The weaving of letters in textiles is neither a Moorish nor Saracenic invention; ages before, the ancient Parthians used to do so, as we learn from Pliny: “Parthi literas vestibus intexunt.” A curious illustration of the frequent use of silken stuffs bearing letters, borrowed from some real or supposed oriental alphabet, is the custom which many of the illuminators had of figuring on frontals and altar canopies, evidently intended to represent silk, meaningless words; and the artists of Italy up to the middle of the sixteenth century did the same on the hems of the garments worn by great personages, in their paintings.
The eagle, single and double-headed, may frequently be found in the patterns of old silks. In all ages certain birds of prey have been looked upon by heathens as ominous for good or evil. Upon the standard which was carried at the head of the Danish invaders of Northumbria was figured the raven, the bird of Odin. This banner had been worked by the daughters of Regnar Lodbrok, in one noontide’s while; and it is recorded by Asser that if victory was to follow, the raven would seem to stand erect and as if about to soar before the warriors; but if a defeat was impending, the raven hung his head and drooped his wings. Another and a more important flag, that which Harold fought under at Hastings, is described by Malmesbury as having been embroidered in gold with the figure of a man in the act of fighting, and studded with precious stones, woven sumptuously.
In still earlier ages the eagle, known for its daring and its lofty flight, was held in high repute; as the emblem of power and victory it is to be seen flying in triumph over the head of some Assyrian conqueror, as may be witnessed in Layard’s work on Nineveh. Homer calls it the bird of Jove. Quintus Curtius says that a golden eagle was carved upon the yoke of the war chariot of king Darius, as if outstretching his wings. The Romans bore the bird upon their standards; the Byzantine emperors kept it as their device; and, following the ancient traditions of the east and heedless of their law that forbids the making of images, the Saracens, especially when they ruled in Egypt, had the eagle figured on several things about them, sometimes single at others double-headed, which latter was the shape adopted by the emperors of Germany as their blazon; in which form it is borne to this day by several reigning houses. It is not strange, therefore, that eagles of both fashions are so often to be observed woven upon ancient and eastern textiles.
As early as 1277 Exeter cathedral reckoned among her vestments several so decorated; for instance, a cope of baudekin figured with small two-headed eagles: and Richard king of Germany, brother of Henry the third of England, gave to the same church a cope of black baudekin with eagles in gold figured on it. These are recorded in the inventories printed by Dr. Oliver; and many like instances might be noticed in other lists.
Ladies carding and spinning; from MSS. of the fourteenth century, in the British museum.
CHAPTER VI.
Hitherto no attempt has been made to distribute olden silken textiles into various schools; but the numerous specimens in the admirable collection at South Kensington enable us to separate them into several groups—Chinese, Persian, Byzantine, Indian, Syrian, Saracenic, Moresco-Spanish, Sicilian, Italian, Flemish, British, and French. We shall now especially refer to that collection.
The Chinese examples are not many: but, whether plain or figured, they are beautiful in their own way. From all that we know of the people, we are led to believe that their style two thousand years ago is the same still; so that the web wrought by them this year or three hundred years ago, like no. 1368, would differ hardly in a line from their far earlier textiles; of which Dionysius Periegetes wrote that “the Seres make precious figured garments, resembling in colour the flowers of the field, and rivalling in fineness the work of spiders.” In these stuffs, warp and woof are of silk and both of the best kinds.