1320.

Though without any pattern, such a specimen is very valuable for letting us see the delicate texture which the Saracens, like the ancient Egyptians, knew how to give to the works of the loom. This, like No. 1317, if ever used for church purposes, could only have been employed for spreading over shrines, or the lining of vestments; specimens like these are sometimes found between the leaves in illuminated MSS, to protect the paintings.

Silkand Gold Damask; ground, crimson (now faded) silk; design, lions in pairs addorsed, regardant, each with a swan swung upon its back, and held by the neck in its mouth, bounding from out a small space surroundedby a low circular paling, and amid two large conventional floriations; at the top of one of these are two squirrels sitting upright, or sejant, all in gold. Italian, late 14th century. 17½ inches by 10¾ inches.

Unfortunately this curious well-figured and interesting design is somewhat wasted upon materials so faded, as scarcely to show it now. The foliation is rather thick and heavy. In Dr. Bock’s work, “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 1 Lieferung, pl. xiv. may be found this stuff, nicely figured.

SmallPiece of Embroidery; background, canvas diapered with lozenges in brown thread; foreground, once partly strewed with streaks of gold; design, two men bearded and clad in long garments, seemingly personages of the Old Law, talking to each other. Florentine, 15th century.

With quite an Italian and Florentine character about them, these two figures, both worked in silk, have no great merit; though there are some good folds in the brown mantle, shot with green, of the hooded individual standing on the left-hand. That it has been cut away from some larger piece is evident, but what the original served for, whether a sacred or secular purpose, it is impossible now to say.

Stole;ground, light blue silk; design, a thin bough roving along the stole’s whole length in an undulating line, and sprouting out into fan-like leaves, and small flowers, and in a white raised cord, narrowly edged with crimson silk and gold thread. At one expanded end is the Holy Lamb upon a golden ground; at the other, the dove, emblem of the Holy Ghost, alighting upon flowers. German, 15th century. 8 feet 6½ inches by 3¾ inches.

Though the work upon this stole is rather coarse, still from its raised style it must have been effective; but its chief value is from having been a liturgic ornament. The diapering at the end figured with the Holy Lamb, done upon a yellow canvas ground, with its thin golden threads worked into three circles, with their radiations not straight but wavy, is remarkable, and may be found upon another work wrought by a German needle in this collection. Not only the Lamb and the Dove, but the floriation, are thrown up into a sort of low relief.

EmbroideredLinen; design, barbed quatrefoils filled in with armorial birds and beasts, and the spaces between wrought with vine-leaves. German, 15th century. 16 inches by 11¾ inches.

This is but a piece of a much larger work, the pattern of which, in its entire form, can only be guessed at from a few remains. One quatrefoil is occupied by a pair of eagles (as they seem to be) addorsed regardant; and the two legs of another three-toed creature remaining near them prove that other things besides the eagles were figured. The whole is coarsely done in coarse materials, and, in workmanship, far below very many specimens here. It appears to have served for household not for church use.

EmbroideredCushion for the missal at the altar; ground, crimson silk; design, our Infant Lord in the arms of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with St. Joseph and four angels worshipping, on the upper side, in various-coloured silk; on the under side, a reticulation filled in with a pair of birds and a flowering plant alternately. German, late 13th century. 19 inches by 13 inches.

Such cushions, and of so remote a period, are great liturgical curiosities, and, fortunately, the present one is in very good preservation,and quite a work of art. Throned within a Gothic building, rather than beneath a canopy, sits the mother of the Divine Babe, who is outstretching His little hands towards the lily-branch which the approaching St. Joseph is holding in one hand, while in the other he carries a basket of doves. Outside, and on the green sward, are kneeling four angels robed as deacons, three of whom bear lily flowers, a fourth the liturgical fan; the whole is encircled by a garland of lilies. The under-side is worked with white doves in pairs, and a green tree blooming with red flowers; and though much of the needlework is gone, this cushion is a good example for such an appliance. Dr. Bock has figured it in his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 1 Band, 2 Lieferung, p. xiii.

Partof an Altar-cloth; ground, linen; design, amid foliage sparingly heightened with yellow silk, birds, and beasts, and one end figured with the gammadion. German, 14th century. 6 feet 4½ inches by 2 feet 2½ inches.

