The velvet is put on pasteboard. In the centre, left uncovered, a larger enamel must have been let in; upon the four small circular and unembroidered spaces of the velvet, lesser enamels, or precious stones, were sewed.
2865.
Frame for enamels; ground, crimson velvet; pattern, scrolls in raised gold embroidery. French, late 17th century. 8 inches by 7 inches.
Though differing in its colour, this is evidently the fellow to the
one just mentioned.
4015.
Mitre; crimson and gold velvet. Florentine, 15th century. 1 foot 10-1/2 inches by 11 inches.
This liturgical curiosity is of that low graceful shape which we
find in most mitres before the 16th century; in all probability this
one was made not for real episcopal use, but to be employed in the
service of the so-called boy-bishop who used, for centuries, to be chosen
every year from among the boys who served in the cathedral, or the
great churches of towns, at Christmas-tide, as well in England as all
over Christendom; (see "Church of our Fathers," t. iv. p. 215). As
the rubrical colour for episcopal mitres is white, or of cloth of gold, a
crimson mitre is of great rarity. The one before us is made of those
rich stuffs for which Florence was so famous, as may be instanced in
the gorgeous vestments given to Westminster Abbey by our Henry VII.
The mitre itself is of crimson velvet, freckled with gold threads,
raised in a rich pile upon a golden ground, with green fringed lappets;
but the "titulus," or upright stripe before and behind, along with the
"corona," or circular band, are all of a kind of lace or woven texture
of raised velvet, green, white, and crimson, after a pretty design,
upon a golden ground. The mitre is lined throughout with light-blue
silk.
