8691.

Linen Napkin, for liturgic use, embroidered, in coloured silks, with

conventional flowers. German, end of the 16th century. 2 feet ½ inch

by 1 foot 11 inches.

This is another of those liturgical rarities--Corpus Christi

cloths--of which we have spoken at No. 8342, under the name of

Sindons, or Pyx-cloths. Such appliances were employed for mantling

the pyx or ciborium when shut up in the tabernacle--that little

temple-like erection on the table, or rather step, on the wall-side

of the altar--when the custom ceased of keeping the pyx hanging up

beneath a canopy.

8692.

Hood of a Cope, silk damask, red and yellow, with the subject of the

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary woven in it. Florentine, late

15th century. 1 foot 5 inches by 1 foot 4½ inches.

Uprising from her grave, and amid rays of glory and an oblong or

elliptic aureole, the Virgin Mary is being wafted to heaven by four

angels, who are not, as of yore, vested in long close albs like

deacons, but in flowing garments so slit up as to show their naked

arms, bare legs, and lower thighs. Upon the empty tomb, from out of

which are springing up lilies, is written “Assunta est;” and at one

corner kneels the apostle St. Thomas who, with head uplifted and both

his arms outstretched, is receiving from the mother of our Lord her

girdle, which she is holding in her hands and about to let drop down

to him. “La Madonna della cintola”--this subject--may often be met

with in Italian, more especially Florentine, art of the middle ages,

and is closely linked with the history of the fine old church of

Prato, as we gather from Vasari, in his “Vite dei Pittori,” t. i. p.

279, Firenze, 1846; and the English translation, t. ii. p. 75.

8693.

Linen Napkin, for liturgic use, embroidered in white, brown, and blue

thread, with figures of our Lord and the twelve Apostles. German, 4

feet 8 inches by 1 foot 4½ inches.

Like the valuable specimen of the needle described at No. 8358, the

example before us served the purpose of covering the lectern in the

chancel at the celebration of the liturgy.

As in the usual representations of the Jesse-tree, the bust of each

of the thirteen figures is made to rest within a circular branch

upon its tip, where it sprouts out like a wide flower. At the top

of this tree we behold our Lord with His right hand uplifted in the

act of benediction, His left rested upon a mund, and, about His head

a scroll inscribed “Pax F(V)obis.” To the right is St. Peter--so

inscribed--holding a key; to the left, St. John, as a beardless

youth--inscribed “S. Johnis;” then St. Anderus (Andrew), with a cross

saltire-wise; and St. Jacob (James), with his pilgrim’s staff in

hand, and on his large slouched hat turned up in front he has two

pilgrim-staves in saltire; St. Jacobi (James the Less), with fuller’s

bat; St. Simonus (Simon), beardless, with a long knife or sword jagged

or toothed like a saw; St. Thomas, with his spear; St. Bartlyme

(Bartholomew), with the flaying knife; St. Judas Tadvs (Jude or

Thaddeus), with a knotted club; St. Matheus (Matthew), with a hatchet,

and beardless; St. Philippe, with a cross bottony, and beardless;

St. Mathias, with a halbert. At bottom is marked, in blue ink, 1574;

but it may be fairly doubted if this date be the true one for this

embroidery, of which the style looks at least fifty years older.

8694.

Fragment of Silk and Cotton Tissue, green, with small flower pattern.

Italian, late 16th century. 6½ inches by 4¼ inches.

A pleasing specimen, rich in material, and bright in its tones, very

likely from the South of Italy.

8695.

Piece of Silk Damask, crimson and yellow; pattern, scroll and foliage.

French, end of 16th century. 1 foot 7¾ inches by 1 foot 9 inches.

This piece, intended for household use, is not without effect in its

design. Though the warp is silk, in the woof there is linen thread,

though not easily perceived.

8696.

Piece of Fine Linen, with broad border of flowers in coloured silks.

Syrian (?), 15th century. 12¼ inches by 1 foot 7 inches.

This very fine linen has all the appearance of having been wrought

in some country on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and

reminds us of those thin textures for which India was, and yet is,

so celebrated. The embroidery, too, is but a timid imitation of

flowers, and is so worked as to be equally good on both sides. To all

appearance it is she end of a woman’s scarf.

8697.

Piece of Needlework in coloured worsteds, upon a canvas ground;

pattern, zig-zag lozenges, containing tulips and other liliacious

flowers. German, middle of 16th century. 1 foot 4¾ inches by 1 foot

1 inch.

Seemingly, this is but a small piece of a foot-cloth for the upper

step of an altar.

8698.

Linen Damask Napkin; pattern, scrolls enclosing a pomegranate

ornamentation; border, at two sides, rich lace. Flemish, 16th century.

4 feet 3 inches by 2 feet 3½ inches.

This napkin probably served for carrying to the altar the Sunday “holy

loaf,” as it was called in England, the use of which is still kept up

in France, and known there as the “pain benit.” For an account of this

ancient rite, see the “Church of our Fathers,” i. 135.

8699.

Small Bag, silk and linen thread, embroidered in quadrangular pattern.

German, 15th century. 3½ inches square.

Very like the one under No. 8313. It may have been used as a

reliquary, or, what is more probable, for carrying the rosary-beads of

some lady. Concerning the form of prayer itself, see the “Church of

our Fathers,” t. iii. p. 320.

8700.

Piece of Embroidery, upon an older piece of white silk, brocaded in

gold, three armorial shields in their proper tinctures, all within a

golden wreath. German, late 16th century. 4 inches square.

8701.

Piece of Black Raised Velvet, with small flower pattern. Italian, 16th

century. 1 foot by 7 inches.

A pleasing example of the Genoese loom.

8702.

Piece of Damask, silk and linen, tawny and yellow; pattern, a

modification of the pomegranate within oblong curves, and other

floriations. Florentine, 16th century. 2 feet 11½ inches by 1 foot

1½ inches.

[Illustration: 8702

DAMASK, SILK AND LINEN,

Florentine, 16th century.

Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.

]

Of a large bold design, though not rich in material.

8703.

Piece of Damask, silk and linen, tawny and yellow; pattern, a slight

variation of the foregoing, No. 8702. Florentine, 16th century. 3 feet

4 inches by 9½ inches.

So much alike are these two specimens, that at first sight they look

parts of the same stuff; a near and close inspection shows, however,

that for one or other there was a slight alteration in the gearing of

the loom. Both may have originally been crimson and yellow: if so,

the first colour has sadly faded. From the shape of this piece, its

last use must have been for a chasuble, but of a very recent period,

judging from its actual shape.

8704.

Chasuble, cloth of gold, diapered with a deep-piled blue velvet, so

as to show the favourite artichoke pattern after two forms, with

embroidered orphreys and armorial shields. Flemish, very late 15th

century. 4 feet 4½ inches by 3 feet 10½ inches.

[Illustration: 8704.

PART OF THE ORPHREY OF A CHASUBLE.

Flemish, 15th century.

Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.]

This chasuble, rare, because not cut-down, has been lately but

properly repaired. The back orphrey, in the form of a cross, is

figured with the Crucifixion, the B. V. Mary fainting and upheld by

St. John; a shield _gules_, with chalice _or_, and host _argent_, at

top; another shield at bottom, _gules_, a column _argent_, twined with

cords _or_; the front orphrey is figured with the B. V. Mary crowned,

and carrying our infant Lord in her arms; beneath her, the words

inscribed in blue, “Salve Regina;” lower down, St. John the Evangelist

blessing a golden chalice, out of which is coming a dragon,

and having the inscription at his feet, “Sanctus Iohannes.” Lower

still, St. Catherine with a book in her right hand, and in the left a

sword resting on a wheel.

The front orphrey is done in applied work; the back orphrey consists

of a web with a ground of gold, figured with green flower-bearing

boughs, and having spaces left for the heads and hands to be filled

in with needlework. The shield of arms _or_, with a chief _azure_,

charged with three square buckles _argent_, we may presume to be the

blazon of the giver of this gorgeous vestment.

8705.

Frontlet to an Altar-Cloth of diapered linen. The frontlet itself

is the broad border of purple cloth on which is figured a Latin

inscription within wreaths of flowers done in white linen. German, late

15th century. 10 feet 9 inches by 6½ inches; the linen, 9 inches.

This is another liturgical appliance, once so common everywhere, and

so often mentioned in English ecclesiastical documents, which has

now become a very great rarity. From the shred of the altar-cloth

itself to which it is sewed, that linen, with its fine diapering and

its two blue stripes, diapered, too, and vertically woven in, must

have been of a costly kind, and large enough to overspread the whole

table of the altar, so that this blue frontlet fell down in front.

The Latin inscription, each word parted by a wreath, from four parts

of which shoot sprigs of flowers, reads thus:--“O Gloriosum lumen

ec(c)lesiarum funde preces pro salute populorum.” The letters, as well

as all the floral ornamentation of this short prayer, are wrought in

pieces of linen stitched on with red thread; and below is a worsted

parti-coloured fringe, 1¾ inches deep. For the use of the frontlet

in England, during the mediæval period, the reader may consult the

“Church of our Fathers,” i. 238.

8706.

An Altar-Frontal in very dark brown coarse cloth, on which are applied

armorial shields, and the ground is filled in with flower-bearing

branches, in worsted and silk. German, beginning of 16th century. 7

feet 8 inches by 4 feet 1 inch.

Though of so late a period, this altar-frontal can teach those

studious of such appliances how readily and effectively such works may

be wrought. The whole is divided into eight squares; in the middle of

each is put a shield alternating with another in its blazon, the first

being _or_, three hearts _gules_, two and one, between three bendlets

_sable_; the second, _argent_, an eagle _sable_ on an arched bough

raguly _azure_ in the dexter base. The ramifications twining all over

the ground are done in light brown broad worsted threads stitched on

with white thread; and the flowers, all seeded and barbed, some white,

some yellow, as if in accordance with the tints of the two shields,

are done in silk. At bottom this frontal has been edged with a deep

fringe, parti-coloured white and black.

8707.

Chasuble, blue cut velvet; pattern, one of the pomegranate forms, with

orphreys. German, late 15th century. 9 feet 5 inches by 4 feet 9 inches.

To the liturgical student fond of vestments in their largest, most

majestic shapes, this chasuble will afford great satisfaction, as it

is one of the few known that have not been cut down. The front orphrey

is a piece of narrow poor web, once of gold, but not much worn; the

hind orphrey is a long cross, raguly or knotted, with our Lord nailed

to it; above is the Eternal Father wearing an imperial crown of gold

lined crimson, and in the act of blessing, between whom and our

Saviour is the Holy Ghost in shape of a silver dove with outspread

wings. At foot is the group of the Blessed Virgin Mary fainting, and

hindered from falling by St. John.

8708.

The Blue Linen Lining of a Dalmatic, with the parti-coloured fringe

bordering the front of the vestment, and some other fragments. 4 feet

1½ inches by 5 feet 7 inches. The silk Sicilian, 14th century.

The silk is much like the specimen fully described under No. 8263.

8709.

Altar-Frontal of grey linen, figured in needlework, with flowers,

stars, and heraldic animals, on alternating squares of plain linen and

net-work. German, 15th century. 9 feet 5½ inches by 4 feet 2½

inches.

This important piece of stitchery was never meant for a covering to

the table or upper part of the altar; it served as a frontal to it,

and was hung before, and at each corner of the altar so as to cover it

and its two sides down to the ground. From all its ornaments having

an armorial feeling about them, this elaborate piece of needlework

would seem to have been wrought by the hands of some noble lady, who

took the blazon of her house for its adornment. At the lower part, in

the middle, is a shield of arms _argent_, charged with two bars once

_gules_; high above, a star of eight points voided _gules_; below, a

fleur-de-lis barred _argent_ and _gules_; at each of the four corners

of the square a maneless lion rampant barred _argent_ and _gules_. To

the right, on the same level, a square filled in with fleurs-de-lis;

then a square with birds and beasts unknown to English heraldry: the

birds, natant, have heads of the deer kind, horned, and the beasts

a beaked head with a single arched horn coming out of the forehead

with the point of the bow in front; both birds and beasts are paled

_argent_ and _gules_. On the next square are stars of eight points,

and flowers with eight petals, within quatrefoils all _argent_, upon a

field (the netting) _gules_. The last square is separated into three

pales each charged with a flower-like ornament alternately _argent_

and _gules_. Above this square is another of net _gules_, charged

with four flowers _argent_; and, going to the left, we have a square

showing two bears combatant barred _argent_ and _gules_; still to the

left, birds at rest, and stars alternating _argent_ upon a square of

net _gules_. Next to this a large antelope tripping paled _argent_

and _gules_; then a square having lions rampant within lozenges with

a four-petaled flower at every point, all _argent_, on a field (of

net) _gules_. Following this is a large dog, maned and rampant barred

_argent_ and _gules_; to this succeeds a square of net _gules_ charged

with lozenges, having over each point a mascle, and within them stars

of eight points all _argent_. The last square to the left on this

middle row is charged with a heart-shaped ornament voided in the

form of a fleur-de-lis, and put in three piles of four with flowers

between. The only other square differing from those just noticed are

the two charged with an animal of the deer kind, with antlers quite

straight. The narrow borders at the sides are not the least curious

parts of this interesting specimen; that on the left hand is made up

of a dog running after a bearded antelope, which is confronted by a

griffin so repeated as to fill up the whole line. The border on the

right hand is made up of the beast with the one horn.

8710.

Alb of White Linen appareled at the cuffs, and before and behind at the

feet, with crimson and gold stuff figured with animals and floriations

of the looms of Palermo. Sicilian, 14th century. 5 feet 7 inches long,

4 feet across the shoulders, without the sleeves.

For those curious in liturgical appliances this fine alb of the

mediæval period will be a valuable object of study, though perhaps

not for imitation in the way in which it is widened at the waist. Its

large opening at the neck--1 foot 4½ inches--is somewhat scalloped,

but without any slit down the front, or gatherings, or band. On each

shoulder, running down 1 foot 3¾ inches, is a narrow piece of

crochet-work inscribed in red letters with the names “JESUS,” “MARIA.”

