lxvi. In the second compartment we have a further illustration of the

foregoing text in the representation of the golden gate at Jerusalem, and Anna and Joachim greeting one another as they meet there. In the third, there is the lying-in of Anna, who from her own bed is swathing her new-born child, whom the Almighty’s right hand coming from heaven is blessing. In the fourth is Anna bringing her little girl Mary, when three years old, as an offering to God, in the temple, before the High Priest. In the fifth and last compartment of this upper row of niches, we see Anna teaching her daughter, the B. V. Mary, to read the Psalter. In the first compartment in the lower apparel, or on the second row, the angel Gabriel, winged and barefoot, is represented standing before the B. V. Mary, whom with his right he is blessing, while in his left he holds out before her a scroll on which are the words:--“Ave Maria gracia.” She outstretches her hands, and gently bending her head forwards, seems to bow assent; between them is the lily-pot, and, as it should, holds but one flower-stem, with three, and only three, full-blown lilies (“Church of our Fathers,” t. iii. p. 247); above, is the Holy Ghost, figured as a white dove, coming down upon the Virgin. To this follows St. Elizabeth’s visit to the B. V. Mary, or the Salutation, as it is often called in this country. Then we have the Nativity, after the usual manner, with the ox and ass worshipping at the crib wherein our Lord is lying in swaddling clothes; and St. Joseph is figured wearing gloves. Filling the next niche, we behold the angel coming from the skies, with a scroll in his hands inscribed,--“Gloria in excelsis Deo,” to the shepherds, one of whom is playing on a bag-pipe with one hand, as with the other he is ringing a bell, which draws the attention of his dog that sits before him with upturned head and gaping mouth. In the last compartment we have the three wise men, clothed and crowned as kings, going to Bethlehem with their gifts, but none of them is a negro. Of the two shields hung alternately between every spandril, one is,--barry of ten _argent_ and _gules_, which was the blazon of Thornell de Suffolk; and the other,--_azure_ three cinque-foils _argent_, that of the family of Fitton, according to a MS. ordinary of arms, drawn up by Robert Glover, some time Somerset herald. In the subject of the shepherds, the ground is so plentifully sprinkled with growing daisies, that it seems as if it were done on purpose to tell us that she whose hands had wrought the work was called Margaret; as the flower was in French designated “La Marguerite,” it became the symbol of that saint’s name, and not unfrequently was the chosen emblem of the females who bore it.

8226.

Gold Embroidery on purple silk over a white cotton ground, with figures of our Saviour and of the apostles St. Peter, St. Simon, and St. Philip. Sicilian work, done about the end of the 12th century. 14½ inches by 7 inches.

This piece of needlework with its figures, as well as its architectural accessories, wrought in gold thread, though rude in its execution, is not without an interest. In it the liturgical student will find the half of an apparel (for it has been unfeelingly cut in half at some remote time) for the lower hem in front of the linen garment known as the alb. Originally it must have consisted of seven figures; one of our Lord, in the middle, sitting upon a throne in majesty with the Α on the one side and the Ω on the other side of His nimbed head, and His right hand uplifted in the act of bestowing His benediction. To the left must have been three apostles; to the right are still to be seen the other three, nearest our Saviour, St. Peter, holding in his left hand a double-warded key, next to him St. Simon, with his right hand in the act of blessing, and holding in his left a saw fashioned not like ours, but as that instrument is still made in Italy, and last of all St. Philip, but without any symbol. What look like half-moons with a little dot in the inside, and having a cross between them, are nothing more than the word “Sanctus,” thus contracted with the letter S written as the Greek sigma formed like our C, a common practice in Italy during the middle ages, as may be seen in the inscriptions given by writers on Palæography.

Our Lord is seated within an elongated trefoil, and, at each corner at the outward sides, is shown one of His emblems, better known as the Evangelists’ symbols hinted at by the prophet Ezekiel, i. 10: of these, two are very discernible, the winged human bust, commonly called St. Matthew’s emblem, at top, and the nimbed and winged horned ox or calf for St. Luke. The Apostles all stand within round-headed arches, the spandrils of which are filled in with a kind of diaper ornamentation.

8227.

Piece of Crimson Silk, with pattern woven in gold thread. Sicilian, early 13th century. 10½ inches by 7 inches.

This rich sample of the looms of Palermo betrays the architectural influences, which acted upon the designers of such stuffs, by the introduction of that ramified ornamentation with its graceful bendings, that is so marked a character in the buildings of England and France at the close of the 12th and opening of the 13th century. The fleur-de-lis is rather an accidental than intentional adaptation, years before the French occupation of Sicily.

8228.

Piece of Purple Silk Embroidery in gold and silver; pattern of interlaced dragons, human figures, and birds. North German, 12th century. 8½ inches by 7¼ inches.

This small sample of needlework is as remarkable for the way in which it is wrought, as for the wild Scandinavian mythology which is figured on it.

The usual process for the application of gold and silver in textiles and embroidery is to twine the precious metal about cotton thread, and thus weave it in with the shuttle or stitch it on by the needle. Here, however, the silver, in part white in its original condition, in part gilt, is laid on in the form of a very thin but solid wire, unmixed with cotton, and the effect is very rich and brilliant.

In the middle of this piece are shown two monsters interlacing one another; within the upper coil which they make with their snake-like lengths, stands a human figure which, from its dress, looks that of a man who with each outstretched hand, seems fondling the serpent-heads of these two monsters; that at the other end terminates in the upper portion of an imaginary dragon with wings on its shoulders, its paws well armed with claws, and a wolfish head largely horned, and jaws widely yawning, as eager to swallow its prey. To our thinking, we have shown to us here the Scandinavian personification of evil in the human figure of the bad god Loki (the embroidery of whose face is worn away) and his wicked offspring, the Midgard serpent, the wolf Fenrir, and Hela or Death, who may be identified in that female figure seated within the smaller lower coil made by the twining serpents. Amid some leaf-bearing branches to the right is perceived a man as if running away affrighted; to the left we behold Thor himself, mallet in hand, about to deal a heavy blow upon the scaly length of this Midgard serpent. About the same time this embroidery was worked the bishop’s crozier began to end in the serpent’s head. A good figure of this piece is given by Dr. Bock, in his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 2 Lieferung, pt. vi.

8229.

Piece of Crimson Silk, with interlacing pattern woven in gold; the centre occupied with representations of flat-shaped fish, and, as we learn from Dr. Bock, like to an imperial robe at Vienna, made A.D. 1133. Oriental. 11 inches by 5 inches.

