Though everything is small in the design of this piece, it is remarkably pleasing. The way in which the boughs are twined is quite graceful, and the foliage very good.
8284.
Piece of Light Crimson Silk and Gold Tissue. This small bit of a large pattern shows a crested bird plucking a bell-shaped flower. Italian, early 15th century.
Unfortunately this scrap is so small as not to exhibit enough of the original design to let us know what it was; but, to judge by the ends of some wings, we have before us sufficient to see that, when entire, it must have consisted of large birds, and have been bold and telling.
8285.
Piece of Light Crimson Silk and Gold Tissue; the pattern is a diapering, all in gold, formed of a tree with a lioness sejant regardant beneath it, and a bird alighting on a flower, the centre of which is spotted with stamens of blue silk. North Italian, beginning of the 15th century.
This specimen is valuable both for its rich materials and the effective way in which the design is brought out.