This altar-cloth, now shortened and without one of its ends figured with the gammadion, is made up of two different pieces, of which one showing two large-headed pheasants, put one above the other, amid foliage plentifully flowered with the fleur-de-lis and roses, is quite perfect in its pattern; but the other, marked with alternate griffins and lions, has been cut in two so as to give us but the hinder half of each animal, amid a foliage of oak-leaves. The whole design, however, is boldly drawn and spiritedly executed.

Damask,silk and cotton; ground, green; design, large and small conventional artichokes, in gold and yellow silk, amid garlands in white silk. Italian, 15th century. 2 feet 10 inches by 1 foot 3¼ inches.

Though much cotton is mixed up with the silk, and its gold was of an inferior quality, still the crowded and elaborate design of its pattern makes this stuff very pleasing.

SilkNet; green. Turkish, 16th century (?). 11½ inches by 4½ inches.

Such productions of the loom are used among the Moslem inhabitants of the East in various ways, for concealing their females when they go abroad in carriages, &c.

LinenDiaper. Flemish, 15th century. 2¾ inches square.

Very likely from the looms of Yprès, then famous for its napery, and which gave its name, “d’ypres,” to this sort of wrought linen.

Partof an Orphrey Web; ground, crimson silk; design, straight branches bearing flowers and boughs, in gold thread; and amid them St. Dorothy and St. Stephen. German, 15th century. 23 inches by 2¾ inches.

St. Dorothy is figured holding in her right hand a golden chalice-like cup filled with flowers, and in her left, a tall green branch blooming with white roses; St. Stephen carries a palm-branch, emblem of his martyrdom. Both saints are standing upon green turf sprinkled with crimson daisies, and beneath each is the saint’s name, written in gold. Though the persons of the saints are woven, the heads, hands, and emblems are wrought with the needle. The dalmatic of the proto-martyr is nicely shown, in light green, with its orphreys in gold. This piece is a favourable specimen of its kind, and very likely was produced at Cologne.

Frontletto an Altar-cloth; ground, diapered white linen; design, embroidery of two large flower-bearing trees, with an uncharged shield between them, and under them inscriptions. German, 16th century. 15¾ inches by 5 inches.

So very like the piece No. 8864 that it would seem to have been wrought by the same hand. To the left we read—“Spes unica, stabat mater;” to the right—“Mater dolorosa juxta crucem,” &c.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, crimson silk; design, two boughs with leaves and flowers twined in an oval form, all in gold thread. German, late 15th century. 10 inches by 4¼ inches.

Graceful in its design, but poor in both its silk and gold, the latter having become almost black.

Pieceof Raised Velvet, brocaded in gold; ground, dark blue; design, a diapering in cut velvet on the blue ground, and large leaves and small artichokes in gold. Italian, early 16th century. 16½ inches by 15¾ inches.

This nicely diapered velvet, of a good pile and sprinkled with a gold brocade, may have been wrought either at Lucca or Genoa. Unfortunately, the gold thread was of an inferior quality.

Silkand Gold Damask; ground, crimson silk; design, broad garlands twined into a net-work, the almost round meshes of which are filled in with a conventional artichoke wreathed with corn-flowers, all in pure good gold,upon a ground specked with gold. Spanish, late 15th century. 22½ inches by 9 inches.

This is a fine rich specimen of an article of the Spanish loom, very likely from Almeria; its crimson tone is fresh and warm, while its gold is as bright now as when first woven into its present graceful pattern.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, gold thread; design, two branches twined into large oval spaces, and bearing leaves and red and white flowers, having, in one space, the name Gumprecht and a shield, applied,or, a spread-eaglesable, langued and armedgules, (may be for Brandenburg); and under this, in the web itself, another shieldor, a lion rampantgules, armed langued and crownedor, and double tailed, seemingly for Bohemia. German, 15th century. 16 inches by 5½ inches.

Though of poor materials, this piece is interesting from showing a name and armorial bearings.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, fawn-coloured silk; design, almost all in gold, sitting on a throne beneath a Gothic canopy the Blessed Virgin Mary, crowned and nimbed, with our Lord as a child upon her lap, alternating with a circle bearing within it the sacred monogram (worked the wrong way) done in blue silk, surrounded by golden rays. German, middle of 15th century. 11¼ inches by 4½ inches.

The design of this orphrey-web is good, but the gold so amalgamated with copper that it has become quite brown. Though the monogram is that usually seen in the hands of St. Bernardinus of Sienna, and the drawing of the group of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the sacred Child is somewhat Italian, this was not the work of any Italians loom; for in no part of Italy would the monogram have had given it letters of such a German type.

