1269.
SILK AND GOLD DAMASK. Sicilian, 14th century.
Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.
Though not so spirited in the drawing of its pattern, and the gold so poor and bad that it has become almost lost to the eye, this stuff is a valuable item in the collection. The eagle, with its double head, and wings displayed, would lead to the belief that it had been wrought to the order of some emperor of Germany, or for some Sicilian nobleman who cherished a love for the house of Hohenstaufen.
1270.
Part of a Maniple; ground, cloth of gold; design, in needlework, St. Blase and St. Stephen. English or French, 13th century. 12 inches by 6½ inches.
Both with regard to its golden cloth, and the figures upon it, this piece is very valuable. The stuff is of that kind which our countryman, John Garland, tells us was wrought by young women at his time, and shows, in its grounding, a pretty zig-zag pattern. The two kneeling figures, though done in mere outline of the scantiest sort, display an ease and gracefulness peculiar to the sculpture and illuminations in England and France of that period. St. Blase is shown us vested in his chasuble and mitre—low in form—with a very long grey beard, and holding a comb in one hand—the instrument of his martyrdom; St. Stephen is robed as a deacon, and kneeling amid a shower of large round stones, pelted at him on all sides.
1271.
