in gold, and between two cable ornaments in gold, and two
scrolls of roving foliage, in light green pricked with white. Sicilian,
late 14th century. 18 inches by 12 inches.
The beautiful and boldly-drawn pattern of these beasts and birds
in pairs, and succeeding each other, is not duly honoured by the
materials used in it; the quantity of thread is large, and the gold of
the poorest sort.
1300.
Silk Damask; ground, blue; design, in yellow, a net-work done in
ovate geometrical scrolls, and the meshes filled in with geometrical
lozenges, and others showing an ornamentation of singular occurrence,
somewhat like the heraldic nebule. Lucca, early 15th century, 10½
inches by 7½ inches.
After a pattern that seldom is to be found on mediæval stuffs.
1301.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, bright crimson silk; design, in gold,
fruit of the pomegranate, mingled with flowers and leaves of another
plant. South of Spain, 15th century. 9 inches by 8¾ inches.
At a distance this stuff must have shown well, but its materials are
not of the first class; though lively in tone, the silk is poor, and
its gold made of that thin gilt parchment cut into flat shreds, like
other examples here--Nos. 8590, 8601, 8639, &c.
1302.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, fawn-coloured faded from crimson, in
silk; design, large eagles perched in pairs, with a radiating sun
between them, and beneath the rays dogs in pairs, running with heads
turned back and looking on the foliage separating them, all in gold.
Sicilian, 14th century. 17 inches by 8½ inches.
The fine and spirited pattern of this piece is now very indistinct,
owing to the bad colour of the ground, which has so much faded, and
the inferior quality of the gold upon the thread.
1303.
Silk Damask; ground, a rose-coloured tint; pattern, in a dull tone
of the same, broad strap-work, in reticulations enclosing a circular
conventional floriation. Moresco-Spanish, 14th century. 6 inches by
5½ inches.
The tone of the colour has changed from its first brightness, and the
stuff is of a very thin texture.
1304.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, crimson silk much faded; design, harts
collared and flying eagles amid foliage, all in gold. Sicilian, 14th
century. 2 feet 8 inches by 1 foot.
In this spirited pattern the running harts in the upper row have
caught one of their hind-legs in the cord tied to their collar, and
an eagle swoops down upon them; in the second row, the same animal
has switched its tail into the last link of the chain fastened to its
collar, and an eagle seems flying at its head, as it screams with
gaping beak. The last use of this specimen of so magnificent a stuff
appears to have been as part of a curtain (with its 15th century poor
parti-coloured thread fringe) for hanging at the sides of an altar.
1305.
Embroidered Lappet of a Mitre; ground, linen; design, beneath a tall
niche, a female in various coloured silks and gold; and under her,
within a lower-headed niche, a male figure after the same style.
German, late 14th century. 17½ inches by 3 inches.
The high-peaked canopy, with its crocketing and finial well formed
and once all covered with gold, holds a female figure, crowned like a
queen, with the banner of the Resurrection in one hand and a chalice,
having on it the sacred host, in the other, which may be taken for the
person of the Church, while the majestic prophet beneath her seems to
be Malachi holding a long unfolded scroll significative of those words
of his relating to the sacrifice in the New Law. In the embroidery of
the figures this piece very much resembles the style of needlework in
the part of an orphrey, No. 1313. In his “Geschichte der Liturgischen
Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 2 Lieferung, pl. xii. Dr. Bock has given
figures of this curious lappet.
1306, 1306A.
Silk Damask; ground, fawn-coloured; design, amid sunbeams, raindrops,
and foliage, large birds clutching in their talons a scroll charged
with a capital letter R thrice repeated, all in light green. Sicilian,
late 14th century. 13 inches by 6½ inches; and 8 inches by 3¾
inches.
The design of this stuff is rather curious from the inscribed scroll,
the letter R of which is very Italian.
1307.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, fawn-colour; design, amid a conventional
foliation shooting out in places with large fan-like flowers in gold,
braces of small birds on the wing and pairs of running dogs with two
antelopes, couchant, biting a bough, both in gold. Sicilian, 14th
century. 12½ inches by 8½ inches.
A very good design well drawn, but unfortunately not quite perfect in
the specimen, the golden parts of which are much tarnished.
1308.
Silk Damask; ground, rosy fawn-coloured; design, within a wreath made
up mostly of myrtle-leaves and trefoils, a lion’s head cabosed, above
which is a bunch of vine-leaves shutting in a blue corn-flower, and
at each side, in white, a word in imitated Arabic; excepting the blue
centaurea and two white flowers in the wreath, all the rest is in light
green. Sicilian, 14th century. 22 inches by 10¾ inches.
This well-varied pattern is nicely drawn, and shows the traditions of
the Saracenic workmen who once flourished at Palermo.
1309.