The full sleeves, from 1 foot 6 inches wide, are gradually narrowed

to 6¼ inches at the end of the apparels at the cuffs, which are 4

inches deep and edged with green linen tape. At the waist, where it

is 3 feet 10 inches, it is made, by means of gatherings upon a gusset

embroidered with a cross-crosslet in red thread, to widen itself into

6 feet, or 12 feet all round. Down the middle, before and behind, as

far as the apparels, is let in a narrow piece of crochet-work like

that upon the shoulders, but uninscribed. The two apparels at the

feet--one before, the other behind--vary in their dimensions, one

measuring 1 foot 1 inch by 1 foot 1¾ inches, the other, which is

made up of fragments, 1 foot by 11¾ inches. Very elaborate and

freely designed is the heraldic pattern on the rich stuff which forms

the apparels. The ground is of silk, now faded, but once a bright

crimson; the figures, all in gold, are an eagle in demi-vol, langued,

with a ducal crown, not upon, but over its head; above this is a

mass of clouds with pencils of sun-rays darting from beneath them

all around; higher up again, a collared hart lodged, with its park

set between two large bell-shaped seeded drooping flowers, beneath

each of which is a dog collared and courant. For English antiquaries,

it may be interesting to know that upon the mantle and kirtle in

the monumental effigy of King Richard II, in Westminster Abbey,

the hart as well as the cloud with rays form the pattern on those

royal garments, and are well shown in the valuable but unfinished

“Monumental Effigies of Great Britain,” by the late brothers Hollis.

This alb is figured, but not well with regard to the apparels, by Dr.

Bock, in his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,”

4 Lieferung, pl. iii, fig. 1.

8711.

Chasuble, Cloth of, now tawny, once crimson, silk; pattern, animals

amid floriations. Sicilian, 14th century. 4 feet 5 inches by 3 feet 6

inches.

Made of precisely the same rich and beautiful stuff employed in the

apparels of the alb just noticed, No. 8710, the elaborate design of

which is here seen in all its perfectness. The chasuble itself has

been much cut away from its first large shape.

8712.

Part of a large Piece of Needlework, done upon linen in coloured

worsteds, figured with a king and queen seated together on a Gothic

throne, and a young princess sitting at the queen’s feet. All about are

inscriptions. German (?), 15th century. 5 feet 6½ inches by 3 feet

10 inches.

Wofully cut as this large work has been, enough remains to make it

very interesting. The king,--whose broad-toed shoes, as well as the

very little dog at his feet, will not escape notice,--holds a royal

sceptre in his left hand, and around his head runs a scroll bearing

this inscription, “Inclitus Rex Alfridus ex ytalia Pacis amator.”

About the head of the queen, which is wimpled, the scroll is written

with, “Pia Hildeswit Fundatrix Peniten (?), A^o. M^o. XII^o.” Below

the princess, whose hair, as that of a maiden, falls all about

her shoulders, and whose diadem is not a royal one, nor jewelled

like those worn by the king and queen, runs a scroll bearing these

words, “Albergissa Abbatissa.” Just under the king, on a broad band,

comes--“o. dāpnacionis (damnationis) in &.” At top, on a broad bright

crimson ground, in large yellow letters, we read--“v (ex voto?) hoc

opus completum ē (est).” From droppings of wax still upon it, this

curious piece of needlework must have been used somewhere about an

altar--very likely as a sort of reredos; and from the inscription, it

would seem to have been wrought as an ex voto offering.

8713.

Piece of Needlework, in silk, upon linen, figured with St. Bartholomew

and St. Paul, each standing beneath a round arch. German, early 12th

century. 2 feet 8 inches by 1 foot 6 inches.

The linen upon which this venerable specimen of embroidery is done

shows a very fine texture; but the silk in which the whole is wrought

is of such an inferior quality that, at first sight, though soft to

the touch, it looks like the better sort of untwisted cotton thread.

Such parts of the design as were meant to be white are left uncovered

upon the linen, and the shading is indicated by brown lines. As

such early examples are scarce, this is a great curiosity. Dr. Bock

has figured it in his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des

Mittelalters,” 2 Lieferung, pl. viii.

8942.

Persian Tunic, crimson satin, embroidered in various-coloured silks

after shawl-patterns, with a double-mouthed long pocket in front. 4

feet by 3 feet.

8973.

Piece of Embroidered Silk; ground, blue silk; pattern, flowers in

coloured flos-silks and gold thread, and broad band figured with

wood-nymphs, syrens, boys, and an animal half a fish and half a lion.

Italian, 17th century. 6 feet ½ inch by 3 feet 1½ inches.

No doubt this embroidery served as domestic decoration. It may have

been employed as the front to a lady’s dressing-table.

8975.

Counterpane; ground, thread net, embroidered with foliage and flowers

in various silks. Italian, 16th century. 8 feet by 7 feet 10 inches.

The flos-silks used are of a bright colour, and the whole was worked

in narrow slips sewed together in places with yellow silk; in other

parts the joinings were covered by a narrow silk lace of a pleasing

design.

8976.

Frontal to an Altar; ground, crimson; pattern, sacred subjects and

saints, some in gold, some in yellow silk. Venetian, early 16th

century. 6 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 3½ inches.

This frontal is made out of pieces of woven orphreys, and by the way

in which those pieces are put together we know that they must have

been taken from old vestments, some of which had been much used. It is

composed of nine stripes or pales of broad orphrey-web; and allowing

for the two end pales being brought round the ends of the altar when

hung there, it would then present seven stripes or pales to the eye.

Looking at it thus, we find the first pale of crimson silk, figured in

yellow silk, with the B. V. Mary holding our Lord as an infant on her

lap, with the mund or terraqueous globe surmounted by a cross in His

right hand, amid a strap-like foliation; the next pale of crimson silk

is figured in gold, with a saint-bishop vested in alb, stole crossed

over his breast, and cope, and wearing jewelled gloves, with his

pastoral staff in his right hand. The third pale, in yellow silk upon

a crimson ground, presents us our Lord’s tomb, with soldiers watching

it, and our Lord Himself uprising, with His right hand giving a

blessing, and in His left a banner, and by His side cherubic heads.

The fourth pale at top gives us the B. V. Mary and our infant Saviour

in her arms, very much worn away, and beneath, St. Peter with his

keys, in gold upon crimson. The other pales are but repetitions of the

foregoing. Altogether, this frontal, thread-bare as it is in places,

is well worth the attention of those who interest themselves in the

history of Venetian design, and the art of weaving.

8977.

Hood to a Cope; ground, two shades of yellow silk; subject, the

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Venetian, 16th century. 1 foot 4

inches by 1 foot 3½ inches.

Within an oval, upheld by four angels, and radiant with glory,

and having a cherubic head beneath her, the B. V. Mary is rising

heavenward from her tomb, out of which lilies are springing, and by it

St. Thomas on his knees is reaching out his hand to catch the girdle

dropped down to him. On an oval upon the face of the tomb is written

“Assunta est,” like what is shown in other pieces in this collection.

8978.

Piece of Silk Orphrey Web; ground, crimson; pattern, the Coronation, in

heaven, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in yellow. Venetian, 16th century.

1 foot 7½ inches by 10¾ inches.

This design, though treated after the tradition of the Italian

schools, has one peculiarity. On the royal diadem which our Lord, who

wears, as Great High Priest of the new law, a triple-crowned tiara, is

putting on the head of His mother a large star is conspicuously shown;

one of the titles of St. Mary is “stella maris,” star of the sea,

which would not be forgotten by a seafaring people like the Venetians.

8979.

Tissue of Crimson Silk and Gold Thread; pattern, the Blessed Virgin

Mary in glory, amid cherubic heads, and having two angels, one on each

side, standing on clouds. Venetian, 16th century. 1 foot 4 inches by 1

foot.

The subject, a favourite one of the time, is the Assumption of the

B. V. Mary, and the tissue was woven entirely for the adornment of

liturgical furniture.

9047.

Cushion, elaborately wrought by the needle on fine canvas, and figured

with animals, armorial bearings, flowers, and love-knots, as well as

with the letters I and R royally crowned. Scotch, 17th century. 11

inches by 8 inches.

We have on the first large pane a rose tree, bearing one red rose

seeded _or_, barbed _vert_, and at its foot, but separating them,

two unicorns _argent_, outlined and horned in silver thread; above

them, and separated by the red rose, two lions passant, face to face,

langued and outlined in gold thread; above the flower a royal crown

_or_, and two small knots _or_, and at each side a white rose slipped;

over each unicorn a gold knot, and a strawberry proper. Beneath this

larger shield are three small ones: the first, fretty _or_, and

_vert_ (but so managed that the field takes the shape of strawberry

leaves), charged with four true-love-knots _or_, and in chief _vert_,

a strawberry branch or wire _or_, bearing one fruit proper, and one

flower _argent_; the second shield gives us, on a field _azure_, and

within an orle of circles linked together on four sides by golden

bands, and charged with strawberry fruit, and leaf, and flower proper,

and alternating, a plume of Prince of Wales’s feathers _argent_, with

the quill of the middle feather marked red or _gules_, at each of

the four corners there is a true-love-knot in gold; the third small

shield is a series of circles outlined in gold, and filled in with

quatrefoils outlined green; below, on a large green pane, a white rose

slipped, with grapes and acorns; by its side, the capital letters, in

gold, I and R, with a strawberry and leaf close by each letter, and

above all, and between two love-knots, a regal crown. By the sides of

this device are several small panes, exhibiting fanciful patterns of

flowers, &c.: but in most of them the true-love-knot as well as the

strawberry plant, in one combination or another, are the principal

elements; and in one of the squares or panes the ornamentation

evidently affects the shape of the capital letter S; upon the other

side, with an orle of knots of different kinds, is figured a mermaid

on the sea, with a comb in one hand, and on one side of this pane is

shown a high-born dame, whose fan, seemingly of feathers, is very

conspicuous. Underneath the mermaid are shown, upon a field _vert_,

a man with a staff, amid four rabbits, each with a strawberry-leaf

in its mouth, and at each far corner a stag. As on the other side,

so here the larger squares are surrounded by smaller ones displaying

in their design true-love-knots, strawberries, acorns, roses, white

and red, and in one pane the combination, in a sort of net-work, of

the true-love-knot with the letter S, is very striking. In Scotland

several noble families, whether they spell their name Fraser or

Frazer, use, as a canting charge in their blazon, the frasier or

strawberry, leafed, flowered, and fructed proper; the buck, too, comes

in upon or about their armorial shields. And this may have been worked

by a member of that family.

9047A.

Silk Damask; ground, white; pattern, wreaths of flowers and fruits, in

net-work, each mesh filled in with two peacocks beneath a large bunch

of red centaurea, or corn-flowers. Sicilian, late 15th century. 2 feet

3½ inches by 1 foot 8 inches.

The garlands of the meshes, made out of boughs of oak bearing red and

blue acorns, have, at foot, two eagles red and blue; at top, two green

parrots beneath a bunch of pomegranates, the fruit of which is red

and cracked, showing its blue seed ready to fall out. The corn-flower

is spread forth like a fan. This stuff shows the mark of Spanish rule

over the two Sicilies.

9182.

The Syon Monastery Cope; ground, green, with crimson interlacing barbed

quatrefoils enclosing figures of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the

Apostles, with winged cherubim standing on wheels in the intervening

spaces, and the orphrey, morse, and hem wrought with armorial bearings,

the whole done in gold, silver, and various-coloured silks. English

needlework, 13th century. 9 feet 7 inches by 4 feet 8 inches.

[Illustration: 9182.

PART OF THE ORPHREY OF THE SYON COPE.

English, 13th century.

Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.]

This handsome cope, so very remarkable on account of its comparative

perfect preservation, is one of the most beautiful among the several

liturgic vestments of the olden period anywhere to be now found in

christendom. If by all lovers of mediæval antiquity it will be looked

upon as so valuable a specimen in art of its kind and time, for every

Englishman it ought to have a double interest, showing, as it does,

such a splendid and instructive example of the “Opus Anglicum,” or

English work, which won for itself so wide a fame, and was so eagerly

sought after throughout the whole of Europe during the middle ages.

Beginning with the middle of this cope, we have, at the lowermost

part, St. Michael overcoming Satan; suggested by those verses of

St. John, “And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his

angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels;

... and that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is

called the Devil and Satan,” &c.--Rev. xii. 7, 9, to which may be

added the words of the English Golden Legend: “The fourth victorye

is that that tharchaungell Mychaell shal have of Antecryst whan he

shall flee hym. Than Michaell the grete prynce shall aryse, as it

is sayd Danielis xii, He shall aryse for them that ben chosen as an

helper and a protectour and shall strongely stande ayenst Antecryst

... and at the last he (Antichrist) shall mount upon the mount of

Olyvete, and whan he shall be ... entred in to that place where our

Lorde ascended Mychaell shall come and shall flee hym, of whiche

victorye is understonden after saynt Gregorye that whyche is sayd in

thapocalipsis, the batayll is made in heven,” (fol. cclxx. b.). As he

tramples upon the writhing demon, the archangel, barefoot, and clad

in golden garments, and wearing wings of gold and silver feathers,

thrusts down his throat and out through his neck a lance, the shaft

of which is tipped with a golden cross crosslet, while from his left

arm he lets down an _azure_ shield blazoned with a

silver cross. The next quatrefoil above this one is filled in with the

Crucifixion. Here the Blessed Virgin Mary is arrayed in a green tunic,

and a golden mantle lined with vair or costly white fur, and her head

is kerchiefed, and her uplifted hands are sorrowfully clasped; St.

