Pil ^ * * -% s o » A . • ^ • «» ft * . *' ■#ft' ■• ft. V ' > :i / ' • * * -# ,-v 4 * ♦ ■ # .1 I •< - # * ^ • jl . • * * ^ 4 , * T ’ ■ # ’ A, * • ^ .* • • • ‘ *♦ '♦ 1 . « > * • # f "• m \ * i .*• ’ V B A A "» # ft # • * •fi* ft ^ ft ft-^. o o ft 15 •f • ‘ft .4 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS . M ■s' . V- ' r 'ii Ji" t* ( ) Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/ornamentineuropeOOcole Part of the painting of St. Catherine by Carlo Crivelli — 15th century — in the National Gallery (Fig. 51) ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS BY ALAN S. COLE author of ancient needle- point AND PILLOW I.ACE AND CANTOR LECTURES ON THE ART OE LACE MAKING ^ THE ART OE TAPESTRY MAKING AND EMBROIDERY ^ EGYPTIAN TAPESTRY ^ AND MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING ANCIENT EMBROIDERIES AND LACES ETC WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY -NINE ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON DEBENHAM AND FREEBODY B. T. BATSFORD, 94 HIGH HOLBORN BUTLER & Tanner, The Selwood Printing works FROME, AND LONDON. ™ GETTY Rzcrw:':: :: [’T-rrruTn: Preface About three years ago Messrs. Debenham & Freebody invited me to help them in selecting, classifying, and describing specimens which were included in their Exhibition of Ancient Embroideries and Brocades — held in their galleries in Wigmore Street. Amongst the specimens were several of remarkable interest and beauty ; and the exhibition accordingly attracted much public attention. In the course of my connection with it, we discussed the compilation of a book upon Ornament in European Silks, and I was asked to undertake it. Messrs. Debenham & Freebody were desirous that its aim should be educational, that it should be fully illustrated, and rendered as far as possible a handy book of reference for the designer of patterns and ornaments based upon typical precedents, for the silk manufacturer, and for the amateur. I have tried to keep this aim in constant view. A very large number of the illustrations are from examples preserved in the comprehensive collection of textiles at the South Kensington Museum, as well as from others, many of which have passed through the hands of Messrs. Debenham & Freebody, whose position in the silk trade has enabled them to obtain from time to time fine specimens of ancient fabrics and textile designs. PREFACE On finally passing my book for publication, I confess to feeling that my readers may find that I have put their patience to too strong a strain by asking them to refer repeatedly backwards and forwards from illustration to illustration, and thus to make their own comparisons between different and kindred plans of pattern and pattern details. The late Prof. Huxley has written that “ comparison and that classification which is the result of comparison are the essence of every Science whatsoever.” The course of pattern development, even in silks only, is worth tracing according to the methods adopted for scientific studies: I therefore venture to hope that the tax I have imposed upon my readers is justified. I fear that my work, which has had to be done in leisure hours in a rather disjointed way, does not possess that coherency, finish of phraseology and lucidity of expression which as a rule make the reading of books delightful even when they deal with subjects more difficult of treatment than Ornament in Silks. ALAN S. COLE January, 1899 Contents Page PREFACE vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi Chapter I INTRODUCTORY i Chapter II THE MANUFACTURE OF SILKEN STUFFS IN EUROPE .... 4 Chapter III MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN WEAVING SILKS, EMBROIDERIES, AND TAPESTRIES 13 Chapter IV PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN THE DESIGNING OF ORNAMENT 22 Chapter V SILK PATTERNS OF SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, AND BYZANTINE ORIGIN 28 Chapter VI SILK PATTERNS OF SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN ORIGIN 42 Chapter VII 15TH and early 16TH CENTURY ITALIAN PATTERNS . ix 70 CONTENTS Page Chapter VIII i6TH century ottoman and ITALIAN PATTERNS .... 96 Chapter IX 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS 116 Chapter X ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY 148 X List of Illustrations Fig. Page 1. Circular Bands or Roundels ........ , 2g 2. Bas-reliefs in archway to the Garden of King’s Palace, near Kermanchah . . 30 3. Piece of Persian Silk or Sarcenet ........... 31 4. Two pieces of Perso-Byzantine red Silk woven in colours ..... 32 5. Piece of Byzantine yellowish Silk Sarcenet, from the Vestment of St. Bernard of Clairvaux .............. 32 6. Piece of Byzantine double Silk Weaving ......... 33 7. Parallel Band Byzantine pattern plan .......... 34 8. Piece of Perso-Byzantine Silk (Sarcenet) woven in colours . • ■ • • 35 9. Plan of Ogival Frame for patterns .......... 35 10. Outline drawing of Byzantine creamy Satin Stuff ....... 36 11. Piece of Perso-Egyptian Silk or Sarcenet, woven in pink and white ... 36 12. Caps of Perso-Egyptian or Syrian Silk or Sarcenet ....... 37 13. Portion of a Perso-Egyptian Band or Clavus for a Tunic ..... 38 14. Medallion of Silk or Sarcenet, from Ancient Tombs at Akhmlm (Panopolis), Upper Egypt 38 15. Part of a Band or Clavus of Silk or Sarcenet for Robe, from Ancient Tombs at Akhmim ............... 39 16. Band of Perso-Egyptian Silk or Sarcenet for the Cuff of a Robe .... 39 17. Half of Scarf of Silk or Sarcenet, from Ancient Tombs at Akhmim ... 40 18. Piece of Egypto-Saracenic Fine Linen with parallel bands of Ornament in coloured Silks ................ 44 19. Piece of Egypto-Saracenic Fine Linen with bands of coloured Silks ... 45 20. Copy of portion of a Siculo-Saracenic Silk Vestment of the 12th century . 45 21. Part of a Siculo-Saracenic Vestment of the 12th century ...... 46 22. Part of the Robe of Don Felipe, brother of King Alfonso X. . . . . .46 23. Piece of Hispano-Saracenic Silk, woven in parallel bands ..... 47 24. Piece of Hispano-Saracenic Silk, woven in colours ....... 48 25. Piece of Hispano-Saracenic yellow and purple Silk Damask ..... 49 26. Piece of Egypto-Saracenic yellow and red Silk Weaving on linen warp threads . 49 27. Piece of Siculo-Saracenic 12th century Brocade ........ 49 28. Piece of Siculo-Saracenic 12th century Silk Damask ....... 50 29. Piece of French or German Brocade .......... 50 30. Piece of Italian violet or fawn-coloured Silk Damask or Lampas . . . -51 31. i2th or 13th century piece of Silk and Linen Weaving, possibly of French or German origin .............. 52 32. Piece of Stuff woven with red silk and gold thread. French or German . . 52 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. Page 33. Piece of Stuff woven with crimson and yellow silk and gold thread ■ ■ • 53- 33a. Billet or scale-shaped framework ........... 53 34. Piece of a raised white Silk Damask brocaded ........ 54 35. Sicilian Silk Damask with gold brocaded details ........ 55 36. Piece of Siculo-Saracenic Silk and gold-thread Brocade ...... 56 37. Piece of late 13th century Siculo-Saracenic Weaving ...... 56 38. Part of an Italian Chasuble of green and fawn-coloured Silk Damask ■ • ■ 57 39. Piece of Italian brocaded Silk Damask .......... 58 40. Portion of group from 14th century Painting in Norwich Cathedral ... 58 41. Figure from 14th century Painting of the Crucifixion in Norwich Cathedral . . 59 42. North Italian rose-colour gold brocaded Silk ........ 59 43. North Italian brown Silk brocaded with gold thread ....... 60 44. Piece of North Italian brown and pale blue Silk ....... 6i 45. North Italian rose-coloured and green Silk ......... 61 46. Part of North Italian Dalmatic of blue Satin ........ 62 47. Piece of North Italian blue Satin brocaded with gold thread ..... 62 48. Piece of blue Satin brocaded with gold thread ........ 65 49. North Italian Silk Damask ............ 65 50. Figures from Orcagna’s Painting of the Coronation of the Virgin .... 63 51. 15th century Painting of St. Catherine, by Carlo Crivelli .... Frontispiece 52. Part of Liturgic Vestment of violet and gold-coloured Silk Damask or Lampas . 66 53. Portions of two Orphreys of crimson Silk and gold thread Damask ... 67 54. Conventional Leaf Panels ............ 71 55. Diagram of Pattern of Italian Silk of the 15th century ...... 72 56. Painting by Carlo Crivelli in the National Gallery ....... 73 57. Recumbent figure of Carlo Marsupini in the Church of Sta. Croce, Florence . 75 58. Specimen of Italian green Velvet with conventional leaf panels .... 77 59. Diagram of an Italian Velvet of the 15th century ....... 78 60. Vertical serpentine pattern painted on robe of St. Paul, from Southwold Church rood screen .............. 79 61. Diagram from an Italian Velvet of the 15th century ....... 80 62. Diagram of another type of Italian Velvet pattern ....... 80 63. Italian Velvet of dark blue and green conventional leaf shapes and serpentine stems on a ground of crimson Silk ......... 81 64. Portion of a Painting by Romanino at Padua ........ 82 65. Painting of a Canon of the Church, by Gheraert David, in the National Gallery. 83 66. Two Panels of Cloth of Gold and red Velvet ........ 84 67. Group of Figures from the painting of the “ Upright Judges ” by Jean de Maubeuge 85 68. Specimen of Italian 15th century Velvet ......... 86 69. Portion of Painting, by Marco Marziale, in the National Gallery .... 87 70. Italian white Satin, with Damasked leaf-shaped Ornaments ..... 89 71. Piece of Italian faded rose-colour Satin Damask ....... 90 72. Specimen of yellow and blue Silk Damask or Lampas ...... 91 73. Painting by Bernardino Fungai in the National Gallery ...... 93 74. Fragment of Turkish green Velvet brocaded with gold thread, from Broussa . 92 75. Portion of a Hanging of Cloth of Gold with pattern in red and yellow Velvet, of Ottoman manufacture ............ 97 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Fig. 76. Portion of a Dress of a Sultana, removed from a royal tomb at Constantinople or Broussa .............. 98 77. Piece of crimson Satin with pattern woven in white and gold, of Ottoman manufacture .............. gg 78. Piece of crimson Velvet with powdered pattern, of Ottoman manufacture . . 99 79. Portrait of Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, painted by Titian . . . 100 80. Portrait, probably of Princess Mary of England, by Holbein .... loi 81. Piece of patterned Italian crimson Velvet ......... 102 82. Piece of Italian Cloth of Silver or Silver Tissue ..... . . 103 83. Piece of green Silk Brocatelle with ogival frame, patterns, and crowns . 104 84. Piece of Italian red and yellowish Silk Damask or Lampas ..... 104 85. Mother and Child, from a painting by Paul Veronese ...... 105 86. Portrait by Paris Bordone ............ 106 87. Portrait of Eleonore of Toledo, Duchess of Florence, with her son, Ferdinand I., by Bronzino .............. 107 88. Italian Brocatelle of red and gold-coloured Silk ....... 108 8g. Brocatelle of brown and gold-coloured Silk ........ 109 90. Italian Brocatelle of crimson Silk . . . . . . . . .110 gi. Part of a Venetian Hanging of Cloth of Gold . . . . . . . m 92. A piece of Italian red and yellow Silk Taffeta . . . . . . . .112 93. Piece of Taffeta material woven with green, red, and yellow Silks . . . 112 94. Piece of crimson Satin of Ottoman manufacture . . . . . .113 95. Portion of an Italian Cloth of Silver material woven with coloured Silks . .113 g6. Piece of Italian Hanging of Brocatelle . . . . . . . . .114 97. Piece of Italian crimson Satin Damask . . . . . . . . .115 g8. Portion of Chasuble in Silk Damask or Lampas . . . . . . .115 99. Piece of Italian gold-coloured Silk Weaving of the Brocatelle class . . .117 100. Piece of Italian dark green Silk Velvet . . . . . . . . .118 101. Piece of Italian Silk Lampas . . . . . . . . .118 102. Piece of Italian Silk Lampas . . . . . . . . . . . iig 103. Piece of Italian yellow Satin with pattern in silver thread . . . . .120 104. Piece of Italian Silk Lampas . . . . . . . . . .120 105. Piece of Italian Silk Velvet ............ 121 106. Painting by Cornelius de Vos of his two daughters . . . . . .121 107. Piece of Italian red Satin ............ 122 108. Portion of an Italian patterned Silk Hanging . . . . . . . .123 109. Part of an Italian Chasuble of patterned white Silk ...... 124 no. Piece of French cream-coloured Silk Damask ........ 125 111. Portrait by Franz Hals ............ 126 1 12. Piece of French patterned brown silk . . . . . . . . .127 113. Portrait of Donna Maria of Austria, by Velasquez ....... 128 1 14. Piece of Italian brocaded Damask drab-coloured Satin . . . . . .129 1 15. Piece of Venetian brocaded blue Satin Damask ....... 129 1 16. Piece of Italian brocaded crimson Silk Damask ....... 130 117. Piece of Italian Hanging of Cloth of Silver ........ 131 1 18. Piece of Italian coloured Velvet ........... 132 iig. Piece of Italian brocaded crimson Silk Damask ....... 133 \Iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. Page 120. Portrait of Elizabeth Charlotte d’Orleans, by Hyacinthe Rigaud .... 134 121. Piece of French crimson Silk Damask ......... 135 122. Piece of French or Italian Brocade .......... 13& 123. Piece of Milanese Silver and Gold brocaded Satin ....... 137 124. Piece of Gold and Silver Brocade (? Polish) ........ 13S 125. Piece of French red Satin Brocade .......... 139. 126. Piece of French olive green Silk Damask ........ 140 127. Piece of French brocaded black Silk .......... 140' 128. Piece of French coloured Silk Brocade ......... 141 129. Piece of French coloured Silk Brocade ......... 142 130. Piece of French Brocaded pink Silk .......... 143 131. Piece of French ribbed Silk Brocade ......... 144 132. Portrait of Queen Maria Leczinska, by Van Loo ....... 145 133. Piece of French pale blue and white Silk Brocade ...... 134. Piece of French brocaded white Silk Damask ........ 147 135. Portion of Child’s Tunic worked in wool on linen ....... 150 136. Medallion or circular panel from Egypto-Byzantine Linen Tunic .... 150- 137. Part of a Coptic figured Medallion on a Linen Tunic ...... 151 138. 13th century Outline Pattern Scheme or framework ...... 151 139. Part of a 12th century Altar Frontal of Canvas worked with Worsted . . . 152 140. Cope of embroidered Canvas, known as the Syon Cope ...... 155 141. Cope of English embroidered red Satin ......... 161 142. Panel of Italian embroidered Canvas .......... 163 143. English Altar Frontal made from Cope of red velvet ...... 165 144. Flemish embroidered Hood for Cope representing the Martyrdom of St. Margaret 167 145. Painting of St. Roderigo, by Murillo .......... 168 146. Two Panels or Apparels for a Dalmatic of crimson Velvet ..... 169 147. Three Bands or Orphreys of applique Embroidery ....... 170- 148. Portrait of Charles IX. of France, by Francis Clouet ...... 171 149. Specimens of Italian i6th Century Embroideries upon linen ..... 172 150. Indo-Portuguese Coverlet of Linen, quilted with crimson and yellow silks . . 173. 151. Embroidered Coverlet of white Cotton ......... 175 152. Part of an Embroidered Coverlet of white Linen ....... 179 153. Portion of an Embroidered Coverlet of dark-blue Satin ...... 181 154. Coverlet of white Satin embroidered with coloured silks ..... 183 155. Cap or Hood of Linen worked with coloured Silks; and Tunic of embroidered white Satin .............. 185 156. Portrait, possibly of Queen Elizabeth, in Embroidered fancy costume . . . 188^ 157. Portrait of Queen Elizabeth in Embroidered dress ....... 189 158. Cushion Cover of embroidered brown Silk ........ 19O' 159. Portion of an Italian 17th century Wall or Pilaster Hanging .... 191 160. An Italian 17th century Chalice Veil ......... 192. 161. An Italian 17th century Embroidered Altar Frontal ...... 193. 162. Early 17th century English Embroidered Panel ....... 195 163. A 17th century English Embroidered Casket or Box ...... 196- 164. Another view of the same ............ 197 165. Red Silk Scarf, as worn by military officer in the 17th century .... 198 .\iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. Page i66a. A 17th century French Velvet Pouch or Alms Bag, embroidered with Arms of the City of Paris ............. 201 i66b. A 17th century French Velvet Pouch or Alms Bag, embroidered with Arms of Cardinal the Duke de Matignon .......... 2or i66c. A 17th century French Velvet Pouch or Alms Bag, embroidered with Arms of the Marquis de Jessac ............ 201 i66d. A 17th century French Velvet Pouch or Alms Bag, embroidered with shields and armorial bearings ............ 201 167. Part of a set of white Satin Bed Embroideries ....... igg 168. Two English i8th century Embroidered white Satin or Silk Waistcoats . . 202 i6g. Two English i8th century Embroidered Coats ....... 203, XV 1 rt \ ■ J '8 . Jt iSt .1 t -■ . 0 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY N otwithstanding the comprehensiveness of the title, Ornament in European Silks, which has been taken for this book, it is not intended that it shall pass here as that of an exhaustive account of decorative silk works from the earliest times, when they became known and were made in Europe, down to the present day. For a little pondering over what can be written under such a title conjures up possibilities of several volumes. A serious analysis of ornament, its styles and their interdependence, would of itself imply a very big undertaking. And although by limiting ornament to that expressed in silken fabrics and by silk threads, the subject becomes specialized, a wide way is left open to much that is interesting in connection with silk, its cultivation, its treatment for use either in the loom or by the needle, its varying textures and effects in decorative weavings and embroideries, to say nothing of their historical associations and innumerable archaeological problems. More than forty-four years ago Monsieur Francisque Michel wrote two large quarto volumes upon silks, chiefly in France alone. The title of this admirable compilation — invaluable to any one going thoroughly into the subject — is, Recherches sur le Commerce, la Fabrication et I'nsage des ctojfcs de soie, d'or et d’argent, ct autrcs tissus prccieux cn Occident, principalement en France poidant le Moyoi Age. A quantity of information is given in it in respect of silk in its connection not merely with France, but also with other countries. Unfortunately these volumes contain no illustrations, and a considerable effort of imagination is required in order to picture or realize the true impressions intended to be conveyed by the verbal descriptions given of mediaeval ornament in silks. Since the publication of Monsieur Michel’s book, however, a great deal has been done to help students to familiarize themselves with patterns and textures of olden stuffs. Important collections of such things have been formed at several places in Europe : at Nuremberg, at Lyons, Crefeld, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, and elsewhere. These, supplemented by what are to be seen in cathedral and other ecclesiastical treasuries, in private I 15 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS houses, castles, mansions, etc., furnish a mass of materials, the attempted identification of which with the fabrics described or alluded to by Monsieur Michel and other later writers, leads, and has led, to prolific and ingenious speculations as well as to many sound conclusions. The evidence upon which an assumed proof of identification has been based is often very slender — and many ascriptions of date and nationality of production to old textile specimens have been found to be erroneous. Tombs have delivered up splendid tissues, rich in ornament, which were piously wrapped round illustrious dead according to a common custom that prevailed for many centuries ; but accurate records of who the illus- trious dead were are often wanting, as well as those of where the precious fabrics originally came from. Traditions, apparently of great age, which seemed unimpeachable, have been exploded and found to be quite value- less. Nevertheless, as the discovery and careful preservation of textiles have progressed during later years, means have thereby been secured for approaching to more correct views upon the date and nationality of certain distinctive styles of textile patterns. The comparison of kindred stuffs is now rendered relatively easy to any one who wishes to make it. And so too is the comparison of the patterns in such stuffs with what seem to be representations of them in paintings, architectural monu- ments, and other works of art. Many of these latter bear indisputable marks of their authorship and age, and so become the means of at least fixing the date, and frequently the probable nationality, of patterned stuffs themselves. These remarks particularly apply to early stuffs — those be- longing to and prior to tbe i6th century. In regard to later textiles, a few manufacturers’ and designers’ books of examples and patterns supply reliable indications of the periods when certain varieties of decorated textiles were in vogue. Up to a certain point, the nearer one gets to re- latively modern times the more precise are the means for determining the nationality and date of specimens. But as the accumulation of textile fabrics has gone on growing, and acquaintanceship formed with many styles of ornament, confusion in them and odd anachronisms have very largely occurred, not only in attempts to revive old styles, and in making what are termed new departures, in designing patterns, but also in bring- ing together for so-called decorative purposes varieties of ornamented stuffs which cannot, from a purist’s point of view, be happily correlated. In determining how to use decorative and ornamental silks the effect of their patterns in colour and form is a main consideration. "Varieties in texture are perhaps of less importance ; though they certainly must be taken into account in any effectual study of silken fabrics. The methods of weaving and embroidery, which the expert can always trace in stuffs. 2 INTRODUCTION have often proclaimed the probable origin and date of manufacture, and a valuable guide in regard to silk weaving is the book entitled Les Industries de la Sole, by Monsieur Pariset, published in 1890. The late Lady Marian Alford and the late Mrs. Bury Palliser have also compiled highly interest- ing works upon embroidery. Many large volumes of illustrations, printed in colours, and so skilfully produced as to look like actual bits of stuff, woven and embroidered, have been published during the last twenty years or so : such as Fischbach’s Ornaments of Textile Fabrics and Dupont Auberville’s Orncment des Tissiis. By reason of their comparative costliness these works are not very generally consultable by the mass of persons who wear, make use of, and are interested in silks. For the purposes of the present work we have to content ourselves with black and white illustrations. As far as possible the effect of the original colours is described. The plates can but suggest gradations of tone. They give with considerable accuracy the contours of the ornamental shapes and their arrangement, and these after all are important data for forming a useful idea of the style or character of design in patterns of ornamental textiles whether woven or embroidered. Briefly, then, the object aimed at in this book has been to give indications of distinctive types or styles of patterns in silken weavings and embroideries, noting the periods and places of their production. In con- nection with this some analysis of their features has been attempted, and some account has been given of modifications of styles in ornament, as kindred motives, forms and arrangements of them into patterns have been successively dealt with by designers in different countries and at different times. An abridged account of the development of silk cultivation and manufacture is given, and methods of weaving and embroidery are alluded to ; and thus it is hoped that within the prescribed limits a general review of ornament in European silks is now presented, and is of such a nature as to indicate the far greater extent to which interesting and useful studies of this subject may be pursued. 