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The brown enamel, which is used entirely for outline, detail or shading, is a fusible glass in combination with opaque manganic or ferric oxide, and tar oil. With this enamel, smear shading or stipple shading is worked. This may be removed as required, before firing, by means of a pointed stick or quill, so as to give the details of embroidery, or of heraldic forms.
Silver stain (oxide of silver) introduced at the beginning of the 14th century is largely used in stained glass, and usually on the back thereof. According to the different degrees of heat in the firing, a pale yellow or deep orange of great transparency is produced.
Coloured glass was made by the Egyptians 4000 years ago, but the earliest stained glass windows recorded, were those of BriondeA.D.525. None however are known to be in existence prior to those of St. DenisA.D.1108. Other examples are found in Norman windows, with small medallions of figures and ornament of a decided Byzantine type, extremely deep in colour, being, by its style of treatment, termed mosaic glass. The 13th century, or early Gothic period, has single lancet lights, with medallions containing small figures surrounded by the typical 13th century foliage; or thewindows were entirely of ornament ingrisaille, arranged symmetrically, having narrow bands of ruby or blue, with wide borders. Thesegrisaillewindows are of a greenish white glass, with the ornament in outline, and the ground hatched with brown enamel in fine cross lines (fig. 1-2).Image unavailable: 13TH CENTURY GLASS. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.13TH CENTURY GLASS. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.The north transept window at York cathedral, called the five sisters, is typical of this grisaille glass. The finest examples however, are at Salisbury and Chartres cathedrals. Later in the period, single figures were introduced under a simple canopy or gabling, plain or crocketed, with an ordinary trefoil arch.
“Quarry glass,” square or diamond in shape, with brown enamel details, was frequently used, where simple masses were desired.
In the 14th century, the figures were larger and placed under canopies in each light of the mullioned windows, such figures in rich colours forming a bright belt across the window, surmounted by the canopies, cusped and crocketed, and in strong yellow pot metal, or yellow-cased glass. The borders were narrow, with a somewhat natural rendering of the rose, the maple and the oak.
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In the 15th century, a further change took place, figures became more numerous and the canopy or shrine larger, and chiefly in white glass, with the crockets and finials tipped with yellow stain. The coloured border of the earlier glass is entirely absent, its place being taken by the shaft of the canopy, and the crockets, finials and ornaments are square in treatment and based chiefly on the vine leaf.
Fairford church, perhaps, contains the finest series of late Gothic glassA.D.1500-30. Like the contemporary architecture of the 16th century, the Renascence now influenced stained glass. The canopy still survived, but was horizontal or pedimental in form, with purely classical columns and details. Good examples of this period are the windows of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (1520), where rich Renascence work is introduced into late Gothic mullioned windows. About 1540, transparent enamels were introduced with skill and reticence, but gradually glass painters began to vie with pictorial oil painting in effects of light and shade, the ground work or material losing that beautiful translucent or transmitted colour, which is the chief glory of stained glass. An example showing the degradation of this art is the west window of New College, Oxford, painted by Jervas, 1777, from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
The ornamentation of stained glass naturally followed contemporary architecture in the treatment of style, differentiated only by the technical necessities of material. For instance, in the early English glass (plate 31), the details of the ornament have the characteristic spiral arrangement and the trefoil foliage of contemporary architectural ornament, only the foliage is treated more in profile, as being more suited to the technical necessities of leading and brush work.
Most of the detail, however, shows a strong affinity to French contemporary ornament, this doubtless was owing to the influence of French craftsmanship and tradition in the stained glass of that period.
In the 14th century, the English craftsman attained a thorough mastery over his materials, and consequently the type of ornament followed English contemporary architecture more closely.
To sum up, stained glass changed through the different periods from the rich coloured mosaic of the Normans—the equally rich coloured medallions and grisaille glass of the early Gothic—the decorated Gothic, with glass in lighter colours, and a prevalence of yellow stain, culminating in the later Gothic period, when largeness of mass, lightness, and silvery colour, were the characteristics. A beautiful treatment of stained glass, dating from the 15th century was used by the Arabians; this glass, which has a singular gem-like quality, and without enamel or stain, was let into a framework of plaster, which had been cut and pierced with geometrical or floral patterns.
