with foliage all about them; on the second, a dog chasing a hart, both in gold, and between two cable ornaments in gold, and two scrolls of roving foliage, in light green pricked with white. Sicilian, late 14th century. 18 inches by 12 inches.
The beautiful and boldly-drawn pattern of these beasts and birds in
pairs, and succeeding each other, is not duly honoured by the materials
used in it; the quantity of thread is large, and the gold of the poorest
sort.
1300.
Silk Damask; ground, blue; design, in yellow, a net-*work done in ovate geometrical scrolls, and the meshes filled in with geometrical lozenges, and others showing an ornamentation of singular occurrence, somewhat like the heraldic nebule. Lucca, early 15th century, 10-1/2 inches by 7-1/2 inches.
After a pattern that seldom is to be found on mediæval stuffs.
1301.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, bright crimson silk; design, in gold, fruit of the pomegranate, mingled with flowers and leaves of another plant. South of Spain, 15th century. 9 inches by 8-3/4 inches.
At a distance this stuff must have shown well, but its materials are
not of the first class; though lively in tone, the silk is poor, and its gold
made of that thin gilt parchment cut into flat shreds, like other examples
here—Nos. 8590, 8601, 8639, &c.
1302.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, fawn-coloured faded from crimson, in silk; design, large eagles perched in pairs, with a radiating sun between them, and beneath the rays dogs in pairs, running with heads turned back