Though of a very tame design and rather striking for the sparing way in which the dim gold is rolled about its thread, still it is not fair to judge of what this stuff might have once been when new, fresh from the loom and unfaded. If, in the first half of the 12th century, silks so wrought with the representation of fishes were deemed worthy of being put into use for state garments of a German Emperor; a short hundred years later, they were for their symbolism thought even more fitting to be employed for making the chasubles and copes worn at divine service in the cathedral of London. From the inventory drawn up, A.D. 1295, of the altar vestments belonging to old St Paul’s, we learn that among them there were:--“Capa magistri Johannis de S. Claro, de quodam panno Tarsico, viridis coloris, cum plurimis piscibus et rosis de aurifilo, contextis.” Dugdale’s “History of St. Paul’s,” new ed. p. 318. “Item casula de panno Tarsico indici coloris cum pisculis et rosulis aureis, &c.” Ib. p. 323. In all likelihood, the fish here shown was meant for what we oddly call “John Dory,” a corruption of the Italian “Gianitore,” or gate-keeper, the name of this fish in some parts of Italy, in reference to St. Peter, who is deemed to have found the tribute-money in the mouth of this fish, hence denominated St. Peter’s fish.

8230.

Piece of so-called Bissus, of a yellowish white, with squares formed by intersecting bars of dark brown. 11¼ inches by 8½ inches.

Though so unattractive to the eye, this fragment of one of the most delicate sorts of textile manufacture is one among the most curious and interesting specimens of this valuable collection. Unfortunately, Dr. Bock does not furnish us with any clue to its history, nor tell us where he found it. The large whitish squares measure 4¼ inches by 3¾ inches, and those deep brown bars that enclose them are a quarter of an inch broad, and meant evidently to have not a straight but wavy form. Another piece of this curious textile may be seen under No. 1238.

8231.

Piece of Yellow Silk, with a diapering of an artichoke shape marked with lines like letters. Moresco-Spanish, 14th century. 6 inches by 3 inches.

The texture of this silk is rather thick; and though resembling Arabic letters, the marks in the diapering are not alphabetical characters, but attempts to imitate them.

8231A.

Piece of Dark Blue Purple Stuff, partly silk, partly cotton, double-dyed, with a diapering of small hexagons. Oriental. 5 inches by 2½ inches.

This somewhat strong texture seems to have come from Syria and to be of the 14th century.

8232.

Piece of Silk and Gold Embroidery. German, 8½ inches by 3 inches.

It is said that an imperial tunic, now kept in the Maximilian Museum at Munich, once belonged to the Emperor Henry II., and was spoken of as such in a list of the treasures of Bamberg Cathedral in the 12th century. From the border of this tunic the piece before us is reported to have been cut off.

That in the 12th century Bamberg Cathedral had the imperial (probably the coronation) tunic of its builder and great benefactor, and as such reckoned it among its precious things, was but natural; it, however, by no means follows that this is the garment now at Munich and brought from Bamberg six hundred years after its reputed owner’s death, and put into the museum in his palace by the Elector Maximilian, A.D. 1607. Keeping in mind that the Emperor Henry II. was crowned at the very beginning of the 11th century, about the year 1002, and seeing in the piece before us the style of the end of the 12th century--with thus a period of almost two hundred years between the two epochs--we cannot recognize this specimen to have ever formed a portion of the real tunic of the above-named German emperor. Besides its style, its materials forbid us to accept it as such. Its design is set forth in cording of a coarse thread roughly put together; the spaces between are filled in with shreds of red silken gold tissue, and of gold stuff sewed on to very coarse canvas. That, in this condition, it had been much used, and needed mending through long wear, is evident from other pieces of a gold and velvet texture of the 14th century being let in here and there over the frayed portions, thus showing a second example of what is called “applied.” Like Germany, England, too, has made its mistakes on such matters, for we are told that “as the kings of England are invested with the crown of St. Edward, their queens are crowned with that of St. Edgitha, which is named in honour of the Confessor’s consort.”--Taylor’s “Glory of Regality,” p. 63. In the inventory, drawn up in the year 1649, “of that part of the Regalia which are now removed from Westminster to the Tower Jewel House,” we find entered “Queen Edith’s crowne, King Alfred’s crowne,” &c.--Taylor’s “Glory of Regality,” p. 313. The likelihood is that, in the 17th century, these supposed Anglo-Saxon crowns were not 200 years old.

8233.

Piece of White Silk, with rich pattern of circles enclosing leopards and griffins, and a diaper of scrolls and birds. Oriental, 13th century. 1 foot 11 inches by 9 inches.

Like the piece immediately preceding, this too comes to us with an account that it once formed a part of the white silk imperial tunic belonging to the same holy Emperor Henry II., and was cut off from that garment now preserved in the Maximilian Museum in the royal palace at Munich. That it could have been wrought so early as the beginning of the 11th century, that is, about the year 1002, we are hindered from believing by the style of the ornamentation of this very rich stuff. As a specimen of the Arabic loom in the 13th century it is most valuable, and looks as if its designer had in his mind Persian traditions controlled by Arabic ideas while he drew its pattern. A remembrance of the celebrated Persian _Hom_, or sacred tree, which separates both the griffins, the leopards, and the birds--seemingly peacocks in one place, long-tailed parrots in another--was clearly before him. The griffins are addorsed regardant and sketched with spirit; so too are the leopards, which are collared, and like the “papyonns,” or present East Indian “cheetahs,” of which mention is made at No. 8288. Altogether this pattern, which is thrown off with so much freedom, is among the most pleasing and effective in the collection, and the thickness of its silken texture renders it remarkable.

8234.

Piece of Purple Silk, double-dyed, the pattern formed of squares filled in with a Greek cross amid conventional ornaments. Sicilian, 12th century. 7½ inches by 9 inches.

The warp is of linen thread, the woof of silk, and as the two materials have not taken the dye in the same degree, the ground is of quite another tone from the pattern, which is, in a manner, fortunate, as thus a better effect is produced.

Not for a moment can we look upon this piece as a specimen of real imperial purple wrought at Byzantium for royal use, and so highly spoken of by Anastasius Bibliothecarius, and called by him “blatthin,” with the distinguishing adjunct of “holosericus,” or made entirely of silk, and sometimes noticing it as “porphyreticum,” while enumerating the gifts of rich silks bestowed upon the churches at Rome by pontifical and imperial benefactors.

8235.

Piece of Yellow Silk, with pattern of circles enclosing griffins, the interspaces filled in with hawks. Byzantine, 11th century. 12 inches by 10½ inches.

This well woven and thickly bodied stuff shows its Byzantine origin in that style of ornamentation seen in the circles so characteristic of a Greek hand, as may be found in the Byzantine MSS. of the period. What makes this specimen somewhat remarkable, is the rare occurrence of finding the birds and animals figured in lines of silver thread. Dr. Bock tells us that the chasuble of Bishop Bernward, who died in the 11th century, is decorated with a similar design.

8236.

Piece of Silk, Tyrian purple, diapered with palmette pattern. Oriental, 11th century. 1 foot 4 inches by 8½ inches.

The hundreds of years that have passed over this remnant of the Eastern looms have stolen from it that brightness of tone which once, no doubt, shone about its surface.

8237.

Portion of Silk Border, crimson wrought in gold, with circles containing grotesque animals. Italian (?), middle of the 13th century. 1 foot 5½ inches by 3½ inches.

