8246.
Piece of Border, of silk and gold thread, pale purple ground, with pattern of animals and flower (?) ornament. Sicilian (?). 10-1/2 inches by 1-1/4 inches.
From age, the design of the pattern is so very indistinct that it becomes
almost a puzzle to make it out.
8247.
Three Pieces of Silk, orange-red ground, with yellow pattern, apparently composed in part of grotesque animals. Oriental, 13th century. 6 inches by 4-1/2 inches; 3 inches by 2-1/2 inches; 4-1/2 inches by 2 inches.
This last piece shows signs of having been waxed, and probably is
the fragment of a cere-cloth for the altar, to be placed immediately on
the stone table, and under the linen cloths.
8248.
Piece of Tissue, woven of silk and linen; ground, Tyrian purple, with a Romanesque pattern in white. Moresco-Spanish, 13th century.
The design of this specimen is very effective; and, as the materials
of this stuff are poor and somewhat coarse, we may perceive that, even
upon things meant for ordinary use, the mediæval artisans bestowed
much care in the arrangement and sketching of their patterns.
8249.
Piece of Silk; purple ground, and yellowish pattern in lozenge forms, intersected by interlaced knots. Byzantine, end of the 12th century. 6-1/2 inches by 5 inches.
The knots in this piece are somewhat like those to be found upon
Anglo-Saxon work, in stone, and in silver and other metals; and the
lozenges powdered with Greek crosses, and stopped at each of the four
corners of the lozenge by a three-petaled flower ornament—not, however,
a fleur-de-lis,—make this piece of stuff remarkable.