3 CHAPTER II THE MANUFACTURE OF SILKEN STUFFS IN EUROPE R ecords and other evidence of European taste and trade in silk stuffs take one far back into the early days of the medijEval period. Without proposing to make a selection from such records in order to present a view of European silk weaving from those remote times, I refer to one or two of them at the outset as samples merely of their suggestiveness in relation to any history of silk and its manufacture. For instance, the old chronicler, Matthew of Paris, mentions that, in the 8th century certain Syrian silk merchants settled in Paris to promote their particular commerce. This, at any rate, shows that Syria was engaged in the silk industry at the beginning of the Mediaeval period, and that at that early date a taste for silken fabrics had penetrated as far north in Europe as Paris. Again, skipping over a period of goo years or so, we come to a period in respect of which the history is more detailed ; and from amongst many similar bills I may quote one for two pieces of silk of Damascus, bought in 1432-33, by Paul Melian, a merchant of Lucca living at Bruges, for the burial of two sons of the then Duke of Bur- gundy, and so expand my ideas. These two instances considered together at once convey a notion of the probable ramifications of European trade in silken fabrics, and certainly of its great age. The notion is succeeded by an inclination to go more intimately into the story of silk manufactures and their commerce throughout Europe. To follow up this inclination, and at the same time to resist a temptation of dwelling too particularly upon what was being done at one period or in any one coun- try, is not quite so easy as it may seem to be. A study of countries and towns, one by one, which have been famous for silk manufacture, tends to narrow breadth of view and to raise unduly the estimation of the operations in one country or one town above those of another. The relation of all to one another, in a measure at least, must be realized to obtain a picture of the whole course of European silk manufactures, and how, linking themselves together, they originated in the East, whence they spread westwards, and were there fostered, weakly and strongly, according to conditions of various European countries at different times. European desire for precious silken fabrics is traceable to wealthy religious communities and courts of rulers, large and small, throughout 4 THE MANUFACTURE OF SILKEN STUFFS the Continent. Those of Northern England even, with those of Southern Italy, of Western Spain and of Eastern Turkey or Byzantium, have yielded material and contemporaneous evidences that this widespread taste was very pronounced during the middle of the Mediaeval period. How this taste could be met depended, of course, upon the means of supply ; and this last brings one to the point of having to take some note of the early development of sericulture, and silk manufactures in Europe. Amongst favourable conditions for sericulture, climate is perhaps chief, just as genius, ability and industrial energy, stimulated by patronage and direc- tion, are essential to ornamental and decorative productions and manu- factures. Long before the particular period with which we are to be concerned with them in Europe, sericulture and silk manufacture had spread to India, Persia and Syria, from China. Greeks and early Romans were not acquainted with silks. Wools and linens were the materials with which they and still earlier Egyptians made their costumes ; and it is not until somewhere about the beginning of the 3rd century a.d that silks can be said to have become fairly well known to the Romans. It is said that Heliogabalus was the first Roman Emperor who wore garments entirely of silk. These were doubtless of Syrian or Persian 1 manufacture. Not until some centuries later were the cultivation of silkworms and the weaving of silk brought into the southern parts of Europe. Meanwhile the East, China, Persia, and adjoining countries westward, held a mono- poly in the cultivation, manufacture and export of the material. 1 As regards Persian silks of these times, I quote an interesting passage from the able paper on the “ History and Development of Pattern Designs in Textiles,” by Professor Paul Schultze, of Crefeld, which he read before the Society of Arts on the iith April, 1893 : — “ At the time when the Romans were losing more and more of their independence owing to the enervating results of their social life, and the lassitude of their rulers; and when from these causes the Roman Government was hastening to its ruin, the Persian empire in Asia was building up a new civilization upon the ruins of a culture then long gone by. In the year 226 B.C. Artaxerxes I. took in hand the government of all Central Asia. He founded the family of the Sassanides, who reigned in Persia 426 years. The greatest (Sassanid) prince of Persia was Chosroes Anurshirwan, 531-579. During his reign commerce, industry, and weaving of a high character flourished. Some original fabrics, kept till the present day as covering for relics, prove the great perfection of this Persian textile industry.” I shall describe a specimen or two of these silks in a later chapter. And in connection with them I quote, from one of my Cantor Lectures at the Society of Arts, in 1886, a sentence which suggests the continuation of silk manufactures in Syria from the Sassanian to the Mohammedan eras. “ The Saracens or Moslems, at the beginning of Mohammedanism, levied, from the towns of their early conquests in Syria, tribute which in great measure consisted of fine textiles. Damascus, famous for its silk weaving, was taken by the Saracens. These conquerors allowed the supposed daughter of the Roman Emperor Heraclius, who was married to Thomas, a noble Greek in Damascus, to leave, taking with her three hundred boxes containing costly silks and cloths of gold.” 5 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Besides silk weaving places in Syria, there were towns in northern Egypt — Alexandria for instance — which were engaged in the industry for some century or more, before they came under the dominion of the Saracens in the yth century. In the 8th century Spain was also conquered by the Saracens, and silk cultivation and manufacture began to develop there. From this point of view the immediate sources from which Euro- pean countries may then have been able to draw some of their supplies of silken fabrics were those where Saracens had settled, during the early centuries of the Mediaeval period. But, in saying this much, we may remember that something was known about silk as early as the days of Aristotle, who describes the silkworm and its cocoon, and that from the time even of Virgil and Martial to that of Justinian, various allusions in Roman literature set forth the keenness with which luxurious Romans appreciated the then novel and precious silks. In the 6th century, the Emperor Justinian imported looms for weaving silk, and had them set up in Constantinople ; shortly afterwards he obtained, at the hands of two Persian monks, a supply of silkworm eggs, by means of which he effectu- ally started sericulture in Constantinople. The two Persian monks were entirely conversant with Chinese methods of cultivating silk, its treatment for and manfacture into tissues, so that Justinian was well equipped with the necessary information and means of gratifying his own taste and that of his wealthy Court. His Byzantine centre of silk supply therefore, be- came for a time what we can regard as the only European seat of silk cultivation and manufacture. For some five centuries, Constantinople, and rather later on Corinth, Thebes and Athens, monopolized the making of such silk stuffs as were best known to the Byzantine empire. Other parts of Europe were able later on to get silken fabrics also from Sicily and Spain, when they came under Saracenic influence. Saracens from the date of their conquest of Sicily in 832, and for centuries later, became an almost preponderating element in the mixed races inhabiting Sicily. In the 12th century a Norman expeditionary force under the renowned Roger Guiscard conquered the island. In the practice of the arts, in the ornamental use of silks, and so forth, Saracens and certain Christian Greeks in Sicily were apparently foremost ; and, turning this favourable condition to account, Roger Guiscard organized a silk manufactory, commonly known as the Hotel des Tiraz, at Palermo. On his return from a successful expedition into Greece, he brought from Corinth a great number of silk weavers with their implements and materials. Yates gives a quotation from the Byzantine historian, Nicetas Choniates, to the effect that “ in his time those who went to Sicily might see the sons of Thebans and Corinthians em- ployed in weaving velvet stoles interwoven with gold.” Yates says, further, 6 THE MANUFACTURE OF SILKEN STUFFS that “ Hugo Falcandus, who visited the Palermo manufactory in 1169, represents it as being then in the most flourishing condition, producing great quantities of silks both plain and figured, of many different colours and enriched with gold.” Before following the subsequent developments of silk manufacture as it spread northerly from Palermo, we should pass over to Spain, to take some note of what had occurred and was occurring there in connection with the industry. Senor Riano tells us than “an oriental author asserts that Abd-ul-Raman II. (a.d. 825-852) was the first Sultan of his race, who introduced the use of the Tiraz ” — a costly stuff on which the names of sultans, princes, and other wealthy individuals were inwrought. The oldest specimen of Spanish Arab textile known to Senor Riano, is in the Royal Historical Academy at Madrid. This piece is em- broidered in silks, and along its borders is an inscription of the name of the Khalif Abdallah Hixem, who reigned from 979 A.D., until the early years of the iith century. The Khalifs of Cordova had a place set apart in their palaces where similar stuffs were stored. Almeria, on the south- eastern cost of Spain, was notable for its “ costly silken robes of the brightest colours.” According to the Cordovese historian. Ash Shakandi, of the 13th century, this town was held “ to be superior to any other in the world for its varied manufactures of silks and other articles of dress.” Scarcely less renowned was Malaga further westwards. Murcia, Granada, and Seville, in the south, and Saragossa in the north-east, are also frequently praised for their silken fabrics, both by Arab and Chris- tian authors of the Middle Ages. It is not difficult, therefore, to picture the progress in the east and west of Southern Europe, that sericulture and silk manufactures had made during the five hundred years after Justinian had commenced his operations at Constantinople. What the typical ornamentation of such stuffs was is a topic to be shortly touched upon. Without anticipating any remarks in this direction, it may be well to observe here, that, in the very competent opinion of Senor Riano, “ it is extremely difficult to classify textiles pro- duced from Syria or by the Spanish Arabs, as all, whether imitations or originals, are similar in manufacture.” During the latter years of the Middle Age and throughout the Renais- sance, pre-eminence amongst European nations in carrying forward arts in the confection of silks, as well as in cultivating silkworms, belongs in the first place to the Italians. We have accordingly to return from Spain to Sicily and the Norman dominion there. We find that in the 12th century a bishop of St. Evroul in Normandy 1 brought several large pieces of silk from Apulia in Southern Italy ; and this, including the Abruzzi, was within ^ Ordericus Vitalis quoted in the article “ Silk,” RiicycIoptriUa Bri/amn’ia, gth edition, p. 57. 7 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS the area of Norman government. These pieces were made up into copes for use in the Cathedral at St. Evroul, and the incident is here mentioned as suggestive of the probable extension of silk trade and industry from Sicily into the mainland of Italy. Many Italian towns from the 13th century onwards took up with silk manufacture. First among them, in Northern Italy, was Lucca, soon to be followed by Florence, Genoa, Venice, Bologna, and Milan. Wandering or captive Saracenic, and even Greek, weavers had also strayed or been taken to places in Germany, France, and Britain. According to Monsieur Michel, the dras dc soie a or battii, known in France in the 12th century, were made there by such imported labour. A rhyming chronicler of the 13th century relates that the daughters of Charlemagne (four centuries earlier) had been taught how to weave silks, en taiiliettes, or small hand looms. And as early as the 14th century an order was issued to regulate the industry — almost entirely carried on by foreigners — in silk stuffs, etc., at Paris. But such comparatively minor incidents have little direct value in attempting to trace the main flow of the silk industry, and its gradual spread from Italy to other parts of Europe. In the 13th century Persian silk was a well-known material in the markets of Lucca and Florence, and was in use largely at Lucca for manufacturing purposes. There seems to be but little precise information as to the actual conditions of the industry at Lucca, and one can but infer that it was being actively pursued in the early years of the 14th century when, upon the siege and capture of that city by one Uguccione della Fagiuola, the Lucchese weavers and other artificers are said to have been dispersed, taking refuge in various parts ot Italy, and so practically transferring their handicrafts in silk weaving, etc., to Venice, Florence, Milan, and Bologna. From Monsieur Daru’s History of the J ^euctiau Republic, we learn that, some thirty-one Lucchese families set up their silk looms in Venice about this time. Genoa, like Venice, was a great centre for Italian trading with the East, and here Lucchese weavers were as soon at work as at Venice. A century later, Benedetto Dei, of Florence, retorting upon certain Venetians who had spoken disparagingly of Florentine merchants, says, “ As for cloths of silk and gold and silver stuff's, we Florentines make and have been making such things in far greater quantity than your city of Venice, with Genoa and Lucca thrown in as well,” thus marking the claim which was advanced by Florence to high rank as a silk weaving and trading city. Although history shows us that Lucchese families of weavers emigrated as far as France, Germany, the Netherlands, and England, silk weaving in those countries did not attain to what one may regard as the commencement of national significance until the i6th century. The great Italian towns above mentioned were the chief 8 THE MANUFACTURE OF SILKEN STUFFS centres of the European industry and trade in its productions between the 13th and 17th centuries. France then comes distinctly to the fore with Tours, Lyons, Paris, and Nismes. But of these, Lyons stands at the head. “ If,” writes Monsieur Pariset, “ any account is to be taken of the weavers during the 14th and 15th centuries, who made cloths and velvets of silk at Paris, Rouen, Lyons, Nismes, and Avignon, it must be remembered that they were, almost solely, Italian emigrants from Lucca and Florence, who had fled their towns during troublous times.” An attempt to regulate the silk weaving at Lyons originates in letters patent issued from Orleans by Louis XL, on 23rd November, 1466. By these an annual levy of 2,000 livres tonniois was to be contributed by the inhabitants of Lyons, to defray the cost of securing the establishment of silk looms there. The output of these looms was to supersede the annual 500,000 ecus' worth of cloths of gold and silk, which were imported into Lyons for France. However, the inhabitants of Lyons — mainly the merchants — set their faces against this levy, and wrangles over it between them and the king lasted for some years. What the exact outcome of it all was. Monsieur Michel has not been able to trace ; but in 1494, Charles VIII. being at Lyons, issued an order that all stuffs should bear the seal of the towns where they had been made. His Majesty further ordained that there should be no traffic in fabrics of gold, silver, and silk, saving such as had been woven in France. To enable effect being given to this probably quite impracticable order, the equally impracticable compilation was decreed of a general inventory of all stuffs of the above character existing in the kingdom. Much else may be quoted in connection with the efforts to organize the industry in Lyons, which had from early times been the principal place for carrying on the trade in silks manufactured abroad ; but it will answer the present purpose to mention the charter granted by Francis I. to Lyons, under which many of the restrictions of former royal regulations were abrogated. By this charter both foreign and native workmen were encouraged to promote the city’s interest in silk manufactures. Foreigners seem to have taken pre- cedence of natives in 1515, when the youthful Francis made a state entry into Lyons, for following the magnates of the town came the Lucchese and Florentine inhabitants. Eighteen years later this order of precedence was modified ; and on the occasion of the visit of Queen Eleonore, the native citizens marched after the magnates of the town and before the foreigners. Nevertheless, the Lyons industry at this time seems to have depended much more upon its foreign than its native silk weavers. There were in fact but few of these latter. Not until the 17th century does Lyons really assert herself as capable of producing in a pre-eminent degree silk manu- factures possessing French characteristics in taste and ornamentation ; and 9 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS then the old conditions become changed. Her trade is in these silks, and Italy and the rest of Europe become subject to her. Tours, Nismes, Orleans, and other French towns that have been mentioned, gained their reputations in the main from the productions of the foreign weavers who settled in them. And subsequently these places, with the whole of France also, become subject to the influence of Lyons. How this influence was carried into Spain, England, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland, is accounted for by the thousands of Protestant silk weavers who fled from France, and split up into groups, settled in these countries respectively towards the end of the 17th century, when the Edict of Nantes, which had ordained the toleration of Protestants in France was revoked. This de- portation of silk weavers did not materially affect the strength of Lyons as European leader in silk manufactures, the development of which began to assume more important proportions in England than in the other countries benefited by the settlement of French weavers in them. Silk weaving in England, by foreign workmen chiefly, had begun to acquire some little degree of celebrity about the commencement of the 17th century. At the end of that century, through the influx of French weavers, this was considerably enhanced, and the manufacture progressed steadily, so that by the middle of the i8th century there were in London alone, and chiefly in Spitalflelds, several thousands of silk-weaving looms at work. Many factories were established shortly afterwards in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Essex, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Norfolk. At these, large quantities of Chinese and Indian silk were used. The united production of British silk fabrics at this time seriously competed with, and indeed almost surpassed, those of Lyons and France. In some branches of silk weaving, England, according to Monsieur Pariset, seems to have been absolutely supreme as lately as 1861. But since then British silk manu- facture in all its branches has perceptibly declined, although the demand for silk goods continues to be enormous. This is not the place for further discussing England’s position in the history of European silk weaving. Germany, who now supplies a vast foreign demand for silken fabrics at moderate and low prices, does not rival France with her confection of pure and beautiful silks ; neither does the German record indicate that she really rivalled England during the earlier centuries of the spread into Europe of silk weaving. The course of the industry in Germany is similar in general respects to that in England : for Crefeld, Elberfeld, Barmen, Weisen, Rousdorf, and other German towns, seem to be indebted for the foundation of their silk weaving to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Of Spain, whose early enterprises in silk growing and weaving were. 10 THE MANUFACTURE OF SILKEN STUFFS like those of Italy, so rich in promise, there is really not much to say. Italy eclipsed her in the 14th and 15th centuries, and she fell into relative insignificance during the i6th and 17th centuries, somewhat weakly reflecting the characteristics of Italian and French silks. In the suc- ceeding centuries the reflection grows dimmer and dimmer. The Nether- lands were noted for Bruges satins in the i8th century, and the fame of Flanders and Holland in connection with silks is due in considerably greater degree to trading operations, especially in the 17th and i8th centuries, of Antwerp and Amsterdam, than to any pursuit of the industry in those countries. Netherlands and Flanders were most notable for their manufacture of tapestries ; but these were scarcely ever made of silk only, and are accordingly not dealt with here. The Turks in Europe and in Asia Minor have for some centuries pursued their industry of silk weaving, and one noteworthy incident in connection with it occurred, when Soliman II. transferred from Tauris into Turkey several families of silk weavers, and settled them there in the i6th century. Broussa, and Diarbekir in Asia Minor, Beyrout, Aleppo, Damascus in Syria, so celebrated in the past, still maintain and follow traditions of their ancient silk industry. Four hundred years ago cloths of gold and silk, velvets and satins, made in Cyprus were famous, whereas now the means of manufacturing such stuffs there are virtually extinct, although the climatic conditions of the island are as favourable to seri- culture as ever they were. Sovereigns and nobles of Russia and Poland in the i6th century, on occasions of ceremony, were clad in resplendent gold, silver, and silken costumes, the materials of which were largely imported from Persia and Central Asia, but neither country during the two following centuries made any real effort to establish industries in these things. Early in the present century Russian silk weaving looms were started at Moscow, as well as in the district of Vladimir and St. Petersburg. Austrian silk weaving com- menced about a hundred years ago, when it is stated that upwards of 1,500 looms were put into operation at Vienna by the imported labour of Genoese, Piedmontese, and workers from Lyons. Since then the special branch of weaving ribands has become established in Illyria and the Tyrol. A few silk weavers have practised their craft at Stockholm during the present century, but neither Sweden nor Norway has held any position of importance in European silk manufacture. To recapitulate very briefly the significant stages of silk weaving developments in Europe, we see that Byzantium comes first with its initiative, having adopted Oriental methods of the craft under Justinian, followed by Sicily and Spain, with their settlements of Saracens and II ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Moors. Then after a lapse of time comes Italy, with her absorption and modification of what she gained from Sicilian and Levantine sources through Lucca, Genoa, Venice, and Florence. France next arises, with Lyons as its chief centre of silk trade and manufacture, which gives to the remaining European countries a stimulus of which England takes the fuller advantage, running France very closely at times in the race for supremacy. 