Modern stained glass has attained a high degree of perfection in design and material under Burne Jones, Walter Crane, Frederic Shields and Henry Holiday, with glass such as that produced by Morris, Powell and Sparrow, and the American opalescent glass of La Farge and Tiffany.
The individuality of their work, appropriateness of treatment, based upon the splendid tradition of the past, mark a distinct epoch in history of stained glass.
Splendid heraldic glass by A. W. Pugin may be seen in the Houses of Parliament, Westminster; and in the hall and staircase of the Rochdale Town Hall, there is a fine series of windows by Heaton, Butler, and Baine, remarkable for dignity of style and unity of conception.
GOLD AND SILVER.Plate 32.Image unavailable: GOLD AND SILVER. Plate 32.
Of all treasure trove, those of gold and silver are the most valuable, showing us the riches, culture and the decorative arts of the people who centuries ago used these beautiful objects of jewellery or of utility. One of the earliest and most valuable of these treasures was found in 1859 with the mummy of Queen Aah-Hotep, 1800B.C.(Cairo Museum), and consisted of: bracelets, armlets, rings, chains, a diadem (fig. 1), a small model of a twelve-oared war galley, and a poniard, all of exquisite workmanship, and of pure gold, enriched with jasper and turquoise vitreous pastes. At Petrossa in 1837 (Bukarest Museum), twenty-two beautiful gold objects were found, but only twelve were recovered, consisting of two neck-rings or Torques; a large salver, hammered and chased; a ewer; a bowl with figures in repoussé; four fibula enriched with precious stones; a gorget; and two double-handled cups (fig. 4) all of which are Byzantine work of the 5th century. At Guarrazar in Spain, ten gold votive crowns of Gothic workmanship were found; one inscribed with the name of King Suintila, 630A.D., is now in the museum at Madrid, the others in the Hôtel Cluny, Paris, the largest having the name of King Rescesvinthus, 670A.D.in pendive letters (fig. 3). Of silversmith’s work, the most important is the “Treasure of Hildesheim,” found in 1868 (now in the Berlin Museum) consisting of thirty objects, cups, vases, and dishes, beautiful in contour and admirably enriched with delicate repoussé work of the Greco-Roman period (fig. 5). The British Museum contains many fine examples of Greek and Etruscan goldsmith’s art; some early Greek work has the typical Mycenæ spiral enrichment. Beautiful Greek plaques of the 4th and 5th centuriesB.C.were obtained by pressing the gold into stone moulds, and were afterwards enriched with threads of gold or “filigree,” which developed later into the Byzantine filigree work.
The beautiful Etruscan Fibulæ are enriched with minute globules of gold soldered on, a process brought to a remarkable degree of perfection by the Etruscans in the 7th, 6th and 5th centuriesB.C.Of the gold and silver vessels used by Solomon in the temple, we have the description in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, but no trace of the originals, except that on the Arch of Titus, 79A.D., we find a representation of the seven-branched golden candlestick (fig. 9). Of the Mediæval period, many fine examples of church and corporation plate are still treasured in our museums. They are of great intrinsic value, of beautiful workmanship, chased and engraved, and enriched with cast and repoussé work and the choicest enamels. Of the craftsman or goldsmith we know but little, but his delicacy of touch, his just appreciation of appropriateness of treatment to his material, and the singular grace and charm of his design are a tribute to his culture and personality. Cellini produced many beautiful works, yet perhaps not more beautiful than his many contemporary goldsmiths. In our museums there are some charming specimens of engraving upon silver, filled in with black enamel called Niello, by Maso Finiguerre, about 1450, who produced some early prints from an engraved plate.
BRONZES.Plate 33.Image unavailable: BRONZES. Plate 33.
Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, has been in use from a remote period in the history of the arts. Its adaptability for casting, its durability, utility and colour have rendered this material one of the most useful and valuable. Of the many fine examples of the early Egyptian and Assyrian bronze now in the British Museum, the most beautiful are the bronzes of Siris, two fragments of armour, with reliefs in repoussé (fig. 4). The many Greek statues in the round, of their Gods and heroes, show the most skilful technique and beauty of form. The Etruscans were clever workers in this material, and they used a most expressive treatment of incised lines, which differentiates their decorative bronzes from those of Greece, with their delicate low reliefs. The bronze mirrors (fig. 2) and the Cista are typical examples of the Etruscan treatment. The finest known cista is that called the “Ficoroni Cista,” by Morios Plantios (3rd centuryB.C.) and is now in the Collegio Romano; a description, with illustrations of this example is in the “Magazine of Art,” April, 1884. Descriptions of this cista and of the many fine examples in the British Museum are given in “Murray’s Handbook of Greek Archæology.” Of small decorative bronzes, Naples Museum alone has over 13,000 examples, consisting of candelabra, tripods, tables, chairs and couches, which, eighteen centuries ago, were used by the wealthy Roman citizens. Of bronze equestrian statues, the most renowned are those of Marcus Aurelius, at Rome,A.D.175; Bartolomeo Coleone, at Venice,A.D.1488, by Andrea Verrocchio; and Alessandro Leopardo; and that of Gattamelata, at Padua, 1453A.D., by Donatello.
A remarkable bronze figure of the Renascence period is that of Perseus, by Benvenuto Cellini, 1500-1570, at Florence, and the figure of Neptune on the fountain at Bologna by Giovanni da Bologna, 1524-90.
The bronze doors of San Zenone, at Verona, (seeplates 1and3in “Aratra Pentelici” by John Ruskin), and those of the Baptistery, at Florence, by Andrea Pisano and Ghiberti (see Renascence) are typical examples of early Renascence bronzes. The casting of these Bronzes was by the “Cire Perdu” method, that is, by forming a core of firm material nearly the size and shape required, then covering with sheet wax and finishing with the detail required, with sticks of wax projecting to form vents for the escape of steam in casting. The wax is then brushed over with a composition of fine clay and ground crucibles to some thickness and the mould thus formed is connected with the inner one by bronze rods. The wax is then melted out, leaving a cavity Into which the liquid bronze is poured, the core and mould being afterwards removed. Bronze is also cast in piece moulds taken from the model; the piece mould is then lined with sheet clay and put together and the core run in. The clay is then removed and the bronze run in as in the former process. The sand process for casting has now reached a high degree of perfection in which the core and mould are formed by pressure in a fine tenacious sand.
WROUGHT IRON.Plate 34.Image unavailable: WROUGHT IRON. Plate 34.
The decorative qualities of iron, with its strength, durability and comparative cheapness, have rendered it one of the most useful metals in the applied arts. Used from an early period for implements of war and the chase, it gradually became associated with architecture and furniture, reaching in the 15th and 16th centuries a remarkable degree of beauty and skilful craftsmanship that has never been excelled. Many fine Norman hinges of wrought iron are still in existence, having a straight central bar or strap, with small scroll terminations; these central straps were strengthened with crescent-shaped pieces, terminating in small serpent forms, probably a survival of the Viking traditions. This form of hinge was succeeded by the Early Gothic hinge, which was a series of spirals springing from the straight bar or strap, the spiral being welded or fastened with collars; these spirals were enriched with the three-lobed foliage or trefoil, typical of the Early Gothic period; fine examples of this hinge occur on the west door of Notre Dame, Paris, where this typical spiral has the trefoil leaf, with birds, dragons and small rosettes in stamped iron. This stamped characteristic may be seen, but in a less degree, in the fine hinges of Leighton Buzzard Church, Eaton Bray Church, Bedfordshire, and the Eleanor grill in Westminster Abbey, by Thomas de Leghton, in 1294. In the 14th and 15th centuries, when panelled doors took the place of the earlier doors, this Early Gothic style of hinge was not needed (fig. 5) so that we find no trace of it in that period, but the art of wrought iron was continued with the hammered and chiselled hinges and lock plates of the most varied and delicate workmanship, which enriched the beautiful Gothic chests of the 14th and 15th centuries. The simple wrought screen, which was so largely used in the 13th century was now elaborated, especially in Italy, and fine examples of quatre-foil grilles with massive wrought framing and a rich frieze of foliage, cupids and animals in pierced and hammered iron are to be seen at the cathedrals of Orvieto, Prato and Siena, dating from about 1337 to 1350, and at Santa Croce, Florence, 1371; but it was in Spain and France that the screen reached its culmination. The Spanish screens or “Réjas” in the cathedrals of Seville, Toledo and Granada have a fine range of turned and chiselled vertical bars some 30 to 50 feet high, with an elaborate frieze and cresting.
