Silk and Gold Damask; ground, crimson silk much faded; design, harts collared and flying eagles amid foliage, all in gold. Sicilian, 14th century. 2 feet 8 inches by 1 foot.
In this spirited pattern the running harts in the upper row have caught one of their hind-legs in the cord tied to their collar, and an eagle swoops down upon them; in the second row, the same animal has switched its tail into the last link of the chain fastened to its collar, and an eagle seems flying at its head, as it screams with gaping beak. The last use of this specimen of so magnificent a stuff appears to have been as part of a curtain (with its 15th century poor parti-coloured thread fringe) for hanging at the sides of an altar.
1305.
Embroidered Lappet of a Mitre; ground, linen; design, beneath a tall niche, a female in various coloured silks and gold; and under her, within a lower-headed niche, a male figure after the same style. German, late 14th century. 17½ inches by 3 inches.
The high-peaked canopy, with its crocketing and finial well formed and once all covered with gold, holds a female figure, crowned like a queen, with the banner of the Resurrection in one hand and a chalice, having on it the sacred host, in the other, which may be taken for the person of the Church, while the majestic prophet beneath her seems to be Malachi holding a long unfolded scroll significative of those words of his relating to the sacrifice in the New Law. In the embroidery of the figures this piece very much resembles the style of needlework in the part of an orphrey, No. 1313. In his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 2 Lieferung, pl. xii. Dr. Bock has given figures of this curious lappet.
1306, 1306A.
Silk Damask; ground, fawn-coloured; design, amid sunbeams, raindrops, and foliage, large birds clutching in their talons a scroll charged with a capital letter R thrice repeated, all in light green. Sicilian, late 14th century. 13 inches by 6½ inches; and 8 inches by 3¾ inches.