This well filled piece contains birds and beasts, among the latter two dogs addorsed, embroidered with circles, upon plain red silk. By the ornamentation, the embroidery must be about the middle of the 13th century, and is of that general character which hinders national identification, though there can be no doubt it must have been wrought by some hand in Western Europe.

8238.

Three Pieces of Silk, discoloured to dull olive, diapered with a closely foliated pattern. Sicilian, 13th century. Respectively 6 inches by 4 inches, 4½ inches by 4 inches, and 6 inches by 3 inches.

The design of the pattern is very elaborate and worthy of attention for the tasteful way in which it is arranged.

8238A.

Piece of Silk, with lilac pattern, enclosing grotesque animals. Sicilian, 13th century. 3¾ inches by 1¾ inches.

There is no reason for assuming that this piece of woven stuff formed the orphrey of a stole or any other liturgical ornament. It is, however, a fine specimen in its kind, and is one of the very many proofs to be found among the textiles and embroideries in the Museum, of the influence exercised by heraldry upon the looms of Western Europe. The beasts and birds are evidently heraldic, and are heraldically placed, especially the beasts, which are statant regardant.

8239.

Maniple in Crimson Silk, embroidered in colours and gold with emblematical animals. The ends contain within circles, one the lion, symbolical of Christ, the other the initial M, but of much later work. The silk, Oriental; the embroidery, German, early 14th century. 3 feet 8 inches by 7 inches.

This valuable specimen of mediæval church-embroidery is very curious, inasmuch as it contains three distinct periods of work; the middle part of the earliest portion of the 14th century, embroidered with so many fantastic figures; the lion passant with the human head, at the left end, of the beginning of the 13th; and the green letter M, poorly worked on the red garment laid bare at the right end by the loss of the circular piece of embroidery once sewed on there, no doubt in the style and of the same period of the human-faced lion, of the latter part of the 15th century.

The whole of the middle piece is of needlework, and figured with sixteen figures, four-legged beasts in the body, and human in the heads, all of which are seen, by the hair, to be female. All are statant gardant or standing and looking full in the face of the spectator. Eight of them are playing musical instruments, most of which are stringed and harp-shaped, one a clarionet-like pipe, another castanets, and two cymbals, and are human down to the waist; the other eight seem meant for queens wearing crowns, and having the hair very full, but reaching no further than the shoulders, while the minstrel females show a long braid of dark brown hair falling all down the back. The queens have wings, and are human only in head and neck; the musical figures are wingless, and human as far as the waist. All these monsters display large tails, which end in an open-mouthed head like that of a fox, and are all noued. Each of these figures stands within a square, which is studded at each corner with the curious four-pointed love-knot, and in the ornamentation of its sides the crescent is very conspicuous; besides which, upon the bodies of these figures themselves numerous ring-like spots are studiously marked, as if to show that the four-legged animal was a leopard. Grotesques like those in this curious piece of embroidery abound in the MSS. of the 14th century; and those cut in stone on the north and south walls outside Adderbury Church, Oxon, bear a strong likeness to them. These fictitious creatures, made up of a woman, a leopard--the beast of prey, a fox--the emblem of craftiness and sly cunning, wielding too the power of wealth and authority, shown in those regal heads, and bringing those siren influences of music, love, and revelry into action, lead to the belief that under such imagery there was once hidden a symbolic meaning, which still remains to be found out, and this embroidery may yield some help in such an interesting study.

All the figures are wrought on fine canvas in gold thread, and shaded with silk thread in various colours, the ground being filled in, in short stitch, with a bright-toned crimson silk that has kept its colour admirably. The narrow tape with a gold ornament upon a crimson ground, that encloses the square at each end of this liturgical appliance, is very good, and perhaps of the 13th century, as well as the many-coloured fringe of the 15th. There is no doubt this maniple, for such it is, was made out of scraps of secular adornments of various dates; and gives us remarkable examples of embroidery and weaving at various periods. One end of it is figured in Dr. Bock’s “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 2 Lieferung, part vi.

8240, 8240A.

Two Pieces of Silk Border; red purple, embroidered with monsters, birds, and scroll patterns. To No. 8240 is attached a portion of edging, embroidered in gold, with the rude figure of a saint, on a blue-purple ground. Sicilian, 13th century. 8240, 1 foot 3¼ inches by 5 inches; 8240A, 1 foot 11 inches by 2 inches.

Among the animals figured on these pieces may be discerned a wolf passant, the fabulous heraldic wyvern, an eagle displayed, and a stag. The figure, however, of the saint, done in gold now much faded, is of the 12th century.

8241.

Piece of Tapestry, the warp cotton, the woof partly wool, partly silk; in the centre, a grotesque mask, connecting scroll-patterns in blue, bordered with Tyrian purple. Sicilian, late 12th century. 1 foot 2¾ inches by 6 inches.

This is a rare as well as valuable specimen of its kind, and deserves attention, not only for the graceful twinings of its foliage, but the happy contrast of its colours.

8242.

Portion of Gold Embroidery, on red-purple silk, over a dark blue cotton ground, figure of St. Andrew within an arch. German work, 12th century. 9¾ inches by 5¼ inches.

8243.

Piece of Silk, dark Tyrian purple ground, with dark olive pattern of angular figures, and circles enclosing crosses, composed of four heart-shaped ornaments. Byzantine, beginning of the 12th century. 6 inches by 6 inches.

8243A.

Piece of Silk Border, ground alternately lilac, purple, and yellowish, with figures of animals within the spaces of the patterns; edging, green. Sicilian, 13th century. 3¼ inches by 1 inch.

Though small, this is a beautiful sample of textile excellence; on it various animals are figured, of which one is the heraldic wyvern.

8244, 8244A.

Two Pieces of Crimson, embroidered, in gold, with a scroll-pattern. Sicilian, 13th century. 8244, 6½ inches by 2½ inches; 8244A, 6¼ inches by 2½ inches.

8245.

Piece of Silk Tissue; the ground of pale purple, woven in a diaper with stripes of yellow and blue; the pattern formed of parrots perched in pairs. Sicilian, 12th century. 1 foot 6½ inches by 10 inches.

It is said that St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, when his grave was opened, was found vested in a chasuble made of a stuff much like this.

8245A.

Piece of Tissue, like the foregoing (No. 8245), with a centre stripe woven with gold thread and dark blue, and two side-stripes with figures of parrots. Sicilian, early 13th century.

Though seemingly so slight and insignificant, these two pieces will richly repay a close examination, exhibiting, as they do, great beauty of design.

8246.

Piece of Border, of silk and gold thread, pale purple ground, with pattern of animals and flower (?) ornament. Sicilian (?). 10½ inches by 1¼ inches.

From age, the design of the pattern is so very indistinct that it becomes almost a puzzle to make it out.

8247.