Beautiful wrought and chiselled gates were erected in France about 1658, for the Louvre and the Royal Chateaux of Anet and Econeu. There are some fine wrought gates at Hampton Court by Jean Tijon, who published some drawings of them in 1693, and many good simple gates of the last century are still in position in many parts of the country.
The wrought iron gate piers in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, with their architectural treatment of open panelling, cresting, and massive buttresses, in filed, bolted and riveted, are splendid examples of Flemish workmanship, and are probably by Quintin Matsys (1450-1529).
The adaptability and universality of wood for domestic and public purposes, its susceptibility to carving and enrichment, its beautiful texture, grain and colour, have made it one of the most useful of materials in the constructive and decorative arts.
The many chairs, tables and chests of ancient times, and the beautiful choir stalls, cabinets and screens of the middle ages are a tribute to the vitality, inventiveness and artistic perception of the old craftsman.
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The universality of the chair has tended to preserve the form through many centuries. The chair has undergone various modifications, from the ornate Egyptian one to the Assyrian example with the supports of fir-cones. In the Greek example, the beauty and simplicity of profile is remarkable, while the Chair of St. Peter, 1st centuryA.D., is purely architectonic with enrichments of gold and ivory.
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The Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, of the time of Edward I., is one of the earliest in England, offering a strong contrast to the chairs of the 18th century by Chippendale and Sheraton.
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A Venetian chair of the 16th century shows a skilful but inappropriate treatment.
The Arabians at Cairo, in the 15th century, produced some beautiful geometrical wood panelling, frequently inlaid with ebony and ivory, and having a marvellous intricacy of line and detail.
In Italy, during the 16th century, many beautifully carved cassone or chests, in walnut, enriched with gilding, were produced, similar to the one here figured from South Kensington Museum.
In Italy the beautiful carved choir stalls of the 16th century were frequently enriched withIntarsia, a light wood inlay upon a dark ground, this intarsia beingafterwards slightly etched and black rubbed in, or scorched with hot sand or irons. The choir stalls at St. Organo, Verona, and the Certosa, at Pavia, are fine examples of Intarsia.
Image unavailable: CASSONE OR CHEST S K M ITALIAN 16TH CENTURYCASSONE OR CHEST S K M ITALIAN 16TH CENTURY
In the Renascence of France we meet with many examples of beautiful furniture, great skill, taste and ingenuity being brought to bear upon this work. Jean Goujon, Bachelier and Philibert de l’Orme were famed for their wood carvings in the 16th century.
In 1642, André Charles Boule introduced a veneered work composed of thin tortoise-shell and brass, frequently chased or engraved; this is now termedBoulework. In some of the later work the shell is laid on a vermilion or gold ground, which greatly enhances its effect. In the 18th century, Boule work was still made in France, but new methods and new men came to the front, amongst others were Riesener and David Roentgen, who produced splendidMarquetryof flowers, festoons and diaper patterns inlaid in various coloured woods. Both these men worked in mahogany and ebony, and their lighter marquetry was frequently shaded by scorching with hot sand. These pieces of furniture were usually enriched with gilt, bronze or metal mountings by Gouthière, a contemporary craftsman. A beautiful mode of enriching woodwork was introduced by Vernis Martin, 1706-70; this was the use of a gold and green lac, which was transparent and brilliant, and similar to the beautiful lac work of Japan.
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Of English men of this period, Thomas Chippendale produced some good furniture and published a book of designs in 1764, which undoubtedly influenced much of the furniture of that period; Mathias Lock was another noted cabinet maker. In 1789, A. Hepplewhite published a book on furniture, and, in 1795, Thomas Sheraton published a work on the same subject.
Image unavailable: OAK SCREEN. 16TH CENTURY. FRENCH SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM
The beautiful panelling and carved mantels of the many fine halls of the time of Elizabeth and James are characteristic of English work. Contemporary with this are the beautiful English panelled chests with quaint imagery and enrichments, and the curious Jacobean bed-foot with its pierced pedestal and baluster pillar.
With Grinling Gibbons, who died in 1721, wood carving reached its culmination for delicacy and skilful craftsmanship.
TEXTILE FABRICS.Plate 35.Image unavailable: TEXTILE FABRICS. Plate 35.