SilkDamask; ground and pattern in rich crimson; design, eight-cusped ovals, each cusp tipped not with a flower, but tendrils; the ovals enclose a conventional artichoke purfled with flowers; and the spaces between the ovals are filled in with small artichokes in bloom. Spanish, 15th century. 20 inches by 14¾ inches.

This is a fine specimen both for the richness of its silk and the warm and mellow tint of its ground, upon which the pattern comes out in a duller tone. Further on we shall meet with another stuff,No. 1345, which must have proceeded from the same loom, and shows in its design many elements of the one in this. Either Granada or Almeria produced this fine piece, which affords us, in the brilliancy of its colour, an apt sample of our old poet Chaucer’s dress for one of his characters, of whom he tells us,—“In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle;”and helps us to understand Spenser’s allusion to the young maiden’s blushes:—“How the red roses flush up in her cheekes... with goodly vermill stayne,Like crimson dyde in grayne.”

“In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle;”

and helps us to understand Spenser’s allusion to the young maiden’s blushes:—

“How the red roses flush up in her cheekes... with goodly vermill stayne,Like crimson dyde in grayne.”

“How the red roses flush up in her cheekes

... with goodly vermill stayne,

Like crimson dyde in grayne.”

Webfor Orphreys; ground, crimson silk; design, in gold thread, a straight branch of a tree bearing pairs of boughs with flowers, alternating with other boughs with sprigs of leaves. German, early 16th century. 14½ inches by 2½ inches.

The warp of this web is thick linen thread, and where the woof of crimson silk is worn away, this thread, as if part of the design, shows itself; and, as the gold is poor and sparingly put on, the specimen now looks shabby. Like many other samples of the kind, woven, probably, at Cologne, this was intended as the narrow orphrey on liturgical garments.

AnApparel to an Alb; ground, strong linen; design, within twining boughs bearing flowers and leaves, a dove and a lamb, all in various-coloured silks and outlined in narrow strips of leather. Spanish, early 15th century. 13 inches square.

That the last liturgic use of this piece was as an apparel to an alb there can be little doubt, though, in all likelihood, it may have been cut off a larger piece of needlework wrought for the front border of an altar-cloth. The outline in leather is rather singular; though now black, it was once gilt, like those strips we see cut into very narrow shreds, and worked up, instead of gold thread, into silken stuffs from the looms of Almeria or Granada, specimens of which are in this collection. As an art-production of the needle, this is but a poor one.

RaisedGold Brocaded Velvet; ground, green silk; design, within an oval in crimson raised velvet of a floriated pattern, dotted with flowers and grapes in white, a large trefoil on raised crimson velvet, bearing inside an artichoke in green and gold, springing from a white flower. Italian, 16th century, 11¾ inches by 8 inches.

This tasteful and pleasing design is wrought in rich materials; and large state-chairs are yet to be seen in the palaces of Rome covered with such beautiful and costly velvets.

Silkand Gold Damask; ground, blue silk; design, ogee arches, over the finial of each a large conventional flower, and within and without the arches a slip of the mulberry-leaf and fruit, all in bright gold. Lucca, 16th century. 3 feet 5 inches by 2 feet 4 inches.

This fine rich stuff must have been most effective for wall-hangings. The blue silk ground is tastefully diapered in bright and dull shades of the silk itself; and in the fine gold design the artichoke is judiciously brought in upon the ogee arches. When nicely managed, nothing is better than a ground in one shade and a design in a deeper tone of the same colour.

Silkand Gold Damask; ground, fawn-coloured silk; design, pomegranates piled together in threes, all gold, and flowers in silk alternately crimson and green. Spanish, 16th century. 16¼ inches by 12 inches.

The rich ground of this fine stuff has a well-designed and rather raised diapering of geometrical scroll-work; the pomegranates are wrought in pure gold thread, and the tones of the flowers are bright.

WorstedWork; ground, black; design, flowers. German, 16th century. 21¼ inches square.

Very likely this was part of a carpet, embroidered by hand, for covering the top of the higher step at the altar, called by some a pede-cloth; the ground is of a black worsted warp, with a woof of thick brown thread. The flowers are mostly crimson-shaded pink, some are, or were, partly white, and seem to be made for sorts of the pentstemon, digitalis, and fritillaria; a butterfly, too, is not forgotten.

Cradle-quilt,linen, embroidered in coloured silks with flowers and names. German, late 15th century. 3 feet 4¼ inches by 1 foot 8¼ inches.