Three Pieces of Silk, orange-red ground, with yellow pattern, apparently composed in part of grotesque animals. Oriental, 13th century. 6 inches by 4½ inches; 3 inches by 2½ inches; 4½ inches by 2 inches.

This last piece shows signs of having been waxed, and probably is the fragment of a cere-cloth for the altar, to be placed immediately on the stone table, and under the linen cloths.

8248.

Piece of Tissue, woven of silk and linen; ground, Tyrian purple, with a Romanesque pattern in white. Moresco-Spanish, 13th century.

The design of this specimen is very effective; and, as the materials of this stuff are poor and somewhat coarse, we may perceive that, even upon things meant for ordinary use, the mediæval artisans bestowed much care in the arrangement and sketching of their patterns.

8249.

Piece of Silk; purple ground, and yellowish pattern in lozenge forms, intersected by interlaced knots. Byzantine, end of the 12th century. 6½ inches by 5 inches.

The knots in this piece are somewhat like those to be found upon Anglo-Saxon work, in stone, and in silver and other metals; and the lozenges powdered with Greek crosses, and stopped at each of the four corners of the lozenge by a three-petaled flower ornament--not, however, a fleur-de-lis,--make this piece of stuff remarkable.

8250.

Piece of Broad Border of Gold Tissue, portion of a vestment. Sicilian, 13th century. 6 inches by 5 inches.

This was once part of the orphrey of some liturgical garment, and is figured with lions rampant combatant, and foliage in which a cross flory may be discovered.

8250A.

Piece of Silk; green ground, with a stripe diapered in silver. Byzantine, end of 12th century. 4¾ inches by 2 inches.

The design of the stripe not only shows the St. Andrew’s cross, or saltire, but, in its variety of combination, displays other forms of the cross, that make this stuff one of the kind known among Greek writers as “stauracinus” and “polystauria,” and spoken of as such by Anastasius Bibliothecarius in very many parts of his valuable work.

8251.

Portion of a Maniple, linen web with an interlaced diamond-shaped diapering, in silk. 12th century. Byzantine. 1 foot 9 inches by 2¾ inches.

This curious remnant of textiles, wrought on purpose for liturgical use, shows in places another combination of lines, or rather of a digamma, so as to form a sort of cross: and stuffs so diapered were called by Greek, and after them by Latin, Christian writers, “gammadia.” It was a pattern taken up by the Sicilian and South Italian looms, whence it spread so far north as England, where it may be found marked amid the ornaments designed upon church vestments figured in many graven brasses. From us it got the new name of “filfod” through the idea of “full foot,” which by some English mediæval writers was looked upon as an heraldic charge, and is now called “cramponnée.” During the 13th century, in this country, ribbon-like textiles, for the express purpose of making stoles and maniples to be worn at the altar, were extensively wrought, and constituted one of the articles of trade in London, for a distinguished citizen of hers, John de Garlandia, or Garland, tells us:--“De textis vero fiunt cingula, et crinalia divitum mulierum et stole(ae) sacerdotum.” These “priests’ stoles,” in all likelihood, were figured with the gammadion or filfod pattern; and, perhaps, many of them which are to be found in foreign sacristies to this day came from London.

The piece before us is figured in Dr. Bock’s “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 4 Lieferung, pt. iii. fig. 3.

8252.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue, lilac-purple with fleur-de-lis diapering in gold. South Italian, end of 14th century. 5 inches by 4½ inches.

This stuff seems to have been made expressly for French royalty, perhaps some member of the house of Anjou.

8253.

Piece of Dark Blue Silk, with pattern in yellow, consisting of centre ornaments surrounded by four crowned birds like parrots. South Italian, 14th century. 9 inches by 7 inches.

8254.

Piece of Silk Net, embroidered with crosslets and triangular ornaments charged with chevrons in lilac and green. North Italian, 14th century. 7 inches by 5 inches.

This is a good specimen of a kind of cobweb weaving, or “opus araneum,” for which Lombardy, especially its capital, Milan, earned such a reputation at one time.

8255.

Piece of Silk, crimson ground, with pattern in violet and green, consisting partly of wyverns. Sicilian, end of 13th century. 10 inches by 5 inches.

Another good specimen of the Sicilian loom, and very likely one of those “cendals” for which Palermo was once so famous.

8256.

Piece of Silk, pink-buff colour, with pattern, in green, of vine-leaves and grapes. South Italian, middle of 14th century. 8 inches by 5½ inches.

The design of this silk is remarkably elegant, and exemplifies the ability of the weaver-draughtsmen of those times.

8257.

Piece of Crimson Silk, damasked with a pattern in which occur leopards and eagles pouncing upon antelopes. Sicilian, end of 13th century.

The design of this piece of what must have been such a beautiful stuff is very skilfully imagined, and the whole carried out in a spirited manner. The leopards are collared, and from the presence of, as well as mode of action in, the eagles stooping on their prey, a thought may cross the mind that some political or partisan meaning is hidden under these heraldic animals.

8258.

Piece of Silk; ground, lilac-purple; pattern, in bright yellow, composed of stags, parrots, and peacocks, amid foliage. Italian, 14th century. 10 inches by 4½ inches.

A pretty design, in cheerful colours, and a pleasing example probably of the Lucca loom towards the close of the 14th century.

8259.

Piece of Tissue, with hemp warp and silk woof; ground, dark blue; pattern, yellowish, representing a tree imparked, with eagles, and leopards having tails noued or tied in a knot. Italian, early 15th century. 1 foot 7 inches by 1 foot.

Though somewhat elaborate, the design of this piece is rather heavy.

8260.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue, lilac-purple ground, with a green pattern, showing eagles statant regardant, with wings displayed. Sicilian, 14th century. 7 inches by 4¾ inches.

The design is very good.

8260A.

Piece of Silk, lilac-purple ground with green pattern, and gold woven border, exhibiting an antelope courant regardant. Sicilian, early 14th century. 6½ inches by 3½ inches.

Good in design.

8260B, C.

Two Pieces of Silk, green ground and lilac-purple pattern, with dragons and cranes. Sicilian, early 14th century. 4½ inches by 4 inches; and 4½ inches by 2½ inches.

A pleasing design.

8261.

Portion of an Orphrey embroidered in silk and gold, with figures of two Apostles beneath crocketed canopies. German, early 14th century.

8262.

Piece of Silk, rose-coloured ground, with pattern of eagles rising from trees, both green, and wild beasts spotted (perhaps leopards) in gold, and lodged in a park, paled green. South Italian, 14th century. 2 feet by 10½ inches.

8263.

Piece of Silk, rose-coloured ground, pattern in green and gold, of two female demi-figures addorsed, gathering date-fruit with one hand, with the other patting a dog rampant and collared with bells, and other two female demi-figures holding, with one hand, a frond of the palm-tree out of which they are issuing, and with the other hand clutching the manes of lions rampant regardant and tails noued. Sicilian, 14th century. 1 foot 9 inches by 1 foot 2 inches.