John--whose dress is all of gold--with a mournful look, is on the

left, at the foot of the cross upon which the Saviour, wrought all

in silver--a most unusual thing,--with a cloth of gold wrapped about

His loins, is fastened by three, not four, nails. The way in which

the ribs are shown and the chest thrown up in the person of our Lord

is quite after old English feelings on the subject. In the book of

sermons called the “Festival” it is said, with strong emphasis, how

“Cristes body was drawen on the crosse as a skyn of parchement on a

harow, so that all hys bonys myght be tolde,” fol. xxxiii. In the

highest quatrefoil of all is figured the Redeemer uprisen, crowned

as a king and seated on a cushioned throne. Resting upon His knee,

and steadied by His left hand, is the mund or ball representing

the earth--the world. Curiously enough, this mund is distinguished

into three parts, of which the larger one--an upper horizontal

hemicycle--is coloured crimson (now faded to a brownish tint), but the

lower hemicycle is divided vertically in two, of which one portion is

coloured green, the other white or silvered. The likelihood is, that

such markings were meant to show the then only known three parts of

our globe; for if the elements were hereon intended, there would have

been four quarters--fire, water, earth, and heaven; instead, too, of

the upper half being crimsoned, it would have been tinted, like the

heavens, blue. Furthermore, the symbolism of those days would put,

as we here see, this mund under the sovereign hand of the Saviour,

as setting forth the Psalmist’s words, “The earth is the Lord’s, and

the fulness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein;” while its

round shape--itself the emblem of endlessness--must naturally bring

to mind that everlasting Being--the Alpha and the Omega spoken of in

the Apocalypse--the beginning and the end, Who is and Who was, and

Who is to come--the Almighty. Stretching forth His right arm, with

His thumb and first two fingers upraised--emblem of one God in three

persons--He is giving His blessing to His mother. Clothed in a green

tunic, over which falls a golden mantle lined with vair or white

fur, she is seated on the throne beside Him, with hands upraised in

prayer. It ought not to be overlooked, that while the Blessed Virgin

Mary wears ornamented shoes, our Lord, like His messengers, the angels

and apostles, is barefoot. To show that as He had said to those whom

He sent before His face, that they were to carry neither purse, nor

scrip, nor shoes, so therefore, is He Himself here and elsewhere

figured shoeless. Though already in heaven, still, out of reverence

towards Him, the head of His mother is kerchiefed, as it would have

been were she yet on earth and present at the sacred liturgy. John

Beleth, an Englishman, who, in A.D. 1162, a short century before this

cope was worked, wrote a book upon the Church Ritual, lays it down as

an unbending rule that, while men are to hear the Gospel bare-headed,

all women, whatever be their age, rank, or condition, must never be

uncovered, and if a young maiden be so her mother or any other female

ought to cast a cloth of some sort over her head;--“Viri, itaque

... aperto capite Evangelium audire debent.... Mulieres vero debent

audire Evangelium tecto et velato capite etiamsi sit virgo, propter

pomum vetitum. Et si eveniat ut virgo capite sit aperto, ut velamen

non habeat, necesse est, ut mater, aut quævis alia mulier capiti ejus

pannum vel simile quippiam imponat.” Divin. Offic. Explic. c. xxxix.

p. 507.

The next two subjects now to be described are--one, that on the right

hand, the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the other, to the left,

her burial. To fully understand the traditionary treatment of both, it

would be well to give the words of Caxton’s English translation of the

“Golden Legend,” from the edition “emprynted at London, in Fletestrete

at y^e sygne of y^e Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde, in y^e yere of our

Lorde M.CCCCXVII,” a scarce and costly work not within easy reach. “We

fynde in a booke sente to saynt Johan the evangelys, or elles the boke

whiche is sayd to be apocryphum ... in what maner the Assumpcyon of

the blessyd vyrgyn saynt Marye was made ... upon a daye whan all the

apostles were spradde through the worlde in prechynge, the gloryous

vyrgyne was gretely esprysed and enbraced wyth desyre to be wyth her

sone Ihesu Cryste ... and an aungell came tofore her with grete lyghte

and salewed her honourably as the mother of his Lorde, sayenge, All

hayle blessyd Marie.... Loo here is a bowe of palme of paradyse, lady,

... whiche thou shalte commaunde to be borne tofore thy bere, for thy

soule shall be taken from thy body the thyrde daye nexte folowynge;

and thy Sone abydeth thee His honourable moder.... All the apostles

shall assemble this daye to thee and shall make to thee noble exequyes

at thy passynge, and in the presence of theym all thou shalte gyve up

thy spyryte. For he that broughte the prophete (Habacuc) by an heer

from Judee to Babylon (Daniel xiv. 35, according to the Vulgate) may

without doubte sodeynly in an houre brynge the apostles to thee....

And it happened as Saynt Johan the euangelyst preched in Ephesym the

heven sodeynly thondred and a whyte cloude toke hym up and brought

hym tofore the gate of the blessyd vyrgyne Marye at Jerusalem (who)

sayd to hym, ... Loo I am called of thy mayster and my God, ... I

have herde saye that the Jewes have made a counseyll and sayd, let us

abyde brethren unto the tyme that she that bare Jhesu Crist be deed,

and thenne incontynente we shall take her body and shall caste it in

to the fyre and brenne it. Thou therefore take this palme and bere

it tofore the bere whan ye shall bere my body to the sepulcre. Than

sayd Johan, O wolde God that all my brethren the apostles were here

that we myght make thyn exequyes covenable as it hoveth and is dygne

and worthy. And as he sayd that, all the apostles were ravysshed with

cloudes from the places where they preched and were brought tofore

the dore of the blessyd vyrgyn Mary.... And aboute the thyrde houre

of the nyght Jhesu Crist came with swete melodye and songe with the

ordre of aungelles.... Fyrst Jhesu Crist began to saye, Come my chosen

and I shall set thee in my sete ... come fro Lybane my spouse. Come

from Lybane. Come thou shalte be crowned. And she sayd I come, for in

the begynnynge of the booke it is wryten of me that I sholde doo thy

wyll, for my spyryte hath joyed in thee the God of helth; and thus in

the mornynge the soule yssued out of the body and fledde up in the

armes of her sone.... And than the apostles toke the body honourably

and layde it on the bere.--And than Peter and Paule lyfte up the bere,

and Peter began to synge and saye Israhell is yssued out of Egypt,

and the other apostles folowed hym in the same songe, and our Lorde

covered the bere and the apostles with a clowde, so that they were

not seen but the voyce of them was onely herde, and the aungelles

were with the apostles syngynge, and than all the people was moved

with that swete melodye, and yssued out of the cyte and enquyred what

it was.--And than there were some that sayd that Marye suche a woman

was deed, and the dyscyples of her sone Jhesu Crist bare her, and

made suche melodye. And thenne ranne they to armes and they warned

eche other sayenge, Come and let us slee all the dysciples and let us

brenne the body of her that bare this traytoure. And whan the prynce

of prestes sawe that he was all abashed and, full of angre and wrath

sayd, Loo, here the tabernacle of hym that hath troubled us, and our

lygnage, beholde what glorye he now receyveth, and in the saynge so he

layde his hondes on the bere wyllynge to turne it and overthrowe it

to the grounde. Than sodeynly bothe his hondes wexed drye and cleved

to the bere so that he henge by the hondes on the bere and was sore

tormented and wepte and brayed. And the aungelles ... blynded all the

other people that they sawe no thynge. And the prynce of prestes sayd,

saynt Peter despyse not me in this trybulacyon, and I praye thee to

praye for me to our Lorde.--And saynt Peter sayd to hym--Kysse the

bere and saye I byleve in God Jhesu Crist. And whan he had so sayd he

was anone all hole perfyghtly.--And thenne the apostles bare Mary unto

the monument (in the Vale of Josaphat outside Jerusalem) and satte

by it lyke as oure Lord had commaunded. And at the thyrde daye ...

the soule came agayne to the body of Marye and yssued gloryously out

of the tombe, and thus was receyved in the hevenly chaumbre, and a

grete company of aungelles with her; and saynt Thomas was not there;

and whan he came he wolde not byleve this; and anone the gyrdell

with whiche her body was gyrde came to hym fro the ayre, whiche he

receyved, and therby he understode that she was assumpte into heven;

and all this it here to fore is sayd and called apocryphum,” &c. ff.

ccxvi, &c.

With this key we may easily unlock what, otherwise, would lie hidden,

not only about the coronation, but, in an especial manner, the death

and burial, as here figured, of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the former of

these two is thus represented on the right hand side. In her own small

house by the foot of Mount Sion, at Jerusalem, is Christ’s mother on

her dying bed. Four only of the apostles--there would not have been

room enough for showing more in the quatrefoil--are standing by the

couch upon which she lies, dressed in a silver tunic almost wholly

overspread with a coverlet of gold; she is bolstered up by a deep

purple golden fretted pillow. St. Peter is holding up her head, while

by her side stands St. Paul, clad, like St. Peter, in a green tunic

and a golden mantle; then St. Matthew, in a blue tunic and a mantle

of gold, holding in the left hand his Gospel, which begins with the

generation of our Lord as man, and the pedigree of Mary His mother;

while, in front of them, stands John, arrayed in a shaded light-purple

tunic, youthful in look, and whose auburn hair is in so strong a

contrast to the hoary locks of his brethren. On the left-hand side

we have her burial. Stretched full-length upon a bier, over which is

thrown a pall of green shot with yellow, lies the Virgin Mary, her

hair hanging loose from her head. St. Peter, known by his keys, St.

Paul, by his uplifted sword, are carrying on their shoulders one end

of the bier, in front; behind, in the same office, are St. Andrew

bringing his cross with him, and some other apostle as his fellow.

After them walks St. Thomas, who, with both his uplifted hands, is

catching the girdle as it drops to him from above, where, in the

skies, her soul, in the shape of a little child, is seen standing

upright with clasped hands, within a large flowing sheet held by two

angels who have come from heaven to fetch it thither. Right before the

funeral procession is a small Jew, who holds in one hand a scabbard,

and with the other is unsheathing his weapon. By the side of the bier

stand two other Jews also small in size--one, the high priest. One of

them has both his arms, the priest but one, all twisted and shrunken,

stretched forward on the bier, as if they wanted to upset it; while

the latter holds in one of his wasted hands the green bough of the

palm-tree, put into it by St. John.

With regard to St. Thomas and the girdle, this cope, if not the

earliest, is among the earlier works upon which that part of the

legend is figured, though after a somewhat different manner to the one

followed in Italy, where, as is evident from several specimens, in

this collection, it found such favour.

Below the burial, we have our Lord in the garden, signified by the

two trees (John xx. 17). Still wearing a green crown of thorns, and

arrayed in a golden mantle, our Lord in His left hand holds the banner

of the resurrection, and with His right bestows His benediction on

the kneeling Magdalene, who is wimpled, and wears a mantle of green

shot yellow, over a light purple tunic. Below, but outside the

quatrefoil, is a layman clad in gold upon his knees, and holding a

long narrow scroll, bearing words which cannot now be satisfactorily

read. Lowermost of all we see the apostle St. Philip with a book in

the left hand, but upon the right, muffled in a large towel wrought in

silver, three loaves of bread, done partially in gold, piled up one on

the other, in reference to our Lord’s words (John vi. 5), before the

miracle of feeding the five thousand. At the left is St. Bartholomew

holding a book in one hand, in the other the flaying knife. A little

above him, St. Peter with his two keys, one gold, the other silver;

and somewhat under him, to the right, is St. Andrew with his cross.

On the other side of St. Michael and the dragon is St. James the

Greater--sometimes called of Compostella, because he lies buried in

that Spanish city--with a book in one hand, and in the other a staff,

and slung from his wrist a wallet, both emblems of pilgrimage to his

shrine in Galicia. In the next quatrefoil above stands St. Paul with

his usual sword, emblem alike of his martyrdom, and of the Spirit,

which is the word of God (Ephes. vi. 17), and a book; lower, to the

right, St. Thomas with his lance of martyrdom and a book; and still

further to the right, St. James the Less with a book and the club from

which he received his death-stroke (Eusebius, book ii. c. 23). Just

above is our Saviour clad in a golden tunic, and carrying a staff

overcoming the unbelief of St. Thomas. Upon his knees that apostle

feels, with his right hand held by the Redeemer, the spear-wound in

His side (John xx. 27).

As at the left hand, so here, quite outside the sacred history on the

cope, we have the figure of an individual probably living at the time

the vestment was wrought. The dress of the other shows him to be a

layman; by the shaven crown upon his head, this person must have been

a cleric of some sort: but whether monk, friar, or secular we cannot

tell, as his gown has become quite bare, so that we see nothing now

but the lower canvas with the lines drawn in black for the shading of

the folds. Like his fellow over against him, this churchman holds up a

scroll bearing words which can no longer be read.

When new this cope could show, written in tall gold letters more than

an inch high, an inscription now cut up and lost, as the unbroken word

“Ne” on one of its shreds, and a solitary “V” on another, are all that

remains of it, the first on the lower right side; the second, in the

like place, to the left. Though so short, the Latin word leads us to

think that it was the beginning of the anthem to the seven penitential

psalms, “_Ne_ reminiscaris, Domine, delicta nostra, _v_el parentum

nostrorum; neque _v_indictam sumas de peccatis nostris,” a suitable

prayer for a liturgical garment, upon which the mercies of the Great

Atonement are so well set forth in the Crucifixion, the overthrow of

Antichrist, and the crowning of the saints in heaven.

In its original state it could give us, not, as now, only eight

apostles, but their whole number. Even as yet the patches on the

right-hand side afford us three of the missing heads, while another

patch to the left shows us the hand with a book, belonging to the

fourth. The lower part of this vestment has been sadly cut away, and

reshaped with shreds from itself; and perhaps at such a time were

added its present heraldic orphrey, morse, and border, perhaps some

fifty years after the embroidering of the other portions of this

invaluable and matchless specimen of the far-famed “Opus Anglicum,” or

English needlework.

The early writers throughout Christendom, Greek as well as Latin,

distinguished “nine choirs” of angels, or three great hierarchies, in

the upper of which were the “cherubim, or seraphim, and thrones;” in

the middle one, the “dominations, virtues, and powers;” in the lower

hierarchy, the “principalities, angels, and archangels.” Now, while

looking at the rather large number of angels figured here, we shall

find that this division into three parts, each part again containing

other three, has been accurately observed. Led a good way by Ezekiel

(i.), but not following that prophet step by step, our mediæval

draughtsmen found out for themselves a certain angel form. To this

they gave a human shape having but one head, and that of a comely

youth, clothing him with six wings, as Isaias told (vi. 2) of the

seraphim, and in place of the calf’s cloven hoofs, they made it with

the feet of man; instead of its body being full of eyes, this feature

is not unoften to be perceived upon the wings, but oftenest those

wings themselves are composed of the bright-eyed feathers borrowed

from the peacock’s tail.