The utility, universality, construction, texture, ornamentation and colour of textile fabrics are full of interest and suggestiveness, for in the remarkable development of textile fabrics we may trace the continuity of style and tradition, the intermingling of races and customs, and the grafting of religious ideas with the wealth and luxuriance of the past.
All fabrics wrought in the loom are called textiles. They are broadly divided into three classes: 1st, plain fabrics in which the warp and weft alternate equally; 2nd, those fabrics in which a pattern is produced by the warp and weft intermingling in different proportions or colours, figured cloths and tapestries being included in this class; 3rd, those fabrics in which the plain textileNo.1 is enriched with the needle or by printing, termed embroideries or printed fabrics.
Owing to their perishable nature few remains of ancient textile fabrics are in existence. The oldest examples are found in the tombs of Egypt, where, owing to the dryness of the climate, some fabrics of the early dynasties still remain. They are usually of fine linen and without enrichment, yet upon the same tombs are many painted patterns that undoubtedly show a woven origin. The oldest figured fabrics found in Egypt are of the 6th centuryA.D., and they show a remarkable similarity to the early patterns of Persia and Byzantium, for it was in India, Persia and Arabia that textiles reached their perfection of workmanship and their wealth of material. This splendid tradition was carried from Persia and India to Byzantium in the 5th century, and in the 8th century the Arabians absorbed and assimilated the arts of Persia, India, Egypt and Spain and brought the art of weaving to its culmination during the 14th and 15th centuries.
The ornamental designs of textile fabrics of different nations and periods are characterised by well-defined forms, differentiated by racial influence, climatic conditions and the myths and traditions of the people. Yet the traditional Eastern origin may be traced through many textile designs, for there is no doubt that India, Persia and Arabia influenced the designs of textile fabrics more than any other nations. This was due no doubt partly to the Eastern weavers carrying their art and traditions with them to various parts of Europe, and also to the exportation of their splendid fabrics, but principally to the beautiful and interesting designs which were perfectly adapted to the process of weaving. It is due no doubt to this frank adaptation of natural forms and their appropriateness to the technical necessities of woven fabrics, that has rendered this Eastern influence so persistent through many centuries in different parts of Europe. It is remarkable that even in Italy during the whole of the Renascence period, with the characteristic scroll forms and acanthus foliation of its architecture and decorative arts, the textiles are quite distinct in style, having the characteristics of the Sicilian, Persian and Indian ornament.
Among the earliest figured fabrics must be placed those of Assyria, of which representations may be seen in Layard’s Book on Nineveh. The patterns consisted of symmetrically placed winged figures with the Hom or Tree of Life and the rosette, which was used as a symbol by Zoraster. It is probable that many of these patterns were embroidered, as the Babylonians were reported to be skilful in the art of embroidery, but it is also certain that some of the patterns were woven. The figured fabrics found in Egypt only date from the 5th and 6th centuriesA.D., and show a marked Byzantine and Persian influence (figs. 1-7,plate 35). Characteristic Byzantine examples have medallions and symmetrically placed figures and ornament of the “Hom.” At Alexandria and Antioch, many fine green and gold silk fabrics with ornament in brown outline were produced from the 6th to the 10th centuries.
Under the Saracens, textile fabrics reached their highest development; splendour of colour, beauty and perfection of material and the singularly interesting beauty of the designs being the chief characteristics.
The conquest of Persia, in 632A.D., by Abu Bekr, the successor of Mahomet, the establishment of Bagdad in 762 as the capital of the Arabian Khalifs, and the invasion of India, in 711, gave a remarkable impetus to the decorative arts, more especially the arts of dyeing, weaving and embroidery. These arts culminated in the splendid period of the Fatimy Khalifs, 909-1171A.D.Though Mahomet forbade his followers to wear silk, it was largely used by the Saracens and, to evade the injunction, cotton was frequently interwoven with it, and, in India especially, the fabrics often have a cotton warp as a foundation for the weft patterns of coloured silks and gold thread. Many fine examples of Saracenic fabrics of the 11th to the 15th centuries are now in our national museums. The larger portion are from Sicily, and are termed Sicilian or Siculo-Saracenic. They have bands of birds, animals, foliage and inscriptions in blue, green and gold on a red ground. If wholly of silk the fabric was termedHolosericum, and if of silk and gold,Chrysoclavum fundatum. Drawn gold thread was not used in early fabrics, but gold leaf laid on paper or skin and then rolled round a fine thread of silk was largely used by the Saracenic weavers. The patterns in some of the later Sicilian fabrics of the 13th and 14th centuries have a purple ground in twilled silk, with birds and foliage formed by a weft of gold thread. These patterns were usually symmetrical in arrangement, no doubt partly due to the traditional art of Assyria, but also to the simple necessities of weaving, for in the early looms the turnover of the pattern was frequently used. The Saracenic fabrics produced in Spain are called Hispano-Moresque and are distinguished by splendid crimson or dark blue conventional patterns of silk upon a yellow ground of a fine quality, and a frequent use of strips of gilded parchment in place of the rolled gilt thread. In this period, many fine velvets raised on a satin ground with gold
Plate 36.Image unavailable: Plate 36.