This valuable and important piece displays an intricate yet well-managed and tastefully arranged pattern. One must be struck with the peculiar style of assortment of pink and green in its colours, the somewhat sameness in the subjects, and the artistic and heraldic way in which these silks (very likely wrought at Palermo) are woven. Dr. Bock has given a fine large plate of this stuff in his “Dessinateur pour Etoffes,” &c. Paris, Morel.

8264.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue; the ground black, with pattern, in gold, of a rayed star, with eagles statant and swans naiant (swimming) upon water on a foliated scroll. Sicilian, early 14th century. 1 foot 2 inches by 1 foot 1½ inches.

The design of this piece is as easy and flowing as it is bold; and the specimen affords us a very choice example of fine manufacture.

8265.

Piece of Linen and Silk Textile; the ground, dark blue; the pattern, yellow, consisting of arcades beneath which are rows of parrots and hawks alternately, both gardant, and perched upon a vine; the initial M surmounted by a crown or fleur-de-lis in gold thread is inserted in the alternate range of arches. Southern Spanish, late 14th century. 1 foot 6 inches by 10 inches.

As a specimen of the Andalusian loom, and wrought by Christian hands, perhaps at Granada, while that part of Spain was under Moorish rule, this piece has a peculiar interest about it.

8266.

Maniple, embroidered in silk, inscribed in Gothic letters with “Gratia + plena + Dom ...” German, end of 14th century. 3 feet 10 inches by 2 inches.

8267.

Piece of Tissue, of cotton warp, of silk and gold woof, with pattern of birds and stags amid foliated ornamentation. Spanish, 14th century.

8268.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue; the ground, lilac-purple; the pattern in gold, symmetrically arranged and partly composed of birds, upon which hounds are springing. Sicilian, 14th century. 2 feet 3½ inches by 11 inches.

A very effective and well-executed design.

8269.

Piece of Silk; ground, blue, diapered in yellow with mullets of eight points and eight-petaled flowers, within lozenges. Sicilian, early 15th century. 6 inches by 4¼ inches.

8269A.

Piece of Silk and Cotton Border; ground, crimson, now much faded; pattern, a diaper of the fleur-de-lis within a lozenge, both yellow; the stuff which it edged has a deep blue ground powdered with fleurs-de-lis, and eight-petaled flowers within lozenges, both yellow. South Italian, late 13th century. 4 inches by 2½ inches.

Though from its pattern we may assume that this stuff was made for the requirement of the Sicilian Anjou family or one of its adherents, the poorness of its materials forbids us from thinking it could have served for any other than common use.

8270.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue; pattern, consisting of diaper and leaves interspersed with small circles, within each of which is a conventional flower expanded. South Italian, 14th century. 11 inches by 10 inches.

8271.

Piece of Silk, with portions of the pattern in gold; ground, green, on which are parrots (?) and little dogs, amid a sprinkling of quatrefoils. Sicilian, beginning of 14th century. 10½ inches by 4 inches.

8272.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue; ground, green; the pattern in gold seems to have been divided by bars, and consists of an interlaced knot, on which rest birds. Southern Spanish, early 14th century. 8½ inches by 4¼ inches.

The knots in this piece are somewhat like our own Bouchier one; but the four ends of the English badge are not shown in this Andalusian ornament, perhaps meant to be really an heraldic charge peculiar to Spanish blazon.

8273.

Piece of Silk; ground, lilac-purple; pattern, yellow, diapered with crescents, within the horns of which are two very small wyverns addorsed. Sicilian, late 13th century. 7½ inches by 4½ inches.

The design is so indistinct that it requires time to unpuzzle it.

8274.

Portion of an Orphrey, embroidered on parchment with glass, coral, gold beads, and seed pearls, having also small bosses and ornaments in silver-gilt. The ground is dark blue, on which is figured the B. V. Mary nimbed and crowned within an oblong aureole terminated by scrolls ending in trefoils and cinquefoils. Venetian, late 12th century.

That this curious and elaborate piece of bead embroidery must have been part of an orphrey for a chasuble, and not a maniple, is evident from the pointed shape in which it ends. From its style, and the quantity of very small beads and bugles which we see upon it, it would seem to have been wrought either at Venice itself, in some of its mainland dependencies, or in Lower Styria. Then, as now, the Venetian island of Murano wrought and carried on a large trade in beads of all kinds; and the silversmith’s craft was in high repute at Venice. Finding, then, this remnant of a liturgical vestment so plentifully adorned with beads, bugles, and coral, besides being so dotted with little specks of gold, and sprinkled with so many small but nicely worked silver-gilt stars, we are warranted in taking this embroidery to have been wrought somewhere in North East Italy or South West Germany, upon the borders of the Adriatic. Those fond of ecclesiastical symbolism will look upon this old piece of needlework with no small interest, and observe that it was by intention that the ground was blue. It is figured in Dr. Bock’s “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 2 Lieferung, pt. x. s. 275.

8275.

Piece of Linen Tissue, with pattern woven in gold; the design consists of bands curving to a somewhat lozenge form and inclosing an ornament composed of intersecting circles with a three-pointed or petaled kind of conventional flower (not a fleur-de-lis) radiating from the centre. Sicilian, 14th century. 5 inches by 4½ inches.

8276.

Piece of Silk; ground, pinkish purple; pattern in dark blue, or rather green, divided by four-sided compartments and formed of conventional flowers and salamanders, the borders of a running design. Sicilian, 14th century. 10½ inches by 6 inches.

Most likely woven at Palermo, but no good sample of dyeing, as the colours have evidently changed; what is now a pinkish purple hue was of a light cheerful crimson tone, and the dark blue pattern must have originally been a warm green.

8277.

Piece of Crimson Silk and Gold Tissue; the pattern, in gold, of conventional ornaments and circles containing birds and animals; the border consists of a repetition of a wyvern, an eagle displayed, and an elephant and castle. Italian, early 14th century. 11 inches by 4 inches.

This fine costly specimen of old silken stuff cannot fail in drawing to itself a particular attention from the heedful observer, by its gracefully elaborate design, so well carried out and done in such rich materials, but more especially by the symbols figured on it.

Though now unable to read or understand the meaning of all those emblematic hints so indistinctly uttered in its curious border, made up, as it is, of a wyvern, a stork embowed and statant on an elephant and castle, and a displayed eagle, we hopefully think that, at no far-off day, the key to it all will be found; then, perhaps, the piece before us, and many other such textiles in this very collection, may turn out to be no little help to some future writer while unravelling several entanglements in mediæval history.

Not for a single moment can we admit that through these heraldic beasts and birds the slightest reference was intended to be made to the four elements; heaven or the air, earth or its productions, fire and water, were quite otherwise symbolized by artists during the middle ages, as we may see in the nielli on a super-altar described and figured in the “Church of Our Fathers,” t. i. p. 257.

8278.