Those eight angels standing upon wheels, and so placed that they are

everywhere by those quatrefoils wherein our Lord’s person comes, may

be taken to represent the upper hierarchy of the angelic host; those

other angels--and two of them only are entire--not upon wheels, and

far away from our Lord, one of the perfect ones under St. Peter, the

other under St. Paul, no doubt belong to the second hierarchy; while

those two having but one, not three, pair of wings, the first under

the death, the other under the burial of the Virgin, both of them

holding up golden crowns, one in each hand, represent, we may presume,

the lowest of the three hierarchies. All of them, like our Lord and

His apostles, are barefoot. All of them have their hands uplifted in

prayer.

For every lover of English heraldic studies this cope, so plentifully

blazoned with armorial bearings, will have an especial value, equal

to that belonging to many an ancient roll of arms. To begin with

its orphrey: that broad band may, in regard to its shields, be

distinguished into three parts, one that falls immediately about the

neck of the cleric wearing this vestment, and the other two portions

right and left. In this first or middle piece the shields, four in

number, are of a round shape, but, unlike the square ones, through

both the other two side portions, are not set upon squares alternately

green and crimson (faded to brown) as are the quatrefoils on the body

of the cope. Taking this centre-piece first, to the left we have--

6. Checky _azure_ and _or_, a chevron _ermine_. WARWICK.

7. Quarterly 1 and 4 _gules_, a three-towered castle _or_; 2 and 3

_argent_, a lion rampant _azure_. CASTILE AND LEON.

8. Vair _or_ and _gules_, within a bordure _azure_, charged with

sixteen horse-shoes _argent_. FERRERS.

9. _Azure_, three barnacles _or_, on a chief _ermine_ a demi-lion

rampant _gules_. GENEVILLE.

These four shields are round, as was said before, and upon a green

ground, having nothing besides upon it. All the rest composing this

orphrey are squares of the diamond form, and put upon a grounding

alternately crimson and green; on the crimson are two peacocks and two

swans in gold; on the green, four stars of eight rays in gold voided

crimson. Now, beginning at the furthermost left side, we see these

blazons:--

1. _Ermine_, a cross _gules_ charged with five lioncels statant

gardant _or_. EVERARD.

2. Same as 8. FERRERS.

3. _Gules_, the Holy Lamb _argent_ with flag _or_, between two stars

and a crescent _or_. BADGE OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.

4. Same as 2. FERRERS.

5. Same as 1. EVERARD.

10. Checky _azure_ and _or_, a bend _gules_ charged with three

lioncels passant _argent_. CLIFFORD.

11. Quarterly _argent_ and _gules_; 2 and 3 fretty _or_, over all a

bend _sable_. SPENCER.

12. The same as 3, but the Lamb is _or_, the flag _argent_. BADGE OF

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.

13. Same as 11. SPENCER.

14. Same as 10. CLIFFORD.

Just below the two middle shields are four nicely-formed loops,

through which might be buttoned on to the cope the moveable hood--or

different hoods, according to the festival, and figured with the

subject of the feast--now lost. On the other edge of the orphrey, to

the left, are seen other three loops, like the former, made of thick

gold cord, by which was made fast the morse that is also blazoned with

ten coats, as follows:--

1. _Gules_, a large six-pointed star _argent_ voided with another star

_azure_ voided _argent_ voided _gules_, between four cross-crosslets

_or_.

2. _Gules_, an eagle displayed _or_. LIMESI or LINDSEY.

3. CASTILE AND LEON.

4. _Gules_, a fess _argent_ between three covered cups _or_. LE

BOTILER.

5. CASTILE AND LEON.

6. FERRERS.

7. _Azure_, a cross _argent_ between four eagles (?) displayed

_argent_ (?).

8. SPENCER.

9. Same as 2. LINDSEY.

10. GENEVILLE.

The ground is checky _azure_ and _or_ upon which these small shields

in the morse are placed.

On the narrow band, at the hem, the same alternation of green and

crimson squares, as a ground for the small diamond-shaped shields, is

observed, as in the orphrey; and the blazons are, beginning at the

left-hand side:--

1. Barry of ten _azure_ and _or_ imbattled, a fess _gules_ sprinkled

with four-petaled flowers seeded _azure_.

2. _Or_, charged with martlets _gules_, and a pair of bars gemelles

_azure_.

3. FERRERS.

4. CASTILE AND LEON.

5. _Azure_, a cross _or_. SHELDON.

6. _Azure_, a lion rampant _or_, within a bordure _gules_ charged with

eight water-bougets _argent_.

7. WARWICK.

8. SPENCER.

9. _Azure_, a bend between six birds _or_. MONTENEY of Essex.

10. _Gules_, sprinkled with cross-crosslets _or_, and a saltire verry

potent _argent_ and _azure_. CHAMPERNOUN.

11. GENEVILLE.

12. ENGLAND.

13. Checky _argent_ and _azure_, on a bend _gules_, three garbs (?) or

escallop-shells (?) _or_.

14. _Or_, on a fess _gules_ between six fleurs-de-lis three and three

_gules_, three fleurs-de-lis _or_.

15. _Gules_, a lion rampant _argent_, within a bordure _azure_,

charged with eight water-bougets _or_.

16. Checky _or_ and _gules_, on a bend _azure_, five horse-shoes

_argent_.

17. Same as 1.

18. Same as 2.

19. Same as 3. FERRERS.

20. Same as 10. CHAMPERNOUN.

21. Same as 10 in the orphrey. CLIFFORD.

22. Same as 8. SPENCER.

23. _Azure_, between six escallop-shells (?) three and three, a bend

_or_. TYDDESWALL.

24. Same as 6.

25. Paly of ten _argent_ and _azure_, on a bend _gules_, three

escallop-shells (?) _or_. A coat of GRANDISON.

26. _Gules_, a lion rampant _or_. FITZ ALAN.

27. Barry _argent_ and _azure_, a chief checky _or_ and _gules_.

28. GENEVILLE.

29. Party per fess _azure_ and _or_, a cross fusil counterchanged.

30. _Argent_, four birds _gules_, between a saltire _gules_, charged

with nine bezants. HAMPDEN (?).

31. _Azure_, five fusils in fesse _or_. PERCY.

32. Same as 1, on the orphrey. EVERARD.

33. Same as 6, on the orphrey. WARWICK.

34. _Gules_, three lucies hauriant in fess between six cross-crosslets

_or_. LUCY.

35. Paly of ten _or_ and _azure_, on a fess _gules_, three mullets of

six points _argent_, voided with a cross _azure_. CHAMBOWE (?).

36. Party per fess _gules_, fretted _or_, and _ermine_. RIBBESFORD (?).

37. Same as 9.

38. _Or_, on a cross _gules_, five escallop-shells _argent_. BYGOD.

39. Barry, a chief paly and the corners gyronny, _or_ and _azure_, an

inescutcheon _ermine_. ROGER DE MORTIMER.

40. Same as 6.

41. Party per fess, _argent_ three eight-petaled flowers formed as it

were out of a knot made cross-wise, with two flowers at the end of

each limb, and _azure_ with a string of lozenges like a fess _argent_,

and three fleurs-de-lis (?) two and one _or_.

42. _Gules_, a fess checky _argent_ and _azure_, between twelve cross

crosslets _or_. Possibly one of the many coats taken by LE BOTILER.

43. _Azure_, three lucies hauriant in fess between six cross-crosslets

_or_. LUCY.

44. _Ermine_, on a chevron _gules_, three escallop-shells _or_.

GOLBORE or GROVE.

45. Gyronny of twelve _or_ and _azure_. DE BASSINGBURN.

Besides their heraldry, squares upon which are shown swans and

peacocks wrought at each corner, afford, in those birds, objects of

much curious interest for every lover of mediæval symbolism under its

various phases.

In the symbolism of those times, the star and the crescent, the

peacock and the swan, had, each of them, its own several figurative

meanings. By the first of these emblems was to be understood,

according to the words, in Numbers xxiv. 17, of Balaam’s prophecy,--“a

star shall arise out of Jacob,”--our Saviour, who says of His divine

self, Apocalypse xxii. 16, “I am the bright and morning star.” By

inference, the star not only symbolized our Lord Himself, but His

Gospel--Christianity--in contradistinction to Mahometanism, against

which the crusades had been but lately carried on. The star of

Bethlehem, too, was thus also brought before the mind with all its

associated ideas of the Holy Land.

The crescent moon, on the shields with the Holy Lamb, represents the

Church, for the reason that small at first, but getting her light

from the true Sun of justice, our Lord, she every day grows larger,

and at the end of time, when all shall believe in her, will at last

be in her full brightness. This symbolism is set forth, at some

length, by Petrus Capuanus as quoted by Dom (now Cardinal) Pitra in

his valuable “Spicilegium Solesmense,” t. ii. 66. But for an English

mediæval authority on the point, we may cite our own Alexander Neckam,

born A.D. 1157 at St. Albans, and who had as a foster-brother King

Richard of the Lion-Heart. In his curious work, “De Naturis Rerum,”

not long since printed for the first time, and published by the

authority of Her Majesty’s treasury, under the direction of the Master

of the Rolls, Neckam thus writes:--“Per solem item Christus, verus

sol justiciæ plerumque intelligitur; per lunam autem ecclesia, vel

quæcunque fidelis anima. Sicut autem luna beneficium lucis a sole

mendicat, ita et fidelis anima a Christo qui est lux vera.” P. 53.

Not always was the peacock taken to be the unmitigated emblem of

pride and foolish vanity. Osmont the cleric, in his “Volucraire,

or Book of Birds,” after noticing its scream instead of song, its

serpent-like shape of head that it carries so haughtily, but lowers

quite abashed as it catches a glimpse at its ugly feet, and its garish

plumage with the many bright-eyed freckles on its fan-like tail

which it loves to unfold for admiration, draws these comparisons. As

the peacock affrights us by its cry, so does the preacher, when he

thunders against sin startle us into a hatred of it; if the step of

the bird be so full of majesty, with what steadiness ought a true

Christian fearlessly tread his narrow path. A man may perhaps find a

happiness, nay, show a pride in the conviction of having done a good

deed, perhaps may sometimes therefore carry his head a trifle high,

and, strutting like the peacock, parade his pious works to catch the

world’s applause; as soon as he looks into Holy Writ and there learns

the weakness, lowliness, of his own origin, he too droops his head in

all humility. Those eye-speckled feathers in its plumage warn him that

never too often can he have his eyes wide open, and gaze inwardly upon

his own heart and know its secret workings. Thus spoke an Anglo-Norman

writer.

About the swan an Englishman, our Alexander Neckam, says:--“Quid

quod cygnus in ætate tenella fusco colore vestitus esse videtur,

qui postmodum in intentissimum candorem mutatur? Sic nonnulli

caligine peccatorum prius obfuscati, postea candoris innocentiæ

veste spirituali decorantur.”--_De Naturis Rerum_, p. 101. Here our

countryman hands us the key to the symbolic appearance of the swan

upon this liturgical garment; for, as while a cygnet, its feathers

are always of a dusky hue, but when the bird has grown up its plumage

changes into the most intensely white, just so, some people who are at

first darkened with the blackness of sin, in after days become adorned

with the garb of white innocence.

Besides their ecclesiastical meanings these same symbols had belonging

to them a secular significance. Found upon a piece of stuff quite

apart from that of the cope itself, and worked for the adornment of

that fine vestment after a lapse of many years, made up too of an

ornamentation the whole of which is heraldic and thus bringing to

mind worldly knights and their blazons and its age’s chivalry, it

is easy to find out for it an adaptation to the chivalric notions

and customs of those times. The Bethlehem star overtopping the Islam

badge of the crescent moon showed forth the wishes of every one who

had been or meant to be a crusader, or rather more, not merely of

our men at arms but of every true believer throughout Christendom

whose untiring prayers were that the Holy Land might be wrested from

the iron hand of the Mahometan. At great national festivities and

solemn gatherings of the aristocracy, not the young knight alone then

newly girt, but the grey-haired warrior would often, in that noble

presence, bind himself by vow to do some deed of daring, and swore

it to heaven, and the swan, the pheasant, or the peacock as the bird

of his choice, was brought with a flourish of trumpets, and amid a

crowd of stately knights waiting on a bevy of fair young ladies, and

set before him. This sounds odd at this time of day; not so did it

in mediæval times, when those birds were looked upon with favour on

account of the majestic gracefulness of their shape, or the sparkling

beauty of their plumage. It must not be forgotten that this orphrey

was blazoned by English hands in England, and while all the stirring

doings of our first Edward were yet fresh in our people’s remembrance.

That king had been and fought in the Holy Land against the Saracens.

At his bidding, towards the end of life, a scene remarkable even

in that period of royal festive magnificence, took place, when he

himself, in the year 1306, girded his son, afterwards Edward II, with

the military belt in the palace of Westminster, and then sent him to

bestow the same knightly honour, in the church of that abbey, upon the

three hundred young sons of the nobility, who had been gathered from

all parts of the kingdom to be his companions in the splendours of the

day. But that grand function was brought to an end by a most curious

yet interesting act; to the joyous sounds of minstrelsy came forwards

a procession, bearing along a pair of swans confined in a net, the

meshes of which were made of cords fashioned like reeds and wrought

of gold. These birds were set in solemn pomp before the king; and

there and then Edward swore by the God in heaven and the swans that he

would go forth and wage war against the Scots: Matthew Westminster, p.

454. No wonder, then, that along with the star and crescent we find

the knightly swan and peacock mingled in the heraldry of the highest

families in England, wrought upon a work from English hands, during

the fourteenth century. A long hundred years after this elaborate

orphrey was worked we find that Dan John Lydgate, monk of Bury St.

