8359.
Chasuble of Silk Damask, green and fawn-coloured, freckled in white with small flowers, inscriptions, and other ornaments; the pattern, in bands, consists of a large fan-like flower-bearing plant, and a double-handled vase, from which shoots up the thin stem of a tree between two hunting leopards collared, and addorsed, with an Arabic inscription beneath the vase, both plant and vase occurring alternately; these bands are separated by a narrower set of bands divided into squares enclosing birds of prey alternately gardant segeant. Syrian, late 13th century. 9 feet 5 inches by 4 feet.
This stuff betrays a few lingering traditions of the Persian style of design, and some people will see in the little tree between those hunting leopards the “hom,” or sacred tree of the olden belief of that country. The material of it is thin and poor, and in width it measures twenty-one inches. The characters under the vase holding the leopards and “hom,” are but an imitation of Arabic, and hence we may presume that it was woven by Jewish or Christian workmen for the European market, and to make it pass better, as if coming from Persia, inscribed as best they knew how, with Arabic letters, or imitations of that alphabet.