Embroidery of Thread upon Linen; design, in raised stitchery, the
hunting of the unicorn. German, late 14th century. 26½ inches by
13½ inches.
This fine piece of needlework shows us a forest where a groom is
holding three horses, on two of which the high-peaked saddles are
well given; running towards him are two hunting dogs, collared. In
the midst of the wood sits a virgin with her long hair falling down
her back, and on her lap an unicorn is resting his fore-feet; behind
this group is coming a man with a stick upon his shoulder, from which
hangs, by its coupled hind-legs, a dead hare. Not only the lady, but
the men wear shoes with remarkably long toes, and the gracefulness
with which the foliage is everywhere twined speaks of the period as
marked in the architectural decoration of the period here in England.
In another number (8618) the same subject is noticed as significative
of the Incarnation, and fully explained. No doubt, like the other
piece of fine Rhenish needlework, this also formed but a part of a
large cloth to hang behind an altar as a reredos. Those very long-toed
shoes brought into fashion here by Ann of Bohemia, our Richard II.’s
queen, were called “cracowes.”
1310.
Maniple of Crimson and Gold Damask; ground, bright crimson; design,
stags and sunbeams. Sicilian, late 14th century. 3 feet 7½ inches by
4 inches.
Under No. 8624 there is a specimen of silk damask, without gold in
it, of a pattern so like this that, were the present piece perfect in
its design, we might presume both had come from the same loom, and
differed only in materials. In that, as in this, we have a couple of
stags well attired, with their heads upturned to a large pencil of
sunbeams darting down upon them amid a shower of raindrops.
1311.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, deep violet; design, St. Mary of Egypt,
with her own hair falling all over her, as her only garment, on her
knees before an altar on which stands a cross; behind her, a tree, upon
which hovers a bird with a long bough in its beak; and high up over
against her an arm coming from a cloud with the hand in benediction,
and rays darting from the fingers, between two stars, one of eight, the
other of six points, all mostly in gold. Venetian, 15th century. 12
inches by 11½ inches.
The materials and the weaving of this valuable tissue are both good,
and figure a saint once in great repute in Oriental Christendom as
well as among those Europeans who traded with the East, as an example
of true repentance. A part of the design is, so to say, ante-dated,
and to understand the whole of it we ought to know something of the
life of this second Magdalen.
In the latter half of the fourth century St. Mary of Egypt, then a
girl of twelve, fled to Alexandria, where she led an abandoned life.
It chanced that she went in a certain ship full of pilgrims to
Jerusalem, where, on the feast of the Elevation of the Cross, she
was hindered by a miracle from entering the church. Then, coming to
herself, she made a vow of penance, and withdrew to the desert beyond
the Jordan. There she lived unseen for forty years, till all her
garments fell away and she had nothing wherewith to clothe herself but
her own long hair.
On the stuff before us the anachronism of its design will be soon
perceived from this rapid sketch of St. Mary’s life. Instead of being,
as she must have been, arrayed in the female fashion of the time when
she went to Jerusalem, the great penitent is represented so far quite
naked that her own long tresses, falling all around her, are her only
mantle--just as she used to be more than forty years afterwards. But
yet the design well unfolds her story; the hand darting rays of light
signifies the revelation given her from heaven, and the blessing that
followed it; while the two stars tell of Jerusalem, as also does the
elaborately-fashioned cross that is standing on the altar, the frontal
to which, in the upper border, seems ornamented in purple, with an
inscription, now unreadable, but the last letters of which look as if
they are R L I. The bird, perhaps a dove, has no part in the saint’s
history, but is a fancy of the artist. In Dr. Bock’s “Geschichte der
Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 1 Lieferung, pl. xi.
is a figure of this stuff.
1312.
Silk Damask; ground, crimson; design, a complication of geometric lines
and figures in yellow, blue, green and white. Moresque, 15th century.
22½ inches by 18½ inches.
Those who know the ornamentation on the burned clay tiles and the gilt
plaster ceilings in the Alhambra at Granada will recognize the same
feeling and style in this showy stuff, the silk of which is so good,
and the colours, particularly the crimson, so warm.
1313.
Part of an Orphrey; ground, deep crimson satin, edged with a narrow
green band; design, three apostolic figures beneath Gothic canopies,
all wrought in gold thread and coloured silks upon canvas and applied.
German, early 15th century. 30 inches by 7¼ inches.
Each figure is nicely worked; and the first, beginning at the top,
holding a sword erect in his right hand, is St. James the Greater;
beneath him, with a halbert, St. Matthew; and last of all, holding
in one hand a book, in the other a sword, St. Paul. The flowery
crocketing running up the arches of the niches is particularly good.
1314.
Silk Damask; ground, crimson (now faded); design, two golden lions with
their fore-paws resting on a white scroll, looking down upon an orb
darting straight down its rays upon the heads of two perched eagles,
amid foliation, all in green. Italian, late 14th century. 26 inches by
9¾ inches.
