4461.
Linen Table-Cover; pattern, a wide floriation done in white and yellow threads; in the centre, a flag couchant within a wreath. German, late 16th century. 5 feet 4 inches by 4 inches.
Free in design and easy of execution.
4462.
Embroidery on Silk Net; ground, crimson; pattern, branches twined into ovals, and bearing flowers and foliage, in various-coloured silks, and heightened, in places, with gold and silver thread. Italian, late 17th century. 2 feet 8 inches by 9 inches.
A very pleasing and exceedingly well-wrought specimen of its style.
Like in manner, but much better done than the examples at Nos. 623,
624. No doubt it was meant for female adornment.
4522.
Altar-frontal; embroidered in the middle with nine representations of the birth, &c. of our Lord; and four passages from the Saints' lives on each side, all in gold and various-coloured silks, upon fine linen. Italian, 14th century. 4 feet 3 inches by 1 foot 8 inches.
This frontal is said to have been brought from Orvieto; but in
it there is nothing about the celebrated relic kept in the very beautiful
and splendid shrine in that fine cathedral. So very worn is this
piece of embroidery, that several panels of it are quite indistinct. It
may be, however, distinguished into three parts—the centre and the
two sides. In the first we have, in nine compartments, the Annunciation,
the Nativity, the coming of the Wise Men, the Blessed Virgin
Mary, with St. Joseph, going to the temple and carrying in a basket