Plate 37.Image unavailable: Plate 37. PRINTED COTTON. INDIAN 18TH CENT. S.K.M.
and silver threads, were made. In the 12th century, Roger II., the Norman King of Northern Sicily, took Corinth and Argos, and carried many weavers and embroiderers from Greece to Sicily, and established them at Palermo, where they quickly assimilated the Sicilian style and produced many fine fabrics during the 13th and 14th centuries.
The crusades now began to influence the arts; in 1098, Antioch was taken and the spoil distributed through Europe; in 1204, Constantinople was taken by Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the Venetian Doge, Dandolo, and the vast spoil of textiles distributed. It was doubtless under the influence of the crusades that the Sicilian weavers of the 13th and 14th centuries produced the many beautiful fabrics enriched with winged lions, foliated crosses and crowns, rayed stars, harts and birds linked together, and with the introduction of armorial bearings. Early in the 14th century, this splendid tradition was introduced into Italy, and at Lucca many beautiful fabrics were produced, having the same characteristics and technique as the Sicilian fabrics.
The cloak upon the recumbent bronze figure of Richard II. in Westminster Abbey has a pattern of foliage with couchant harts and rayed stars, and was most probably copied from the original silk made for Richard at Lucca or Palermo.
The beautiful materials and designs of Indian textile fabrics are indicative of the love of nature and the splendour of colour of a remote antiquity. Though influenced at various times by Greek, Persian and Arabian traditions, India still preserved an indigenous ornamental art of remarkable freshness and vitality, the designers choosing their own flora and fauna with rare selective power and adaptive qualities. With an instinctive feeling for ornamental art, aided by the splendid colourings of the native dyes, they produced textile fabrics of silks, brocades, and gold and silver lace remarkable for richness and perfection of material, beauty of design and harmony of colour. The Indian pine is a familiar form of enrichment differentiated from the cypress of Persia (fig. 1,plate 22), by the spiral at the apex. This typical pine is treated with a wonderful diversity of detail (figs. 4, 5 and 6,plate 23). The splendid carpets of India were doubtless influenced by the Persian tradition and they follow the same methods and ornamental arrangements, adapting, conventionalizing and emphasising plants, flowers and seeds, and rendering them with a fine feeling for form and colour. Block printing was largely used for silks and cottons, and many splendid examples are now treasured in our museums; an illustration of a printed cotton Palampore from South Kensington is given here, showing the beautiful floral treatment, diversity of detail, and contrast of line and mass. The gold and silver Brocades or “Kincobs” of Ahmedabad and Benares, with patterns of animals, flowers and foliage richly spangled; the delicate muslins of Dacca, the gold and silver primed muslins of Jaipur, and the woollen
Plate 38.Image unavailable: Plate 38.
shawls of Kashmir, with the well-known pine pattern, are splendid examples of richness of material, delicacy and skilfulness of technic, and beauty and appropriateness of ornamentation.
The Pile carpets of Persia, especially those of Kurdistan, Khorassan, Kirman, and Ferahan, are the finest in the world, being magnificent in colour and having bold conventional patterns of their beautiful flora, with birds and animals interspersed with the ornament, giving a largeness of mass and interest and vitality of detail. The illustration on the opposite page is from a fine 16th century Persian carpet, and is a good example of their methods and traditions. The hyacinth, tulip, iris and the pink, are frequently introduced, together with the hom or tree of life. An illustration is given (fig. 2,plate 22) of a Genoa fabric but of Persian design, showing the typical “pink” with its simplicity and beauty of line. This traditional art of Persia had a most marked influence upon the textile fabrics of Europe from the 12th to the 17th centuries. This was no doubt due to many causes, but the perfect adaptability to the process of weaving, the interest, inventiveness and beauty of the ornament, and the singular frank treatment of form and colour, doubtless appealed to the craftsmen of Europe, and hence we find many Persian designs produced in Sicily, Spain, Italy, France and Flanders.
