This piece of needlework with its figures, as well as its architectural accessories, wrought in gold thread, though rude in its execution, is not without an interest. In it the liturgical student will find the half of an apparel (for it has been unfeelingly cut in half at some remote time) for the lower hem in front of the linen garment known as the alb. Originally it must have consisted of seven figures; one of our Lord, in the middle, sitting upon a throne in majesty with the Α on the one side and the Ω on the other side of His nimbed head, and His right hand uplifted in the act of bestowing His benediction. To the left must have been three apostles; to the right are still to be seen the other three, nearest our Saviour, St. Peter, holding in his left hand a double-warded key, next to him St. Simon, with his right hand in the act of blessing, and holding in his left a saw fashioned not like ours, but as that instrument is still made in Italy, and last of all St. Philip, but without any symbol. What look like half-moons with a little dot in the inside, and having a cross between them, are nothing more than the word “Sanctus,” thus contracted with the letter S written as the Greek sigma formed like our C, a common practice in Italy during the middle ages, as may be seen in the inscriptions given by writers on Palæography.
Our Lord is seated within an elongated trefoil, and, at each corner at the outward sides, is shown one of His emblems, better known as the Evangelists’ symbols hinted at by the prophet Ezekiel, i. 10: of these, two are very discernible, the winged human bust, commonly called St. Matthew’s emblem, at top, and the nimbed and winged horned ox or calf for St. Luke. The Apostles all stand within round-headed arches, the spandrils of which are filled in with a kind of diaper ornamentation.
8227.
Piece of Crimson Silk, with pattern woven in gold thread. Sicilian, early 13th century. 10½ inches by 7 inches.
This rich sample of the looms of Palermo betrays the architectural influences, which acted upon the designers of such stuffs, by the introduction of that ramified ornamentation with its graceful bendings, that is so marked a character in the buildings of England and France at the close of the 12th and opening of the 13th century. The fleur-de-lis is rather an accidental than intentional adaptation, years before the French occupation of Sicily.
8228.
Piece of Purple Silk Embroidery in gold and silver; pattern of interlaced dragons, human figures, and birds. North German, 12th century. 8½ inches by 7¼ inches.
This small sample of needlework is as remarkable for the way in which it is wrought, as for the wild Scandinavian mythology which is figured on it.