At each of its four corners, as well as in the middle, is wrought a large bunch of our “meadow pink;” between the flowers are worked these names,—“Jhesus, Maria, Johanes, Jaspar, Baltasar, Maria,Melchior, Johanes.” From the names assigned to the three wise men, whose relics are enshrined in the cathedral at Cologne, being so conspicuously wrought upon this piece, we may presume that the needlework was done in that great German city. By wear, the greens of the leaves have turned brown, and the pink of the flowers become pale. Those pieces of printed linen with which the holes in two places are mended will not be without an interest for those who are curious in tracing out the origin of such manufactures. Other examples of these cradle-quilts are in this collection.

Cradle-quilt,linen, embroidered in coloured silks; design, within a broad border of scroll-work in simple lines, the emblems of the four Evangelists, one at each corner; of the Crucifixion, with the Blessed Virgin Mary on the right, and St. John to the left, only a small part of the young apostle’s figure is to be found at present. German, early 16th century, 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 2 inches.

Though in mere outline, the whole design was well drawn, and the emblems at the corners have great freedom about them. On the popular use of the evangelists’ emblems upon such baby’s furniture, some observations are given on another good sample,No. 4644, in this collection. A cradle-quilt like the present one occurs at No. 4459.

SilkDamask; ground and pattern in reddish crimson; design, eight-cusped ovals,—each cusp tipped with a flower, ending in a fleur-de-lis above a crown, at top, and enclosing a conventional artichoke purfled with flowers. Spanish, 15th century. 14 inches by 13 inches.

From its present shape, this piece was evidently last in use as the hood to a liturgical cope.

Partof an Embroidered Orphrey; ground (now faded), crimson silk; design, a green silk bough so twined as to end in a long pinnatified leaf or flower, now white but once gold, with little rounds of gold sprouting from parts of the outside branches. German, 16th century. 16¾ inches by 3 inches.

A specimen as meagre in design as it is poor in materials.

Partof an Embroidered Orphrey; ground, crimson silk; design, a green silk bough, &c. German, 16th century. 17½ inches by 5 inches.

In all likelihood a part of the broader orphrey wrought for the same vestment as the one just before mentioned.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, gold thread; design, the fleur-de-lis composed into a geometric pattern, outlined in dark brown silk. German, late 15th century. 14½ inches by 4¼ inches.

Both the brown colour and the design are somewhat rare, as found upon ecclesiastical appliances. Here, as elsewhere, the gold is so poor that it is hardly discernible. Under the canvas lining is a piece of parchment, on which is written some theological matter.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, cloth of gold pricked with crimson; design, the names—“Jhesus,” “Maria,” done in blue silk, between two trees, one bearing heads of crimson fruit, the other lilies, parti-coloured white withcrimson; and the green sward, from which both spring, covered with full-blown daisies in one instance, with unexpanded daisies in the other. German, late 15th century. 17½ inches by 4½ inches.

Like several other specimens in the collection, and most probably woven to be the orphreys sewed, before and behind, in a horizontal stripe, upon the dalmatics and tunicles for high mass. The student of symbolism will not fail to see in the tree to the right hand the mystic vine, bearing bunches of crimson grapes; while, to the left, the tree covered with parti-coloured lilies—white for purity, red for a bleeding-heart—is referrible to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose heart, as she stood at the foot of the cross, underwent all the pains of martyrdom foretold her by Simeon when he said,—“And thine own soul a sword shall pierce,”Lukeii. 35.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, narrow blue spaces alternating with wider crimson ones; design, the name of “Jhesus,” in gold upon the blue, between two borders checkered crimson blue and yellow, the crimson spaces charged with a floriation, alternately gold and yellow; the next blue space inscribed with the name “Maria” in gold. In the names, as well as the floriation, the metal has become tarnished so as to look a dull brown. German, late 15th century. 19 inches by 2¼ inches.

Of such webs there are several specimens in the collection; and their use was to ornament liturgical vestments, in those long perpendicular lines found upon tunicles and dalmatics.

Pieceof Raised Velvet; ground, crimson; design, a conventional artichoke, wreathed with small flowers in green and yellow within a garland of the same colours. Italian, 16th century. 11½ inches by 11 inches.

Pieceof Raised Velvet. A part of the same stuff. Italian, 16th century. 9¾ inches by 1¾ by inches.

Pieceof Raised Velvet. A part of the same stuff. Italian, 16th century. 12½ inches by 1¾ inches.

These three pieces are portions of a material made of excellent rich silk, and of good tones in colour.

