The figures are well done, and all show the varieties of process then brought into use; they were worked on canvas, of which the portions for the face and hands were left untouched, saving by the few slight stitches required for indicating the hair and features of the countenance and indications of the fingers. Some of the dress was cut out of woven cloth of gold and sewed on; other parts worked with the needle, as were such accessories as books, instruments of martyrdom, and other such emblems. The knight, probably the giver of the chasuble, is meant to be indicated by his blazon, which is a shield or charged with eight torteaux in orle, and this is surmounted by a golden helmet with mantling, and a crest, consisting of golden horns fringed with four torteaux each. The ground upon which the embroideries are set is rich, and woven with golden wheel-like circles with wavy, not straight, spokes upon a bright red field.
8671.
Fragment of an Orphrey, woven in gold and coloured silks; pattern, intertwining brambles of the wild rose, bearing flowers seeded and barbed. German, beginning of the 16th century. 7¾ inches by 4½ inches.
Though the ground is, or rather was, of gold, so sparingly was the precious metal bestowed upon the thread, that it has been almost entirely worn away. The same may be said of the very narrow tape with which, on one of its edges, it is still bordered.
8672.
Part of an Orphrey, embroidered upon linen, in coloured silks, and figured with St. Anthony and a virgin martyr-saint, both standing beneath Gothic canopies. Rhenish, late 15th century. 1 foot 9 inches by 3¾ inches.
Notwithstanding the embroidery be somewhat coarse, like much of the same kind of work at the period, it is so far valuable as it instructs us how three methods were practised together on one piece. The canvas ground was left bare at the faces and hands, so that the features of the one and the joints of the other might be shown by appropriate stitches in silk. Pieces of golden web, cut to the right size, were applied for the upper garments of the figures, and the folds shaded by hand in red silk, and the borders of the robe edged with a small cording, while all the rest of the work was filled in with needlework. The closely fitting scull-cap, but more especially the staff ending in a tau-cross, indicate St. Anthony, but the female saint cannot be identified; her long hair flowing about her shoulders signifies that she was a virgin, and the green palm-branch in her right hand indicates that she underwent martyrdom.