This specimen of the German loom may have been woven at Cologne, probably for the narrow orphreys of a whole set of vestments given to the church by some Duchess of Cleves, of the name of Elizabeth Vancleve, since, to such a lady, the blazon and the inscription point. The shield is party per pale gules, an escarbuncle or; and purpure, a lion rampant argent, barred gules, ducally crowned and armed or.
8645.
Piece of Linen; ground, light brown; pattern, small blue squares or lozenges, separated into broad bands by narrow stripes, once ornamented with green lozenges and bordered all along by red lines. German, 15th century. 1 foot by 7 inches.
The warp and woof are linen thread; the green of the narrow
stripes, from the small remains, appears to have been woollen.
8646.
Fragment of a Piece of Silk and Gold Embroidery on Linen; ground, as it now looks, yellow; pattern, interlacing strapwork, forming spaces charged with the armorial bearings of England, and other blazons, rudely worked. 14th century. 5 inches by 3-1/2 inches.
So faded are the silks, and so tarnished the gold thread used for the
embroidery of this piece, that, at first sight, the tinctures of the blazon
are not discernible. In the centre we have the three golden libards or
lions of England, and the silk of the ground or field, on narrow examination,
we find to have been scarlet or gules; immediately below is a
shield quarterly, 1 and 4 or, a lion rampant gules, 2 and 3 sable, a lion
rampant or; immediately above, a shield gules, with three pales azure (?),
each charged with what are seemingly tall crosses (St. Anthony's) or;
above, the shield of England; but to the right hand, on a field barry of
twelve azure and or, a lion rampant gules; below this shield, another,
on a field or, two bars sable; these two shields alternate on the other
side. The strapwork all about is fretty or, on a field gules.