Pieceof Raised Velvet, brocaded in gold; ground, crimson; design, an oval with cusps inside and enclosing a large artichoke, the whole wreathed with a garland, and in gold. Italian, 16th century. 2 feet 3¾ inches by 8¼ inches.

This magnificent stuff is rendered still more valuable, as a specimen, from having much of its design of that rare kind of velvet upon velvet, or one pile put over, in design, another but lower pile. The state-rooms of a palace could alone have been hung with such sumptuous wall-coverings. Perhaps church vestments and hangings about the altar may have been sometimes made of such a heavy material.

Pieceof Raised Velvet, brocaded in gold; ground, crimson; design, a cusped oval enclosing a conventional artichoke, and the whole wreathed with a broad garland, all in gold. Italian, 16th century. 18 inches by 7 inches.

This differs both in design and quality from the former, having no pile upon pile in it.

Pieceof Raised Velvet, brocaded in gold; ground, crimson; design, not very clear: though, from what can be observed, it is the same with No. 1352.

Webfor Orphreys; ground, crimson silk; design, in yellow silk and gold thread, between two floriated borders, a series of foliated scrolls, with the open round spaces filled in with the Blessed Virgin holding our Lord as a naked child in her arms, and a saint-bishop wearing his mitre and cope, giving his blessing with one hand, and holding his pastoral staff in the other. Venetian, 16th century. 25 inches by 8¼ inches.

The materials are good, excepting the gold thread, which has turned black, though the large quantity of rich yellow silk used along with it somewhat hides its tarnish. In gearing his loom the weaver has made the mistake of showing the bishop as bestowing his benediction with his left, instead of his right hand.

EmbroideredLinen; ground, very fine linen; design, separated by a saltire or St. Andrew’s cross, lozenges filled in with a Greek cross, and half lozenges, the whole ornamented with circles enclosing other small crosses. Italian, 16th century. 10¾ inches by 3½ inches.

This elaborate design is as delicately worked as it is beautiful in pattern.

SilkDamask; ground, sea-green; design, in the same tint, a conventional foliation of the pomegranate, surrounding a wide broad-banded oval filled in with a large fruit of the same kind. Spanish, early 16th century. 33 inches by 12½ inches.

In the beauty of its design, the rich softness of its silk, and its grateful tone, this is a pleasing specimen of the loom from the south of Spain.

Pieceof Raised Velvet; black; design, foliated branches joined at intervals by royal crowns alternating with vases, and large artichokes in the intervening spaces. Italian, late 15th century. 25½ inches by 21¾ inches.

This truly beautiful velvet was, no doubt, meant for personal attire.

RaisedVelvet; ground, olive-green silk; design, slips with flowers and leaves of a somewhat deeper tone, and outlined in a lighter coloured raised velvet. Lucca, 16th century. 8-⅞ inches by 8¾ inches.

This nicely-wrought stuff of pleasing pattern must have been made for personal attire.

LinenCrochet Work; design, saltires, between crosses formed of leaves, and a modification of the Greek meander. Flemish, 16th century. 21 inches by 7½ inches.

The convents in France, but more particularly in Flanders, were at all times famous for this kind of work; hence it is often called nun’s lace, because wrought by them for trimming altar-cloths and albs. The present one is a good specimen of a geometrical pattern, and the two borders are neatly done by the needle upon linen. In all likelihood this piece was the hem of an altar-cloth.

LinenDamask; design, scrolls and foliage, with a deep border showing ducal coronets, armorial shields, and the letters L and K. Flemish, early 17th century. 28¼ inches by 11½ inches.

An elaborate specimen of the way they geared their looms in Flanders, and more especially at Yprès, where most likely, this fine damask was woven. The shield is party per pale, 1st, two chevronels embattled; 2nd, three turreted towers, two and one. Seemingly this piece of Flemish napery was made for some nobleman whose wife was, or claimed to be, of the ancient blood of the royal house of Castile.

SilkDamask; ground, crimson; design, bunches of flowers, artichokes, and pomegranates, in yellow. Spanish, 16th century. 20 inches by 11¼ inches.

A rich stuff, whether colour or material be considered; and quite agreeing with other specimens in the love of the southern Spanish loom for the pomegranate, the emblem of Granada, where probably it was wrought.

SilkDamask; ground, dull violet; design, within reticulated squares, a conventional bunch of flowers much in the honeysuckle shape, in white and yellow. Italian, 16th century. 6 inches by 7½ inches.