A fine design, and sketched with great freedom; but the silk and gold
employed in it are not of the best.
1315.
Silk Taffeta; ground, brown; design, broad bands made up of eight
red-edged orange stripes within two white ones. Egyptian, 10th century.
26 inches by 9¾ inches.
1316.
Silk Taffeta; ground, purple; design, narrow stripes made up of white
purple and green lines. Egyptian, 10th century. 24 inches by 3½
inches.
These scarce examples of Oriental ability in the production of very
thin substances for personal adornment and dress, under such a sun as
even the north of Africa has, were originally wrought for ordinary,
not religious use. They were brought to Europe as precious stuffs, and
given as such to the Church and used for casting over the tombs of the
saints, as palls, or as linings for thicker silken vestments. That
these or any of the following specimens of gauze or taffeta were ever
put to the purpose of making stockings, or rather leggings like boots,
still worn by bishops on solemn occasions during the celebrations of
the liturgy, cannot for a moment be thought of. Such appliances are,
and always were, made either of velvet or strong cloth of gold or
silver.
1317.
Silk Gauze; ground, light green; design, broad bands composed of white,
black, and orange stripes. Egyptian, 10th century. 13 inches by 4
inches.
1318.
Taffeta, Silk and Cotton; ground and design, broad stripes of crimson,
green, crimson and orange, separated by narrow lines of white; the warp
is of brown fine cotton. Egyptian, 10th century. 12 inches by 2½
inches.
Of such stuffs the Orientals make their girdles to this day; and for
such a purpose we presume this taffeta was woven at Cairo and for
Moslem use, as the green of the so-called prophet is one among its
colours.
1319.
Silk Gauze; ground, a light green. Egyptian, 10th century. 10 inches by
3½ inches.
Though without any pattern, such a specimen is very valuable for
letting us see the delicate texture which the Saracens, like the
ancient Egyptians, knew how to give to the works of the loom. This,
like No. 1317, if ever used for church purposes, could only have been
employed for spreading over shrines, or the lining of vestments;
specimens like these are sometimes found between the leaves in
illuminated MSS, to protect the paintings.
1320.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, crimson (now faded) silk; design, lions
in pairs addorsed, regardant, each with a swan swung upon its back,
and held by the neck in its mouth, bounding from out a small space
surrounded by a low circular paling, and amid two large conventional
floriations; at the top of one of these are two squirrels sitting
upright, or sejant, all in gold. Italian, late 14th century. 17½
inches by 10¾ inches.
Unfortunately this curious well-figured and interesting design is
somewhat wasted upon materials so faded, as scarcely to show it
now. The foliation is rather thick and heavy. In Dr. Bock’s work,
“Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 1
Lieferung, pl. xiv. may be found this stuff, nicely figured.
1321.
Small Piece of Embroidery; background, canvas diapered with lozenges
in brown thread; foreground, once partly strewed with streaks of gold;
design, two men bearded and clad in long garments, seemingly personages
of the Old Law, talking to each other. Florentine, 15th century.
With quite an Italian and Florentine character about them, these two
figures, both worked in silk, have no great merit; though there are
some good folds in the brown mantle, shot with green, of the hooded
individual standing on the left-hand. That it has been cut away from
some larger piece is evident, but what the original served for,
whether a sacred or secular purpose, it is impossible now to say.
1322.
Stole; ground, light blue silk; design, a thin bough roving along
the stole’s whole length in an undulating line, and sprouting out
into fan-like leaves, and small flowers, and in a white raised cord,
narrowly edged with crimson silk and gold thread. At one expanded end
is the Holy Lamb upon a golden ground; at the other, the dove, emblem
of the Holy Ghost, alighting upon flowers. German, 15th century. 8 feet
6½ inches by 3¾ inches.
Though the work upon this stole is rather coarse, still from its
raised style it must have been effective; but its chief value is from
having been a liturgic ornament. The diapering at the end figured with
the Holy Lamb, done upon a yellow canvas ground, with its thin golden
threads worked into three circles, with their radiations not straight
but wavy, is remarkable, and may be found upon another work wrought by
a German needle in this collection. Not only the Lamb and the Dove,
but the floriation, are thrown up into a sort of low relief.
1323.
Embroidered Linen; design, barbed quatrefoils filled in with armorial
birds and beasts, and the spaces between wrought with vine-leaves.
German, 15th century. 16 inches by 11¾ inches.
This is but a piece of a much larger work, the pattern of which,
in its entire form, can only be guessed at from a few remains. One
quatrefoil is occupied by a pair of eagles (as they seem to be)
addorsed regardant; and the two legs of another three-toed creature
remaining near them prove that other things besides the eagles were
figured. The whole is coarsely done in coarse materials, and, in
workmanship, far below very many specimens here. It appears to have
served for household not for church use.
1324.