12 CHAPTER III MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN WEAVING SILKS, EMBROIDERIES, AND TAPESTRIES A GREAT number of names have been given to the textures and ornamentation of silks and other woven fabrics in the course of the centuries during which they have been made. Many problems as to the meaning of some of these names have arisen, and are not satisfac- torily solved at the present day. Monsieur Pariset, a well-known authority on textiles, writes : “ Silken fabrics fall into two classes, fabrics made entirely of silk, and fabrics made partly with silks and partly with other threads.” He points out that the same kinds of weaving apparatus are used, whether the warp or weft of the material to be woven is to be silk or of other threads, such as flax, cotton, worsted, etc. The nature of the threads, does not, in fact, call for modifications in the construction of the mechanical parts of the loom, its shuttles, and gear generally. Monsieur Pariset’s classification above mentioned follows that of the Roman writers who make the earliest mention of silken fabrics, as being holoscriaiui (entirely of silk) and sitbseriann (partly of silk). This, however, touches only the question of the materials with which silken fabrics have been and continue to be made, and does not help one much on the road to following out the classifications suggested by the many names that occur in any history of silken stuff's. Several of these names apply to varieties of textures, and varieties of textures are the results of various ways of weav- ing. Plain silk or sarcenet is as obviously different from satin as velvet is from both. There is, therefore, a particular kind of weaving for each different texture. I shall not attempt to go very closely into this topic, and can only offer a few remarks upon it, suggesting, rather than describing with technical correctness, the character of changes in process for changes in texture. From a loom fitted with a single set of warp threads and a single shuttle, a simple unfigured texture, like that, for instance, of a cambric handkerchief, is producible. In this case the shuttle with its weft thread is thrown so as to pass and repass in between alternate warp threads. But if, by a small change, the shuttle, with its weft thread, is directed to 13 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS pass and repass between groups of two and three warp threads alternately, another kind of texture will have been produced. Again, if instead of one shuttle two or three are brought into operation in regular order of repeti- tion, another sort of texture will have been made. A still more different result in texture will be obtained if double ranks of warp threads be used in conjunction with two, three, or even more shuttles. Now it is not difficult to see that varieties of colour effect can be obtained in such various textures by using differently coloured warps and wefts. The employment of coloured threads to produce colour effects only involves no change in methods of weaving ; but when it becomes a question of weaving a pattern and ornament, considerable modifications in the arrangement of the warp threads and in the throwing of the shuttle threads have to be adopted. The simpler of such modifications result in producing striped and checked patterns, whilst the more complex modifications of the weaving arrangements are required for more complex ornament. Both simple and complex methods of shuttle weaving have existed side by side up to the present time, though the simpler long preceded the more complex in use. The use of the simpler is known to have been common amongst Egyptian weavers as early as 2,500 b.c., whereas that of the more complex methods is of much later date, so far as European figured silks are concerned. Earlier than the 4th or 5th centuries A.D. there seems to be no evidence that complex ornament was produced in shuttle looms in Europe. The conditions, given in the code of Theodosius (early 5th century), under which differently ornamented silks were to be worn by comedians at the early Byzantine courts, indicate that fairly complex ornamental weavings were then and there known. Such stuffs, and some were no doubt shuttle woven, were likely to have been made by Phoenician or Syrian weavers in the districts of the Eastern Roman Empire. From such districts probably came those very early examples of ornamental silks used by Romans late in the 4th century for consular robes ; of which those worn by Honorius and Stilicho have been frequently quoted from the writings of Claudian. But the date for the first production of European ornamental silks cannot, I think, be fixed much before the 6th century. From that date forward its progress can be followed until its culmination in the 15th and i6th centuries. Within the i8th and 19th centuries steam power has very greatly superseded the hand in working looms. But to the hand the world is indebted for the finest, elaborately figured textiles produced. A few of the names which apply to generic classes of silk weavings, each having peculiar textures, may now be considered. Sarcenet, taffeta, satin and velvet are four of the principal different kinds of silk-woven 14 MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN WEAVING textures. When, however, ornament is wrought in them, other names are used for most of them. The earliest figured silks known and produced in Europe are thin in substance, resembling sarcenet and taffeta. Com- paratively few modern silks having rich ornament in them are made in the simple form of weaving required for taffeta and sarcenet. Damask satin is the name for a figured silken stuff which consists of a double satin weaving. Both the ornamental forms and their ground are of the same texture and colour, but are distinguishable one from the other by the opposing directions of the woven threads, and the contrast in glisten that thereby ensues. A distinctive variant of damask satin is brocatelle, in which, according to Monsieur Pariset, the salient ornamentation is satin in texture. This is relieved by a ground of the same colour, but less sheeny in appearance, such as taffeta or sarcenet, and is produced by a different weaving of the threads in it. Lampas is kindred to brocatelle, and, there- fore, belongs to the class of damask satins. The ground of lampas, how- ever, is different in colour from that of its figuring or ornament, and, as in brocatelle, is of the simple texture of taffeta or sarcenet. Brocades are the most elaborated of figured silk weavings, and the richer of them usually have gold or silver strips or threads, or both, introduced into them. The texture in different portions of a brocade is often very varied, but the name brocade is also usually applied to the simplest of silk textures when the ornament in them is enriched with gold threads, as is the case with the sarcenets and satins of the 13th and 14th centuries, from looms worked in Italy. Velvets are made with a single and sometimes a double weft, and always with a double warp, disposed over a series of small metal rods, whereby one set of warp threads become looped into the base of the fabric. These looped threads are cut, and form the pile of the velvet. Figured velvets are those in which the ornamentation is obtained through contrast between those portions of the pile which have been cut away, or pressed down by a stamp, and those left in the longer and upstanding pile. There are also figured velvets in which the ornament stands out in the pile, the ground being of satin or of gold or silver threads — cloth of gold or silver tissue. With some such notion as this of characteristics, by which one may distinguish between figured sarcenet or taffeta, damask satin — its sub- varieties brocatelle and lampas — and brocades, cloths of gold and figured velvets, it is not difficult to classify by textures almost all figured shuttle- loom weavings in silks, and to see progression from simple to complex methods of weaving, so far as texture only is concerned. But the same does not hold good for ornament : for many of the simple textures of the early shuttle-woven fabrics are, as we shall see, elaborate in ornamental 15 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS devices. From which it naturally follows that the most complex shuttle weavings for variety of textures do not necessarily present the richest effects of ornament. A number of other names will be met with by the student of textiles, especially in later Roman, Byzantine, and Mediaeval writings — and blaiin, samit, ciclatoun, ccndal, liras, otabi, ishbani, ^yn- donus, camoca, baudekin, inosolin, tartariuui, glisdiim, dimity, frisado, etc., are examples of them, which I have taken at random from Monsieur Michel’s work, from Dr. Rock’s Textile Fabrics, from Yates’ T extritunn Antiquorum, and Riano’s Spanish Arts. Each author throws some light upon one or other of them, their probable meaning and origin, as to which latter, names of places at different periods certainly account for several. Some of the names, however, do not apply to silks. Those that do would almost invariably be found to be either sarcenets, damasks, broca- telles, lampas, or velvets. Similar problems occur in respect of the ancient and modern nomen- clature of embroideries, as, for instance, in regard to the meaning of opus Anglicnm, opus plumarium, opus pectineum, opus puTcnnarium, opus con- sutum, etc. Here, again, an appreciation of those characteristics which specialise work done with one form of stitch or another, helps to relieve one from much unnecessary and apparent difficulty in ascertaining that these old Latin names possess little, if any, technical and descriptive value in their bearing upon embroidery. Embroidery is a far freer and handier way of ornamenting stuffs than any weaving process. Weaving implies and involves the use of a variety of mechanical contrivances such as frames, beams, rollers, heddles, shuttles, and what not. On the other hand embroidery requires little more than the stuff or foundation upon which threads and needles do the work. Frames for stretching the stuffs tautly are frequently used, but much embroidery has been done without frames. The restrictions in weaving ornament, figures, and so forth, are unknown to the embroiderer. Given the design and the requisite skill, the embroiderer’s needle and thread can trace all sorts of intricate forms with relative facility. Contrast in colour and its gradation, in form and its variety, are more readily arrived at by him than by the weaver. For once that a loom has been prepared and geared to produce a particular pattern, repetitions of it in lengths of the fabric are made. But the embroiderer is under no corresponding obligation to make repetitions of his designs in their colouring and ornamental devices. He can change them as he pleases. The two arts, then, although so to speak marching with kindred materials, are distinct. Nevertheless, in the matter of design and effect they have acted and reacted upon each other, in that the weaver has derived frequent instigation to new effects in design from i6 MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN WEAVING those previously wrought by the embroiderer, and vice versa as regards the work of later periods. Pre-eminence in weaving amongst a people does not imply an equal skill in embroidery. If the relationship of the two arts be investigated, it will probably be found as a general principle that where one has flourished so has the other ; though, as regards the earlier periods in the history or development of the arts, ornamental needlework has usually been practised by a nation or some section of it before it succeeded in producing equally good decorative effects with the weaving shuttle. An instance of this is supplied by the famous English silk embroidery — the mediaeval opus Angliatm — y^^\c:\\ won European celebrity before the native industry of England, or even that of such nations as Italy or France, who preceded England in weaving, produced shuttle-woven ornamental silks, so distinctively national as the English embroidery of the same period. To return now to the technical value of the Latin names which have been accepted as applying particularly to different sorts of embroidery. Opus Augltcum, English work, tells us of no stitch ; neither does opus pluinariuui, feather work, or embroiderer’s work. Opus pectiuaiin means comb work, and one knows of an early reference to the use of the comb in the confection of textiles. ^ A comb-like instrument has always been indispensable both to a shuttle weaver as well as to a tapestry weaver, but not to the embroiderer. Opus pectiucuni, although perhaps more technically suggestive than opus Auglicum and opus plumarium, does not take one far towards determining what was its technical meaning in connection with embroidery. Opus pulviuarium, or cushion work, suggests stuffs for covering cushions, but how these stuffs were worked technically is not to be ascertained from the name. Then, again, opus cousutum, or cut work, certainly implies something different from, say, opus pecti)icum. Beyond this, however, what is there to say ? One conclusion, perhaps, follows from this manifest want of technical descriptive value in the old Latin terms, and that is the necessity of acquiring some degree of familiarity with stitches employed in em- broideries. Their close similarity, if not identity, from early to modern days can be traced, and I now propose to try and briefly show this. As with silk weavings, so with embroideries, some are almost alike on both sides of the work, others are not. Weaving makes a textile ; but ' Lucan’s Pharsalia, book x., verse 142. “ Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo Quod Nilotis acus compressum pectine serum Solvit, et extenso laxavit stamina velo.” 17 C ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS embroidery adds to an already existing stuff. These additions may go into the stuff in such a way that they present nearly the same effect on both surfaces, upper and under, of the stuff embroidered : or they may be wrought on to one face of a stuff only — the stitches at its back being of totally different effect from those worked for display only on the front. In the case of similar effects on back and front of a stuff, running, darning, tent or satin stitches would be used ; whilst for effects on one face of a stuff the stitches would be either long and short stitches (feather stitches they are sometimes called), chain stitches and cross stitches. By changing the direction of the stitches and their sizes, varieties of effects, suitable to the forms to be embroidered, are secured, and the appropriateness in using such changes has given rise to names which, however, relate in truth to the effects and not to the stitches, the technical features of which are unchanged. This point is worth remembering in examining embroidery — for all of its technically different stitches do not number more than eight or nine. Thus the analysis of embroidery, by its stitches, may be much simplified. Besides embroidery, relying for its sole effect upon skilful needlework, there are methods of embellishing stuffs with ornament in form and colour, such as applique work, padded or relief work, which involve the sewing of pieces of material on to another material, so that they shall lie flatly on to it, or be raised over paddings on it. Allied to these methods are those in which silk and gold threads and cords are held in orderly arrangement by small stitches on to the face of the material they have to decorate. Another method, not yet mentioned, is patch- work, in which pieces of stuff, cut into shapes to fit into one another, are then sewn together. In respect of European embroideries it can hardly be said that any of the embroidery stitches and methods are of greater age than the others. Some have predominated in certain countries and at certain times. For instance, much mediaeval opus Anglicum appears to have been wrought with fine chain and split short stitches. In much Spanish and Italian ornamental needlework of the 1 6th entury we find applique work enriched with silken and golden threads or cords, stitched along the contours of the applique forms. Much Venetian decorative work of rather later date consists of ranks of floss silk laid down and stitched over. But many proofs of the antiquity of identical stitchery have been preserved to the present day. A piece of chain-stitch work depicting graceful scrolling stems is preserved at the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, and is the work of Greek embroiderers of the 4th century B.C. The texture of this chain-stitching is precisely similar to that of any well-worked chain-stitching now. A large patch- 18 MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN WEAVING work, very elaborate in design, of thousands of bits of coloured gazelle hide, was made as a funeral canopy to the body of an Egyptian queen, 980 B.C., and is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Such patching, so far as patchwork goes, is the same, technically, as the patchwork quilt of the English cottager. Long and short stitch embroideries of the 5th to 8th centuries have been found in Egypto- Roman and Coptic cemeteries at Akhmim and elsewhere in Upper and Lower Egypt, and specimens of them are in the South Kensington Museum. In these, again, the stitchery alone is the same as any other long and short stitch work of modern times. Hence, however great the change in ornament may be, it does not thereby imply any change in the mere technique of stitchery. A few words may now be given to a process of ornamental and decorative work in textiles, that calls into play methods which relate it to both embroidery and shuttle weaving : firstly to embroidery, in that a darn- ing stitch particularly is concerned ; and secondly to weaving, inasmuch as a fabric with warp threads (but without shuttle throwing) is made, whilst a comb is required to compress and compact the intertwisted or darned threads with the warps, just as a similar implement on a larger scale is required in shuttle weaving. This ornamental textile work is now com- monly known as tapestry weaving. Although tapestry wall hangings are principally of coloured worsteds, silken threads are often freely inter- spersed amongst them, as well as gold and silver threads, though these are more rarely used. The peculiar method of tapestry weaving is not only of great age, but also of widespread employment, even by semi-civil- ized people, such as artificers in Borneo, in remote Turcoman and Tartar districts, and in Peru. In recently discovered textiles of great antiquity, such tapestry weaving is seen ; though in these, as in the kindred work of semi-civilized people, it is noticeable as having been used for ornament much smaller in scale and size than for that of the large wall hangings, or tapestries of castles in feudal times, or of palaces during the later Renais- sance and more modern periods. This difference in the size or expanse of work produced by this tapestry-weaving method tends to strengthen the kinship which, as already mentioned, seems to exist between embroidery and tapestry weaving. It was employed in pre-Christian and early Chris- tian times for the textile adornment of costumes and clothes. Although the main portions of these were shuttle-woven, wherever ornament was to come into them subsequently, spaces were left unwoven by the shuttle. Into such spaces of bare warp threads, the ornamentation, in coloured worsteds or silks, was practically darned with short, straight, thin bits of wood, bone, or metal, which were the needles of the ancients. Notwith- 19 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS standing the appearance of clumsiness which such needles have in the eyes of the modern embroiderer accustomed to fine steel needles, they could be used for purposes of very delicate needlework. The fineness in texture of the embroidery of 2,000 years ago was governed, as is much modern work, by the fineness of the threads used. In the pre-silk days of Europe, embroidery was considerably done with linen threads — single fibres of flax very often — with a diameter as small on occasion as the 777^-^ an inch, which glistened almost as glassily as silk. Specimens of Egypto- Roman embroidery produced under such conditions are to be met with in public and private collections, and I shall have to recur to one or two of them later on. Darning, and its relation to tapestry weaving, is our present topic, however, and as I have said, a large proportion of the ornamentation in figured textiles of the ancients, was done by this method, which was simpler though slower than shuttle weaving, which came later. But even in the 15th century figured shuttle weaving in a highly developed condition could not rival the splendour of effects obtained by tapestry weaving of the same period. The employment of the method then had long passed from the earlier stage of being the principal means for adding ornament of comparatively small scale to costumes. It was now applied to the making of large wall hangings, the designs for which rivalled those of fresco painters, with multitudes of figures and scenic effects illustrating mythological episodes, as well as historical and religious incidents. In the reproduction of them there was none of that repetition of colour and pattern, which the most intricate brocade weaving cannot evade. The work of a tapestry weaver was almost as little fettered by mechanical contrivances as was that of the embroiderer, and the artistic possibilities of the performances of each were practically equal in out- stripping the obligatory conventionalities of the shuttle weaver. To sum up the peculiar conventions which the respective processes of shuttle-loom weaving, embroidery, and tapestry weaving exact in the rendering of ornamental forms, it may be said that shuttle-loom weaving involves : (i) repetition of the pattern or design ; (2) a variety of surface texture ; (3) a sharpness of definition in the details of the design ; and (4) a precision in marking contrasts of colour. As colour has so important a part in ornamental textiles, there has been a tendency towards overcoming demarcations of contrasts of colour by elaborating the contrivances for employing several shuttles, each one charged with a different-coloured thread, and so blending wefts together with an effect nearly equal to that of painting. But even the great degree up to which refinements of mechanism have been carried in weaving the daintiest of brocades, they have not succeeded in producing the subtler gradations of tones in 20 MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IN WEAVING colour which the embroiderer and tapestry weaver can impart to their works. I have alluded to the relative freedom with which these two artificers can reproduce non-repeating and, in fact, any sort of ornament, in contradistinction to the repeated ornament of the shuttle weaver. Still, there are certain forms of embroidery, cross-stitch and tent-stitch especi- ally, which, when used, give characteristics to the ornamental effect of the work done with them as strongly marked as those which arise from the limitations of shuttle-loom weaving. 