8581.
Portion of an Orphrey; ground, crimson silk; pattern, stars of eight points, within squares, both embroidered in gold. 14th century. 5½ inches by 2 inches.
This is one of the very few specimens which have pure gold, or perhaps only silver-gilt wire, without any admixture of thread in it, employed in the stars and narrow oblong ornaments in the embroidery, the wire itself being stitched to its grounding by thin linen thread. The large and small squares, as well as the borders, are executed in gold-twisted thread, very poor of its kind. The glittering effect of the pure metal-wire is very telling.