- ing albs, surplices, and other linen garments used in the ceremonial of
the Church. The crimson ornament of silk sprinkled with large spangle-like plates of silver gilt, and struck with a variety of patterns, is another of various instances to show how the goldsmith's craft in the middle ages was brought into play for ornaments upon silk and other textiles; and the liturgical student will be glad to see in this specimen an instance, now so very rare, of an old amice, with its strings, but more especially its apparel, in its place; about which see "Church of our Fathers," t. i. 463.
8308.
Piece of Embroidery in Silk, on linen ground; the subject, partly needlework, and partly sketched in, represents the Adoration of the three Kings. German, 14th century. 12 inches square.
Though in the style of that period, it is roughly done, and by no
means a good example.
8309.
Piece of Silk and Gold Tissue; the ground, lilac-blue; the pattern, in gold, represents the Annunciation. Florentine, late 14th century. 17-3/4 inches by 12 inches.
This is another of those many beautiful and artistic exemplars of the
loom given to the world, but more especially for the use of the Church,
by North Italy, during the 14th and 15th centuries. The treatment of
the subject figured on this fragment—the Annunciation—is quite typical,
in its drawing and invention, of the feelings which spread themselves
all over the sweet gentle Umbrian school of painting, from the days of
its great teacher the graceful Giotto. The lover, too, of ecclesiastical
symbolism will, in this small piece, find much to draw his attention
to it: the dove, emblem of the Holy Ghost, is in one place flying
down from heaven with an olive-branch, and hovers over the head
of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in another place, it stands at rest behind
her, and bearing in its beak a lily-like flower; the angel Gabriel,
clothed in a full, wide-flowing alb, carrying in his left hand a wand*