21 CHAPTER IV PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN THE DESIGNING OF ORNAMENT S OME forty-three years ago what was called a Chamber of Horrors — horrors in design — became one of the educational object lessons given at the Museum of Art Manufactures — the infant South Kensington Museum — which then found a home in Marlborough House. Its aim was to show to all classes specimens of so-called artistic objects which were considered to be false in design. The formal record of the time is to the effect that “ the room appears to excite far greater interest than many objects, the high excellence of which is not generally appreciated. Every one is led at once to investigate the ornamental principle upon which his own carpet and furniture may be decorated, and the greatest benefit to manufacturers may be looked for from the investigation.” A vivacious article, however, by Dickens appeared in Household Words upon this room, and gave a description of the perturbations afflicting a Mr. Crump, of Brixton, in consequence of his visit to it. Although the chamber of horrors enjoyed a succes d'estime, it did not last long ; for, as public atten- tion was attracted to it, and grew, so too did public opinion. A repudia- tion was openly expressed of the attempt to shackle freedom in taste with canons of logic, and the suspicion of an insidious interference with trade, met with resentment. The rationalism of the object lesson may have been felt to be too much insisted upon, and in the spirit of Pope’s lines — “ Right too rigid was hardened into wrong, Still for the strong too weak, for the weak too strong.” The chamber was soon closed, nevertheless leaving behind it a lively germ that false principles in art manufactures could be popularly demon- strated. From this and other similar germs sprang a general inclination to understand principles of design, an inclination which was more seriously cultivated than had previously been the case, so far as this country was concerned. Having, in the preceding chapter, hinted at the manner in which varied processes of shuttle weaving, of stitches in embroidery, and of 22 PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN DESIGNING tapestry-weaving do affect the appearance of designs wrought in silk, I may briefly say something upon principles that seem to underlie the ornamental intentions of such designs. As I have said, the design of a pattern for a shuttle weaving to be wrought in lengths must repeat, but that for an embroidery or a tapestry weaving need not. Repetition of ornamental forms in figured shuttle weavings is therefore a characteristic of their production. To catch the governing principle of this repetition one has to look for the unit of the pattern, and then to follow out the plan, order, or sequence in which the unit is repeated. It may occupy a large or a small part of the figuring over the whole of the shuttle-woven textile. In simple figurings or patterns the unit may be but a line, a straight band or stripe, or a spot. But even these can make a sumptuous effect when variegated and harmonious colours are discreetly used in repetitions. In other simple figurings the lines or stripes may be crossed by others, and, according to the inclination of the lines to one another, form either checks or trellis patterns. By changing the dimensions and colours of the lines and stripes, highly complex check and trellis patterns are devised, and the repeating unit of such is a combination of many different lines and stripes, as in the familiar Scots tartans. Lines, bands, and stripes are the first elements of primitive figure weaving. They grow naturally, as it were, from the recurrent throws of the shuttle with the same coloured thread for so many throws, and then with another colour for so many more, and so on. Rectangular check patterns grow from the combination of warp threads arranged in an order of repeated colours. Trellis patterns, in which the diagonal or sloping crossing of the stripes produces a regular succession of diamond shapes, involve a change of the order of warp threads in respect of the throw of the shuttle thread. The check and trellis patterns may be subjected to much variety through the fanciful treatment of their lines and stripes. But they possess the rudiments of pattern plans that have been followed for centuries by ornamentists. These plans are worth study, so that beneath whatever intricacies of form they may seem to be concealed, their recognition shall not escape detection. Now, if you take the points only where the stripes would intersect one another in a check or trellis pattern, and on those points put spots or small devices — little squares, little circles, open or filled in, a blossom, an animal, or any object — you get a powdering or spotted pattern ; the passage, therefore, from check and trellis patterns to powdered patterns is an easy one. The change in effect, however, is considerable, especially when the simplest of spots only is used for the powdering of the pattern. The basis of the powdered pattern arrange- ment is, however, obviously the same as for check and trellis patterns, 23 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS and is a geometrically-planned arrangement. Some writers state that “we cannot have ornament without some geometrical arrangement.” This, at first sight, may seem to be going too far, since much ornamenta- tion, especially in embroidery and tapestry, has been produced without reference to a geometrical arrangement in its usually accepted sense. For instance, a couple of differently-shaped scrolls springing from a com- mon centre, and in general appearance of size balancing one another, may become an ornamental device without symmetry and not geometrically planned in the strict sense of the term. Again, the distribution of various forms within a given space may be well effected to produce ornament or decoration, as in many Japanese embroideries, without having recourse to strict geometrical and symmetrical arrangement. Nevertheless, such instances usually imply the feeling of the ornamentist, that the boundaries or spaces within which he is to put his ornament influence its arrange- ment. And thus, in a broader sense of the term, geometry — or considera- tion of definite spaces or shapes — does govern the ornamentist, making him adopt some plan or method in arranging his design and in distributing, balancing and contrasting its several components. In some respects it seems that the composition of ornament may be likened to the writing of poetry. Writing poetry means the set purpose of the writer to observe certain principles, and express the pictures of his imagination within certain limitations of metre and sound. To observe those limitations successfully, and at the same time to display art and skill in working within them, imply that the writer has so mastered the principles of them that he is not impeded by them, and they do not dominate his work ; on the contrary, they are his tools, or the aids to his expression. His work shows his individuality in using such aids, and thus possesses style as distinct from mere manner. Many principles are similarly involved in the composition of ornament. Some, as, for instance, that of geometrical arrangement in its usual sense, are more readily recognised than others. But the obviousness of a principle is of little use unless practice in accordance with it is successful in leading to plea- sant design. To secure beauty in design, which may give pleasure to any one who looks at its results, is of course the aim of designers to whom it is an animating or stimulating impulse. When the designer starts upon carrying out his conception, he at once begins to employ the principles which he knows are necessary to the effect he has in view. Whilst certain principles may seem to be conspicuous in the style or treatment of ornament by various so-called Schools — Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Flemish, Italian, or Gothic, Renaissance, Louis XIV., Queen Anne, Georgian, and such like — the employment of no one or two 24 PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN DESIGNING principles solely is peculiar to any one of these schools. Hence, through- out the work of such schools one can trace the recurrent use of commonly accepted principles, such as repetition, alternation, counter-change, bal- ance, symmetry, contrast, relation, etc., and these not merely in respect of various passages or portions of a design, but also in respect of the details in them. These details may be variously designed. Combinations of straight lines, squares, circles, polygons, etc., designed without refer- ence to their being suggestive of actual objects, might be called abstract in character. Distinct from such are details which distantly or closely sug- gest natural and artificial objects, human beings, animals, flowers, leaves, and articles of use, such as vases, arms, armour, musical instruments, ribands, etc. The close imitation of the actual appearance of things, with all the accidental effects of their position and lighting, is not ornament. It enters into the domain of picture making. The intention in close imitation is to attain a realism in effect, and this is foreign to the effect aimed at in ornament. Ornament is designed according to principles, the adoption of which secures consonance with the purpose or use, the materials and the processes of manufacture, of the things in which it is to be presented. Combinations of forms, suggestive of various natural and artificial things, occur in much ornament. Such combinations and juxtaposings are ruled by contrast and congruity. Congruity implies good relationship not only between the shapes of the suggested forms, but also between their sug- gested natures and characters. This latter relationship, however, is not so important as the former. For incongruities arising from combinations of forms suggestive of departures from natural and characteristic associa- tions are frequently humorous or grotesque, and these, when well designed and brought into good relationship ornamentally, are admirable and perfectly acceptable ; as, for instance, in many of the early Italian gold-thread and coloured-silk loom weavings. But incongruities such as are apparent in a suggestion of plant growth blossoming into abstract geometric rosettes are scarcely defensible. The suggestion of plant growth is clearly derived from the fact in nature ; so that the sugges- tion, when ornamentally expressed, should not run absolutely counter to the fact and to its consistency. There is yet a further aspect of congruousness in ornamentation, which will probably have already sug- gested itself as furnishing an important governing principle, and this is, the agreement between the ornament in a stuff and the purpose or use for which the stuff is to be used. Ornament composed of small details is obviously inappropriate to large extents of stuff — as in wall hangings — where the distance at which the ornament is to be seen becomes a leading principle or consideration. So, too, ornament composed of large 25 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS and massive details is usually inappropriate to small articles, and generally to costumes — though on that point it can hardly be denied that there is an appropriate stateliness in the large-scale cone or pomegranate patterns ot Italian 15th century robes of velvet and satin. In that case, the breaking up of these large patterns, by the folds into which the stuffs so decorated fell, counteracts what might otherwise have been felt to be a disproportion between the size of the ornamentation and its wearer. Again, a hanging pattern, or one in which the arrangements of its details is conspicuously vertical, is generally more appropriate to the hang of a dress or of a curtain than are bands or horizontal arrangements of ornament. Another aspect of congruity worth taking into account is the suitability of either the epical or the natural suggestiveness of the ornamentation and the charac- ter of the thing it is to adorn. Vertical ornament is consonant with height as horizontal ornament is with length ; and in the case of textiles either height or length becomes a leading consideration just as important as particular shapes — square, circular, polygonal, elliptical, and so on — which determine arrangement of ornament within them. I have perhaps said enough now to point out that, in seeking to appreciate ornament, one has to look out for the principles which seem to have been observed in its design. Formality in design and the necessity of repetitions are, it will be remembered, much more apparent in patterns for shuttle weavings than they are in those for either embroidery or tapestry weaving. Many phases of ornamental design for these two latter processes illustrate the adoption and use of such principles as those referred to, but are entirely distinct in effect from that of shuttle-woven ornamentation. In regard to embroidery, I allude particularly to those 01 its specimens in which suggestions of human figures are considerably brought forward. Many of these — as in ecclesiastical embroideries — have been adopted from architectural sculptures and from paintings, and possess not only ornamental and decorative qualities, but also story-telling or epical qualities as well. This quality, which the late William Morris so aptly called epic-ornamental, is particularly characteristic in 15th and i6th century tapestry weavings. But as time has gone on, the story-telling quality has become stronger and the ornamental quality weaker. Realistic effects so successfully achieved by painters have been striven for by tapestry weavers. Embroiderers, too, have been tempted in the same direction, and not only in respect of epical designs, but also in respect of mere realistic representations of sprays, flowers, fruits, and such like, laboriously stitched without ornamental feeling. A similar tendency towards realism as opposed to ornament is also apparent in most of the shuttle-woven patterns of the later 17th century and for a long time sub- 26 PRINCIPLES OBSERVED IN DESIGNING sequently. Nowadays, figured shuttle weavings, embroideries, and tapes- try weavings are as often realistic and pictorial in their designs as they are strictly ornamental, and a sort of spurious sanction is claimed for their existence through the concession to that ceaseless craving for variety and contrast which Burke, I think, found occasion to condemn as a moral defect. 27 CHAPTER V SILK PATTERNS OF SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN AND BYZANTINE ORIGIN P ASSING from the general topics upon which I ventured to touch in connection with principles in designing ornaments, I come to an attempt to trace the course of pattern making for silk weavings in Europe. The early and successive sources which furnished a basis for much of the ornament for silks manufactured in various parts of Europe seem to have been (i.) schools of Persian designers of the later Sassanian dynasty or period (6th and 7th centuries) ; (ii.) Byzantine designers work- ing in different places which were under the rule of the later Roman or Grseco-Roman emperors (6th to 13th century) ; and (iii.) Saracenic de- signers in both Spain and Sicily (about loth to 13th century). In a book of the present dimensions, one cannot pretend to give any insight into the circumstances of these schools or work-rooms ; nor to give any intimate account of the individual designers. Indeed, very little in this direction is actually recorded or known. The greater part of such matters falls within the compass of pseudo-history and romance of the kind which is excellently treated by the late Dr. George Ebers. On the other hand, some solid information can be gleaned in respect of the relation that appears to exist between types of ornamental patterns that have prevailed in Europe, if one classifies them according to their likenesses one to the other. From a selection of actual stuffs and a few authenticated records, an indication of pattern evolution may be sketched. This gives us an almost convincing proof of the perpetuation and modifica- tion of typical ornamental devices and plans of arrangement in the composition of designs for silk weaving and embroidery from the 7th century down to the present time. It demonstrates the long-sustained influence of Oriental pattern making upon that of Europe. A characteristic in the first stage of this pattern evolution is a simple formality of ornamental devices, which suggest, rather than realize, the actual appearance of the natural objects that served as the motives for 28 SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE pattern details or ornament, such as foliage, flowers, fruits, birds, animals, human beings, and the like. In a second stage, although for the most part a similar formality pervades the shaping of ornamental forms, there is also a tendency towards depicting many minor or subservient details with much fidelity to the actual appearance of the real objects from which these ornamental details are derived ; in consequence of this, mere suggestiveness and comparative simplicity in ornamental forms are diminished, and, instead of them, realistic effect and elaboration of detail are more nearly approached. In a third and later stage imitation of realistic effect almost quite supersedes formality in expression, and the things represented are so like natural things in appearance that orna- mental value is nearly dissipated altogether. But all patterns, whether composed of purely formal shapes, or of less formal shapes, or distinctly realistic shapes, are disciplined in general effect through the observance by the pattern makers of a plan or scheme in arranging their variously rendered details ; and thus order in arrangement makes for ornamental effect. This factor in pattern making is one which is more readily detected and appreciated than the difference between purely formal, less formal, and distinctly realistic renderings of pattern details. The use of each of these classes of pattern details cannot very well be said to have its particular date, although, broadly speaking, the use of purely formal details precede that of less formal, just as these last precede the distinctly realistic. In regard to European silk patterns, it might be said that those of the period from the 6th to the 13th century are more formal than those from the 13th to the 15th century, whilst in the i6th century there is a leaning towards realism, which develops in the 17th and i8th century into almost absolute realism. The 19th century is remarkable for a revival in respect of all three classes, sometimes in- discriminately intermixed, especially towards the middle of the century. H owever, these wide distinctions can, I think, be verified only as we proceed with the examination of the typical examples selected for the illustrations to this book ; and in order to commence with some more definite feature in patterns generally, I set out with an attempt to give a few hints upon plans or frames accord- ing to which the earlier patterns here given have been arranged. A typical plan or framework upon which the Sassanian and Byzantine schools set out many of their patterns, which were to be woven in practically unlimited pieces, was one of circular bands or roundels 29 Fig. 1. — Circular bands or roundels ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS repeated at regular intervals as here (Fig. i). The circular bands them- selves, and the spaces within and about them were usually filled in with ornamental devices. A remarkable identification of this type with the yth century is furnished in the remains still standing near Kermanchah, in Persia, of an arch to the garden of the king’s palace. The decorations of this sculptured monument are thick and heavy in form, suggestive of Orientalized Roman taste. They date from the time of the Sassanian Fig. 2. — Bas-relief in archway to the ^jarden of king’s p/dace near Kermanchah. Persian. About the time ot Chosroei> II., a.d. 623. potentate, Chosroes II. (about 623 a.d.)- Beneath the archway is a big bas-relief of three figures, placed above this king mounted on his horse, finely caparisoned (see Fig. 2). On the skirt of the king’s robe, which hangs below his shirt of chain armour, is the type of pattern I have above mentioned. The ornamental detail within each of the roundels is a fantastic gryphon, and at the South Kensington Museum is a piece of figured silk woven with this type of pattern (see Fig. 3). It is a sort of thin damask or sarcenet weaving, done with green and yellow silks, and it evidently may be considered to represent this yth century type 30 SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE of Persian figured silk weaving. In Fig. 4 we have a specimen which, no doubt, also originated from a Persian source. Although this piece of silk weaving came from a Greek or Roman cemetery in Upper Egypt, the details in it are different from the Sassanian gryphon. But the simple formality of their drawing, and the planning or framework within which the details are repeated, is the same. These consist of two cor- responding horsemen, a lion and a dog, repeated to face one another. Fig. 3. — Piece of silk or sarcenet. 'I'he ground is green; the pattern is yellow; and consists of a twu-legged and winged monster within a circle studded with discs ; at the junction of the large circles are smaller ones with a crescent-shaped ornament. Persian. Time of the Sassanide dynasty. Early 7th century. Length, i It. in. : width, 1 ft. 2 in. This repetition and balance of the same details is a principle in ancient Oriental ornamentation. It prevailed in many Byzantine woven patterns, surviving in later and other schools during a period between the 7th and 13th centuries ; and the persistence of this type of pattern plan with its well-marked roundels, and the balanced grouping of the devices within them, is apparently testified to by Anastasius Bibliothecarius in his 31 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Fig. 4. — Two pieces of red silk woven in colours, with groups of two mounted horsemen placed back to back and -sliooting arrows behind them ; beneath each huntsman are a wounded lion and a hound. These groups are set within circular bands whicii are ornamented with floral devices, and in each of the corners is the fourth part of a rosette. PcrsO'ByZiintine. 8th or 9th century. Each piece is loj- in. square. Fig. 5. — A piece of Byzantine yellowish sarcenet from the vestment of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The pattern •consists of two birds facing one another on either side of a conventional tree, and surrounded by a circular band decorated with a repeating device. The vestment is preserv'ed at Branwcilier, near Cologne, and was used there, in 1143, by St. Bernard when celebrating mass on the day after the Festival of St. Paul. SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE Liber Pontificalis. He was librarian of the Vatican in the gth century, and writes of certain silk-weavings figured with men and horses, “ homines et caba/los,” and of patterns with wheels or circular panels and men, “ vestem ann rotis ct hominibus” etc. Whilst this plan of repeated circular framings was adhered to for some subsequent centuries, the ornamental details recurring within the plan were constantly changed. Pairs of lions, pairs of birds, and so forth, were frequently used — each pair being either confronted or back to back. Besides this, modifications of the framework were made, and by the introduction of smaller roundels between the larger ones (as in Fig. 5) the framework was more united or knit together. From this stage designers seem to have passed to varying the contours of the roundels, breaking the sim- plicity of the circular band into a circular succession of segments. And as the ingenuity in this direc- tion proceeded, so did ingenuity extend to the designing of enrich- ments of the bands composing the framework. Examples of all this are to be seen in the relics of St. Cuthbert’s sumptuous shroud preserved at Durham, as well as in other pieces of analo- gous silk-weaving at the Lyons Museum, at Bamberg, and else- where, probably made during the loth to the i2th centuries. Fig. 6 is a very beautiful specimen of the type of pattern just alluded to. It is of more complicated fabric than the Dur- ham fabrics (the St. Cuthbert’s shroud) and, chiefly on that account, I think it is of rather later date. Notwithstanding its obvious relationship in plan of pattern to the Sas- sanian and early Byzantine specimens, the treatment of its details also gives it a later date, and it therefore appears to belong probably to a late period of the 12th century or an early one of the 13th century. It seems 33 Fig. 6. — A piece of c’ci.Lle silk-weaving (a sort of bro cade). The ornament is raised in red silk on a green ground. It consists of two parrots regardant, separated by a tree device with scrolling branches, and enclosed within a circular band, which is decorated with scrolling and leafy stems. Four smaller circular bands, in which are cross or star devices, overlap this larger band and unite it to other similar bands. The interspaces thus formed are filled with sym- metrical leafy devices that sj)read out from a central rosette, d'he heads of the birds are woven in gold threads. Byzan- tine. i2tli or 13th century. About in. by to in. I) ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS to be from workers more under Byzantine influence than under Oriental and Saracenic influence. But it is difficult to discriminate precisely be- tween contemporary phases of Byzantine and Oriental ornament. Another sort of framework or plan (Fig. 7) in setting out patterns, but one that does not recur in surviving fragments of Byzantine stuffs so frequently as it does in patterns from Saracenic sources, has to be noted. Both Byzantine and Saracenic types of this framework give rise to an all- over effect in the arrangement and distribution of the pattern. But both depend upon the repetition of parallel and horizontal series of ornamental forms. The Saracenic versions, which are much later than the Byzantine example we have in Fig. 8, will be examined presently, and it will be suffi- cient to say here that the particular characteristic in them is the repetition of straight horizontal series or bands of ornament. In the earlier type of the method of setting out patterns, as in this Byzantine specimen, the ornamental and horizontal series of figures are separated from one another by narrow bands composed of a succession of segments of circles, as shown in the diagram (Fig. 7). In the specimen of Byzantine stuff (Fig. 8), the pattern of which is set out upon this plan, each pair of corresponding segments contains a double device of men and lions, one-half of the doubled device being the reverse of the other — a favourite Byzantine practice in composing ornament, which has been already alluded to. This specimen is of similar ma- terial and manufacture to that of Fig. 4. Its crimsons, greens and yellows are bright in the original, which is in the South Kensington Museum. The date of its manufacture is considered to be about the 7th or 8th century. Whilst some have thought that it might be representative of gladiators fighting with lions, it seems to be more likely to represent Samson strangling the lion. A third type of framework which I have selected is apparently rather later in date than the two previous ones. It consists of a geometrical arrangement of counter-changing circular forms making a connected framework for an all-over pattern of even distribution. It is frequently described as an “ ogival ” pattern, and often makes a later appearance dur- ing the Gothic periods. Instead of successive circular shapes or roundels, double-pointed oval shapes predominate in this type of framework, as in diagram Fig. 9. Within these spaces, in a repeated order, there were generally two different sets of ornamental devices. Running one’s eye 34 Fi*,. 