8672.
Part of an Orphrey, embroidered upon linen, in coloured silks, and figured with St. Anthony and a virgin martyr-saint, both standing beneath Gothic canopies. Rhenish, late 15th century. 1 foot 9 inches by 3-3/4 inches.
Notwithstanding the embroidery be somewhat coarse, like much of
the same kind of work at the period, it is so far valuable as it instructs
us how three methods were practised together on one piece. The
canvas ground was left bare at the faces and hands, so that the features
of the one and the joints of the other might be shown by appropriate
stitches in silk. Pieces of golden web, cut to the right size, were
applied for the upper garments of the figures, and the folds shaded by
hand in red silk, and the borders of the robe edged with a small cording,
while all the rest of the work was filled in with needlework. The
closely fitting scull-cap, but more especially the staff ending in a tau-*cross,
indicate St. Anthony, but the female saint cannot be identified;
her long hair flowing about her shoulders signifies that she was a virgin,
and the green palm-branch in her right hand indicates that she underwent
martyrdom.
8673.
Piece of Raised Velvet; ground, yellowish pink, the raised velvet, bright crimson; pattern, a large compound floriation within a circle formed by small hooked lines having flowers at the cusps, and the round itself springing out of a somewhat smaller floriation. Flemish, 16th century. 2 feet 3 inches by 1 foot 1-3/4 inches.