Image unavailable: DOUBLE MULLION PATTERN, ITALIAN.DOUBLE MULLION PATTERN, ITALIAN.
The finest silk velvets and damasks produced from the looms of Florence show a distinct Persian influence in their bold artichoke and pomegranate patterns of the 16th and 17th centuries. In Genoa, similar patterns in many coloured velvets were produced, and it is singular how largely this persistency of type prevails in all countries.
Image unavailable: SILK ITALIAN 16th CENTURYSILK ITALIAN 16th CENTURY
In 1480, Louis XI. introduced the art into France, when looms were established at Tours, and in 1520 they were established at Lyons by Francis I., and the art of weaving rapidly spread. The earliest fabrics of these looms have patterns similar to the Persian and Italian fabrics; but soon the vase pattern, which no doubt had its origin in Byzantine textiles and which had been used by the Persians and Italians, began to influence French designs. However, this rapidly gave place towards the middle of the 17th century to the imitations of ribbons and laces in textile fabrics, together with a more naturalistic treatment of floral forms, and the beauty, suggestiveness and interest of the early patterns now gave way toprettiness, affectation and a naturalistic treatment which culminated in the period of Madame Pompadour.
The remarkable invention of perforated cards for facilitating the weaving of figured fabrics was introduced by Bonchon, 1725, and continued by Falcon in 1728, by Vancanson in 1745, and perfected by Joseph Marie Jacquard, 1752-1834.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis the XIV., caused large numbers of weavers to come to England, bringing their art and tradition with them, and many established themselves at Spitalfields which soon rose to some importance. The patterns, necessarily, were purely French in treatment, consisting of natural arrangements of flowers; a sketch is here given of a Spitalfields design for silk damask.
Image unavailable: FLOWER VASE PATTERNFLOWER VASE PATTERN
The textile fabrics of Flanders reached a high degree of perfection in the 16th and 17th centuries, Bruges being famous for its silk damasks and velvets, the patterns showing the traditional Persian or the pomegranate and artichoke type of the Florentine textiles. Block printing had been introduced into Flanders in the 15th century and many fine patterns with Indian motives were produced up to the 17th century.
Image unavailable: DESIGN FOR A SPITALSFIELD SILK FABRIC DATED 1739 SKMDESIGN FOR A SPITALSFIELD SILK FABRIC DATED 1739 SKM
At Ypres, fine diapered linen was manufactured, and Ghent was famous for its woollens, but the remarkable prosperity of Flanders was destroyed by the Spanish occupation (1556-1648).
Image unavailable: SINGLE MULLION PATTERNSINGLE MULLION PATTERN
Then large numbers of Flemish weavers came to England and settled in many parts of the country, bringing their traditions and craftsmanship, which have undoubtedly had a most marked influence upon the production of cotton and woollen textile fabrics in England.
Tapestry, of which many fine examples of the 16th and 17th centuries are treasured in our museums and palaces, differs from most woven fabrics in its method of production, which consists of interweaving and knotting short pieces of coloured wefts, which form the pattern, to a strong warp, a ground weft being thrown across each pick to bind the material well together;
TEXTILE FABRICS.Plate 39.Image unavailable: TEXTILE FABRICS. Plate 39.
this is almost the same method as that used in the manufacture of the Indian and Persian carpets. It was during the 14th and 15th centuries, at Arras in Flanders, that storied tapestries were brought to their culmination and the tapestry workers became a most powerful guild. From about 1480, Brussels produced many magnificent hangings from designs by the great masters of the Italian Renascence. Raphael’s famous cartoons which are now in the South Kensington Museum are the original designs for the ten tapestries manufactured at Brussels for Pope Leo X. for the enrichment of the Sistine chapel in the Vatican; the seven cartoons, three being lost, were purchased by Charles I.