7.— Plan of paiallel band, Pcrso- Byzantine pattern. SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE Fig. 8.— a piece of silk (sarcenet) woven in colours on a crimson ground, with repeated and reversed figures of men wrestling with lions (perhaps meant for Samson) in iiori/onlal series, separated from each other by a succession of curved bands of ornament. Fcrso-Byzaniinc. 6th or 7th century. 15^ in. by 12^ in. across or straight up and down such patterns one would find as a rule that identically similar sets of devices occupied the spaces vertically above one another, whilst other corresponding devices occupied the spaces horizon- tally next to one another. Taking a glance obliquely across the spaces, their respective or- namentations repeat in alternation. Fine ex- amples of this type of pattern are preserved in the Museums at Berlin and Crefeld. They are portions of the dress in which the German Em- peror Otho the Great (loth century) was buried. This type appears to have been used in the first place for creamy, ivory-coloured satins, and its effect on them was as though the pattern had 35 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS been traced with an indenting point into their surface. It was, however, woven. Fig. lo is from an outline drawing of a creamy satin stuff in the South Kensington Museum, which is possibly of loth or nth century Byzan- tine make. The bands of the ogival framework, of which two portions are shown in the upper half of the figure, are ornamented with repetitions of spirals ; the intervening ground is in part quite plain, and in another covered with a small hexagonal and diamond trellis, within the spaces of which are trefoils and little discs. Within the lower circular medallion, which is set between the two ogival halves, is a symmetrical device of 1 1 1 \ 1 Fig. io. — Outline drawing of a creamy satin .stuff, the pattern consisting of circular and ogival bands, with much ornamentation in small details. Byzantine, loth and nth century. ii*a' in. by 6 Fig. II. — Piece of silk or sarcenet woven in pink and white, with a counter-changing vertical pattern of rectangular devices and formal blo.ssom.s or rosettes. Ferso-Eg-y/>- tian or Syrian. 7th to 9th century About 7 j in. by 6i in. branching spirals, a sort of fanciful tree. In other examples of this peculiar creamy satin weaving, repetitions of pairs of birds and animals occur within the ogival framing. Roughly speaking, such stuffs may be called Byzantine, but whether they were made in Byzantium itself or in Syrian districts of the Byzantine Empire it is not possible now to determine. There is, however, a strong Oriental flavour in them. The ogival frame- work reappears in beautiful brocades woven many centuries later when the Ottoman regime was established in Constantinople. At that date SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE Broussa was a celebrated weaving centre in Asia Minor. But to these and cognate versions of patterns laid out on the ogival basis, I shall refer further on. The foregoing three types of plans for setting out patterns apply to silken weavings produced in large lengths. To a considerable extent they supply us with a key to the plans of many subsequent European pat- terns for woven silks. But besides the planning or setting out of patterns, we shall have to take note of the details in them and see how constant has been the re- currence of many of these details and how their influence has crept into the shaping of other details. In part illlustration of what I am now writ- Fh,. 12. Cap of pieces of silk or sarcenet, sewn together. Each alternate piece is woven with creamy-coloured silk on a dark blue ground. The cap is lined inside with linen. Pcrso-Egyptian or Synian. yth to 9th century. About 10 in. by 8 in. Cap of silk or sarcenet woven in whitish thread with star-shaped and lloral devices in white within compartments on a dark blue ground. The cap is lined inside with linen. Perso-Egyptian or Syrian. 7th to 9th century. About 9 in. by 5 in. ing, I have chosen a few from a number of rare specimens which date from the 6th to the gth century. These appear in Figs, ii to 17. All of them are of thin silk or sarcenet material, and were probably made at silk- weaving places in Syria or in the North of Egypt — as at Alexandria — or, perhaps, even at Byzantium. They were obtained from cemeteries at Akhmim (the ancient Panopolis) in Upper Egypt. But they are distinctly different in ornamentation from such weavings as have been generally considered to be typical of Byzantine silks. Fig. II gives us an all-over repeated pattern, composed of a vertical series of rectangular devices making a sort of counter-changing and in- 37 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS dented framework that separates the entire field of the pattern into cor- responding spaces. Within the larger of these are ovals each containing a blossom or rosette device. The darker portions, as here shown, are in the original stuff of a fair red or pink colour, and the lighter ones are white. There are other simpler patterns consisting of small devices like little discs bearing variously-shaped crosses, and spotted at regular intervals over the length and width of the stuff. Fig. 12 gives two caps or head-dresses made of bits cut from larger pieces of silks having all-over pat- terns. The cap on the left is of light blue and cream colours ; and the pattern consists of repeated series of more or less hexagonal forms, some of which are made out of what are thought to be geometrically-treated animal forms. But the small portions which are fairly Fig. 13. — Portion of a band or clavus for a tunic of bluish silk (sarce- net) woven in buff-col- oured silk thread with a repeating pattern, con- sisting, in the u])per part, of two men at the foot of a symmetrically-arranged tree. Noticeable features in this are the large up- turned leaves with or- namental devices within them. Helow, in a separ- ate oblong compartment, is a reversed inscription — and below this conies a square compartment con- taining an almost nonde- script ornament, which, however, appears to be based upon a vase encir- cled by leafy devices. The narrow borders along the sides are composed of heart-shaped devices. Perso-Egyptiau. 7th to 9th century. Length, 18 in. : width, 3^- in. Ejr,, — A medallion of silk or sarcenet, gold colour on green, and green on gold colour. In the centre is a tree device bearing ornamental leaves of e.xaggerated size ; the border consists of a formal expanded bud device, which counterchanges in its repeti- tion. The same bordering appears in Figs. 15 and 17. Probably Syrian ox Perso-Egyptian work of the 7th or Qth century. From ancient tombs at Akhmim (Panopolis , Upper Egypt. Diam., 87 in. intact are scarcely sufficient for the pattern to represent successfully its entire effect. The other cap on the right is of dark blue and cream colour : and the pattern seems to have consisted of alternations of star 38 SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE shapes and rosettes set within an elaborated framing of circles and star forms fitted together. Such a pattern reflects a Persian or Saracenic taste, which has been very fully developed in Cairene inlaid woodwork. At the time that figured silks such as these were being made, possibly in Alexandria, others exemplify- ing a different taste, and produced by a different school of designers, were manufactured in considerable quan- tities. All of those, shown here in Figs. 13 to 17, have a Persian flavour, which finds its origin with earlier designers who were less restricted to special conditions in the composition of their ornament than the Saracens were. Their patterns reflect the style of ornamenta- tion associated with the period of the later Sassanian rulers a style which seems to have percolated through Syria into Egypt and Byzantium — and developed (ac- cording to present evidences) very largely in Egypt between the 7th and gth centuries. Apart from the analysis of the patterns of these five specimens (Figs. 13 to 17) the shape of the pieces and the reasons for their shapes demand some attention. At the present time, and during the three or four centuries preceding it, the custom has been to cut out of a large piece of stuff the bits intended to fit into a particular part of the costume. This practice has resulted in breaking into the sequence of a pattern, so that it does not consistently adapt itself to the pai’ticular part of the costume. But in the earlier times, with which we are now concerned, the figured silk was often made in separate shapes, each shape containing a complete pattern ; and the reason for this was that each such piece was destined for the ornamentation of a special part of the robe to which it was sewn. Four out of the specimens (Figs. 13 to 17) are rectangular in shape, a fifth one is circular. Each of them had its appointed place in a robe or other dress. Bands, of which portions only are given in Figs. 13 and 15, were stitched across the shoul- Fig. 16.— Band for the cuff of a robe, of bluish silk or sarce. net woven in buff-coloured silk. A narrow nondescript ornament runs down the centre : on either side is a horseman mounted : beneath him is a tree, and another man holding a spear. The borders on the short sides are decorated with heart-shaped de- vices. Perso-Egyptian. 7th to 9th century a.d. Length, S.j in. : width, 4^ in. Img. 15. — Part of a band or clnvHs (for a robe) of silk or sarcenet woven in gold colour on a dark shade of purple. From ancient tombs at Akhmim (Panopo- lis). Upper Egypt. Prob- ably Syrian or Pcrso-Egyp- tiau work of the 7th to 9th century. 10 in. by 5 in., and 10 in. by 1 4- in. 39 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS ders of a tunic-like garment, and were called clavi. Circular pieces, as in Fig. 14, were stitched on the lower parts of the tunic, back and front — a pair of circular panels on each. These were called 07 incnli or tahulce adjiinctce. The oblong panel. Fig. 16, with the indistinct traces of double horseman device, was such a piece as was fastened to the cuff. The specimen. Fig. 17, is probably half of a silk scarf. It has the horseman device, and a small spearman be- neath him, duly repeated. The Greek lettering on the right hand half, just above the horseman, gives the name of Zaccharias — which is re- Fig. 17.- Half of a scarf of silk or sarcenet, with a pattern woven in gold colour on a maroon ground. In the upper part is half of a circular device surrounding half of an ornamental cross or star de- vice — beyond this are symmetrically arranged curved stems and large leaf devices. The lower part consists of two panels, each the re- verse of the other, separated by a narrow vertical band of inter- twisting stems with groups of small leaves in each space. In each panel is a horseman mounted on a prancing steed and holding up a sceptre or mace. Above his head is the name Zacharion in Greek letters, and near his face is the figure of a bird. Below is a foot- soldier seemingly attacking the horse with a lance. On one side of this soldier is a tree, and on the other side a leafy branch, below which is a stork (?) with its long neck and head bent towards the ground. A border of counter-changing, spreading bud ornament runs along each side of this piece of textile. Probably Syrian or FcrsO’Egyptian work of the 7th to the 9th century. Obtained from ancient tombs of Akhmim (Panopolis), Upper Egypt. 12 in. by 9 in. structing an ornamental de- vice is one often adopted in many classes of patterns — whether they are composed, as here, of formal suggestions of natural things, or of more realistic indications. On the other hand, the upper oblong of the band in Fig. 15 gives us a single non-repeating ornamental device, suggestive of a waved branch or twig, bearing large leaf shapes. The curved-pointed end of the leaf on the left, and its versed in the corresponding half as indeed is the orna- ment on one half of the whole piece. Now, if you look at all these four specimens (Figs. 13, 14, 16 and 17), and divide the ornament in each by an upright line down their cen- tres, you will see that each side is the reverse of the other. This method of con- 40 SASSANIAN, EGYPTO-PERSIAN, BYZANTINE rounded base where the stem meets it, are peculiarities in shape that will be seen to have survived in much later classes of patterns. Again, the placing of ornament within the contour of the leaf (although in Fig. 14 this is exemplified in a simple way only) is another similar feature worth re- membering, when one comes to try and account for the kinship between varying and succeeding types of patterns. Both these features, Persian in origin, will be found under various guises in all these Perso- and Egypto-Byzantine patterns here figured — and, as I have said, variants of such features recur throughout the sequence of silk patterns. 41 CHAPTER VI SILK PATTERNS OF SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN ORIGIN HE illustrations in the last chapter give some idea of the con- siderable variety of ornamental devices and patterns in silk fabrics which Europeans were in the habit of using for some centuries prior to the nth century. Many, if not most, of those patterns are distinguished by the introduction into them of the circular, ogival, and other shaped bands forming frames, within which the then characteristically designed sug- gestions of birds, beasts, floral and other objects were placed. Other equally distinctive kinds of pattern with and without framing now come under notice. Some of them display Saracenic or Arabic features, some Persian features, the like of which recur in Persian and Indian, or, more generally speaking, Mohammedan ornament of the present day even ; and others are evidently reflections or versions of the Perso-Byzantine patterns with their circular, ogival, and other geometrical framings. A general impression of their variety may be at once obtained by looking, for instance, at Figs. 20, 34, 26, 31, 32, and 33 ; the original specimens of which are considered to have been produced somewhere about the same periods, that is, between the later years of the iith and the earlier ones of the 13th century. Fig. 20 is, by some authorities, ranked as of Sicilian manufacture, of the time when the silk manufactory at Palermo, the historic “ Hotel de Tiraz,” was being worked almost entirely by Arabic or Saracenic weavers. Historical records give sufficient proof that this piece was part of a vestment or official robe of the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation — a vestment that was presented in the 12th century to the Cathedral at Ratisbon. There is clearly no doubt that the specimen in Fig. 21 is precisely similar to that in Fig. 20, notwithstanding that an expert in textile history has accredited it to a Spanish-Moorish loom. A conflict of opinion like this is no doubt somewhat puzzling to any one who tries to trace the develop- ment of ornament in manufactures such as these by their local origin. But for the purpose of recognizing the character and tendency of ornament 42 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN in both pieces, Figs. 21 and 20, the collocation of them shows that they are identical in design and feeling. An Arabic or Saracenic artificer no doubt produced them, so that the ascription of two widely remote local origins to them is not a matter of much importance. The scheme in design of these pieces is obviously different from that of any of the speci- mens given in Chapter V., and is therefore a new one to be noted. Let us now turn to Fig. 34 (p. 54), which represents another and quite different type of pattern, one from which there is also an entire absence of any sort of framework for the pattern. It is made up of pairs of animal and bird forms and pointed oval devices arranged closely together and repeated in a regular order. This stuff is a sort of rich silk damask, parts of which, such as the heads of the parrots and antelopes, are of gold thread. It is of a different fabric from that of Fig. 20, although in that gold thread is also used. Now the pattern of Fig. 34 is almost the same as that used amongst many others for printed cotton coverlets, or palampores, made nowadays in the north of India by Mohammedans ; this, then, is a reason for regarding the pattern in the silk of Fig. 34 as likely to have been also of Mohammedan origin. Nevertheless, the fabric is attributed to Sicily. But if its pattern be compared with that on a so-called Moorish vase, at the Alhambra, figured at p. 155 of Riaho’s SpiV/isli ludush-ial Art, there will be little room to question the probability that the designers of each of these two different things - the vase and the silk— had the same sort of inclinations in common, not only in the composition of their designs, but also in the drawing of them. Senor Riano, in writing of the vase, says, that “ animals combined with ornamentation are never met with in the immense number of Moorish traceries of all kinds which may be studied at Granada. This circumstance has induced me to consider these objects (such vases as the Alhambra one) to have been brought from Persia, for Ben Batutah tells us that several Persians of importance had settled at Granada ; and it is highly probable that a direct communica- tion existed between these two countries.” Slight as these data may be for the conclusion, I think that such ornamental stuffs as those in both Figs. 34 and 35 are more likely to be Persian or Syrian in origin than Siculo- Arabic, and date from the 12th or 13th century. Here, again, doubt upon the local proveuaucc of an ornamental design has little to do with the appreciation of its characteristics, although authenticated provenance may help in some cases to explain local or national inclinations to particular conventions in ornament. To illustrate a third type of a 12th or early 13th century textile orna- mentation or pattern, distinct from either of the two contemporary types just discussed. Figs. 31, 32, and 33 may be taken. In the patterns of 43 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS these, which are of stouter fabric than the sarcenet and thin silk Perso- Byzantine specimens, we have a revival and repetition on a smaller scale of familiar Perso- Byzantine pattern features, such as the strongly marked circular and ogival frames inclosing ornament, which often consist, as in Figs. 32 and 33, of bird forms repeated in pairs much as they are in Fig. 34. The designing or delineation of such bird suggestions is less careful in many respects than in most of the corresponding figures of an earlier school shown in Chapter V. But it is evident that an influ- ence of both early Persian and Byzantine ornament is traceable in these i2th or 13th century stuffs (Figs. 31, 32, and 33). At this point I may shortly sum up what I have been trying to indicate by saying, that in the 12th century new schemes of patterns for silken stuffs arise, and may be broadly described as — (1) Of patterns composed of repeated parallel bands of ornamenta- tion (Figs. 20 and 21) : (2) Of patterns in which the distribution of the details is not divided or separated by bands or by framings (Figs. 34 and 35) : and (3) Of patterns in which framings are used which are analogous to, or developments of, the Byzantine circular and ogival framings (Figs. 31, 32, and 33). Of these three types the first seems to be a marked departure from any schemes of patterns that had shown themselves in previously pro- duced European silken stuffs. It is a scheme that had a wide influence for a time on subsequent European silk patterns. Recent discoveries of ornamental textiles in Upper Egypt seem to suggest stages towards an evolution of this scheme ; an example or two of the Saracenic fabrics from Upper Egypt are illustrated in Figs. 18, 19, and 26. In both the specimens, Figs. 18 and 19, we find an orna- mentation arranged upon the plan of repeated parallel bands of devices. Both are pieces of linen with in-weavings of coloured silks, and were made by Saracens in Egypt about the nth century. Amongst the remnants of such mixed linen and silk stuffs are specimens made in the time of Fatimy Khalif, A 1 Mustansir (nth century). This Khalif was one in the long succession of Syrian and Egyptian Khalifs who were noted patrons of the Arts generally, and nominated and appointed governors to carry on Saracenic domination in both Spain and Sicily. Mohammedan customs were na- 44 Fig. 18.— Apiece of fine linen woven w ith parallel hands of ornament in col- oured silks, taken from a tomb at Me- shaieh, near Girgeh, Upper Egypt. Egypto - Sai-acenic. nth century. Si in. by ^\ in. SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN r3T:rjir::£:s?'5Rn2^e^e"J^ 'L Fig. 19. — A piece of fine linen woven with two parallel bands of red, yellow, green, and black silk. hgypto-Sayiiccuic. iith century. 