8357.
Piece of Carpet; ground, dark blue; pattern, a large so-called pomegranate design in light blue, spotted with flower-like circles, white and crimson (now faded). At each end it has a border in red, blue, green, white, and yellow lines. Spanish, 16th century. 9 feet 3 inches by 8 feet 6 inches.
The warp, as in the foregoing example, is of hempen thread, the woof of worsted; and this textile was woven in breadths 4 feet 3 inches wide. In all likelihood this piece of carpeting, valuable because very rare now, served as the covering for the steps that led up to the altar, and corresponded to what in some old English church inventories were called pedalia, or pede-cloths:—“Church of our Fathers,” i. 268. Finer sorts were spread on high feast days upon the long form where sat the precentor with his assistant rulers of the choir, or upon the stools which they separately occupied. Ib. ii. 202.