A SINDON or kind of Frontal, of Crimson Silk, on a linen or canvas lining, embroidered in silk and silver thread, with a large figure of our Lord dead, two standing angels, and, at each of its four corners, a half-length figure of an evangelist; the whole enclosed in a border inscribed with Sclavonic characters. Ruthenic work, middle of 17th century. 4 feet 6½ inches by 2 feet 10 inches.

In the centre of this curious ecclesiastical embroidery (for spreading outside the chancel, at the end of Holy Week, among the Greek,) our dead Lord, with the usual inscription, IC, XC, over Him, is figured lying full length, stretched out, as it were, upon a slab of stone which a sheet overspreads. His arms are at His sides as far as the elbows, where they bend so that His hands may be folded downward cross-wise upon His stomach, from which, to His knees, His loins are wrapped in a very full-folded cloth done in silver thread, but now nearly black from age. His skin is quite white, His hair and beard of a light brown colour, and His right side, His hands and feet are marked each with a blood-red wound; and the embroidery of His person is so managed as to display, in somewhat high relief, the hollows and elevations of the body’s surface; all around and beneath His head goes a nimbus marked inside with a cross very slightly pattee, the whole nicely diapered and once bright silver, but now quite black. Two nimbed angels, beardless and, in look, quite youthful, are standing, one at His head, the other at His feet, each, like the other, vested, as is the deacon at the present day, for mass, according to the Greek and Oriental rites; they wear the “chitonion” or alb, over that the “stoicharion” or dalmatic, and from the right--though it should have been from the left--shoulder falls the “orarion” or stole, upon which the Greek word “agios,” or holy, is repeated, just as a Greek deacon is shown in “Hierurgia,” p. 345; in his right hand each holds extended over our Lord, exactly as Greek deacons now do, at the altar, after the consecration of the Holy Eucharist, a long wand, at the end of which is a large round six-petaled flower-like ornament, having within it a cherub’s six-winged face; this is the holy fan, concerning which see the “Church of our Fathers,” iv. 197; and each has his left hand so raised up under his chin as to seemingly afford a rest for it. At each of the four corners of the frontal is the bust of an evangelist with a nimb about his head; in the upper left, “Agios o Theologos,” for so the Greeks still call St. John the Evangelist: in the lower left, St. Luke; in the upper right, St. Matthew; in the lower right, St. Mark; each is bearded, and the hair, whether on the head or chin, is shown in blue and white as of an aged man. While the heads and faces of all four evangelists are red, with the features distinguished by white lines, the angels have white faces and their hair is deep red with strokes in white to indicate the curly wavings of their locks. There are two crosses, rather pattee, done in silver thread, measuring 2½ inches, one above, the other below our Lord, in the middle of the ground, which is crimson, and wrought all over with gracefully twined flower-bearing branches; and each evangelist is shut in by a quarter-circle border charmingly worked with a wreath of leaves quite characteristic of our 13th century work. All the draperies, inscriptions, and ornamentation, now looking so black, were originally wrought in silver thread that is thus tarnished by age.

Among the liturgical rarities in this extensive and precious collection of needlework, not the least is the present Russo-Greek “sindon,” or ritual winding-sheet, used in a portion of the Eastern Church service on the Great Friday and Great Saturday, as the Orientals call our Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

The colour itself--purplish crimson--of the silk ground upon which our Lord’s dead body lies, as it were, outstretched upon the winding-sheet in the grave, is not without a symbolic meaning, for amongst the Greeks, up to a late period, of such a tint were invariably the garments and the stuffs employed on every occasion any wise connected with the dead, though now, like the Latins, the Muscovites at least use black for all such functions.

All around the four borders of this sindon are wrought in golden thread, now much tarnished, sentences of Greek, but written, as the practice is among the Sclaves, in the Cyrillian character, thus named from St. Cyrill, the monk, who invented that alphabet a thousand years ago, as one of the helps for himself and his brother St. Methodius, in teaching Christianity to the many tribes of the widely-spread Sclavonian people, as we noticed in our Introduction, § 5.

Beginning at the right-hand side, from that portion of the silk being somewhat torn, the words are not quite whole, but those that can be read, say thus:--“Pray for the servant of God, Nicolaus....and his children. Amen;” here, no doubt, we have the donor’s name, and the exact time itself of this pious gift was put down, but owing to the stuff being, at this place too, worn away, the date is somewhat obliterated, but seems to be the year 1645.

All the other sentences are borrowed from the Greek ritual-book known as the Ὡρολόγιον or Horologium, in the service for the afternoon on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Along the lower border runs this “troparion,” or versicle:-- Ὁ εὐσχήμων Ἰωσὴφ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου καθελὼν τὸ ἄχραντόν σου Σῶμα, σινδόνι καθαρᾷ εἰλήσας καί ἀρώμασιν ἐν μνήματι καινῷ κηδεύσας ἀπεθέτο. “The comely Joseph (of Arimathea) having taken down from the wood (of the cross) the spotless body of Thee (O Jesus), and having wrapped it up in a clean winding-sheet together with aromatics, taking upon himself to afford it a becoming burial, laid it in a new grave.” Upon the left hand side comes this versicle:-- Ταῖς μυρόφοροις γυναιξὶ παρὰ τὸ μνῆμα ἐπιστάς, ὁ Ἄγγελος ἐβόα: Τὰ μύρα τοῖς θνητοῖς ὑπάρχει ἁρμόδια, Χριστὸς δὲ διαφθορᾶς ἐδείχθη ἀλλότριος--Τροπάρια τοῦ Τριαδίου. Τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ μεγάλῳ Σαββάτῳ. “Seeing at the grave the women who were carrying perfumes, the Angel cried out, ‘The ointments fitting (to be used in the burial) for mortal beings are lying here, but Christ, having undergone death, has shown Himself (again) after another form.’”

According to the rite followed by the Russians and Greeks, on the afternoon of Good Friday, as well as that of Holy Saturday, a sindon or liturgical winding-sheet, figured just like the one before us, is brought into the middle of the church, and placed outside the sanctuary, so that it may be easily venerated by all the people in turn. First come the clergy, making, as they slowly advance, many low and solemn bows, and bendings of the whole person. Reaching the sindon, each one kisses with great devotion the forehead of our Lord, and the place of the wounds in His side, His hands, and feet. Then follow the congregation, every one approaching in the same reverential manner, and going through the same ceremonial like the clergy; all this while are being sung, along with other versicles, the ones embroidered round this piece of needlework. But this is not all, at least in some provinces where the Greek ritual obtains. As soon as it is dark on Good Friday evening, upon a funeral bier is laid the figure of our Lord, either wrought in low relief, painted on wood or canvas, or shown in needlework like this sindon. Lifted up and borne forwards, it is surrounded by a crowd carrying lights. Then follow the priests vested in chasubles and the rest of the garments proper for mass; after them walk the lower clergy, and the lay-folks of the place come last. Then the procession goes all through and about the streets of the town, singing the cxviiith Psalm, the “Beati immaculati in via,” &c. of the Vulgate, or cxixth of the authorized version, between each verse of which is chanted a versicle from the Horologium. Everywhere the populace bow down as the bier comes by, and many times it halts that they may kiss the figure of our dead Saviour, whose image is overspread by the flowers sprinkled upon it as it is carried past, and afterwards these same flowers are eagerly sought for by the crowd, who set much store by them as the bringers of health to their bodies and a blessing on their homesteads all the after year. Now it should be observed that, even in the present piece, what is the real sindon or white linen winding-sheet shown open and spread out quite flat beneath our Lord’s body, is put upon a mourning pall of red silk, which is worked all over with flowers, doubtless in allusion to this very custom of showering down upon it flowers as it is carried by.

