8233.
Piece of White Silk, with rich pattern of circles enclosing leopards and griffins, and a diaper of scrolls and birds. Oriental, 13th century. 1 foot 11 inches by 9 inches.
Like the piece immediately preceding, this too comes to us with an
account that it once formed a part of the white silk imperial tunic
belonging to the same holy Emperor Henry II, and was cut off from
that garment now preserved in the Maximilian Museum in the royal
palace at Munich. That it could have been wrought so early as the
beginning of the 11th century, that is, about the year 1002, we are
hindered from believing by the style of the ornamentation of this very
rich stuff. As a specimen of the Arabic loom in the 13th century it is
most valuable, and looks as if its designer had in his mind Persian
traditions controlled by Arabic ideas while he drew its pattern. A
remembrance of the celebrated Persian Hom, or sacred tree, which
separates both the griffins, the leopards, and the birds—seemingly peacocks
in one place, long-tailed parrots in another—was clearly before
him. The griffins are addorsed regardant and sketched with spirit; so
too are the leopards, which are collared, and like the "papyonns," or
present East Indian "cheetahs," of which mention is made at No.
8288. Altogether this pattern, which is thrown off with so much
freedom, is among the most pleasing and effective in the collection, and
the thickness of its silken texture renders it remarkable.
8234.
Piece of Purple Silk, double-dyed, the pattern formed of squares filled in with a Greek cross amid conventional ornaments. Sicilian, 12th century. 7-1/2 inches by 9 inches.
The warp is of linen thread, the woof of silk, and as the two
materials have not taken the dye in the same degree, the ground is of
quite another tone from the pattern, which is, in a manner, fortunate,
as thus a better effect is produced.
