8322.
Piece of Velvet, dark blue, figured with a pomegranate kind of pattern. Italian, end of the 15th century. 17-3/4 inches by 14-1/2 inches.
Lucca seems to be the place where this specimen of a deep-piled
and prettily designed velvet was produced; and a mediæval conventionality
hung about the pencil of its designer, as we may observe in
the scrolls or featherings stopped with graceful cusps which go round
and shut in those modifications of the so-called pine, really an artichoke,
and the pomegranate pattern.
Though equally employed for secular as well as sacred purposes, such velvets, in their latter use, are often found in the remains of copes, chasubles, &c. and altar-frontals.
8323.
Portion of a Chasuble, in figured velvet; the ground, purple, with a pomegranate pattern in yellow, green, and white, with a broad yellow scroll. Genoese, middle of 16th century. 2 feet 3-1/4 inches by 1 foot 9 inches.
Genoa had earned for itself a notoriety, about this period, for its
velvets, wrought in several colours, and the present piece seems no bad
specimen of the style. By the warp of cotton and the thin low pile of
its silken woof we learn that Genoese velvets varied much in the richness
of their materials, and, in consequence, in their cost. This piece
was once in a chasuble, as we may see by the bend, to fit the neck,
in the upper part.
8324.
Piece of Silk and Linen Tissue; pattern, white crosses on ground of crimson, barred with purple, yellow, and green. German, 16th century. 4 inches square.
