8128.
Apparels to an Alb; figured with the birth of the B. V. Mary, in the upper one; and in the lower, the birth of our Lord; with two armorial shields alternating between the spandrils of the canopies. English needlework, on crimson velvet, and in coloured silks and gold thread, done in the latter half of the 14th century. Each piece 2 feet 8½ inches by 10½ inches. Presented by Ralf Oakden, Esq.
In many respects these two apparels, seemingly for the lower adornment of the liturgical alb, one before, the other behind, are very valuable; besides the subjects they represent, they afford illustrations of the style of needlework, architecture, costume, and heraldry of their time.
In the upper apparel, we have the birth and childhood of the mother of our Lord, as it is found in one of the apocryphal books of the New Testament, entitled,—“Evangelium de Nativitate S. Mariae,” which the Latins got from the Greeks, as early, it would seem, as the second or third age of the Church. Though of no authority, this book was in especial favour with our countrymen, and it was not unfrequently noticed in their writings; hence, no doubt, the upper apparel was suggested by that pseudo-gospel. In its first compartment, we behold a middle-aged lady, richly clad, having a mantle of gold, lined with vair or costly fur, about her shoulders, seated on a cushioned stool with a lectern, or reading-desk before her, and upon it an open book of the Psalms, with the beginning of the fiftieth written on its silver pages,—“Miserere mei, Deus,” &c., and outstretching her hands towards an angel coming down from the clouds, and as he hails her with one hand, holds, unrolled, before her eyes, a scroll bearing these words:—“Occurre viro ad portam.” This female is Ann, wife of Joachim, and mother of Mary; and the whole is thus set forth in the Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti; where the angel, who appeared to her while she was at prayer, is said to have spoken these words:—“Ne timeas, Anna, neque phantasma esse putes.... Itaque surge, ascende Hierusalem, et cum perveneris ad portam quæ aurea, pro eo quod deaurata est, vocatur, ibi pro signo virum tuum obvium habebis,” &c.—Evangelium de Nativitate S. Mariae, c. iv. in Cod. Apocry. ed. Thilo, pp. 324, 325. This passage is thus rendered in that rare old English black-letter book of sermons called “The Festival,” which was so often printed by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and other early printers in London:—“Anne was sory and prayed to God and sayde, Lorde, that me is woo. I am bareyne, and I may have noo frute ... and I knowe not whyther he (Joachim my husband) is gone. Lorde have mercy on me. Whene as she prayed thus an angell come downe and comforted her, and sayd: Anne, be of gode comfort, for thou shalt have a childe in thyne olde age, there was never none lyke, ne never shall be ... and whan he (Joachim) come nye home, the angell come to Anne, and bade her goo to the gate that was called the golden gate, and abide her husbonde there tyll he come. Thene was she glad ... and went to the gate and there she mete with Joachim, and sayd, Lord, I thanke thee, for I was a wedow and now I am a wyfe, I was bareyne and now I shall bear a childe ... and whan she (the child) was borne, she was called Mary.”—The Festival, fol. 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.