8319.
Piece of Silk Damask, slate blue ground, with winding borders of cinnamon colour, enclosing pomegranates wrought in gold thread and white silk. Flemish, middle of 16th century, 2 feet 6-1/2 inches by 2 feet.
Though elaborate in design and rich in gold, this piece is not happy
in its colours. Its use must have been for the court and palace, but
not for the church, and the whole is loom-wrought, and nothing about
it done by the needle.
8320.
Orphrey, woven of crimson wool and white linen thread. The pattern is of flowers and leaves on a trellis of branches, in which appear the names of "Jhesus," "Maria." German, end of 15th century. 2 feet 8-1/2 inches by 2-3/4 inches.
In this textile the warp is of white strong linen thread, the woof of
crimson wool; and stuffs of such cheap materials were wrought to
serve as orphreys to tunicles and dalmatics worn by deacon and sub-*deacon
at high mass, and in processions, as well as for trimming other
adornments for church use; the liturgical girdle neither is, nor ever
was made, according to the Latin rite, of so broad a width, nor after
such a fashion; in the Greek ritual, broad girdles are in use.
The weavers of laces for carriage-trimming, or the adornment of state liveries, will in this specimen see that, more than three hundred years ago, their craft was practised in Germany; and Cologne appears to have been the centre of such a loom production.
8321.
Piece of Satin Damask, ground of golden yellow, covered with a rich pattern in rose-colour. French (?), middle of the 16th century. 2 feet 10-1/2 inches by 11 inches.
In this specimen we observe how the designs for textiles were gradually
losing the conventional forms of the mediæval period.