Very like, in part, to the Greek ceremony, is the Latin rite still followed on Good Friday of kissing the crucifix as it lies upon a cushion on the steps going up to the altar, and known of old in England as creeping to the cross, the ritual for which among the Anglo-Saxons, as well as later, according to the use of Salisbury, may be seen in the “Church of Our Fathers,” t. iv. pp. 88, 241. Those who have travelled in the East, or in countries where the Greek rite is followed, may have observed that, almost always, the cupola of the larger churches is painted with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy; and among the crowd of personages therein shown are usually six angels reverently bearing one of these so-figured sindons, as was noticed in the Introduction, § 5.

8279.

Portion of an Orphrey for a Chasuble; border woven in silk, with a various-coloured diapering. German, late 14th century. 3 feet.

Such textiles (for they are not embroideries) as these were evidently wrought to serve as the orphreys for liturgical garments of a less costly character, and made, as this example is, out of thread as well as silk, fashioned after a simple type of pattern.

8279A.

Linen Napkin, for a Crozier; of very fine linen, and various embroideries. German, late 14th century. 2 feet 10 inches by 6 feet.

Such napkins are very great liturgical curiosities, as the present one, and another in this collection, are the only specimens known in this country; and perhaps such another could not be found on any part of the Continent, the employment of them having been for a very long time everywhere left off. Its top, like a high circular-headed cap, 4¾ inches by 4 inches, is marked with a diapering, on one side _lozengy_, on the other _checky_, ground crimson, and filled in with the gammadion or filfot in one form or another. On the lozenges this gammadion is parti-coloured, green, yellow, white, purple; in the checks, all green, yellow, white, and purple. Curiously enough, the piece of vellum used as a stiffening for this cap is a piece of an old manuscript about some loan, and bears the date of the year 1256. The slit up the middle of the linen, 11 inches long, is bordered on both edges with a linen woven lace, 1½ inches broad, embroidered on one side of the slit with L, one of the forms of the gammadion; on the other with the saltire, or St. Andrew’s cross; the gammadion and saltire are wrought in purple, green, crimson (faded), or yellow, each of one colour, and not mixed, as in one part of the cap. These two edgings brought together, and thus running up for the space of 6 inches, are stopped by a piece of woven silk lace, 3¼ inches by 2 inches, and figured with the filfot or gammadion. The linen is very fine, and of that kind which, in the middle ages, was called “bissus;” tent-like in shape, and closed, it hung in full folds. Its gold and silken cords, of various colours, as well as those large well-platted knobs of silk and gold by which it was strung to the upper part of the crozier, are all quite perfect; and an account of this ornament is given in the “Church of Our Fathers,” t. ii. p. 210. Dr. Bock has given a figure of the present one in his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 4 Lieferung, pl. xiv. fig. i; and another specimen will be found here, No. 8662.

8280.

Piece of Net, of coarse linen thread, with an interlaced lozenge pattern, and a border. Very likely German, 16th century. 3 feet 10 inches by 3 feet 8 inches.

Those who amuse themselves by netting will find in this specimen a good example to follow, both in design and accurate execution. It must have been wrought for domestic, and not for Church use.

8281.

Portion of an Orphrey, in red and purple silk, figured in gold, with a fleur-de-lis, inscriptions, and armorial bearings. German, late 15th century. 12¾ inches by 2¾ inches.

This piece is woven throughout, and the letters, as well as the heraldry, are the work, not of the needle, but of the shuttle. On a field _gules_ is shown a fleur-de-lis _argent_, which device, not being upon a shield, may have been meant for a badge. On a field _or_ is a cross _purpure_, and over it, another cross of the field. Though the words given may possibly be intended to read “Pete allia (alia),” there are difficulties in so taking them. It is imagined that these heraldic bearings refer to the archiepiscopal sees and chapters of Cologne and Treves.

8282.

Piece of Silken and Linen Texture. Upon a yellow thread ground are figured, in green silk, trees, from the lower right side of which darts down a pencil of sunbeams, and just over these rays stand birds like cockatoos or hoopoes, and six-petaled flowers and eagles stooping, both once in gold, now dimmed; the flowers and eagles well raised above the rest of the design. Made in North Italy, during the middle of the 14th century.

When bright and fresh, this stuff must have been very effective; and a play of light could not fail in well showing off its golden eagles and flowers, that are made to stand out somewhat boldly amid the green foliage of the trees.

8283.

Piece of Lilac-purple Silk, with a delicate diapering of vine-branches and birds. Italian, late 14th century.

Though everything is small in the design of this piece, it is remarkably pleasing. The way in which the boughs are twined is quite graceful, and the foliage very good.

8284.

Piece of Light Crimson Silk and Gold Tissue. This small bit of a large pattern shows a crested bird plucking a bell-shaped flower. Italian, early 15th century.

Unfortunately this scrap is so small as not to exhibit enough of the original design to let us know what it was; but, to judge by the ends of some wings, we have before us sufficient to see that, when entire, it must have consisted of large birds, and have been bold and telling.

8285.

Piece of Light Crimson Silk and Gold Tissue; the pattern is a diapering, all in gold, formed of a tree with a lioness sejant regardant beneath it, and a bird alighting on a flower, the centre of which is spotted with stamens of blue silk. North Italian, beginning of the 15th century.

This specimen is valuable both for its rich materials and the effective way in which the design is brought out.

8286.

Piece of Dark Purple Silk and Silver Tissue, relieved with crimson thrown up in very small portions. The pattern is a bold diapering of grotesque animals and birds, together with inscriptions affecting to be in Arabic. Very likely from the South of Spain, at the beginning of the 15th century. 24 inches by 19 inches.

Alike conspicuous for the richness of materials, as for the exuberance in its design, this specimen deserves particular attention. Spotted leopards and shaggy-haired dogs, all collared, and separated by bundles of wheat-ears; birds of prey looking from out the foliage, hoopoes pecking at a human face, dragon-like snakes gracefully convoluted amid a Moorish kind of ornamentation, and imitated Arabic letters strung together without a meaning, show that the hand of the Christian workman was guided somewhat by Saracenic teachings, or wrought under the set purpose of passing off his work as of Oriental produce. But in this, as in so many other examples, a strong liking for heraldry is displayed by those pairs of wings conjoined and elevated, in the one instance eagle’s, in the other wyvern’s.