Edmund’s, in his poem called “All stant in chaunge like a mydsomer

Rose,” upon the fickleness of all earthly things, while singing of

this life’s fading vanities, counts among them--

“Vowis of pecok, with all ther proude chere.”

MINOR POEMS, _ed. Halliwell for Percy Society_, p. 25.

To the wild but poetic legend of the swan and his descendants, we have

already alluded in our Introduction.

A word or two now upon the needlework, how it was done, and a certain

at present unused mechanical appliance to it after it was wrought, so

observable upon this vestment, lending its figures more effect, and

giving it, as a teaching example of embroidery, much more value than

any foreign piece in this numerous collection.

Looking well into this fine specimen of the English needle, we find

that, for the human face, all over it, the first stitches were begun

in the centre of the cheek, and worked in circular, not straight

lines, into which, however, after the middle had been made, they fell,

and were so carried on through the rest of the fleshes. After the

whole figure had thus been wrought; then with a little thin iron rod

ending in a small bulb or smooth knob slightly heated, were pressed

down those spots upon the faces worked in circular lines, as well as

that deep wide dimple in the throat especially of an aged person. By

the hollows thus lastingly sunk, a play of light and shadow is brought

out that, at a short distance, lends to the portion so treated a look

of being done in low relief. Upon the slightly-clothed person of our

Lord this same process is followed in a way that tells remarkably

well; and the chest with the upper part of the pelvis in the figure of

our Saviour overcoming Thomas’s unbelief, shows a noteworthy example

of the mediæval knowledge of external anatomy.

We must not, however, hide from ourselves the fact that the edges,

though so broad and blunt, given by such a use of the hot iron to

parts of an embroidery, expose it somewhat to the danger of being worn

out more in those than other portions which soon betray the damage by

their thread-bare dingy look, as is the case in the example just cited.

The method for filling in the quatrefoils, as well as working much

of the drapery on the figures, is remarkable for being done in a

long zigzag diaper-pattern, and after the manner called in ancient

inventories, “opus plumarium,” from the way the stitches overlie each

other like the feathers on a bird.

The stitchery on the armorial bearings is the same as that now

followed in so many trifling things worked in wool.

The canvas for every part of this cope is of the very finest sort;

but oddly enough, its crimson canvas lining is thick and coarse.

What constituted, then, the characteristics of the “opus Anglicum,”

or English work, in mediæval embroidery were, first, the beginning

of the stitchery in certain parts of the human figure--the face

especially--in circular lines winding close together round and round;

and, in the second place, the sinking of those same portions into

permanent hollows by the use of a hot iron.

A word or two now about the history of this fine cope.

In olden days not a town, hardly a single parish, throughout England,

but had in it one or more pious associations called “gilds,” some of

which could show the noblest amongst the layfolks, men and women, and

the most distinguished of the clergy in the kingdom, set down upon

the roll of its brotherhood, which often grew up into great wealth.

Each of these gilds had, usually in its parish church, a chapel, or

at least an altar of its own, where, for its peculiar service, it

kept one if not several priests and clerics, provided, too, with

every needful liturgical appliance, articles of which were frequently

the spontaneous offering of individual brothers, who sometimes

clubbed together for the purpose of thus making their joint gift

more splendid. Now it is most remarkable that upon this cope, and

quite apart from the sacred story on it, we have two figures, that to

the left, pranked out in the gay attire of some rich layman; on the

right, the other, who must be an ecclesiastic from the tonsure on his

head; each bears an inscribed scroll in his hand, and both are in the

posture of suppliants making offerings. This cleric and this layman

may have been akin to one another, brothers, too, of the same gild for

which they at their joint cost got this cope worked and gave to it.

But where was this gild itself?

Among the foremost of our provincial cities once was reckoned

Coventry. Its Corpus Christi plays or mysteries, illustrated by

this embroidery, enjoyed such a wide-spread fame that for the whole

eight days of their performance, every year, they drew crowds of

the highest and the gentlest of the land far and near, as the

“Paston Letters” testify, to see them; its gild was of such repute

that our nobility--lords and ladies--our kings and queens, did not

think it anywise beneath their high estate to be enrolled among its

brotherhood. Besides many other authorities, we have one in that

splendid piece of English tapestry--figured with Henry VI, Cardinal

Beaufort, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and other courtiers, on the

left or men’s side, and on the women’s, Queen Margaret, the Duchess

of Buckingham, and other ladies, most of them on their knees, and

all hearing mass--still hanging on the wall of the dining hall of

St. Mary’s gild, of which that king, with his queen and all his

court became members; and at whose altar, as brethren, they heard

their service, on some Sunday, or high festival, which they spent at

Coventry. Taking this old city as a centre, with a radius of no great

length, we may draw a circle on the map which will enclose Tamworth,

tower and town, Chartly Castle, Warwick, Charlcote, Althorp, &c. where

the once great houses of Ferrers, Beauchamp, Lucy, and Spencer held,

and some of them yet hold, large estates; and from being the owners

of broad lands in its neighbourhood, their lords would, in accordance

with the religious feeling of those times, become brothers of the

famous gild of Coventry; and on account of their high rank, find their

arms emblazoned upon the vestments belonging to their fraternity.

That such a pious queen as the gentle Eleanor, our First Edward’s

first wife, who died A.D. 1290, should have, in her lifetime, become a

sister, and by her bounties made herself to be gratefully remembered

after death, is very likely, so that we may with ease account for her

shield--Castile and Leon--as well as for the shields of the other

great families we see upon the orphrey, being wrought there as a

testimonial that, while, like many others, they were members, they

also had been munificent benefactors to the association. A remembrance

of brotherhood for those others equally noble, but less generous in

their benefactions, may be read in those smaller shields upon the

narrow hem going along the lower border of this vestment. The whole of

it must have taken a long, long time in the doing; and the probability

is that it was worked by the nuns of some convent which stood in or

near Coventry.

Upon the banks of the Thames, at Isleworth, near London, in the year

1414, Henry V. built, and munificently endowed, a monastery to be

called “Syon,” for nuns of St. Bridget’s order. Among the earliest

friends of this new house was a Master Thomas Graunt, an official

in one of the ecclesiastical courts of the kingdom. In the Syon

nuns’ martyrologium--a valuable MS. lately bought by the British

Museum--this churchman is gratefully recorded as the giver to their

convent of several precious ornaments, of which this very cope

seemingly is one. It was the custom for a gild, or religious body, to

bestow some rich church vestment upon an ecclesiastical advocate who

had befriended it by his pleadings before the tribunals, and thus to

convey their thanks to him along with his fee. After such a fashion

this cope could have easily found its way, through Dr. Graunt, from

Warwickshire to Middlesex. At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign it

went along with the nuns as they wandered in an unbroken body through

Flanders, France, and Portugal, where they halted. About sixty years

ago it came back again from Lisbon to England, and has found a lasting

home in the South Kensington Museum.

197.

Web for Orphreys; ground, crimson silk; design, the Assumption, in

yellow silk and gold thread. Florentine, 15th century. 2 feet 2½

inches by 1 foot 2¾ inches.

The same sort of stuff frequently occurs in this collection, and the

present specimen, which consists of two breadths sewed together, is

the same as the one fully described in No. 4059. In its present shape

it may have served as a back hanging to a little praying-desk in a

bed-room.

198.

A Crimson Velvet Stole, with crosses and fringes of green silk.

Spanish, 16th century. 6 feet 8 inches by 2½ inches, and 5½

inches.

The pieces of crimson velvet out of which this stole was made, not so

many years ago, are of a deep warm tone of colour, and soft rich pile;

both so peculiar to the looms of Spain. The velvet must have been in

use for church purposes before this stole was made out of it.

1207.

A Crimson Velvet Stole, with crosses of poor gold lace, and fringes of

crimson silk. Spanish, 16th century. 7 feet 7 inches by 3 inches, and 8

inches.

Like the foregoing stole in quality of velvet.

254-55.

Two Crimson Velvet Maniples, with crosses and fringes of green.

Spanish, 16th century. 1 foot 6½ inches by 3 inches, and 5 inches.

These were to match the like kind of stole.

524.

A Crimson Velvet Maniple, with crosses of gold and fringes of crimson

silk. Spanish, 16th century. 1 foot 5½ inches by 3¼ inches, and

6½ inches.

733.

A Piece of Raised Velvet; ground, yellow silk; design, in velvet pile,

pomegranates, and conventional floriations, enclosing an oval with a

quatrefoil in the middle. Spanish, late 16th century. 1 foot 6 inches

by 7 inches, and by 1 foot 2 inches.

This raised velvet must have been for household decoration, and may

have been wrought at Almeria.

902.

Cut-Work for furniture purposes; ground, yellow silk; design, vases of

flowers formed in green velvet; the flowers in places embroidered in

white and light blue floss-silk. French, 17th century. 9 feet 9 inches

by 1 foot 9 inches.

This specimen well shows the way in which such strips for pilasters

were wrought. At first the green velvet seems the ground, which,

however, is of amber yellow silk, but the velvet is so cut out and

sewed on as to give the vases and their flowers the right form,

and sometimes is made to come in as foliage. The flowers, mostly

fleurs-de-lis and tulips, are well finished in white silk, shaded

either by light blue in the first, or pink in the second instance,

where, however, there are only five instead of six petals; and the

whole is edged in its design with yellow silk cord.

910.

An Altar Frontal, silk and thread; ground, yellow; design, vases and

conventional artichokes, amid floriations, all in crimson silk, and

trimmed at the lower side with cut-work, in a flower pattern, of

various-coloured silks, edged with yellow cord. Italian, early 17th

century. 6 feet by 2 feet 8½ inches.

The silk in this stuff is small in comparison with the thread, which,

however, is so well covered as to be kept quite out of sight in the

pattern. The fringe, six inches in depth, is left quite open.

911.

A Bed-Quilt; ground, green silk; design, in the middle the goddess

Flora, around her large flowers and branches, amid which are birds

(doves?), and hares climbing up the boughs, all in floss-silk of very

showy colours, with a deep border of flowers, worked upon dark net.

Italian, 18th century. 8 feet 3 inches by 6 feet.

Such coverlets were, as they still are, used for throwing over beds in

the day-time. The flowers, both on the silk and the netting, are so

embroidered as to show the same, like East Indian needlework, on both

sides. The love for lively colour, not to say garishness, was such as

to lead the hand that wrought this piece to render the branches of

some of the parts parti-coloured in white and crimson. Other specimens

of embroidered net may be seen at Nos. 623, 624, 4462.

[Illustration]

PART THE SECOND.

_Tapestry._

1296.

Pieces of Tapestry Hanging, figured with poetic pastoral scenes.

Flemish, perhaps wrought at Audenaerde, in the first half of the 16th

century. 29 feet 4 inches by 11 feet.

Soon after the early part of the 16th century, there sprang up

throughout Europe a liking for pastoral literature as seen in Virgil’s

eclogues: poets sung their dreams of the bliss to be found in rustic

life, in which sports and pastimes, amid well-dressed revelry and

music, with nought of toil or drudgery belonging to it, formed the

yearly round; and in summer tide, nobles and their ladies loved to

rove the woods and fields, and play at gentle shepherdism. How such

frolics were carried out we learn from the tapestry before us, which,

in many of its features, is near akin to those low reliefs of the same

subject that adorn the walls in the court-yard of the curious and

elaborately ornamented Hotel de Bourgtheroud, at Rouen.

At the left-hand side, lying on a flowery bank, is a gentleman

shepherd, whose broad-toed shoes and thick cloth leggings, fastened

round the knees and about the ancles, are rather conspicuous. On

the brim of his large round white hat is a sort of square ticket,

coloured. From his waist hangs a white satchel, bearing outside

various appliances, such as countrymen want. Over him stands, with a

tall spud in her hands, a youthful lady dressed in a scarlet robe, and

wearing her satchel by her side, a thin gauze cap, not a hat, is on

her head, and with her hand upraised she seems to be giving emphasis

to what she says to her friend upon the ground.

In the middle of this piece is a group, consisting of four characters,

all of whom are playing at some game of forfeits. A young lady clad in

blue satin, with the usual rustic pouch slung at her side, is sitting

on the flowery grass, with her hands on the shoulders of a youth at

her feet, and hiding his face in her lap. Standing over him and about

to strike his open palm is another youth in a blue tunic turned up

with red, and holding a spud. Behind the blindfolded youth stands a

young lady, whose flaxen locks fall from under a broad-brimmed crimson

hat, upon her shoulders over her splendid robe, the crimson ground of

which is nearly hidden by the broad diapering of gold most admirably

shown upon it.

In the other corner, to the right, is a lady, kerchiefed and girded

with her rustic wallet, with both hands grasping a man, who seems

as if he asked forgiveness. Overhead is a swineherd leading a pig,

and going towards a farm-labourer who is making faggots; further on

is another clown, hard at work, with his coat thrown down by him on

the ground, lopping trees; and last of all, a gentleman and lady,

both clad in the costume of the first half of the sixteenth century.

These groups on the high part of the canvas are evidently outside the

subject of the games below, and are merely passers by. All about the

field are seen grazing sheep; and to the right, a golden pheasant on

the foreground is so conspicuous as to lead to the thought that it was

placed there to tell, either the name of the noble house for which

this beautifully-wrought and nicely-designed tapestry was made, or of

the artist who worked it.

In a second, but much smaller pane of tapestry, the same subject is

continued. Upon the flowery banks of a narrow streamlet sit a lady

and a little boy, bathing their feet in its waters. A gentleman--a

swain for the nonce--on his bended knee, holds up triumphantly one

of the lady’s stockings over the boy’s head. Just above and striding

towards her comes another gentleman-shepherd, with both his hands

outstretched as if in wonderment, over whom we find a real churl in

the person of a shepherd playing a set of double pipes--the old French

“flahuter à deux dois”--to the no small delight of a little dog by his

side. Serving as a background to this group, we have a comfortable

homestead amid trees. Somewhat to the right and lower down, over a

brick arch leans a lady, to whom a gaily-dressed man is offering money

or a trinket, which he has just drawn forth from his open _gipcière_

hanging at his girdle. Below sits a lady arrayed in a white robe, the

skirts of which she has drawn and folded back upon her lap to show

her scarlet petticoat. She is listening to a huntsman pranked out

with a belt strung with little bells; falling from his girdle hangs

in front a buglehorn, and his left hand holds the leash of his dog

with a fine collar on. Over this spruce youth is an unmistakable real

field labourer with a Flemish _hotte?_, or wooden cradle, filled with

chumps and sticks, upon his back; and before him walk two dogs, one of

which carries a pack or cloth over his shoulders. Still higher up is a

wind-mill, toward which a man bearing a sack is walking.