8.1- in. by 8 in. turally therefore imported into those countries, and one of these customs, which appears to be germane to the particular point we are now following up, was the outcome of an old law or edict of the Prophet to the effect that the faithful were not to clothe themselves in silks and brocaded cloths. The only conces- sion to their personal predilections in this way was that they might wear a band or bordering of silk to their robes. The Prophet himself, four hundred years before the time of A 1 Mustansir, set the example. But in the course of the four hundred years innovations crept in. The splendours of the courts and cntoiiyages of the Khalifs multiplied, the single band became doubled and trebled, until it developed into consider- able widths composed of several horizontal and parallel bands of ornament. Figs. 18 and 19 appear to me to illustrate the commencement of these in- novations. In Fig. 18 the complete ornament consists of a central band flanked by two narrower ones, which are made up of a repetition of small roundels, in most of which are tiny, rudely- depicted bird forms. The larger central band is a combination of five bands of ornament. The inmost one is of the same design as that of the two outer independent bands ; on each side of it, on a black ground, are inscriptions in white, and beyond these, on blue, in black outline and red spots, is a rather degraded version of a favourite Grecian running pattern. The ornament in the bands on Fig. 19 is similar in character to that just described. Besides little birds in the oval compartments, there are little animals as well. Now com- pare these features with those of Figs. 20 and 21, which, as I have said, are of Siculo- Saracenic 12th century manufacture, and you find that a similarity exists between these patterns, all being planned in parallel bands. This coincidence alone is nearly sufficient to establish their Saracenic origin. But in ad- dition to it there is further confirmation in the Saracenic or Kufic lettering in them Fig. 20. — Copy of portion of a Siculo- Saracenic silk vestment of the 12th cen- tury, preserved in the cathedral at Kaiisbon. The original fabric is woven in coloured silks and gold thread, and was executed at the “ Hotel deTifaz ’'at Palermo. Henry VI,, who had inherited Sicily through his wife Constance, pre- sented this vestment, together with an- other (of which a portion is shown in Fig. 21), to the cathedral at Ratisbon. This vestment was one of the official robes of the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. loj in. by 12^ in. 45 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS — the bolder and more prominent lettering being seen in Figs. 20 and 21. On turning to Fig. 26 (p. 49) we have the frag- ment of a red and golden- coloured silk trellis pat- tern, whose kinship to the patterns in Figs. 18 and 19 is indicated by the tiny and debased bird forms in the spaces of the trellis. Ornament of the Fk;. 21. — Part of ;i S!Culo-Sa?acciu'c vestment. 12th century. i6i in. Same description OCCUrS in conjunction with bands of relatively large Kufic letters in a large piece of this class of linen and silken material, taken out of the same burying ground in Upper Egypt that Figs. 18, 19, and 26 came from. The inscription on this large piece, of which it is hardly worth while to give an illustration, is as follows : “ In the name of God, the Merciful, the Gracious, there is no God but God. Mahomet is the Apostle of God. Ali is the favourite of God. A 1 Mustansir billah. Prince of the Faithful, the blessings of God be upon him and his fathers, the pure Imams, and upon his sons.” By means such as these, then, we demonstrate a conclusion that parallel bands of ornament and Arabic inscriptions are distinctive elements in Saracenic silk patterns. How they con- siderably influenced European silk designs of a later date we may see, for instance, in Figs. 36, 37, 38, and 39. These last-named fabrics are held to be of North Italian manufacture, and contain pattern elements which are freer in concep- tion and designing than those of the more formal and peculiarly conventional orna- ments and traceries of the Saracens. In much more pronounced indications of these latter. Southern Spain is far richer than Northern or even Southern Italy. It will be enough to mention the Alhambra only, the like of which, as a synopsis of Saracenic ornament, does not exist in Italy. 46 F'ig. 22. — Part of the robe of I)on Felipe, brother of King Alfonso X. (the Wise'', found in his tomb at Villarcazar de Sirga, province of Palencia. Probably a His/>ano-Saraccnic weaving in silk and gold thread. 13th century. Length, 15 in. ; width, 8 in. SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN A rare specimen of what seems to be typical of a class of Saracenic silken ornamentation in the 13th century, is given in Fig. 22. It is a fragment of a thin brocade of silk and gold thread, that formed a part of the robe of Don Felipe, brother of King Alfonso X. (the Wise), and was found in his tomb at Villarcazar de Sirga, in the province of Palencia. As far as may be judged, the pattern of the whole robe consisted of parallel bands with Kufic letters, alternating with spaces closely powdered with cusped roundels and intervening star forms. The character of this pattern accords with that of Saracenic or Moorish ornamentation in Spain, which, as Senor Riano has observed, is noticeable for the absence of ani- mal forms from them. Such stuffs as that of Fig. 22 may very well have been produced at one or other of the many centres of Arabic silk weaving in Spain, and may perhaps be more correctly held to be Hispano-Saracenic than Siculo-Saracenic. Analogous in ar- rangement by parallel bands, as well as in ornament, though not in either texture or general effect, are the rather thin and sheeny silks illus- trated in Figs. 23 and 24. These, however, are said to be of 14th or 15th century manufacture, and, probably, may therefore have come from looms at Granada, at which the Moorish style in stuffs was pre- served longer than in any town in Spain. Senor Riaho notes that in 1502, ten years after the conquest of Granada by the Christians, the town was not only an important market for commerce in Italian figured silks, but also remarkable for its silks woven “a la Moresque,” a description quite applicable to Figs. 23 and 24. Fifty years later such Spanish silks are 47 Fig. 23. — Piece of silk woven in parallel bands alternately decorated with repetitions of the Arabic inscription, “ Glory to our lord the Sultan,” in yellow on a red ground. These bands are separated from one another by narrow borders of interlaced ornament in red on a white ground. II is/>afiO'Sayiiccnic. 14th or 15th century. Length. 2 ft. 6 in. ; width, 18 in. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS particularly described as being less good than the Italian ones. By this time, therefore, it seems as though the Italian taste in design was prac- tically pushing out the Arabic or Saracenic taste peculiar to Spain. The reference to these last two specimens has taken us to a later period in silk ornament than that with which the remainder of this chapter will be con- cerned. The affinity between styles of Saracenic patterns “ a la Mores- que ” seems to have been so strongly maintained in Spain from the 12th to the 15th century, that it is probably better to get a general idea of this fact than to attempt to identify with periods modified forms of the elements in these Saracenic patterns. The connection of periods with distinctly differ- ent plans and treatments of patterns is well established however in regard to Italian and other European silks, as we shall see further on. I have already referred to Fig. 26 as a specimen of Egypto-Saracenic iith cen- tury manufacture, in which the basis of the pattern is a trellis framework. The weaving process by which this piece was wrought is a tapestry - weaving one ; a brief description of it is given at p. 19 of Chapter III. It is earlier in use for ornamental weaving than shuttle weav- ing, and as a rule its produc- tions lack that mechanical regularity and crispness in definition which mark those of the shuttle-weaving process. These few explanatory words bear upon the more crisp definition of the patterns in Figs. 27 and 28. Both of them are trellis patterns, and to that extent are related to the pattern of 26. But the actual pieces from which Figs. 27 and 28 are produced are small in size, and were made in small Fig. 24. — Piece of silk, woven in colours with parallel broad and narrow bands, containing geometrical forms, and designs adapted from Arabic inscriptions. Two narrow bands contain cartouches, each being tilled in with an inscription, h 2S/>ano-Saracenic, 14th or 15th century. Length, 2 ft. io| in.; width, 14? in. 48 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN Fig. 25. — Piece of yellow and purple silk damask. His/>ano-Saracenic. 13th century. Length, 10 in. ; width, 14 in. shuttle looms. The one, in Fig. 28, is said to be of Oriental manu- facture ; the other, in Fig. 27, of Saracenic. This one has a Kufic inscription in fine gold thread, and it seems probable that a similar Kufic inscription ac- companied the fabric, of which Fig. 28 is but a little piece. Both therefore would be Saracenic ; and possi- bly rather more Siculo- Saracenic than Hispano- Saracenic. The class of trellis patterning was by no means an uncommon one in Europe during the 12th and 13th cen- turies, and an instance of it, some distance from either Sicily or Spain, occurred to me on noting the ornamentation on the plinths of the Porte Rouge of Notre Dame, at Paris, sculptured about the middle of the 13th century. These trellis patterns may be suitably correlated with patterns in which angular and polygonal frameworks predominate, as in Figs. 25, 29, and 30. Fig. 25 is from a piece of yellow and purple silk damask, its pattern consists of a framework of hexagons within which are central devices, one possibly suggestive of an expanded vine leaf, the other of a four-petal blossom ; each of them is surrounded by typical Saracenic ornamentation, which is well designed in arrangement to fill up fully its hexagon. Some consider this specimen to be Byzantine of the early i2th century, but the ornament of this piece of 49 E Fig. 27. — Piece of a brocade woven with very fine red and olive green silks and gold thread on a cream-coloured ground. Along the top is the Kufic inscription “ Arrahman ” (the Merciful) several times repeated in olive green on a gold thread ground. Pairs of seated animals, addorscd rcgar- danty and long necked birds, 7 ’is-d-vis, are worked within the spaces of the trellis framework. Siculo- Saracenic. 12th century. 5-2- in. square. Fig. 26. — Piece of yellow and red silk weaving on linen warp threads. Egypio- Samccnic. nth century. Length, 9I in. ; width, 3^ in. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Fig. 28. — I'ragment of a silk damask woven with fine red and white threads. I he pattern with its trellis framework is analogous to that of Fig. 7-7. Siculo- Saracenic. 12th century. 7 in. by 2 in. silk damask seems to be more nearly like what would have been made in some Hispano-Saracenic centre of the 12th or even the 13th century. The pattern and texture of the bit shown in Fig. 29 differs from those of Fig. 25. The designer of Fig. 29, although using an angular framework for his pattern, certainly had in his mind a reminiscence of the Byzantine roundels containing pairs of animal forms, and with such he has filled in the more im- portant of his elongated hexagonal spaces, bordering them with rectangular cheque patterns top and bottom, their sides being marked by parts of narrow vertical bands containing repetitions of a leaf device. These narrow vertical bands run across the entire length of the pattern, so that in this piece we have a sort of double motive, the all- over hexagonal and diamond spacings, and the vertical stripes or bands. This appears to be the pattern of a designer less fettered by such conventions as those that apparently governed typical By- zantine or Saracenic designers, and on this account it may be right to conclude that he was neither a Byzantine nor a Saracen. The weaving of the green silk and gold thread in this piece (No. 29) is not equal to that of Figs. 25, 27, and 28 ; and although it is con- sidered to be work of Fig. 29. — Piece of brocade woven with gold thread and green silk on linen the Ilth Or I2th Cen- warps. French ox German. Late 12th or early 13th century. Length, 17 in. ; turv it SeemS tO be width, yf in. ^ ’ 50 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN more likely to be work of the later 12th century, and possibly by some designer and weaver in a place more or less remote from such im- mediate Saracenic influences as Sicily or Spain, and equally remote from Byzantium or Constantinople. It is possible that it may be a specimen of early French weaving. On the other hand, such a piece as Fig. 30, a violet and fawn-coloured silk damask, is more strictly in accord with a mixture of typical Saracenic and Byzantine influences. Here again the framework of the pattern is angular, shaping itself into repeated star panels Fig. 30. — Violet and fawn-coloured silk damask or lampa^. liahan. Late 13th or early 14th century. of eight points — each panel containing either a pair of birds or a pair of hounds. The specimen is said to be Sicilian of the 14th century ; its texture is identical with that of Fig. 25 which, as already remarked, is said to be of i2th century manufacture. But qualities of texture are not always to be solely associated with a particular period only. At any rate, these two pieces — Figs. 25 and 30 — may suggest that the same sort of silk damask was woven both in the 12th and 14th centuries, and there is no reason to doubt this. At the same time, however, the design of Fig. 30 51 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS seems to be more nearly related to types of design of the 12th and 13th centuries, than it does to those of the 14th (see Figs. 38 to 45, pp. 57 to 61). Figs. 31, 32, and 33, represent a 12th or 13th century survival of the earlier class of patterns in the spacing out of which framings were used. Here we have the repeated roundels, the ogival framing, and a sort of billet or scale-shape framework. The rosette devices in Fig. 31 are of a simple type, and excepting for the nature of the woven threads forming the fabric, the specimen might be of later date. The same remark would not apply to Figs. 32 and 33, for in these the rather indifferent versions of Pig. 31. — Piece of silk and linen weaving, possibly of French or German origin. 12th or 13th century. The rosettes are in brown silk, and the centre leaf device is of purple silk. Height, 12^ in. ; width, 7I in. Fig. 32. — Piece of stuff woven with red silk and gold thread, with an ogival framing filled in with alternate rows of the Persian leaf- shaped fruit device and parrots regardatit addorsed. Possibly of French or German origin. 12th or 13th century. Length, 9 in. ; width, 5s in. earlier and better-shaped Persian ornamental devices, and of Byzantine bird ornament, associate them with characteristic patterns of the 12th and 13th centuries — as was the case with Figs. 29 and 30. Whether the stuffs of Figs. 29, 31, 32, and 33 were made by weavers in France or in the Rhenish provinces, or not, does not affect the obvious aiv de famille, which they possess in common ; and this conclusion is not disturbed because some authorities have classed Figs. 29, 31, and 32 as Byzantine, and described the gold thread in Fig. 33 as Cyprian gold thread. 52 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN The next series of silk patterns is that of Figs. 36 to 39. I have brought them together on account of the use in them of the same general scheme of design. This of course will be recognised as that of parallel bands of ornament, discussed particularly in con- nection with the Saracenic specimens, Figs. 18, 19, 20, and 21. Fig. 36 is from a brocade of silk and gold threads, kindred in many respects of its weaving with Fig. 21. Apart from the parallel bands of ornament which are common to each, the prominent details in Fig. 36 are more fantastic in effect than any in Fig. 21 : I allude especially to the birds or eagles with outstretched wings (their feathering being elaborately suggested) and to the leaf- shape forms which are filled in with Arabic letters. This textile is probably of Siculo- Saracenic weaving of the 12th century. In 37 narrow bands of ornament are of the heavier brocade weaving of Siculo- Saracenic work, and the broader ones are of thinner material, a sort of sarcenet or taffeta. In this part will be found pairs of eagles, pairs of leopards, and a florid leaf- shaped and radiating ornament related, in its general contour as well as in other respects, to corresponding ornament in Fig. 36. Fig. 35 is a reflex in its scheme of pattern of Fig. 34, which is considered to be probably of Persian origin. Figs. 35 and 37 having some few like- nesses of drawing and treatment in common, as in the floriated details. But their style differs however from that of Fig. 34 ; and whilst Fig. 35 might be said to be a type of 13th century Siculo-Persian pattern. Fig. 37, with the greater freedom of its treatment of detail in the wider portions of its scheme, may be held to be rather later in date — belonging therefore more to the close than to the beginning of the 13th century. An increasing freedom in elaborating the 53 Fig. 33. — Piece of stuff woven with crim.son and yellow silk and gold thread. Tlie pattern consists of a billet framing within the spaces of which are alternately a bird and a Per- sianesque leaf or fruit device. Possibly of French or Gcrinnn origin. j2th or 13th cen- tury. 95 in. by 6f in. Fig. 33A. for patterns. -Billet or scale-shape frame ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS rendering of ornamental forms in patterns, which were nevertheless schemed according to the Saracenic method of parallel bands, is displayed in Figs. 38 and 39. Fig. 38 represents a portion of a chasuble made of green and fawn-coloured silk damask. Gold thread, the frequent use of which has been mentioned in connection with typical Siculo- Saracenic brocades of the 12th century, is absent from this piece ; and partly on this account it may be regarded as an Italian late 13th century silk damask weaving. The peculiar freedom of design in the pattern of this Fig. 38 is exhibited in the relative naturalness of effect im- parted to certain of the objects in it. For instance, a perspective roundness is given to the drawing of the bowls upon which the pairs of spotted animals (? leopards) are seated : note further the naturalness of the small blossoms on stems springing from the radiating leaf devices : and note too the attitudes of the small dogs and birds in the squares of the narrower bands. All this seems to me to indicate the uprising of a new talent in pattern making- and a talent different from that of earlier date, which was distinctive of Saracenic craftsmen and designers. Similar conclusions may be drawn from the pattern of Fig. 39, with its springing hounds, its leafy boughs, and its swans ; and yet the scheme of the pattern is quite in the Saracenic style. The broader bands contain the hounds : then come pairs of stripes with blossoms and leaf-shapes, and between each of these pairs is an Fig. 34. — Piece of a raised white silk damask, • r 1 j 1 j 1 brocaded partly witli gold. Probably Persian in alternation of blossoms and elongated oval origin. I2th or 13th century. Length, .o', in. ; gj^apes. Within these latter maybe de- tected, with some difficulty, the forms of crouching harts. These with a few smaller details, such as the rays dart- ing from the blossoms, are of gold thread ; the larger portions of the whole piece are of silk damask. Such a piece as this may have been produced at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century ; and the relative naturalness with which so many of its details are rendered suggests more strongly an Italian than a Saracenic designer. 54 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN The adoption of badges and devices by European sovereigns and nobles became a widespread fashion during the 13th and 14th centuries, though it may be traced to much earlier times in respect of Moorish and Byzantine rulers. It is however from their European adoption, in the 13th and 14th centuries, that a light is thrown upon the introduction of eagles, falcons, hounds, swans, lions, harts, boars, ^”1 leopards, sun’s rays, castles, and such like, t d '' into the patterns of the ]'Z ' ' -f brocades and damasks made in Italy at this time. *%■ Evidence of the English demand, at least, for such ^ stuffs is quoted in abun- dance by Canon Rock in ^ ^ ^ frequent references ^ to inventories of the period, point to the supremacy of the Lucchese weavers, whether working at Luc- ca, Genoa, or even in Lyons, and perhaps in Bruges, as being a matter beyond question. The extraordinary variety of forms, which through the variable de- mands of their patrons the pattern designers were more or less obliged to use, had an influence upon the schemes of their patterns. The earlier of the Italian 13th century pat- terns were for the most part arranged, as we have seen, upon a Saracenic basis of parallel bands, a basis which seems to have been given up about the 14th century in consequence of the new devices which the expanding school of Italian designers were called upon to invent. Survivals of the curved or angular frameworks for setting out Fig. 35. — Silk damask, with gold-brocaded de- tails. 'I'he ground Is of rose colouring, and the pattern of blue, with de- tails in gold ; large grif- fins in pairs alternate with Persianesque leaf or fruit shapes (see similar objects on wing of dragon in Fig. 3); the interven- ing spaces are occupied by small lions in pair.s, and small Persianesque leaf or fruit ornament. Sicilian. 13th century. Length, 13.^ in. ; width, 7 in. 55 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS patterns almost quite disappear. But an interesting contemporary sur- vival into the 14th century of the ogival-framed patterning, as well as of the Arabic parallel band pattern, in conjunction with patterns composed of details repeated and arranged to make all-over patterns, may be seen in Figs. 40 and 41, which are taken from an English-painted screen of the 14th century preserved in the Cathedral at Norwich. The pattern on the small portion of the under robe, worn by the saint on the right in Fig. 40, is a survival of a 12th century Siculo-Arabic one : whilst that of the left hand saint’s dress is a sur- vival of the ogival framing, filled in how- ever with 14th century details. A figure Fig. 36.— Piece of s^illv and goid-thread broc.tde. Tile bands with the birds are alternately of red and blue silk ; whilst the narrower intermediate bands are of darker red, woven also in gold thread with repeat- ing and alternating compartments of Arabic charac- ters and hares, separated by diaper ornament. Sic 7 ilo~ Sii 7 -afcnic. 12th century. Lengtli, 16:} in. : width, loj in. Fig. 37. — Piece of Sicido-Saraccfiic weaving. Late 13th century. 