Though the silk is good, the weaving is rather coarse and rough.

SilkDamask; ground, bright crimson; design, a conventional floriation in various-coloured silks. North Italian, 16th century. 9¼ inches by 6¾ inches.

1362.SILK DAMASKCrimson ground with large branching pattern in coloured silk. Italian, 16th century.Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.

1362.

SILK DAMASK

Crimson ground with large branching pattern in coloured silk. Italian, 16th century.

Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.

So thick is this somewhat showy stuff, that it must have been meant for furniture purposes.

SilkDamask; ground, reddish purple; design, slips of three kinds of flower-bearing plants, one of which is the pomegranate. Spanish, late 15th century. 10¾ inches by 6-⅞ inches.

From the south of Spain, and bearing a token, if not of the city, at least of the kingdom of Granada.

Damask,linen woof, silken warp; ground, yellow; design, a conventional floriation, showing a strong likeness to the whole plant of the artichoke, in white linen. Italian, 16th century. 10 inches by 9¾ inches.

A poor stuff in respect to materials, colour, and design; which latter is the best element in it. Intended for household decorative purposes.

Damask,silk woof, linen warp; ground, light red, now faded; design, vases filled with flowers, in yellow silk. Italian, late 16th century. 24 inches by 22 inches.

No doubt this stuff was meant for hangings in a palace or dwelling-house; and among the flowers may be seen the bignonia or trumpet-flower, and the pomegranate opening and about to shed its seed.

LinenDiaper; design, square made out of four leaves. Flemish, late 16th century. 20 inches by 9 inches.

The pattern, though so simple, is very pleasing, and the stuff itself speaks of Yprès as being the place of its origin.

SilkTaffeta; ground, purple; design, amid boughs, a pair of birds, with an artichoke between them, all in orange-yellow. Sicilian, 14th century. 9¾ inches square.

This light thin stuff, quiet in its tones and simple in its pattern, must have been wrought for lining robes of rich stuffs.

SilkDamask; ground, white satin; design, amid flowers, among which the chrysanthemum is very conspicuous, a group, consisting of a man inside a low fence looking upwards upon a blue lion and a golden tiger, seemingly at play, side by side, one of which is about to be struck by a long spear held by a man standing above, within a walled building. Just over him stands another man with a short mace in one hand, in the other a small bottle, out of which comes a large bough of the pomegranate tree in leaf, flower, and fruit. Chinese, 16th century. 2 feet 6¾ inches by 10¾ inches.

For the soft warm tints of its several coloured flos-silks, the pureness of the gold thread upon the human faces, the animals and the flowers,the correctness of the drawing, and the well-arranged freedom of the whole pattern, there are few pieces that come up to this in the whole collection. In all likelihood it was brought from China, perhaps made up as a liturgical chasuble, by some Portuguese missionary priest, in the latter portion of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century.

Dalmatic;ground, blue silk; design, narrow bands charged with circles enclosing a word in imitated Arabic, and conventional flowers separating two hounds couchant, gardant, each within his own circle, all in gold, and a large conventional floriation, at the foot of which are two cheetahs collared, courant, face to face, all in white silk, slightly specked with crimson, and between this group two eagles, in white silk, flying down upon two small hounds, sejant, gardant, both in gold. The orphreys, broad and narrow, are embroidered with heraldic shields set upon a golden ground. Sicilian, 14th century. 3 feet 5½ inches by (across the sleeves) 4 feet 2¾ inches.

Some ruthless hand has cut away from the back a large square piece of this vestment; and, to adopt it to modern fashion, its sleeves have been slit up at the under side. The armorial bearings are, on one shield, a chiefor,gules, three stars, two, and oneargent; on the other,purpure, two arrows in saltireor.The cheetahs are well marked by the round spots upon them; and when new, this stuff, with its pattern so boldly figured, must have been pleasing.

The cheetahs are well marked by the round spots upon them; and when new, this stuff, with its pattern so boldly figured, must have been pleasing.

Pieceof Cut-work, for wall-hanging; ground, square of blue and red, with the upper border blue, the side one red; design, at top, knights and ladies talking, and each within a separate arch; in the body of the piece, the history of some dragon-slayer, figured in two horizontal rows of compartments, every one of which is contained within an archway witha head composed of three trefoil arches in a straight line, and resting on trefoil-brackets, and having, all through, birds and flowers in the spandrils. French, late 14th century. 7 feet 11 inches by 3 feet 4 inches.

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