In both these pieces, which are fellows, and wrought for the hangings

of the same chamber, the drawing of the figures, with the accessories

of dress, silks, and even field-flowers, is admirable, and the

grouping well managed: altogether, they are valuable links in the

chain for the study and illustration of the ancient art of tapestry.

1297.

Piece of Tapestry Hanging; ground, green sprinkled with flowers, and

sentence-bearing scrolls; design, steps in a religious life, figured in

five compartments. West German, late 15th century. 12 feet by 2 feet 10

inches.

1. A young well-born maiden, with a narrow wreath about her unveiled

head, and dressed in pink, is saying her prayers kneeling on the

flowery green ground, with these words traced on the scrolls twined

gracefully above her,--“Das wir Maria kindt in trew mage werden so ...

t ich myn gnade ... n af erden;” “Let us become like to Mary’s child,

(so) we shall deserve mercy on earth.”

2. Seated on a chair, with a book upon his lap, is an ecclesiastic, in

a white habit and black scapular. To this priest the same young lady

is making confession of her sins; and the scrolls about this group

say,--“Vicht di sunde mit ernst sonder spot so findestic Godez trew

gnadt;” “Fight against sin with earnestness and without feigning; you

will find the true mercy of God.”--“Her myn sunde vil ich ach dagen

uff das mir Gots trew moge behagen;” “Lord, I will mourn over my sin,

in order that the truth of God may comfort me.”

3. The same youthful maiden is bending over a wooden table, upon which

lies a human heart that she is handling; and the inscriptions about

her tell us the meaning of this action of hers, thus,--“Sol ich myn

sund hi leschen so musz ich ich mȳ hertz im blude wesche;” “To cleanse

away my sin here, I must wash my heart in the blood.”

4. We here see an altar; upon its table are a small rood or crucifix

with S. Mary and S. John, two candlesticks, having prickets for the

wax-lights, the outspread corporal cloth, upon which stands the

chalice, and under which, in front and not at the right side, lies the

paten somewhat hidden. At the foot of this altar kneels the maiden,

clad in blue, and wearing on her head a plain, closely-fitting linen

cap, like that yet occasionally worn at church in Belgium, by females

of the middle classes,--and the priest who is saying mass there is

giving her Communion. The priest’s alb is ornamented with crimson

apparels on its cuffs and lower front hem, inscribed with the word

“haus,” house, is well rendered. The inscriptions above are, as

elsewhere, mutilated, so that much of their meaning is lost; but they

run thus,--“Wer he ... versorget mich mit Gottes trew das bitten ich;”

“If ... not procure me the love of God that I pray for.”--“Emphang

in trewen den waren Crist dmit dyn;” “Receive with fidelity the very

Christ in order....”

5. A nunnery, just outside of which stands its lady-abbess, clothed in

a white habit, black hood, and white linen wimple about her throat.

In her right hand she bears a gold crozier, from which hangs that

peculiar napkin, two of which are in this collection, Nos. 8279A, and

8662. Behind stands an aged nun, and, as if in the passage and seen

through the cloister windows, are two lay sisters, known as such by

the black scapular. In front of the abbess stands the young maiden

dressed in pink, with her waiting woman all in white, in attendance on

her. Upon the scrolls are these sentences,--“Dez hymels ey port Godez

vor (m)eyn husz disz ist;” “A gate of heaven--God’s and mine house

this is.”--“Kom trew Christ wol. p.. eidt nym dy Kron dy dir Got hat

bereit.”--“Come, true Christian well ... take the crown which God has

prepared for thee.”

Though but a poor specimen of the loom, this piece gives us scraps of

an obsolete dialect of the mediæval German, not Flemish, language.

1465.

Piece of Tapestry Hanging; ground, grass and flowers; design, a German

romance, divided into six compartments, each having its own inscribed

scrolls, meant to describe the subject. South German, middle of the

15th century. 12 feet by 2 feet 6 inches.

In the first compartment we see a group of horsemen, of whom the first

is a royal youth wearing a richly-jewelled crown and arrayed in all

the fashion of those days. Following him are two grooms, over one of

whose heads, but high up in the heavens, flies an eagle; and perhaps

the bird may be there to indicate the name of the large walled city

close by. Pacing on the flowery turf, the cavalcade is nearing a

castle, at the threshold of which stand an aged king and his youthful

daughter. On a scroll are the words,--“Bisg god wilkum dusig stunt(?)

grosser frayd wart uns nie kunt;” “Be right welcome for a thousand

hours; a greater joy we never knew.” Of course the coming guest utters

his acknowledgments; but the words on the scroll cannot be made out

with the exception of this broken sentence,--“Heute ich unt ...;” “To

day I and ...”

In the second compartment, in a room of the castle we behold the same

royal youth, wearing, as before, his crown upon his long yellow locks,

along with his three varlets. On a scroll are the words,--“Fromer

dieur bestelle mir die ros ein wagge ist nun lieber;” “Pious servant,

order me the horses, a carriage is preferred.”

In the third compartment is shown, and very likely in his own home,

the same young wooer talking, as it would seem by the scrolls, to

his three waiting-men; and after one of them had said,--“Wage u[=n]

rosz sint bereit als ...;” “Carriage and horses are ready as....” he

says,--“Wo schien gluck zu diser vart nie kein reise;” “If luck has

shone on this journey, I never liked travelling better.” Of the three

servants, one holds three horses, while the upper groom is presenting,

with both hands, to his royal young master a large something,

apparently ornamented with flowers; the churl wears, hanging down

from his girdle in front, an anelace or dagger, the gentleman a gay

_gipcière_, but the shoes of both are very long and pointed.

In the fourth compartment the same crowned youth again is seen

riding towards the castle-gate, though this time no lady fair stands

at its threshold for the greeting; but instead, there stands with

the old king a noble youth who, to all appearances, seems to have

been beforehand, in the business of wooing and winning the young

princess’s heart, with the last comer. There are these words upon

the scroll,--“Ich hab vor einem ... gericht einer tuben und mich

yr verpflicht;” “I have before a ... tribunal of a dove, and have

myself engaged to her;” meaning that already had he himself betrothed

the king’s daughter, by swearing to her his love and truth before a

dove--a thing quite mediæval, like the vows of the swan, the peacock,

and the pheasant, as we have noticed in the Introduction, and again

while treating of the Syon Cope, at p. 28. On his side, the old king

thus addresses him,--“Mich dunckt du komst uber land ... zu der

hochzeit;” “Methinks thou comest over-land ... to see the wedding.” In

this, as in other inscriptions, the whole of the words cannot be made

out.

The fifth compartment shows us the second and successful wooer,

dressed out in the same attire as before, but now riding a

well-appointed steed, and booted in the manner of those times. He

is waited on by a mounted page. On a scroll are the words,--“Umb

sehnlichst ich nun köme ... ist die ewige ...;” “That I most

passionately now can ... is the eternal,” &c.

In the last compartment the rejected wooer is seen riding away as he

came--without a bride--followed by two grooms.

Though rough in its execution, this piece of tapestry is valuable

not only for its specimens of costume, like our own at the period,

but especially for its inscriptions, which betray the provincialisms

belonging to the south of Germany; and some of their expressions are

said to be even yet in daily use about the neighbourhood of Nuremberg,

to which locality we are warranted, for several reasons, in ascribing

the production of this early example of the German loom.

1480.

Tapestry Hanging; within a narrow border of a dark green ground,

ornamented with flowers mostly pink, and fruit-bearing branches of

the vine, is figured a subject just outside the gates of a large

walled city, and upon the flowery turf. Flemish, beginning of the 16th

century, 13 feet by 11 feet 6 inches.

To all appearance the subject is taken from the Gospel of St. John,

chap. 9, where the miracle is related of our Lord giving sight to the

man born blind, who has just come back from washing in the pool of

Siloam, and is answering his neighbours who had hitherto known him as

the blind beggar. In front stands an important personage in a tunic of

cloth of gold shot light blue, over which he wears a shorter one of

fine crimson diapered in gold, having a broad jewelled hem; of a rich

gold stuff is his lofty turban. In his left hand he holds a long wand,

ending in an arrow-shaped head. At the feet of this high functionary

kneels the poor man blessed with sight, while he is taking from him

a something like a square glass bottle, and holds his coarse hat in

his hand. Near but above him stands a lady wearing a most curious

head-dress, which is blue, with two red wings bristling at its sides.

The rest of her array is exactly like, in shape and stuffs, to the

magnificent apparel of the first portly male figure, so as to lead us

to believe that she must be his wife, himself being one of the Jewish

chief priests. Talking with her is another Jew splendidly dressed,

and bearing a wand in one hand; and behind her we see a man wearing

earrings, and a woman belonging to the lower class--probably the cured

man’s father and mother. Not far away from the priest, and at his

back, are soldiers with lances, and one with a halbert, before whom

stands a well-dressed, mantled and hooded Pharisee, with a rolled-up

volume in his hand, and looking with a somewhat haughty scowl upon

the man kneeling on the ground. Above the walls are seen the domes of

several large buildings, of which one looks as if it were the temple

of Jerusalem; and all about the battlements are people gazing down

upon the scene beneath them.

So Flemish is the Gothic style of architecture on the gates, around

which are mock inscriptions, and on the walls of the city, that we

find at once that the tapestry must have been designed and wrought in

Flanders. Though the shapes of the dresses be for the most part quite

imaginary, still the diapering on the gorgeous cloths of gold is after

the style then in vogue and well rendered.

1481.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; subject, Neptune stilling the wind-storm raised

at Juno’s request by Æolus against the Trojan fleet on the Sicilian

coast. Flemish, 17th century.

Evidently the designer of this tapestry meant to illustrate Virgil

at the beginning of his first book of the Æneid. To the left hand is

seen Boreas with a lance, which he is aiming against Neptune, in one

hand, while in the other he holds by a cord a rough wooden yoke, to

which are tied two boys floating in the water, and each with a pair of

bellows, which he is blowing. Drawn by two steeds comes Neptune with

uplifted trident, to still the winds raised by the two boys; and over

his head are Eurus and the western wind in the shape of females flying

in the air, one snapping the tall mast of one of Æneas’s ships, and

the other pouring out broad streams of water from four vases, one in

each hand. The bellows are very like those elaborately-carved ones in

the Museum, out of Soulages collection.

1483.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; subject, Æneas and Achates before Dido, at

Carthage. Flemish, 17th century.

The passage, in Virgil’s first book of the Æneid, descriptive of

Æneas, with the faithful Achates at his side, relating his adventures

to Dido, the Carthaginian queen, is here illustrated. The youthful

princess, enthroned beneath a cloth of estate, is listening to the

Trojan prince before her, and around are her ladies in gay costume,

her own being of light blue silk damasked with a large golden flower.

As a background we see the port filled with Æneas’s ships, to which

countrymen are driving sheep and oxen for their crews. The women are

quite of the Flemish type of fat beauty, and the odd head-dress for a

man on Achates is remarkable.

1582.

Tapestry Hanging; subject, the departure of Æneas from Carthage.

Flemish, 17th century.

In the foreground is Æneas taking leave of Dido, who is fainting into

the arms of her waiting ladies. Behind, is a youth working as a mason

and building a wall: further back, are seen horses richly caparisoned,

upon one of which rides Dido, while Mercury comes flying down bidding

Æneas to haste him away.

1683.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; subject, Venus appearing to Æneas in a wood.

The second book of the Æneid has furnished the designer with the

materials for this piece. Just as Æneas had uplifted his hand to slay

Helen, Venus appears, stays his arms, and reasons with him. So says

Virgil; but here we merely see Mercury coming down from the clouds,

and Venus revealing herself to her son. The admirers of the beautiful

in form and face will not find much to please them in the lady’s

person. This piece closes the history of Æneas as given in these

tapestries, which came from the palace, or, as it used to be called,

the King’s House at Newmarket. All through, Dido is made to appear

in the same kind of costume; but the dresses in general are purely

imagined by the artist, without the slightest authority from the

monuments of either Greek or Roman antiquity: and the architectural

parts are quite in the debased classic style of the 17th century,

as followed in Flanders. All these tapestries are framed in a red

border, wrought at the sides with scrolls and shields, and below, with

winged boys holding labels once showing inscriptions (now faded) all

shot with gold, but tarnished black. Many of the female figures are

slip-shod, like St. Mary Magdalen in Rubens’s “Taking down from the

Cross,” at Antwerp.

6733.

Tapestry Hanging; subject, the story of Arria and Paetus, copied from

a painting by Francois André Vincent, and dated 1785. The border was

added afterwards. French, done at the Gobelins. 12 feet by 10 feet 6

inches. Presented by His Imperial Highness Prince Napoleon.

The subject is a startling one; being condemned to die, by the Emperor

Claudius, and put an end to his life with his own hand, Paetus

hesitated. Seeing this, his wife Arria snatched up the weapon and

plunged it to the hilt in her own bosom, and then handing the dagger

to her husband, said, “It does not pain me, Paetus.”

At top, on a blue ground, is a large N in yellow, indicative of the

first Napoleon, who, in the year 1807 presented this fine specimen of

the far-famed Gobelin tapestry to his brother Jerome, at the time King

of Westphalia, as a marriage gift. By the late Prince Jerome it was

sent, through his son, the present Prince Napoleon, for presentation

to this Museum.

2442.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; design, groups of richly-dressed ladies and

gentlemen around a queen. Flemish, early 16th century.

