A curious mixture of silk, wool, linen thread and gold very sparingly employed. The ostrich feather is so unusual an element of ornamental design, especially in woven stuffs, that we may deem it a kind of remembrance of the Black Prince who fought for a Spanish king, Don Pedro the Cruel, at the battle of Navaretta, or Najarra, if not having a significance of the marriage of Catherine of Arragon, first with our Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII, and after his death, with his younger brother, Henry VIII, each of whom was in his time Prince of Wales, whose badge became one or more ostrich feathers. In old English church inventories drawn up towards the middle and the end of the 15th century, mention is often found of vestments made of a Flemish stuff, called Dorneck, from the name in Flanders for the city of Tournay, where it was made, but spelt in English various ways, as Darnec, Darnak, Darnick, and even Darnep. Such an inferior kind of tissue woven of thin silk mixed with wool and linen thread, was in great demand, for every-day wear in poor churches in this country. Though not wrought at Tournay, the present specimen affords a good example of that sort of stuff called Dorneck, which, very probably, was introduced into Flanders from Spain. Besides the present textile, another, figured in the “Mélanges d’Archéologie,” t. iii. pt. xxxiii, furnishes an additional instance in which the ostrich feather is brought into the design.
7059.
Green Silk Damask; pattern, floriations and short lengths of narrow bands arranged zig-zag. Italian, 17th century. 8 inches by 6½ inches.
An extraordinary but not pleasing pattern.
7060.
Silk and Linen Damask; ground, creamy white; pattern, in light brown, once pink, a conventional artichoke. Italian, 16th century. 1 foot 5 inches by 9½ inches.
The warp is thread, but still the texture looks well.