8614.
Piece of Silk Damask; ground, light brown; pattern, the same colour, palmettes and rosettes, with Arabic sentences repeated. Attached is a piece of green silk wrought with gold. Sicilian, 14th century. 16-1/4 inches by 15-1/2 inches.
A quiet but rich stuff, and especially noticeable for its Arabic or
imitated Arabic inscriptions, one within the rosettes, the other all round
the inner border of the palmettes or elliptical ornamentations. The
cloth of gold is plain.
8615.
Piece of Linen, block-printed in a pattern composed of birds and foliage. Flemish, late 14th century. 1 foot 9 inches by 3 inches.
Of this kind of block-printed linen, with its graceful design in black
upon a white ground, there are other good examples (Nos. 7027 and
8303) in this collection. From the marks of use upon its canvas lining,
this long narrow strip would seem to have once served as an apparel to
an amice in some poor church.
8616.
Portions of Crimson Silk, brocaded in gold; the pattern, angels holding crescents beneath crowns, from which come rays of glory, and hunting leopards seizing on gazelles. Italian, end of 14th century. 2 feet 8-3/4 inches by 2 feet.
This rich stuff betrays in its design an odd mixture of Asiatic and
European feeling; we have the eastern hunting lion spotted and collared
blue, pouncing on the gazelle or antelope, which is collared too; so far
we have the imitation, but without lettering, of a Persian or Asiatic
pattern. With this we find European, or at least Christian, angels,
