4457.
Table-cover of white linen, figured in thread, with the "Agnus Dei," or "Holy Lamb," in the middle, and the symbolic animals of the four Evangelists, one at each corner. German, late 16th century. 6 feet 3 inches by 5 feet 8 inches.
For its sort and time there is nothing superior to this fine piece of
needlework. About the evangelic emblems, as well as the Lamb in
the centre, there is a freedom and boldness of design only equalled by
the beauty and nicety of execution, making the piece altogether quite
an art-work. The little dogs chasing the young harts, as well as the
rampant unicorns, but especially the bird of the stork-kind preening its
feathers, and the stag looking back at the hound behind, all so admirably
placed amid the branches so gracefully twining over the whole field,
show a master's spirited hand in their design. Unfortunately, however,
none of its beauty can be seen unless, like a piece of stained glass, it be
hung up to the light. Its use was most likely liturgic, and occasions for
it not unfrequently occur in the year's ritual round; and on Candlemas-*day
and Palm Sunday it might becomingly have been spread over the
temporary table on the south side of the altar, upon which were put,
for the especial occasion, the tapers for the one service, and the palm-branches
for the other, during the ceremony of blessing them before
their distribution.
4458.
Linen Napkin; the four corners embroidered in crimson thread. German, 17th century. 3 feet by 2 feet 6-1/2 inches.
The design consists of a stag at rest couchant, and an imaginary
figure, half a winged human form, half a two-legged serpent, separated
by a flower of the centaurea kind. This is repeated on the other side
of the square, up the middle of which runs an ornamentation made out
of a love-knot, surmounted by a heart, sprouting out of which is a stalk
bearing a four-petaled flower, and then a stem with the usual cornflower
at the end of it. To all appearance, this linen napkin was for
household use.