Apparently the crowded scene before us is meant to illustrate some

symbolic subject. In the midst of them all stands a queen, whose hands

are clasped. Before her kneels a man who respectfully bares his head

the while he outstretches to the princess a written paper. Behind

stands a magnificent chair. Further back is a nicely-shown interior

of a room having its cupboard loaded with vases standing on the

shelves; there sit three ladies in earnest talk. All about are groups

of richly-clothed men and women, each of whose dresses is worthy of

notice.

2443.

Tapestry; subject, a landscape, the foreground strewed with human and

animals’ bones, and a living figure sitting among rocks. French, early

17th century.

This is one of a short series of tapestries setting forth, but

sometimes laughing at, the ideas of the ancient cynics. Before us

here we have a wild dell clothed in trees on one side, on the other

piled with rocks capped, in some places, by ruins. Seated on a stone,

with a book held in his hand, is Diogenes in meditation, with human

bones, animal skulls, and monster things about him. The work is well

done, and shows how perfect was the loom that wrought it. On a blue

tablet at top runs this inscription,--“Diogenes derisor omnium in fine

defigitur.”

2807.

Tapestry; subject, the visit of Alexander the Great to Diogenes in his

tub. French, early 17th century.

The scene is well laid out, peopled with many figures, and its story

neatly told. Above, in the usual place, is this inscription,--“Sensit

Alexander testã quum vidit in illã magnum habitatorem, quanto felicior

hic, qui nil cuperet (_quàm_) qui totum sibi posceret orbem.”

3818.

Tapestry; subject, a beautifully-wooded scene with a stream running

down the middle of it, and across which two men, one on each side, are

talking. French, early 17th century.

On one side stands Dionysius; on the other, and holding a bunch of

vegetables, which he is about to wash in the brook, is Diogenes,

who was not remarkable for his personal cleanliness. Dionysius, it

would seem, has been twitting him upon that subject, and gets for

answer that his very presence taints with dirt Diogenes himself, and

the waters in which he is about to wash his pot-herbs: “Sordet mihi

Dionysius lavanti olera,” as the Latin inscription reads above.

4331.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; design, a wooded scene in the background; in the

foreground, Diogenes and a man. French, early 17th century.

Before a large tub, lying on its side, is stretched out Diogenes,

pointing his finger to his curious dwelling, with his head looking

towards a wayfarer, to whom he seems to say those words traced on the

blue label at the top,--“Qui domum ambit hanc (anne?) me sepeliat.”

This appears to have been drawn from his lips by the man going by, who

is pointing towards the gaping mouth of the tub.

4650.

Tapestry; subject, a gate-way built of rough stone, over which a female

is tracing an inscription, of which are written in large capital

letters these words:--

“Nihil hic ingrediatur mali.”

Besides this, we find these sentences also:--

“Diogenes Cynicus subscribit;” and, “Spado sceleratus scripsit.”

In these five pieces of tapestry, which were evidently employed for

hanging the walls in some especial hall, we cannot but admire the

ease and freedom of their whole design, and be struck especially by

the beauty of their wild, yet charming landscapes, which are so well

brought out by the weaver-artist who wrought them.

7926.

Tapestry; subject, the holy family, after Raphael. Presented by His

Imperial Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III.

No words are necessary to call the observer’s attention to this

admirable specimen of the French loom. Of the many fine pieces sent

forth by the manufactory of the Gobelins, this may easily take a place

among the very finest; and, at first sight, many people might be led

to think that it was the work of the pencil, and not of machinery.

About it there is a warmth and depth of mellow colouring which has

partly fled from the original, through time and, may be, want of care.

Those who have seen the pictures at the Louvre must well remember the

grand and precious original of which this is such a successful copy.

189.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; design, our Lord giving the power of the keys to

St. Peter, after Raphael’s cartoon. English (probably from Soho), 17th

century. 17 feet 1 inch by 12 feet.

The point of time chosen by the great Roman painter is that indicated

by St. Matthew, xvi. 18, 19; for St. Peter holds the keys promised him

by his divine Master, at whose feet he alone, of all the apostles, is

kneeling. Behind our Lord is a large flock of sheep, as explanatory of

the pastoral power bestowed, after His uprising from the grave, by our

Saviour upon St. Peter more especially, to feed the sheep as well as

lambs in His flock, as we read in St. John, xxi. 16, 17: both subjects

are naturally connected.

By the many engravings, but, more particularly, the fine photographs

of the original cartoon, once at Hampton Court, now in this Museum,

this subject is well known. In this especial piece, the colouring,

being so badly graduated and garish, is by no means as good as in the

earlier one, still to be seen in the Gallery of the Tapestries at the

Vatican. Here, the tone of our Lord’s drapery is not distinguishable

from the stony hue of the wool upon the sheep behind Him.

8225.

Panel of Tapestry; ground, light blue; design, bunches of flowers upon

a white panel. 2 feet 11½ inches by 2 feet 3½ inches. Aubusson,

present century. Presented by Messrs. Requillart, Roussel, and

Chocqueel.

After Paris with the Gobelins, and the city of Beauvais, there is no

town in France which produces such fine tapestries as Aubusson, the

carpets of which are much admired.

7927 to 7930.

Four Pieces of Tapestry; ground, light blue; design, flowers. French,

present century. Presented by His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Napoleon

III.

Beauvais, which produced these beautiful specimens, has long been

famous for the works of the loom; and the present lovely figures of

such well-drawn, nicely-coloured flowers are worthy of that city’s

reputation.

594.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; subject, Esther about to venture into the

presence of Ahasuerus. From the Soulages Collection. Flemish, first

half of the 16th century. Height 13 feet, breadth 11 feet 6 inches.

The history, as here shown us, of a most eventful achievement, is at

top distributed into four groups, each made up of figures rather small

in stature; and at bottom, into other five clusters, in which all the

personages assume a proportion little short of life-size.

Beginning with those higher compartments on the piece, we find in

the two at the left-hand side the commencement of this Scriptural

record. The mighty Ahasuerus is presented to us in the second of

those two groups there, as seated amid trees, and robed as would

have been a sovereign prince during the first half of the sixteenth

century. All about his head and neck the Persian king wears, wrapped

in loose folds, a linen cloth, over which he has a large scarlet hat

with an ornament for a crown, made up of small silver shield-shaped

plates, marked with wedge-like stripes of a light blue colour, or

heraldically, _argent_, five piles _azure_ meeting at the base; over

his shoulders falls an unspotted ermine cape jagged all about its edge

so as to look as if meant for a nebulée border. Upon the left breast

of this sort of mantle is sewed a little crimson shield-shaped badge

marked in white seemingly with the letter A, not having, however,

the stroke through it, but above, the sign of contraction dashed. He

wears a blue tabard, is girt with a sword, and holds in his left hand

a tall wand, that golden sceptre which, if not outstretched in token

of clemency towards the man or woman who had the hardihood to come

unbidden to his presence, signified that such a bold intruder, were

she the queen herself, must be put to death. Having nobles and guards

about him, this monarch of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces is

handing to Haman, one of those three princes before him, a written

document from which hang two royal seals: this is that terrible

decree, which, out of spite towards Mordecai, and hatred for the

Jewish race, Haman had won from his partial master Ahasuerus, for the

slaughter, on a certain day, of every Hebrew within the Persian empire.

Yet further to the left is another group, wherein we observe some of

the richly-attired functionaries of the empire. A bareheaded old man,

a royal messenger, who holds up his left hand as if to indicate he

had come from the court of Ahasuerus, delivers to one of the nobles

there this original decree to be copied out and sent in all directions

through the kingdom.

Looking still at top, but to the far right, we have in the background,

amid the trees, a large house, from out of the midst of which stands

up a tall red beam, the gibbet, fifty cubits high, got ready by Haman

at his wife’s and friends’ suggestion for hanging on it Mordecai.

In this foreground we behold Haman clad in a blue mantle and a rich

golden chain about his neck: to the man standing respectfully before

him, cap in hand, Haman gives the written order duly authenticated

by the two imperial seals upon it, for the execution of Mordecai.

Immediately to the left of this scene we are presented with the inside

view of a fine chamber hung with tapestry, and ornamented with tall

vases, two of which are on a shelf close by a lattice-window. In the

middle of this room is a group of three women: one of them, Esther,

richly clad, is seated and wringing her hands in great grief, as if

she had learned the fell death awaiting her uncle, and the slaughter

already decreed of all her nation: two of her gentlewomen are with

her, wailing, like their queen-mistress, the coming catastrophe.

Right in the centre of the piece, and occupying its most conspicuous

position, we behold the tall stately figure of a beautiful young

queen, splendidly arrayed, and wearing over the rich caul upon

her head a royal diadem. She seems to have just arisen from the

magnificent throne or rather faldstool close behind her. With both her

hands clasped in supplication, she is followed in her upward course by

her train of attendants--two ladies and a nobleman--all gaily dressed,

threading their way through as they ascend from the hall below crowded

with courtiers, men and women gossiping together in little knots,

and set off in fashionable dress. While bending her steps, Esther

looks towards the spot where Ahasuerus is sitting. At this moment

an oldish man steps forward, clad after a beseeming fashion: in one

hand he holds his red cap, while with the other hand he is stretching

out, for Esther’s acceptance, his inscribed roll. This person must be

Mordecai, thus shown as instructing and encouraging his niece-queen

Esther in the hazardous work of saving her people’s lives, at the same

time that he furnishes her with a copy of the decree for their utter

annihilation.

This inner court of the King’s house where Esther is now standing over

against the hall in which Ahasuerus sits upon his throne is crowded

with courtiers, all remarkable for the elegance and costliness of

their dress. In a circle of three great personages to the right, one

of those high-born dames has brought with her her guitar, made in the

form of the calabash, to help on by her music the expected mirth and

revelry of the day.

In those several instances in which the royal decree is figured with

the imperial seals hanging from it, the impression stamped upon the

wax seems, no doubt, to be taken as the cipher of Ahasuerus, a large

A, but without the stroke through it.

One remarkable feature among the ornaments of dress assumed by

almost all the great personages in this piece of tapestry is the

large-linked, heavy golden chain about the neck, worn as much by

ladies as by gentlemen. The caps of the men are mostly square.

The elaborately-adorned, closely-fitting, round-shaped caul worn by

the women in this court of Ahasuerus is in strict accordance with the

female fashion abroad at the beginning of the sixteenth century; while

here, in England, the gable-headed coif found more favour than the

round with our countrywomen. Then, however, as now, ladies loved long

trains to their gowns; and the men’s shoes had that peculiar broad toe

so conspicuously marked in Hans Holbein’s cartoon for a picture of our

Henry VIII. belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, and exhibited among

the National Portraits on loan to the South Kensington Museum, A.D.

1866.

8979.

Tapestry Hanging; subject, the three Fates with a young lady lying dead

at their feet. Flemish, early 16th century.

With a grove of blooming trees behind them, and upon a lawn,

everywhere sprinkled with many kinds of flowers, stand the Fates.

Each of the weird sisters may be individually known by her proper

name written in white letters near her head. Beginning from the right

side of the piece, we have the spinster Clotho, who is figured as a

youthful maiden; amid the boughs of a tree just above her is seen a

long-billed bird of the snipe-kind; she is gaily dressed in a yellow

kirtle, elaborately diapered after a flowery pattern done in green,

over which she wears a gown of deep crimson velvet, while from her

girdled waist falls a large golden chain ending in a gold pomander. In

her left hand she holds a distaff, keeping at the same time between

her fingers the thread which she has but just done spinning. Next to

Clotho stands Lachesis, almost as young in look; she is not quite so

sprightly but yet as elegantly clad as her sister with the distaff;

billing and cooing above this feigned manager of individual destiny

we behold a pair of turtle-doves; this second of the Fates is clad in

robes of a light pink tone nicely and artistically diapered, and with

her left hand she takes from Clotho the thread just spun and with her

right passes it on to Atropos. This the last, and the most dreaded

of the fatal three, looks older than the other two, and is arrayed

more matronly. Clothed in deep blue, Atropos wears a large full white

kerchief, which, as its name implies, not only covers her head, but

falls well down from her shoulders half-way to her broad girdle, upon

which is slung a string of beads for prayer--a rosary. Atropos, whose

imaginary office was to cut with knife, or scissors, or a pair of

shears, the thread of life, uses no such an instrument here; for with

her hands she has broken the life-cord, and the spindle, around which

it had been wound, lies thrown upon the flowery turf close by the

head of the victim of the Fates. At the feet of these three sisters

lies, stretched out in all her fullest length, a youthful lady dead.

She wears a kerchief on her head, and over her richly-diapered pink

gown she has a light crimson mantle thickly powdered with small golden

crescents. Her bed seems made of early summer flowers; and alongside

of her, and as if just fallen from her outstretched right hand, lies

the tall stalk, snapped short off near the lower end, of a blooming

white lily. At one side, but lower down, is the half-figure of a

monkey; some way to the right, but on the same level, sits in quiet

security a large brown hare; while between these two animals, from out

a hole in the ground, as if they snuffed their future prey in the dead

body, are creeping a weasel and a stoat, just after a large toad that

has crawled out before them.

This piece of tapestry, valuable alike for its artistic excellence

and its good preservation, has a more than common interest about it.

In all likelihood it gives us the history, nay, perhaps affords

us the very portraiture of some high-born, beautiful young lady,

well known and admired in her day. A little something at least

may be gathered from its symbolism. By the heathen mythological

distribution of functions among the poetic Parcæ, or Fates, to the

second of these three sisters, to Lachesis, was it given to decide

the especial destiny of each mortal the hour that she or he was born.

