4016.
Bed-quilt; ground, cherry-coloured satin; pattern, birds amid flowers and foliage, in the centre a double-headed eagle, displayed. East Indian (?), early 17th century. 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 10 inches.
The satin is poor, and its colour faded; but the embroidery, with
which it is plentifully overspread, is of a rich, though not tasty, kind.
Birds of extraordinary, and, no doubt, fanciful plumage are everywhere
flitting about it, among flowers as unusual as themselves; but the
glowing tones of the many-coloured silks in which they are wrought
must strike every one's eye. From the double-headed eagle, done in
gold, with wings blue, yellow, and green, displayed, it would appear
that this quilt was wrought for some (perhaps imperial) house in
Europe.
4018.
State-cap, of crimson velvet turned up with white satin, which is faced with crimson velvet, and all embroidered in gold and silver threads. German (?), late 17th century. 14-1/2 inches by 10 inches.
By a very modern hand the words "King Charles" are written
upon the green silk lining; what Charles, however, is not mentioned.
There is much about the shape of the cap itself, and especially in the
design of its embroidery, to induce the belief that it was wrought and
fashioned by a German hand, and for German and not English use.
In a piece of tapestry once belonging to the famous Bayard, and now
in the Imperial Library at Paris, the same form of high-crowned crimson
velvet cap is worn by Pyrrhus while he is being knighted, as may be
seen, plate 42, in Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations of the Middle
Ages," t. ii, borrowed from Jubinal's fine work on "Early Tapestries."
