1244-1244C.
Pieces of Damask; ground, gold; design, in crimson silk, broad round hoops, marked with a golden floriation, and enclosing a lion passant, the spaces between the hoops filled in with a floriated square topped by fleur-de-lis. Sicilian, 14th century. Each piece about 4½ inches square.
When whole the design of this rich stuff must have been effective, and the fragments we here have prove it to have been sketched in a bold free style. Unfortunately, so bad was the gold that, in places, it has turned green. The warp is of a thick linen thread, but, though it gives a strength to the texture, is not to be perceived upon its face.
1245.
Piece of Silk and Gold Damask; ground, crimson silk; design, a net-work formed by cords twined into circles enclosing four V’s, put so as to form a cross, and the meshes filled in alternately with a flower and a leaf, each surrounded by a line like an eight-petaled floriation, all in gold thick thread. Sicilian, 14th century. 5 inches by 4¾ inches.
The way in which the pattern affects the form of a cross in its design is remarkable.
1246.