Now in the instance before us a pair of turtle-doves, love’s emblem,

is conspicuously shown above the head of Lachesis. As this young

lady’s life-thread slipped through her fingers Lachesis has touched

it, quickened it so that the child for whom it is being spun shall

have a heart all maidenly, but soft to the impressions of the gentle

passion--love. She has been wooed and made a bride, for she has on

the married woman’s kerchief. That lily-stem with its opening buds

and full-blown flowers at top is the emblem of a spotless whiteness,

an unstained innocence; the stalk is broken, but the flowers on it

are unwithered. What fitter tokens of a bride’s unlooked-for death,

the very morning of her marriage? But that monkey-emblem of mischief,

evil, moral ugliness, and in particular of lubricity--perhaps may mean

us to understand the worthlessness of wanton, profligate men. As the

harmless unsuspecting hare is easily snared and taken in a toil, so

she might have been caught, but may have been spared, by early death,

a life of misery. Those loathsome things coming from out the ground

warn men that all of us must one day or another become the prey of the

grave, and that youth, and innocence, and beauty will be its food.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE BROOKE COLLECTION.

542. ’64.

Christening Ribbon, white silk with silver gimp edge. English, 18th

century. Length 6 feet 9 inches, width 2¼ inches. Presented by the

Rev. R. Brooke.

858, 858B. ’64.

Court suit, coat and knee-breeches, of cherry-coloured Genoa velvet,

white satin lining, waistcoat white satin embroidered in coloured

silks and silver. English, dated 1772. Length of coat 3 feet 2½

inches, length of breeches 2 feet, length of waistcoat 2 feet 5 inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

859, 859B. ’64.

Dress suit, coat, waistcoat, and knee-breeches, of pink silk brocade

with a diapered flower pattern. English, date about 1770. Length of

coat 3 feet 2½ inches, length of waistcoat 2 feet 6 inches, length

of breeches 2 feet 4 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

860. ’64.

Apron, white silk, with raised floral embroidery. English, date about

1720. Length 2 feet 0½ inch, width 2 feet 9½ inches. Presented by

the Rev. R. Brooke.

861. ’64.

Apron, yellow silk, with raised floral embroidery, in colours, bordered

with silk lace. English, date about 1720. Length 2 feet 1 inch, width 2

feet 10 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

862. ’64.

Apron, white silk, with coloured floral embroidery and silver cord.

English, date about 1720. Length 1 foot 7½ inches, width 3 feet.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

863. ’64.

Apron, white silk, with purple floral embroidery and gold cord.

English, date about 1720. Length 1 foot 9 inches, width 3 feet 2

inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

864. ’64.

Portion of Embroidery, flowers in coloured silks (chiefly orange)

on linen ground covered with stitched scroll pattern. English, 18th

century. Length 1 foot 10½ inches, width 1 foot 6 inches. Presented

by the Rev. R. Brooke.

865. ’64.

Portion of Embroidery, flowers in coloured silks (chiefly orange)

on linen ground covered with stitched scroll pattern. English, 18th

century. Length 1 foot 1½ inches, width 1 foot 6 inches. Presented

by the Rev. R. Brooke.

866. ’64.

Portion of Embroidery, flowers in coloured silks (chiefly orange)

on linen ground covered with stitched scroll pattern. English, 18th

century. Length 2 feet 2¼ inches, width 2 feet. Presented by the

Rev. R. Brooke.

867. ’64.

Piece of Brocade, crimson satin with cut velvet floral pattern;

bordered with silver gimp and spangles. French, date about 1770. Length

3 feet 5½ inches, width 3 feet 2 inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

868. ’64.

Piece of Brocade, crimson satin with cut velvet floral pattern;

bordered with silver gimp and spangles. French, date about 1770. Length

6 feet, width 3 feet 2 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

869. ’64.

Mantilla, yellow silk and black lace. English, date about 1770. Length,

as worn, 5 feet, width of skirt 3 feet. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

870. ’64.

Boddice, yellow silk. English, date about 1770. Height 12½ inches,

width 2 feet 4½ inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

871. ’64.

Table-cover, pink silk edged with silver gimp. English, 18th century.

Length 3 feet 5 inches, width 3 feet. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

872. ’64.

Piece of Silk, pink ribbed, lined with pink sarsnet. English, 18th

century. Length 3 feet 4 inches, width 4 feet. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

873. ’64.

Silk Fringe, green and yellow. English, date about 1740. Length 8 feet

1 inch, depth 3½ inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

874. ’64.

Counterpane, white linen embroidered with running pattern; in centre

a scroll ornament with cipher and scroll border, all in yellow silk.

English, 17th century. Length 7 feet 8 inches, width 6 feet 11 inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

875. ’64.

Cushion-cover, white linen embroidered with running pattern and scroll

ornament, yellow silk; cipher in centre. English, 17th century. Length

2 feet 1 inch, width 1 foot 5½ inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

876. ’64.

Cushion-cover, white linen embroidered with running pattern and scroll

ornament, yellow silk; cipher in centre. English, 17th century. Length

1 foot 8½ inches, width 1 foot 3½ inches. Presented by the Rev.

R. Brooke.

877. ’64.

Cushion-cover, white linen embroidered with running pattern and scroll

ornament, yellow silk; cipher in centre. English, 17th century. Length

1 foot 5½ inches, width 1 foot 2 inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

878. ’64.

Piece of Brocade, white silk and gold in narrow stripes. French (?),

18th century. Length 10 feet 4 inches, width 2 feet 2 inches. Presented

by the Rev. R. Brooke.

879. ’64.

Table-cover, crimson Genoa velvet with broad border of silver gimp,

Indian (Delhi) work. Length 5 feet 2 inches, width 5 feet 2 inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

880. ’64.

Saddle-cloth, dark blue Genoa velvet, ornamented with broad bands of

flowered gold lace; trappings for the horse of H. Osbaldeston, Esq.,

High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 4 feet 5 inches, width 1

foot 8½ inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

881, 881A. ’64.

Pair of Holsters for Pistols, dark blue Genoa velvet, ornamented

with broad bands of flowered gold lace; trappings for the horse of

H. Osbaldeston, Esq., High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length

1 foot 9 inches, width 1 foot 6½ inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

882. ’64.

Saddle-cloth, scarlet cloth with border of gold lace, used by the

attendants of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 3 feet

8 inches, width 1 foot 6 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

883. ’64.

Saddle-cloth, scarlet cloth with border of gold lace, used by the

attendants of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 3 feet

10½ inches, width 1 foot 6¾ inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

884. ’64.

Saddle-cloth, scarlet cloth, with border of gold lace, used by the

attendants of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 3 feet

10 inches, width 1 foot 6¾ inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

885. ’64.

Pair of Pistol Holsters, scarlet cloth bordered with gold lace, used by

the attendants of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 12

inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

886, 886A. ’64.

Pair of Pistol Holsters, scarlet cloth bordered with gold lace, used by

the attendants of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 12

inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

887, 887A. ’64.

Pair of Pistol Holsters, scarlet cloth bordered with gold lace, used by

the attendants of the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, A.D. 1772-3. Length 12

inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

888. ’64.

Dress Silk Brocade, white ground with pattern of flowers in various

colours. French(?), early 18th century. Length 4 feet 7 inches, width 8

feet 4 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

889. ’64.

Lady’s Shoe, pink prunella, with high heel. English, date about 1765.

Length 9⅛ inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

890 ’64.

Grenadier’s Cap, scarlet and white cloth and crimson velvet, with

silver and gold embroidery, and gold spangles. English, date about

1770. Height 14 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

891. ’64.

Lady’s Workbag, made from the bark of a tree, bordered with green and

white. English(?), 18th century. Length 2 feet, width 1 foot 1 inch.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

892. ’64.

Piece of Silk Embroidery in frame, white satin ground, on which are

worked in high relief King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, various animals,

fruits, and other objects, in coloured silk and gold cord. English,

early 18th century. Height 1 foot 1 inch, width 1 foot 7 inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

893. ’64.

Waistcoat, white ribbed silk embroidered with flowers in various

colours, silver cord, and spangles. English, date about 1770. Length 2

feet 3 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

894. ’64.

Waistcoat, crimson satin, with floral brocade border in various

colours. English, date about 1770. Length 2 feet 7 inches. Presented by

the Rev. R. Brooke.

895. ’64.

Waistcoat, blue and white striped silk brocade with flower spot

pattern. English, date about 1770. Length 2 feet 2½ inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

896. ’64.

Skirt of a Lady’s Dress, white silk printed with flowers in various

colours. French(?), 18th century. Height 3 feet 6 inches, width 9 feet

8 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

897. ’64.

Piece of Silk, white silk printed with flowers in various colours.

French(?), 18th century. Height 3 feet, width 2 feet. Presented by the

Rev. R. Brooke.

898. ’64.

Kerchief, yellow silk gauze with floral pattern, border of pink and

yellow silk lace. French(?), 18th century. Length 4 feet 3 inches,

width 3 feet. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

899. ’64.

Trimming of a Dress, chocolate silk gauze, embroidered with flowers in

various colours. English, 18th century. Length 5 feet, width 12 inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

900. ’64.

Christening Suit, viz. cap, bib, mittens, and dress (in two pieces),

old point lace. Flemish(?), 18th century; worn in 1773. Length of dress

1 foot 11 inches, width 1 foot 3½ inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

919. ’64.

Reticule, silk embroidery of various colours, with yellow satin neck.

English, 18th century. Length 9 inches, width 6 inches. Presented by

the Rev. R. Brooke.

932. ’64.

Sword-Belt, black silk web; part of a Volunteer uniform. English, early

present century. Length 3 feet 5 inches. Presented by the Rev. R.

Brooke.

933. ’64.

Sword-belt, pale blue silk web, with steel clasps; part of a Volunteer

uniform. English, early 18th century. Length 3 feet 8 inches. Presented

by the Rev. R. Brooke.

934. ’64.

Sword-belt, black leather, gilt metal mounts; part of a Volunteer

uniform. English, 18th century. Length 2 feet 11 inches. Presented by

the Rev. R. Brooke.

935. ’64.

Badge for a Cap Front, crown, cipher, and motto in steel on scarlet

cloth; part of a Volunteer uniform. English, 18th century. Height 4-⅞

inches, width 5 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

966. ’64.

Bag, or Purse, links of silver filagree. Modern Genoese. Length 5¼

inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

978. ’64.

Screen, white silk gauze painted with flowers and birds with a vase in

centre. Modern Chinese. Length 12 feet 8 inches, height 2 feet 6½

inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

979. ’64.

Screen, white silk gauze, painted with flower-sprigs, insects, and a

basket hanging from a tree. Modern Chinese. Length 12 feet 10 inches,

width 2 feet 5 inches. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

980. ’64.

Screen, white silk gauze, painted with flowers and birds. Modern

Chinese. Height 3 feet 6½ inches, width 4 feet 8¼ inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

981. ’64.

Piece of Embroidery, white satin ground with pattern of leaves and

flowers highly relieved in coloured silks and gold cord. English, 18th

century. Length 1 foot 10 inches, width 1 foot 1½ inches. Presented

by the Rev. R. Brooke.

982, 982D. ’64.

Five Funeral Banners, silk, emblazoned with armorial shields. English,

18th century. Length 1 foot 9-⅓ inches, width 1 foot 4-⅝ inches.

Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

983. ’64.

Funeral Banner, calico, emblazoned with armorial shields. English, 18th

century. Length 1 foot 2 inches, width 1 foot 4 inches. Presented by

the Rev. R. Brooke.

983A. ’64.

Funeral Banner, calico. English, 18th century. Length 1 foot 2 inches,

width 1 foot 1 inch. Presented by the Rev. R. Brooke.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

LENT BY HER MAJESTY AND THE BOARD OF WORKS.

Tapestry; ground crimson, diapered with foliage; design, within a broad

arch, a white panel, figured with Diana, and about her flowers, birds,

and animals, dead and alive. At the right corner, on the lower hem, is

inscribed, “Neilson, ex. 1786.” French, from the Gobelin factory.

Diana holds by a long blue ribbon a greyhound; below, are other two

hounds and two little naked boys, of whom one is about to dart an

arrow; the other, to shoot one from a bow at Diana herself, who, with

her shadow cast upon a cloud, is holding her favourite dog by its

blue string: at her feet lie her own bow and arrows. This piece is

graciously lent by Her Majesty, and is a favourable specimen of the

Gobelins royal manufactory, over which the Neilsons, father and son,

presided, from A.D. 1749 till 1788. Most likely this piece was wrought

by the elder Neilson, who, as well as his son, worked with the “basse

lisse,” or low horizontal frame, as distinguished from the “haute

lisse,” or high vertical one.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; design, a landscape with the figure of a man.

French, 17th century.

The landscape is somewhat wild, but nicely rendered. In the

foreground, sitting on a stone, we have a youth with both his hands

upon a classic-shaped vase, standing between his feet. In the

background are seen a few goats; and further on still, a building

with pillars, very likely a well. This fancy piece is surrounded by a

border figured with ornamentation, and though it be small and made to

fit some panel in a room, is a good specimen of its time, and seems to

have come from the same hands that designed and wrought the Diogenes

pieces.

Tapestry; design, within a crimson border ornamented, in white, with

scroll-work after a classic character, a large mythologic, perhaps

Bacchanal subject. French, 17th century.

Upheld by pilasters and columns wreathed with branches of the vine,

we see a wide entablature coloured crimson and blue, figured with

tripods, vases, and other fanciful arabesque ornamentation, and amid

these, heathen gods and goddesses, centaurs, birds, and groups of

satyrs. Below, and between the pilasters and columns, a male figure is

playing the double pipe, women are carrying fruits in dishes, another

is dancing, and some high personages feasting at a table, with some

men looking on. Lowermost of all is another scene, in which we have

little naked boys, satyrs carrying grapes, and an ass laden with

them, and other satyrs pouring into vases the red wine which they

are getting from a fountain brim full of it. A border of a crimson

ground figured in places with full-faced heads, and all over with

small figures, the draperies of which are shaded in gold now quite

black, and arabesques after a classic form, goes round the whole

piece, which is fellow to another showing the labours of Hercules, in

this collection. In the tapestry before us, all the subjects are so

Bacchanalian that we must suppose that the designer meant to set forth

the ways of the god of wine. Like the drawing in the Hercules piece,

the drawing here is good; but the piece itself is in a somewhat bad

condition.

Tapestry Wall-hanging; subject, the labours of Hercules. Flemish, late

17th century. 21 feet 6 inches by 16 feet.