Fig. 421. Stamped gilt and painted leather hangings illustrating a pictorial arrangement of pattern.
Leather was used instead of tapestry for the hangings of rooms in the 16th century, and was beautifully gilded and chased. (Consult “L’Art de travailler les Cuirs dorés ou argentés,” by M. Fougeroux de Bondary, in “Description des Arts et Metiers,” 1762.) (Fig. [421].)
Leaves, Her. Their peculiarities are blazoned as laurel leaf, oak leaf, &c.
Leaves, Leafage. (See Foliage.)
Lebes, Gr. (λέβης; λείβη, to pour out). A brass saucepan or caldron (pelvis, ahenum); it was a deep vessel with swelling sides. It was sometimes made with a pointed bottom to fit into a stand, which was called Incitega.
Lebiton, Lebitonarium. (See Colobium.)
Lecanê, Gr. A drinking-bowl used by the Etrurians (basin-shaped, with a lid).
Lectern. A reading-desk in a Christian church; most frequently of brass in the form of an eagle, but often decorated with more elaborate emblems.
Lectica, R. (lectus, a couch). A couch or litter carried by bearers, used both by men and women; it was introduced from the East, and was quickly adopted in Greece and Rome. The Greek litter had a roof made of the skin of an ox, and the sides covered with curtains. Among the Romans it was seldom used excepting for travelling, until the luxurious days of the empire, when the lectica became a very splendid affair. It was sometimes constructed with gold and ivory, and instead of curtains it was closed at the sides, with windows of transparent stone (lapis specularis). When standing, it rested on four feet. It was borne upon poles (asseres) by two or more slaves, and was called hexophron, octophron, &c., according to the number of lecticarii employed to carry it.
Lecticula. Dimin. of lectica; it denoted a litter for the conveyance of the sick, or a bier on which a dead body was carried out.