Many of the great Flemish painters also designed for the Brussels tapestries, such as Van Orley, Van Leyden and Jan Mabuse.
Francis I. caused tapestry looms to be set up at Fontainbleau in 1339, under the direction of the Italian, Serlio, but it was not until the Gobelin tapestry manufactory was established in 1603 in the Faubourg Saint Marcel by the Fleming, Marc de Comans, and François de la Planche, that French tapestry reached any importance. Under the Minister Colbert in 1667, the Royal Gobelin manufactory produced many fine tapestries designed by the head of the establishment, Charles le Brun.
About 1590, some carpets called Savonnerie were made in the Louvre, the technique being somewhat similar to the Persian carpets but the patterns were more pictorial and naturalistic in treatment; fine tapestries were also produced at Beauvais and Aubusson. Tapestry had been manufactured in England as early as the reign of Edward III., but it was not until the time of James I. that it assumed any importance, when a tapestry manufactory was established at Mortlake by Francis Crane.
Some fine Flemish tapestries are in the South Kensington museum and eight large pieces by Bernard Van Orley are in the Great Hall of Hampton Court. The coloured cartoons by Mantegna in Hampton Court, representing the Triumph of Cæsar, were to be reproduced in tapestry for the Duke of Mantua. There are some fine Gobelin and Beauvais tapestries in Windsor Castle which were gifts from the Court of France, and they all show the most consummate technique, beauty of material and harmony of colour.
The well-known Bayeux tapestry is embroidered in coloured wools upon a white linen ground. It is 214 feet in length and 22 inches in width and divided in 72 compartments with incidents representing the Norman invasion of England by William I.
Though reputed to be the work of Queen Matilda, the probability is that it is the work of English hands some few years after the invasion. This embroidery or tapestry is still preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux.
The remarkable civilization of the Incas or Peruvians, is shown in the many splendid objects of the industrial arts now treasured in our museums. Of these relics of a vanished civilization, the textile
PERUVIAN TEXTILES.Plate 40.Image unavailable: PERUVIAN TEXTILES. Plate 40.
PERUVIAN TEXTILES.Plate 41.Image unavailable: PERUVIAN TEXTILES. Plate 41.
fabrics are, perhaps, the most instructive and interesting. The high technical skill of the craftsmanship, the fine spinning of the wool and cotton, and the perfection of the dyeing of the yarn, together with the skilful weaving of the figured cloths and tapestries are a tribute to the vitality and civilization of a people remote from all Asiatic or European influences.
Many of the fabrics are of double cloth, of deep brown and pale straw colour, and show the same colour and pattern on both sides of the cloth. Some of the fabrics are tapestry woven, having short strands of coloured wool inserted into the fabric by the aid of the needle, and they somewhat resemble the Gobelin tapestry in their method of production.
A few of these Peruvian cotton fabrics are ornamented by means of tied or knotted work, identical with the Bandhana or knotted work termed Chunti Cloth, of the North-west province of India. These knotted patterns consist of simple spots arranged in square, zig-zag or curved lines. The pattern is first marked with a red earth on the plain fabric; then the pattern or spots are tied up tightly with cotton thread and the whole dipped in the dye which only acts on the untied portions of the cloth; a white pattern on a coloured ground is thus produced, both sides being alike.
These Peruvian textiles are remarkable for the absence of the beautiful flora of Peru as elements for decoration. The fylfot or fret is a frequent form of enrichment (plates 40-41.) The wave scroll so typical of Greek work is also a remarkable element in Peruvian ornament, and illustrates the singular development of the same ideas and aspect of form among people so remote from each other as the Greeks and Peruvians.
But the patterns that sharply differentiate Peruvian examples from all other styles are the conventional treatments of figures, birds, fishes and animals. The llama is conspicuous in many patterns, but the bird forms are the most remarkable, having many variations of type and treatment. Illustrations are given inplates 40and41, all taken from the Smithies Loan Collection at Manchester. Other examples of these interesting fabrics may be seen in the Smithies collection at South Kensington, showing the wonderful diversity of the treatment of pattern designing by a people so remote as the Peruvians.
It is difficult to fix any date for these Peruvian examples, but as it is known that during the reign of Inca Pachacutic (circa 1390), the ceramic art was at its best, we may assume that the sister art of weaving reached its perfection about the same period, and continued until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century.