Piece of Silk Damask, sky-blue and white; pattern, intersecting ribbons with flowers in the spaces. French, late 16th century. 9¾ inches by 4¾ inches.
A very agreeable specimen of the taste of the period and country, as well as grateful to the eye for the combination and management of its two colours in such a way that neither overmatches the other—a beauty often forgotten by the designers of textiles, but to be found in several other examples of the mediæval loom in this collection.
8353.
Dalmatic of Yellow Silk, damasked with a pattern of the pomegranate form, in raised velvet, of a lightish green tint. The tissue, Italian, late 15th century; the embroidery and inscriptions, German, late 15th century. 7 feet 8 inches by 4 feet 3 inches.
This fine dalmatic—for the liturgical use of which the reader may consult the “Church of our Fathers,” t. i. p. 375—is rather curious for the way in which the two very singular tassels hanging on the back from the shoulders are ornamented. These usual appendages are in this instance made of remarkably long (15 inches) flakes of white, red, and deep-brown silken thread, and, instead of silk nobs at the end of the cords, have large round balls of rock crystal. The orphreys, or stripes, down both sides, before and behind, are 2½ inches broad, woven in gold and charged with squares of flower-bearing trees, and inscribed in blue with “Jhesus,” “Maria.” The fringes on the two lower borders of the dalmatic, 3½ inches deep, are alternately red, green, white, and blue, and those on the sides and around the sleeves are much narrower. The sleeves themselves from being 18 inches wide at the shoulder become as narrow as 12 inches towards the wrist. The two apparels on the upper part, before and behind, are woven in gold, and measure 16½ inches in length, and 5¼ inches in breadth; the one on the back just under the neck is figured with three golden-grounded squares, the centre one ornamented with a crimson quatrefoil, barbed, and enclosing a various-coloured conventional flower; the other two, with a green tree blossomed with red flowers: the apparel across the breast is inscribed with the names, in large blue letters, of “Jhesus,” “Maria.” Half way down the back hangs, transversely, a shield of arms quarterly, one and four gules, two bars argent, between seven fleurs-de-lis, or, three, two, and two; two and three, sable two bars, argent: as a crest, a full-forward open-faced helmet, with six bars all gold, surmounted by a pair of horns barred sable and argent, with mantlings of the same. This blazon, according to English heraldry, would indicate that the giver of this splendid vestment—and very likely it was only one of a large set—could boast, by showing the golden five-barred full-forward helmet, of royal blood in his pedigree, and was not lower than a Duke in title. Dr. Bock has figured this finely-preserved dalmatic in his “Geschichte der Liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters,” 4 Lieferung, pt. vii. fig. 1.
8354.
A Cope of Crimson Raised Velvet; pattern of the so-called pomegranate design. The orphreys and hood embroidered on a golden ground; the latter with the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the former, with various saints. Velvet, Spanish, the embroidery, German, both of the end of the 15th century. 10 feet 8 inches by 5 feet 8 inches.