8649.
Piece of Woollen Carpet; ground, red; pattern, a green quatrefoil bearing three white animals. Spanish, late 14th century. 1 foot 11 inches by 1 foot 1 inch.
A most unmistakeable piece of mediæval carpeting; the lively tone
of its red is yet bright. The quatrefoils are quite of the period, and
look like four-petaled roses barbed, that is, with the angular projection
between the petals. So unlion-like are the animals, that we may not
take them as the blazon of the Kingdom of Leon.
8650.
Piece of Silk Damask; ground, crimson; pattern, the so-called artichoke in yellow and green, lined white, and foliage of green lined white. Spanish, 15th century. 1 foot 9 inches by 1 foot 4-1/2 inches.
A good example of this showy pattern, once so much in favour, and
of which the materials are very good and substantial; much of the
yellow portions of the design was in gold thread, the metal of which
has, however, almost all gone. From the quantity of glue still sticking
to the hind part of this silk, its last destination would seem to have
been the covering of some state room.
8651.
The "Vernicle," embroidered in silk, and now sewed on a large piece of linen. Flemish, middle of 15th century. 9-1/2 inches by 7-1/2 inches; the linen, 2 feet 10-1/2 inches by 2 feet 9 inches.
To the readers of old English literature, especially of Chaucer, the
term of "Vernicle" will not be unknown, as expressing the representation
of our Saviour's face, which He is said to have left upon a
napkin handed Him to wipe His brows, by one of those pious women
who crowded after Him on His road to Calvary. It is noticed, too, in
the "Church of our Fathers," t. iii. p. 438. This piece of needle-*work
seems to have been cut off from another, and sewed, at a very
