Textile Fabrics / A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Church-vestments, Dresses, Silk Stuffs, Needlework and Tapestries, forming that Section of the Museum

by Daniel Rock

8287.

Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue, on a red ground; a design in green, relieved by bands of scroll-pattern, with an eagle’s head and neck in gold and flowers in white and dark purple. Sicilian, 15th century. 12¼ inches by 12 inches.

When new this tissue must have been very showy, but now the whole of its pattern is somewhat difficult to trace out. The way in which the large eagle’s head and neck are given, resting upon a broad-scrolled bar, is rather singular; so, too, is the listing or border, on one side charged with a small but rich ornamentation, amid which may be detected some eaglets.