4457.
Table-cover of white linen, figured in thread, with the “Agnus Dei,” or “Holy Lamb,” in the middle, and the symbolic animals of the four Evangelists, one at each corner. German, late 16th century. 6 feet 3 inches by 5 feet 8 inches.
For its sort and time there is nothing superior to this fine piece of needlework. About the evangelic emblems, as well as the Lamb in the centre, there is a freedom and boldness of design only equalled by the beauty and nicety of execution, making the piece altogether quite an art-work. The little dogs chasing the young harts, as well as the rampant unicorns, but especially the bird of the stork-kind preening its feathers, and the stag looking back at the hound behind, all so admirably placed amid the branches so gracefully twining over the whole field, show a master’s spirited hand in their design. Unfortunately, however, none of its beauty can be seen unless, like a piece of stained glass, it be hung up to the light. Its use was most likely liturgic, and occasions for it not unfrequently occur in the year’s ritual round; and on Candlemas-day and Palm Sunday it might becomingly have been spread over the temporary table on the south side of the altar, upon which were put, for the especial occasion, the tapers for the one service, and the palm-branches for the other, during the ceremony of blessing them before their distribution.