8287.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue, on a red ground; a design in green, relieved by bands of scroll-pattern, with an eagle’s head and neck in gold and flowers in white and dark purple. Sicilian, 15th century. 12¼ inches by 12 inches.

When new this tissue must have been very showy, but now the whole of its pattern is somewhat difficult to trace out. The way in which the large eagle’s head and neck are given, resting upon a broad-scrolled bar, is rather singular; so, too, is the listing or border, on one side charged with a small but rich ornamentation, amid which may be detected some eaglets.

8288.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue, the ground of which is gold banded with patterns in blue, red, and green, divided by narrowed stripes of black; on one golden band is an Arabic word repeated all through the design. Syrian. 16½ inches by 16 inches.

The value of this fine rich specimen will be instantly appreciated when it is borne in mind that it is one of the few known examples of real Saracenic weaving which we have.

Its ornamentation has about it, in the checkered and circular portions of its design, much of that feeling which shows itself in Saracenic architecture; and those who remember the court of lions, in the Alhambra at Granada, will not be surprised at seeing animals figured upon this piece of stuff so freely.

The broad bands are separated by very narrow black ones, on which are shown, in gold, short lengths of thick foliage like strawberry-leaves, and an animal, which, from the tuft of hair on its ears, seems a lynx, chased by the hunting-leopard, of which our celebrated travelling countryman, Sir John Mandeville, in his “Voiage,” written in the reign of Edward III, speaks thus: “In Cipre men hunten with Papyonns that ben lyche Lepardes, and thei taken wylde bestes righte welle and thei ben somedelle more than Lyonns; and thei taken more scharpely the bestes and more delyverly than don houndes.” Ed. Halliwell, p. 29. This sort of leopard, the claws of which are not, like the rest of its kind, retractile, is, to this day, employed in Asia, more especially in the East Indies, like dogs for hunting, and known by the name of “Cheetah.”

Each of these lengths is studded with those knots, found so often upon eastern wares of all sorts, and formed by narrow ribbons interlacing one another at right angles so as to produce squares or checks; these knots are alternately large--of three rows of checks, and small--of two rows. Upon one of the large bands, gold in its ground, is, all along it, woven a sentence in Arabic letters in dusky white, of which tint is the circular ornament which everywhere stands between this writing; very likely these characters, as well as the dividing flower, were once of a crimson colour, which is now faded. The inscribed sentence itself being figured without the distinctive points, may be understood various ways. That it is some well-known Oriental saying or proverb is very likely, and, to hazard a guess, reads thus: “Injury, hurt, reception,”--meaning, perhaps, that the individual who has done you, behind your back, all the harm he can, may, when next he meets you, utter the greetings and put on all the looks of friendship. Such was its meaning, as read by the late lamented Oriental scholar, Dr. Cureton.

Upon the next broad band, on a ground once crimson, are figured, in gold, the before-mentioned “papyonns,” or hunting-leopards, collared and in a sitting position under foliage, swans swimming, and an animal of the gazelle or antelope genus, heraldically lodged regardant, with a flower-bearing stem in its mouth, and another animal not easily identified. The remaining two broad bands, one blue, the other green, are figured, in gold, with squares filled up by checks of an Oriental character, alternating with quatrefoils sprouting all over into flowers.

8289.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue; the ground, lilac; the pattern, green and white, of flowers, beneath which couch two animals, and under them stand two eagles. Italian or Sicilian, late 14th century. 15½ inches by 15¼ inches.

One of those well-balanced designs thrown off so freely by the looms of Italy and Sicily during the whole of the 14th century. What those two animals collared, couchant and addorsed regardant, may be meant for it is hard to imagine. Rays, like those from the sun, dart down beneath these dog-like creatures, and looking upward to those beams stand two eagles. Some of the flowers and the two animals are wrought in gold.

8290.

Piece of Silk; ground, dark blue; pattern, yellow, in zigzag arabesque. Moorish work of the South of Spain, 14th century. 12½ inches by 8½ inches.

Though of such simple elements in its design, this Moresco stuff is not unpleasing.

8291, 8291A.

Two Pieces of Silk and Gold Tissue, having a pattern in bands diapered with arabesques, birds, and animals. Syrian, 14th century. 5 inches by 4 inches, and 5 inches by 3½ inches.

Although but mere rags, these two specimens are interesting. They tell, of their country and time, by the management of their design, and have a near relationship to the specimen No. 8288.

8292.

Piece of Silk; ground, red with pattern, in violet, of vine-leaves, conventional foliage, and animals. Sicilian, early 14th century. 12½ inches by 6 inches.

This very pretty produce of the Italian loom, like No. 8283, commends itself to our admiration by the graceful manner in which the design is carried out. Though small in its parts, the pattern is attractive. Those stags, tripping and showing heads well attired, are not uncommon, about the period, upon stuffs, but those wild boars--like the deer, in pairs--segeant face to face, are somewhat new.

8293.

Piece of Linen embroidered in red silk, with an open diaper of crosslets leaving circular and lozenge spaces, the former now empty, the latter ornamented with cross-crosslets in yellow, purple, and green silk. Late 14th century. 15 inches by 12½ inches.

In all likelihood the round spaces were filled in with heraldic animals, and the piece served as the apparel to an alb, resembling the one shown on the fine Wensley brass, figured by the brothers Waller, and also given in the “Church of our Fathers,” t. i. p. 325.

8294.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue, the ground red with a pattern in green and white, forming a large lozenge, enclosing, in one instance, a bunch of foliage and two eagles, in the other, a bough and two dogs. South Italian, late 14th century. 21½ inches by 11½ inches.

In this rich pattern there are certain portions that, at first sight, might be taken for attempts to represent Oriental letters; they are, however, no forms of any alphabet, and, least of all, bear any likeness to the Cufic.

8295.

Piece of Silk and Cotton Tissue; ground, deep red mixed with green, blue, white, and gold; the pattern consists of loosely branched stems with large flower-heads, and monsters alternately blue and gold, bearing in their hands a white flower. Italian, late 14th century. 27½ inches by 9½ inches.

The so-called sphinxes in this piece are those monster figures often found in art-work during the middle ages, and are formed of a female head and waist joined on to the body of a lioness passant cowed, that is, with its tail hanging down between its legs. In this specimen may be detected an early form of the artichoke pattern, which afterwards became such a favourite.

8296.

Piece of Silk; ground, dark red; pattern, a yellow diapering of somewhat four-sided figures enclosing an ornament of a double ellipsis. South Spanish, 15th century. 10¾ inches by 7 inches.

8297.

Piece of Crimson Silk; pattern, in green, of open arabesque spread in wide divisions. Southern Spain, late 14th century. 18 inches by 7 inches.

The design of this valuable piece is very good, and must have had a pleasing effect. From the way in which the cross is introduced by combinations of the ornamentation and slight attempts at showing the