1289A.
Part of a Maniple, silk damask; ground, fawn-coloured; design, an ovate foliation amid small lions and large monster beasts and birds, in light blue silk, excepting the small lions all in gold, and the heads and claws of the others in the same metal. Sicilian, late 13th century. 21-1/2 inches by 6-1/2 inches.
The two articles were evidently parts of the same maniple; a
liturgical appliance of such narrow dimensions that we cannot make out
the entire composition of the very fine and admirably drawn design upon
the stuff, out of which it was cut originally. From what is before us
we perceive that there were a pair of small lions, face to face, all in
gold, a pair of wyverns segreant in green, a pair of griffins passant, with
heads of gold, and a pair of other large animals, antelopes, with their
horned heads and cloven hoofs in the same metal; slight indications of
the fleur-de-lis here and there occur.
1290.
A bishop's Liturgical Shoe, of silk and gold damask; ground, crimson silk; design, eagles, in couples, at rest, in gold, amid foliations in green silk; a small piece on the left side of the heel is of another rich stuff in gold and light green. Italian stuff, 14th century. 11-1/2 inches.
Such old episcopal liturgic shoes are now great rarities; and a
specimen once belonging to one of our English worthies, Waneflete,
is given in the "Church of our Fathers," t. ii. p. 250; it is of rich silk
velvet, wrought with flowers, and still kept at Magdalen College, Oxford,
built and endowed by that good bishop of Winchester. In the present
example we have, in its thin leather sole for the right foot, a proof that
making shoes right and left was well known then.