7^ in. by i-]\ ill. wearing a cloak thrown open across his left hand, and disclosing his richly-ornamented jacket probably of gold brocaded silk, is to be seen in Fig. 41. The all-over pattern of his jacket is typical of the scheme of design for which ornamental silks of the 14th century are especially notable. It is with this last scheme that we have now to deal and to show various examples of its use. It will be remembered that we noticed that framings or arrangements by parallel bands were absent from the Persian and Siculo - Persian patterns of Figs. 34 and 35. It may therefore be said that the method largely adopted by many Italian designers in the early 14th century for 56 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN scheming their all-over patterns is a reflex of a Persian method in use in the 13th century. But the complete change in the rendering of the details designed by Italians, as compared with those designed by Persians, will be readily appreciated if we compare Fig. 34 with Figs. 42 to 49, in which last there is great variety of pattern detail. These last-quoted figures do not, of course, by any means exhaust the numerous varieties that abounded at that time, although probably they are sufficiently representative to convey a good idea of them. Leaping harts, a rope curling across each, collared and chained dogs, seated, and trying to rear up, flying eagles. Orientalized and other more na- turalistic renderings of leaf- shapes are repeated in orderly succession all mingled together in Fig. 42. The repe- tition of curved double-pointed wedge shapes, with a leafy lower edging and a blossom at the centre of each, re- latively simple in form, assists unity of effect in this pattern ; they act as foils to the birds and animal forms. The actual stuff is of rose- coloured silk (now much faded) brocaded Lucchese pattern and weaving. So too is Fig. 43. The repeating unit of this all-over pattern is a boat containing at one end a seated dog looking up at an eagle with flapping wings perched at the other end on an oar ; from the centre of the boat rises the curving trunk of a tree form with a branch to its right of disporportionate leaves and a pomegranate. The trunk at its top bears a still more disproportionate semi-botanical device, the main shape and contour of which recalls one of the prominent devices 57 Fig. 38. — Part of a chasuble of green and fawn-coloured silk damask. Italian. Late 13th or early i4tii century. Length, 9 ft, 5 in. ; width, 4 ft. with gold threads. This is probably a type of ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS in the pattern of Fig. 37. It is also suggestive of types of the Greek honeysuckle or anthemion. Upon the waves about the keel of the boat are a duck and two swans, and be- low is a sort of form resembling the end of a peacock’s tail feather ; from this emanates a slender curving leafy branch much smaller in scale and rather more na- turalistically sug- gested than the other details of correspond- ing botanical charac- ter. It is evident that a pattern unit so ela- borate and complex as this is, involved considerable ability in ornamental draughts- Fig. 39. — Piece of brocaded silk damask. Ground, rose colour : on the broader bands are hunting dogs, s\vans, and sprays of leaves in green and white ; on the narrower bands blossoms with rays shooting from them alternate with harts in gold. Italian Lucca). Early 14th century. Lengtii, 13^ in. ; width, 4^ in. manship to design it with success, so that its repetitions should fit well together and result in a well-arranged all-over pattern. Apart from this, however, the fantastic combination of the details in this and kindred patterns is indicative of the use of royal or noble badges, or quasi - heraldic emblems, to which topic I have above referred. The unit in the pattern of Fig. 44 is a castle and moat with a lion issuing below from each of the two portals ; the lower sides of the walled moat are flanked by a waved tree-trunk having leaves suggestive Fig. 40. — Portion of a group from the 14th century painting of the Ascension in the Altar Re-table of Norwich Cathedral 58 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN of early formal renderings of vine leaves : amongst the upper branches is coiled a snake (scarcely visible in the Fig. 44), and on the lower part ot the trunk is the ornamental suggestion of a swan, pos- sibly. At the base of the walled moat is an Arabic in- scription, from whence rays Fh,. 41. — Figure from the 14th century painting of tlie Crucifi.xion in the Altar Re-tahle of Norwich Cathedral. Fig. 47. Kose-colour gold brocaded silk with ])attern 01 harts collared'aiul chained, eagles dying, and leafy ornament. North Itiilinn {Litcca). i jthccntury. Length, 2 ft.S^in. ; width, 12 in. shoot downwards. The device of rays was mentioned in respect of Fig. 39, where it appears. It is often met with in the Italian silk patterns of the 59 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS 13th to the 15th centuries. It is most successfully introduced by Carlo Crivelli in the dress of his painting of St. Catherine in the National Gallery (see Frontispiece). The castle and lions in Fig. 44 are apparently in allusion to the well-known device adopted in the 13th century by Eleanor of Castile. This Italian brocade of brown silk and gold thread may have been designed and woven to the order of some Spanish per- sonage ; and if so, this would help to explain the introduction into it of Kufic letters, the use of which in silks woven to meet the taste of Italians, seems to have been dying out in the 14th century. Of a purely North Italian character, with its intermixture of details na- turalistically and Orientally ren- dered, is the silk rose-coloured damask (Fig. 45) woven with gold thread for the costumes of the half-forms of women caress- ing a dog with one hand, and plucking dates from a date-palm tree with the other. The mixed semi-Greek and Oriental formal ornament between the repeti- tions of the palms may be noticed as an example of the way in which various influences affected Italian designers, who in other ornamental devices were showing a strong leaning to design pattern details of lesser conventionality. Figs. 46, 47, and 48 are all of rich blue satin brocaded with gold thread. The unit of the repeating pattern in Fig. 46 consists of a waved spray bearing semi-naturalistic blossoms and leaves, and a distinctly Oriental leafy device, which springs upwards from the back of a pelican ; in between the repetitions of the spray are leaping oxen. In Fig. 47 the l^'ic. 43, — Pji-owu >ilk brocaded with gold thread. From the treasury of St. Mary's Church, I),mtzig. North /tat/an (f.f/cca). 14th century. 21 1 in. by 9 in. 60 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN unit of the pattern is a symmetrical arrangement of fantastic birds, vine leaves, and curving stems. The birds are somewhat similar to the Sara- cenic ones in Fig. 36 ; and some authorities say that both are remotely related to a traditional device in Chinese ornament representing the mystical bird “fonghoang.” The gold and blue brocade painted by Orcagna as the background to his Coro- nation of the Virgin (Fig. 50) is clearly related in general effect to the actual Fn;. 44. - Piece of brown and pale blue silk, bro- Fig. 45. — Rose-coloured and green silk, brocaded in gold caded with gold thread (now much worn). North thread. North Italian. i4tli century. 20^ in. by 13^ in. Italian, 14th century. (Greatest width, 82 in. fabrics from which Figs. 46 and 47 have been made. It consequently is collateral evidence, or at any rate suggestive, that such patterned fabric things were in vogue, and probably woven in Italy in Orcagna’s time (1315 to 1376). But whether they shall be decidedly ascribed to looms at Lucca or at Florence, cannot be determined. The robes worn in Orcagna’s 61 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Fic. 46.— Part of a dalmatic of blue satin brocaded v/ith gold tliread. North Italian. Late 14th century. Length of dalmatic, 7 ft. in, ; width, 4 ft. painting of Christ and the Virgin are patterned with such characteristic bird forms as those we have recently examined. Intermixed with them are repetitions of a quatrefoil device, the upper and lower forms of it being more Oriental than strictly Italian in feeling. The pattern of the blue and gold brocade of Fig. 48 is based upon a recollection of the Byzantine ogival framings ; and the in- troduction of the lily blossoms on the lines of the framework goes some way towards cor- roborating other circumstances that point to an Italian origin for the pattern. Nevertheless a good deal of Saracenic in- fluence seems to predominate in the treatment of the elaborated roundels, containing pairs of hares rai'ipaut, addorscd and re- gardant, recurring within the re- peated ogival framing. Another version of Italian patterns show- ing an inclination to the ogival framing is instanced by such de- signs as that of Fig. 49, taken from a silk damask. An actual framing is not insisted upon, but is merely suggested by the se- quences of circular blossom forms. Between them are two pairs of birds. One pair is perched, the other flying : the four birds are arranged about a new version (new so far as our Fig. 50. — I he principal fi;^ures in Orcagna’s paiiuing of the Coronation of tiie Virgin. 14th century. Now in the National (iallery, Loudon. 63 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN illustrations are concerned) of the corresponding form edged with leafy suggestions, to be noticed in the upper part of Fig. 35, as well as in the background of the Coronation of the Virgin, Fig. 50. Spinello Aretino (1333 to 1410) has painted a similarly planned pattern in his picture of St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist, and St. James the Greater, in the National Gallery ; but he uses birds, instead of blossoms as in Fig. 49, to suggest the ogival plan. The widespread use of such Italian figured silks during the 14th and 15th centuries receives Fig. 48. — Piece of Mue satin brocaded with gold thread, with an ogival Fig. 49. — Silk damask. Xorf/i framing, wjthin wliich are circles containing deljased renderings of ram/>- Italiaii. 14th century. 19^ in. hounds or hares, nddorsai and 7‘cgardant. North Italian. 14th by 5^ in. century. Length, in. : width, 9^- in. testimony from a vast number of monuments, tapestries and other works of art associated with different European places. In illustration of this fact I quote two, far removed from one another, in point of date at least. On the monumental brass to Johan van Zoest and his wife, at Thorn in Prussia, dated 1361, the lady’s jacket is patterned with a small ogival framework filled in with a triple vine-leaf ornament. On the brass of Martin de Visch, at Bruges, dated 1452, the design in the background to 65 F ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS the figure is covered with chained dogs and leafy blossoming sprays, a survival of such 14th century patterns as in Fig. 42. Less frequently to be met with, and probably, therefore, less plenti- fully made than the patterns containing semi-heraldic and badge-like devices to which we have paid attention, were thin-textured damasks and silks, and later golden bro- cades, of which the violet and gold-coloured damask illustrated in Fig. 52 is a specimen. Here the design is composed of an orderly distribution and repeti- tion of stars, angels swinging thuribles, and others bearing crosses, etc. In such a design one almost feels absolutely freed from semblances of either Sara- cenic or Persian influences. Yet even here it is to be detected in the curling ornamentation at the ends of the robes of the upper row of angels swinging thuribles. This curling ornamentation is closely related in all respects to the “Tartar cloud,” as it is called, which very often appears, not only in many phases of Per- sian, but also of Chinese orna- ment. The textile of Fig. 52 is no doubt of late 14th, if not early 15th century design and weaving. Whilst I am men- tioning fabrics specifically pro- duced for church use, I may for present purposes allude to Fig- 53i which is a fine illustra- tion of the perfection attained in the art of weaving on gold thread grounds religious figure subjects of a strictly ornamental character during the late 15th century. This type was continued into the early part of the i6th century. The fabric is a sort of damask of gold thread and crimson silk. Fig. 53 represents two portions, joined together, 66 Fic. 52. — Piece of violet and gold-coloured silk dama^k or lampas. Part of a liturgic vestment for days of mourning. ? Florentine. Latter half of 14th century. Length, 2j\ in.; width, 13 in. SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN of the orphrey of an ecclesiastical vestment. The subject is the Assump- tion of the Virgin, woven in repetitions according to the required length t Kj. 53. Portions of two orphreys joined together, of crimson silk and gold tliread damask, with repetitions of the Assumption of tlie Virgin. Venetian. i6th century. 27 in. l)y 15 in. of the orphrey. The outline delineation of the figures, etc., is in the style 67 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS of fine Italian woodcuts, the like of which may be seen in the earlier Italian books printed at Venice. And it is perhaps very much on account of this, that the design of the fabric of Fig. 53 is attributed to a Venetian loom — no doubt quite a small hand-loom. Weaving of a corresponding technique was probably wrought at Cologne in the 15th century, which place is considered by Dr. Rock as a principal home for this class of subject weaving. But the feature in the woven material of Fig. 53 is the considerable use of gold thread. The fabric, indeed, practically comes into the group of “ cloths of gold ” or “ dmps d'or,” for which Cologne was not so celebrated as Venice and Florence. A technical difference between the cloths of gold and silks brocaded with gold is that in the one the gold threads virtually form the ground to the design, whereas in brocades the ground is of silk, and parts alone of the design are wrought in gold thread. Cloths of gold, of velvet, and satin, become a special class of splendid stuffs which were plentifully used in the 15th and i6th centuries ; they superseded to a great extent the brocaded silks of earlier date, although the latter fabrics continued in use. In the 15th and first half of the i6th century one style of patterns predominates for cloths of gold, for velvets, for cloth of gold mingled with velvet, for rich satins much heavier in material than the sarcenet-like damasks of the 14th century, for satins mingled with velvet, for cloth of gold and satin and velvet all mixed to- gether in a single weaving. Of such patterns I shall give some specimens in the next chapter, and close my present remarks with a few general notes on the velvets and satins, and their gradual introduction into the European silken manufactures of the period. That for some time earlier, possibly two or three centuries, they had been made by Orientals, is pretty certain. Velvet is mentioned in English inventories of the 14th century, and as '■^veluiau" in French documents of the same time. The relative in- frequency of these indications of it as a foreign article of commerce point to its comparative rareness then. “ Zctani raso ” and “ Sericus rasiisZ are terms that occur in Spanish and Italian writings of the 15th century, implying a satin and silk fabric scraped or cut to produce fluffy surfaces as in velvets. It is not unlikely that “ Zetani raso ” and “ Sericus rasus ” may be the early terms given to early forms of velvet-like stuffs produced by Europeans ; but the invention, adaptation, or perfection of the particular appliances required for producing velvet in a shuttle loom, took time to develope. And it seems that general production of velvets can scarcely be considered to have been arrived at in Europe until the 15th century. A writer in the early i6th century states, that for fifty years Venice had derived an annual revenue of 500,000 lPus, Reggio one of 68 SARACENIC, SPANISH, SICILIAN, AND ITALIAN 10,000,000 ecus-, and Sicily still more, from the trade in Italian-made satins, velvets, and cognate rich weavings. In a word, he says, “ the manufacture of these things is the nerve of commerce.” At his time cloths of silks such as damask satins, and velvets both plain and cut (into patterns), were made “ in a way totally unknown to the ancients.” What then can be regarded as the European manufacture of these rich fabrics was at this period almost entirely confined to Italy. Later spasmodic and sporadic attempts to raise the manufacture elsewhere are often alluded to in its history, but except for the particular local interest attaching to them they are not of much value in a review of its character as a whole. For instance, an endeavour was made in London during the i6th century, by an enterprising Italian named Damico, to set up a weaver’s workshop, to make satin damasks, velvets, and cloths of gold. But his venture was short-lived. The Italian merchants in the city trading in their own country’s goods leagued themselves together to put an end to his industry, and succeeded in this by strong protests addressed to the authorities that it was a source of danger to their business. Satin manufacture appears to have been introduced into France in the first years of the 17th century by Jehan de Sellier, who applied for privi- leges from the king to set up works for the making of “ satins of Bruges.” But, according to Monsieur Michel, such satins were probably unpatterned stuffs. So far then as we are now concerned, the ornamental satins and velvets of the 15th and i6th centuries are chiefly of Oriental and Italian origin. 69 I CHAPTER VII 15TH and early i6TH century ITALIAN PATTERNS B efore examining new types of patterns which are special to the Italian and Oriental fine velvets, damask satins, cloths of gold and silk, of the 15th and i6th centuries, a general reference may be made to some of the influences which seem to have affected the growing European talent for designing textile ornamentation during the 15th century, leading it to new expressions. Historical records show that Persian, Syrian and such like velvets, and rich silken and golden stuffs, passed at this period in considerable quantities into Europe. The output of Italian stuffs was greatly stimulated, and they were widely distributed through the com- mercial relations between Italian, German and Flemish merchants, the extent and proportions of whose trading operations exceeded those ot previous periods. During the 15th century, Constantinople or Byzantium had been almost the chief market for supplying Oriental silks to principal Italian centres of artistic manufacture. In the 14th century, Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, speaks in detail of many places in Persia, Asia Minor, and Syria, at which he noticed the profusion and excellence of sumptuous textile fabrics made in them. The connection between the East and Europe for trade in these things became still larger upon the extinction of the moribund Byzantine dynasty in the 15th century, when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, and infused an Orientalism into the customs, manufactures, and such arts as there were, throughout the large part of South-Eastern Europe which fell under their domination. From the point of view of ornament, this Orientalism might be characterized as being quasi-Perso-Mohammedan : a flavour which enters into the patterned silken stuffs manufactured then at Broussa, and in many Ottoman towns, in Armenia, and Anatolia. Many of such materials went into the markets of Venice, Florence, and Genoa, and thence on to France, Spain, Burgundy, and Flanders. I mentioned in Chapter II. that in the middle of the i6th century, the Ottoman ruler, Soliman II., brought from the district of Tauris a body of high-skilled weavers, and planted them in Turkey. The Perso-Mahommedan or Ottoman taste accordingly percolated 70 15TH AND EARLY i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS into the designs of European weavers much in the same manner as had Saracenic taste of centuries earlier. But apparently it was not until the latter years of the 15th century that this Ottoman taste began to exert a clearly distinguishable influence. It then developed, and, as we shall have occasion to note, became stronger in the succeeding period. Trade in Oriental goods and spread of Ottoman influences are not, however, all that have to be taken into account. Progress in technical methods of making fabrics with different surface textures — such as velvets, cloths of gold, satin damasks, and ribbed silks — give rise to another influ- ence. The new variety of textures seems to have invited particular treatment for decorative purposes at the hands of designers, whose ap- preciation of its effects gave special impulse to patterns invented with a particular aim at displaying and contrasting the surface textures. The variety of texture surfaces was clearly greater than that which had been afforded by the immediately earlier taffetas, the sarcenets, and the some- what heavy semi-silken brocades. A class of pattern arose accordingly, and is distinctive as a type of Italian design which is intermediate between patterns retaining Saracenic flavour and those evincing Ottoman flavour. This intermediate type is, I think, to be associated at first, in point of date, approximately with the first half of the 15th century. It came into being about the time when European nations may be said to have been more or less settling down, and when social conditions were becoming more propitious than they had been to the use and the amassing of wealth, and to the organization of trade and of manufactures. All these circumstances conduced to a patronage and fostering of the arts, and to the spread of 71 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS fashion and tastefulness in the production and employment of decorative textile fabrics on a scale more extensive and general than in preceding centuries. A special feature in the design and composition of the intermediate type of pattern now to be discussed is the recurrent use of a reversed curve line — a line more popularly known in later times as Hogarth’s line of beauty. Two examples, showing characteristic use of this line, are given in Fig. 54. Each suggests a formal leaf shape, which was soon accepted as a conventionality that could be freely used. When such shapes were re- peated and interchanged, patterns, such as that shown in Fig. 55, arose, and these constitute a class of the intermediate type. The more com- plete effect of this class of pattern may be realized by looking at the robe worn by the Virgin in Fig. 56, which is taken from the painting by Carlo Crivelli (about 1468) m the National Gallery. The painter evidently used an actual fabric to paint from ; but it is dif- ficult to say what the materials of this robe were. A well-developed example of a kindred class of pattern is to be found incised upon the pall upon which the effigy of Carlo Marsupini reclines (Fig. 57). This monument, of which but a portion appears in the illustration, is in the Church of Sta. Croce, at Florence, and was sculptured by Desiderio du Settignano, about 1450 ; it serves as an evidence of the date when such patterns were in vogue. 72 55- — Diagram of a pattern composed of repeated and interchanging conventional leaf-shape panels — taken from an Italian silk of the 15th cen- tury. m 75 1 15TH AND EARLY i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS Fig. 58 represents a portion of a green velvet, with the pattern wrought in gold threads. It is less elaborated in design than Crivelli’s ornamentation of his Virgin’s robe. But it has a feature to be noted, which is the junction of two bold curving stems leading up to the simple cone or fruit device at the centre of the large leaf-shape, or panel. This feature is more clearly indicated in Fig. 59, a diagram taken from a gold brocaded velvet. The repetition of such bifurcating stems, surmounted by the cone device within formal leaf-shaped panels, makes a further class of pattern still belonging to the intermediate type. It and the first class of pattern, how- ever, are contemporary ; but the use in patterns of the bifurcating stems seems to have outlived that of the leaf-shaped panels by themselves. Of still longer life in pat- terns is the cone or fruit device above mentioned. This particular detail, in its simplest aspect almost, is given in Fig. 58. There it consists of a central fruit shape, terminated with a fan-shape or radiating efflorescence, whilst around it are little leaves ; in other examples it is given without them. In Figs. 55 and 59 we find varieties of the cone or fruit device, with radiations about it of leaves and small blossoms. More elaborate again is this device in the Crivelli Virgin’s robe (Fig. 56). It becomes more intricately and ingeniously designed under the hands of succeeding designers, as we shall see. I must now turn to a third and rather more distinctive class of what I have called the intermediate type of patterns. This third class also flourished at the same period, but the designs of it are, as a rule, smaller in scale than those belonging to the other two classes. There is a more defined continuity of growth in this third class than in the two former. And this growth is suggested by the employment of well-marked serpentine or undulating trunks or stems, which are repeated and run in a vertical direction up and down the patterns. An interesting and early example of this occurs in the pattern of the robe of St. Paul (Fig. 60) painted about 1430 on the rood screen of Southwold Church. Although a small portion 77 Kig. 58.— S])ecimen of green velvet, with conventional leaf paneL, bifurcating stems and pomegranate or cone forms in gold thread. Italian. i5tli century. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS only of it is exhibited in this figure, there is ample to illustrate the wind- ing trunk and its repetition amidst a diversity of botanical and animal forms. The winding trunk is the salient feature, and constitutes the motive, so to speak, upon which the composition of the design is based. Across it sprouts a cluster of cone or fruit, set in leaves, and it meanders between repetitions of lions, swans, and dogs, such as those with which Fiu. 59.— I )iagram of conventional leaf-sliape panels in conjunction with bifurcating bands or stems surmounted by cone or pomegranate devices; taken from an Italian velvet of the 15th century. the 14th century Italo- Saracenic patterns have acquainted us. Later examples of this serpentine stem pattern are confined to leaves, fruits and flowers only, illustrating the adoption of such botanical ornamentation to the exclusion of animal and bird forms, which belong practically to earlier phases of this class of pattern. Figs. 6i and 62 give later versions of the 78 15TH AND EARLY i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS winding-stem pattern with leafy forms only. Both are sketched from silken stuffs made in Italy during the 15th century. In Fig. 61 it will be seen that some of the repeated larger leaves are designed with the re- versed curve line, which therefore brings this class of pattern into relation with the two previous classes of the intermediate type. Fig. 63 marks this relation- ship more strongly, and is from an example of formal leaf shapes, designed mainly with the re- versed curved line, and raised in dark blue and green velvet upon a ground of crimson silk intervening between them. The repeated sturdy winding stem connects the leaves, within each of which is wrought a golden and coloured silk pomegranate, flower, or leafy object. A cor- responding velvet pattern in greys, dark on light, may be found on the dress of a man in the fresco painting by Domenico e Bartolo (about 1440) preserved in the Hospital of S. Maria della Scala, at Siena. Thus a fairly early date in the 15th century associates itself with this class of the inter- mediate type possessing those characteristics in design which seem to be allied especially with the use of rich textures of velvet and gold thread in producing bolder decorative effects than those of earlier stuffs. Fig. 64 illustrates the handsomely-robed figure of a bishop -a prominent figure in a painting by Romanino (about 1513), which is now in the Municipal Museum, at Padua. The pattern, on a large scale, of the bishop’s cope bears a close resemblance in its details to the pattern in 79 Fig. 60. ■ — Vertical serpentine stem or trunk pattern in red and gold painted on robe of St. Paul ; from Southwold Church rood screen (1430-50). ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Fig. 6i. — Diagram of serpentine stem or brancli pattern, wiili leaves and fruit, from an Italian velvet of the 15th century. Fig. 62.— Diagram of another type of the seipemine branch pattern, taken from an Italian velvet of the 151I1 century. 80 AND EARLY i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS raised in blue velvet. It is probable that this painting dates from about 1510, to which period, if not rather later, may be ascribed the specimen of cloth of gold and crimson velvet shown in Fig. 66. The renderings of the cone or fruit device in this piece are varied. Amongst the subordinate details, in outlines of raised velvet, are devices at the top and bottom of the specimen resembling the Tudor Rose of Henry Vlllth’s period treated in a very simple manner; besides these, small semi-naturalistic and curling leaves indicate the Italian designers’ budding inclinations to become more 81 G Fig. 63, but the vertical waved trunk is absent, and the pattern therefore presents a repetition of large pointed leaf panels in accordance with the principle of the first class of the intermediate type. The richest examples of the waved-stem class of pattern are un- doubtedly those which were wrought in velvet raised upon cloths of gold. A very beautiful illustration of this is provided in a painting by Gheraert David, of Bruges (1483 to 1523), see Fig. 65. The bishop’s gold vestments are splendidly decorated with the waved stem or trunk, and cone devices Fig. 63.— Velvet of dark blue and green conventional leaf .shapes and serpentine stems on a ground of crimson silk. The fruits and leaves on the large leaf forms are chielly wrought in gold thread. Italian. 15th century. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS free and fantastic in their patterns, but only so far as subordinate and small details are concerned, for the main effect of the pattern is derived from its more pronounced and conventional elements. Such an inclination, however, is much more de- veloped in the ornamenta- tion of the robe of the judge on his white palfrey, taken from Jean de Maubeuge’s (Mabuse’s) picture of “ Les fnges iutegresl' painted be- tween 1503 and 1507 (Fig. 67). Without doubt the judge’s robe represents cloth of gold patterned in outline of raised crimson velvet. From what is displayed ot the pattern we can see that were it possible to lay the robe flatly down we should find, at regular distances from one another, large cir- cular panels springing from a short bifurcating stem, and enclosing a well-ordered grouping of pomegranates and leaves about a large central pine device. Be- tween these big circular panels come long and curv- ing festoons or garlands full of leaves and blossoms ar- ranged upon an ogival plan. This playful treatment by the artist betokens a fanci- fulness foreign to contem- porary Italian convention- ality in similar ornament, and may be accounted for when one remembers that Jean de Maubeuge did not enter what is called his Italian period, and thus adopt Italian conventions, until some time after he had painted this Fig. 64. — Portion of a painting by Romanino at Padua (about 151.-;). Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. A. Hraun & Co. from their photograph. 82 15 '^h and early i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS picture. Here I may remark that when French, and even English, taste came to the front later on, as in the 17th century, and then affected de- signers for silks, patterns became more and more purely floral and natural- istic in representation. There is, however, a con- siderable lapse of time between such designs and those of Jean de Mau- beuge, who, with others of his time, may be re- garded to some degree as early masters of the realistic flowery patterns of designers intimately connected with Lyons silks. Fig. 68 is from an Italian velvet and silk fabric, probably of late 15th century manufacture. The darker portions in it, the familiar reverse-curve pointed leaves (see also Fig. 63), and the bifurcating stems (see also Fig. 58), are of purple velvet. The serrated bordering about the large leaf panels, con- taining various pome- granate, cone, and leafy devices, are of yellow and green silk ; white silk is also introduced. The whole pattern may be put into the second class of the intermediate type, and it is much more formal than the lean de Man- — Paintin; of a Canon of the Church, by (^heraert liavid, Fleniisli Scliool (1483-152:1), in the National Gallery, The robes of tlie beuge pattern. i lishop are of cloth of gold and dark blue velvet. 83 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Marco Marziale’s painting of the Circumcision in the National Gallery dates from the end of the 15th century. The group of figures in the right hand half of the picture is given in Fig. 69. The priest standing on the steps of the altar wears a cope, the corner of which is held back so that the whole of its pattern is not seen. But the part of it which is displayed consists of white satin damasked with the conventional leaf panels : within them radiating groups of leaves and blossoms, and nosegays of flowers are brocaded in black and red silks and gold thread. This mix- ture of damask and brocade is a combina- tion of weavings that was comparatively rare in the 15th cen- tury, but in later periods it is often em- ployed for the render- ing of intricate and much fuller floral pat- terns. An actual specimen of a late 15th century version of it is illustrated in Fig. 70. The repeated leaf panels in this are da- masked in white satin. Within each is a ra- diating grouping of stems bearing wheat ears and cornflowers, and on each side of its base is a peacock with spreading tail. The recurrent leaf panels and devices are set in a hexagonal frame- work composed of small leafy branches, birds and pomegranates, all of which, daintily drawn, are woven or brocaded in coloured silks and gold thread. A point to be noted in connection with the pattern, is that it is composed of two schemes or plans. The brocaded hexagonal framing is the more salient of the two, whilst the series of damasked leaf panels is subordinate to it. No similar instance of two practically distinct 84 1' iG. 66. L wo panels of cloth of gold and red velv et. I he pattern con.sists of a broad serpentine branch or trunk enriched with a twisting leafy stein, bearing at tile middle, a golden pine cone and leaf device set in a conventional leaf panel of red velvet with radiating border of small blossoms and leaves. The main ground is filled up with outline cone devices, twisting leaves, and small Tudor IS’TH AND EARLY i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS schemes of pattern brought into combination in a silk weaving, the one imposed on the other, has I think previously come before us. For the purposes of our review it there- fore shows that designers and weavers at this time Vv^ere enter- ing upon a new phase in con- structing patterns upon two or more schemes, a princi- ple that is to be traced occasion- ally in silk fabrics two centuries later. Returning now to Marco Marziale’s picture, we should take note of the man in the handsome- ly-patterned robe, standing on the right part of Fig. 69. Here we have a specimen of the first class of the intermediate type : repeated large leaf panels set about the cone or pome- granate device, surrounded by ra- diations of leafy and blossom forms. The fabric Fii,. 67. --Group of flcrures from tho pdiniin.ix of tlic “ L^jiright l*y Jeaii de INIaidjeuse (Mabu.'^c). 'J'he cloak of tlie jiul.ce scateil on tiie \\ liile lior^.e is of cluih of gold, with a pattern jilcked out in outline of r.dsetl \-clvct. Taken by Ivinil ]>ci mission of Messr>. A. Ih-.uui ^ C'o. fnun their photograph of tlie painting. 85 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS which Marziale seems to have had in his eye is a rich dull silk ground with the ornamentation raised on it in velvet. The design, however, is equally well adapted for damask. And as a sample of contemporary satin damask patterns. Fig. 71 has been made from an admirable specimen — originally of a delicate crimson colour, but now faded to a greyish pink. Notwithstanding intricacy of pattern scheme, the alternation of light and dark tones of the same colour gives a unity of effect which is the case with all silken damasks. The scheme of the design of Fig. 71 is related in principle to that of Fig. 70 ; for in Fig. 71 we have a repeated series of leaf panels, each of which is fully filled in with the cone or pome- granate, sur- rounded by a ra- diation of leaves or sprigs of acorns and leaves ; these devices are bound at their base with a crown. A strongly defined hexagonal fram- ing of ivy - leaf, stems or branches is placed about them. But, as will be seen, this framing is not de- signed to form a continuous hexa- gonal trellising all over the pattern. Were it to be repeated lengthwise and breadthwise the whole design would resolve itself into alternating series of wide horizontal patterns. On the upmost angles of the hexagonal framing are small crowns — an ornamental detail the use of which seems to begin in the patterns of middle of the 15th century, and is continued more prominently in those of the i6th and 17th century. A crown will be seen on the shoulder of the man in the red robe in Marziale’s painting. Fig. 86 Fig. 68. — Specimen of purple velvet with pattern wroujjht in yellow, green, and white. Italian, isth century. The scheme of the pattern is similar to that of the hanging on left of the background in Crivelli s painting (see Fig. 56). Fig. 69. — Part of tlie painting of tiie Circninci-^ion by Marco Mar/iale (1492-1507) in the National (lallcry. Tlie cope of the priest is of white satin damask, brocatled, with details in red ami black silk and gold thread. The robe of the man on the right is of crimson silk, with pattern raised on it of crinisi.m velvet. 87 0 AND EARLY i6th CENTURY PATTERNS 69, and several small ones in the brocaded damask of Fig. 70. P. Veronese (about 1560) has robed his Europa in a damasked satin of the same pattern as that of Fig. 71 ; whence it might be inferred that it is a type of pattern produced about the middle of the i6th century. But it is more formal in design and treatment than the majority of the pattern stuffs introduced by P. Veronese in his paint- ings. Again, in the painting, about 1520, by Bonvincino, in the Straedel Museum, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, this pattern is used for the damask satin hanging at the back of the Virgin and Child. There is therefore evi- dence that the pattern was in use from 1520 to 1560 at least — but in view of what has previously been said about it, it may be held to be a type of late 15th or early i6th century design for da- mask satin. Technical differ- ences between da- masks “ brocatelles,” and “ lampas,” were mentioned in the chap- ter upon materials and processes (page 15). Whereas damasks are woven in one colour, lampas, which much resembles them in the process of the weav- ing, is woven in two colour, the ornament '4i§* Fig. 70. — White satin, with damasked leaf-shape ornaments. About thc^e a he.yagonal framing of leafy bars, small birds, crowns, and formal groupings of pomegranate fruit and leaves are brocaded in coloured silks. In the centres of the damasked leaf shapes are radiating stems bearing wlieat ears, and beyond them cornllowers, with confronted peacocks at tlte base of them. Italian. Second iialf of 15th century. colours ; that is to say that the ground is of one of another. Generally speaking, brocatelles and lampas are of thinner and less sumptuous materials than satin damasks. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS and as a class appear to date from about the i6th century. A good specimen of an early lampas is illustrated in Fig. 72. The ground is of light blue silk and the pattern of yellow silk. Its scheme is that of the repeated conventional leafy-shaped panels enclosing cone and fruit devices set in radiations of leaves and blossoms. Other similar devices, however, are used in an isolated way, independently of any surrounding leafy-shaped panels, though to some ex- tent in connection signers worked dur- ing the i6th century. Whilst maintaining old schemes for lay- ing out patterns, they produced many that present a marked contrast with the simpler and more dignified patterns of an earlier time. I have met with no actual specimens of woven stuff to correspond with the formal design depicted by Bernardino Fungai in his painting of Pig. 71. — Faded rose-colour damask satin. The scheme of pattern is similar to that of the daintier pattern in Fig. 70. The he.xagonal framing here is of stout branches edged with formal (?) ivy leaves. Within the spaces of the framing are conventional leaf shapes, some of which are closely filled in with a large cone form issuing from a crown, and around this device radiate fantastic leaves in one series, and oak leaves and acorns in the other. Italian. Late 15th century. with a continuous stem, bearing small blossoms and leaves. This stem flows in opposing and re- peated reverse- curves. Hence the entire pattern of Fig. 72 may be said to be composed of two motives; and the treatment of its de- vices throughout in- clines to elaboration, and to a more broken or perhaps frittering effect than that of its prototypes. It is very much in this direction that de- 90 15TH AND EARLY i6Th CENTURY PATTERNS the Virgin and Child surrounded by cherubs (Fig. 73). The robe is apparently of white silk brocaded with gold thread. The prevalence in it of the conventional classic anthemion or radiating honeysuckle device gives a character to this pattern more severe than that of the usual type of the early i6th century. The example is interesting, as in- dicating that there were painters of the period (the end of the 15th century) who seemed to have designed independently of those con- ventionalities that belonged to the general run of designs of the time. Fig. 72. — specimen of yellow and blue silk damask or lampas. Italian. Early i6ih century. The last illustration in this chapter is (Fig. 74) from a fragment of an Ottoman or Anatolian green velvet, red silk, and gold thread weaving. This has been ascribed to the late i6th century. The prominent feature of the pattern is a golden ogival framing, the stems of which are partially overlaid with a distinctively Arabic or Persian long-pointed leaf. Within each of the spaces, enclosed by this framing, the green velvet ground is enriched with a subordinate seven-lobed leaf shape in red silk outline, a 91 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS version of the corresponding ornament so characteristic of what we have discussed as prominent in the intermediate type of Italian 15th century textile design. At the centre of each leaf shape is a simple cone of fruit device somewhat as we saw it in Fig. 58. The entire design is limited and formal in its conventionality. And in this respect it seems to reflect Fig. 74. — Fragment of green velvet brocaded with gold thread in an ogival framing, enclosing cone or fruit devices Mirrou nded by conventional leaf shapes outlined in red silk. From Broiis.'^a (y) ^ 7 vikish {Ariaic>iav). 15th century. earlier phases of the Italian leaf panel and cone patterns. Its style very distinctly differs from that of specimens of Ottoman work identified with the middle of the i6th century, which will be given in the next chapter. 92 Fig. 73. — Painting by 15 ernar pattern in red and yellow velvet. From I’roussa (Anatolia). Ottoman manufacture. i6th century. Length, 5 ft. 4 in. ; width, 2 ft. i in. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS shown in Figs. 75, 76, 77, and 78. Fig. 75, is typical of Ottoman patterns in which a framework is not forcibly insisted upon. Fig. 76, however, is typical of Ottoman patterns suitable for costume purposes in which a framework of the familiar ogival form is conspicuous and is the chief constructive base of the pattern. In this, again, is a reminiscence of the bifurcating stem device so often used by Italian 15th century designers. It springs from the lower portion of the bands en- closing each ogival space, and bears a large circular object resembling a prickly fruit with a crest of radiat- ing leaflets. But on looking into this object it will be found to be composed of two outer curving and narrow leaves, down the centres of each of which runs a delicate small leaf spray. The centre of the fruit-form is charged with a balanced arrangement of stems, terminating in two rosebuds on each side, and a radiating carnation flower on the middle stem. Little serpentine stem and blos- som forms enrich the ogival bands. The dark ground of this silk is of crimson satin ; the bands of the framework, and the large pseudo fruit forms are of gold picked out with blue, white and crimson. Fig. 77 is part of a i6th century Ottoman brocade, probably from Broussa, in which we find, on a small scale, a version of the vertically repeated serpentine stems (as in Figs. 61 and 62), bearing counter changing leaf-forms outlined in white, and charged with a golden radiating leaf or flower device. These golden serpentine stems run over a crimson silk Fig. 76. — Part of a crinv^on satin, witli pattern woven chiefly'in gold and picked out with details in crimson, blue, and white. This is a por- tion of a dress of a Sultana, removed from a royal tomb at Constanti- nople or Broussa. Ottoman manufacture. i6th century. 3 ft. 3 in. by 2 ft. 2h in. 98 CENTURY PATTERNS ground with a subordinate golden-leaf pattern. The last of the Ottoman or Broussa weavings selected for illustration is Fig. 78, the scheme of its pattern being a repetition or powdering, at regular distances, of an expanded leaf device of silver thread and white silk, which is charged with a group of stems, with rosebuds and pointed oval ornament. At the lower end of this white leaf is a pair of long, narrow, golden leaves, each charged with a tapering series of little blos- soms. The ground of the whole piece is of red velvet, and the subordinate details on the surface of the larger leaves are raised in crimson and green velvet. Thus, these four figures present us with four cornflowers radiating about a central Fig. 77. — Piece of crimson satin, with pattern woven in white and gold. Otto- n'tan manufacture. Probably from llrous-sa. i6th century. P’lG. 78.— Piece of crimson velvet, with a powdered pat- tern of large leaves of cloth of silver charged with tulips and carnations, etc., in crimson anti green velvet. Otto- man manufacture, probably from P>roussa. i6th century. 4 ft. 3v in. by 2 ft. in. different Ottoman pattern schemes, each plainly defined, and not, as is more frequently the case with contemporary European versions of them, obscured by elaborated and intermingling details. Comparative simplicity in forms and distinctness in their definition are features of almost all Mo- 99 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS hammedan ornament, and constitute the chiet of its characteristics when contrasted with European ornament subsequent to the 15th century. With these types of Ottoman velvets, satins and brocades before us, it is Pk,. — Portrait, painted by Titian in 1542, of Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, wear- ing an Ottoman green satin costume woven with gold thread in an < )riental pattern. fairly apparent that the green satin and golden brocaded dress, in which Titian robes his Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, was probably of Anatolian manufacture. This portrait (Fig. 79) was painted in 1542. 100 i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS According to Brantome, the most beautiful specimen ever seen in France, “a chef d'cciivre" of drap d' or prize" (that is velvet ornamen- tation raised on a gold ground), was the dress worn by Marguerite de Fig. 8o. — Portrait, probably of the Princess (afterwards (Jueen) Mary of England, painted by Holbein, or one of his pupils, about 1534. Her costume is of cloth of gold material, with outline pattern in red silk or velvet. Her underskirt is of cream-coloured silk, with raised ornament wrought in loopings of gold thread. Valois on Easter Day, 1571. The material was given by the grand Turk to M. de Grand Champ, French Ambassador, on his departure from Con- stantinople ; and the Ambassador on his return to France presented it lOI ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS to the Queen. Its textile and ornamental features corresponded no doubt with one or other of those of the Ottoman specimens we have considered. The incident is interesting, as showing how such stuffs cropped up during the i6th century in different parts of Europe, and no doubt exerted an influence upon French and Italian designers. Reverting, however, to the earlier years of the century, let us look at a portrait, painted probably about 1534, of the Princess Mary, by Holbein, which is given in Fig. 80. Her costume is of two different kinds of material. The body and overskirt is of cloth of gold, with pattern raised in red velvet outlines similar in fabric to that of Fig. 66 ; the design on the outer skirt is of bold interlacing stems and pomegranate and other large leafy devices. The pattern on the body is on a slightly smaller scale, and con- trived to fit into the shape of this part of the costume. The underskirt of the Princess’s dress is of white silk, and the ornament is raised upon it in tiny loops of gold thread ; but it is difficult to make out the scheme of the design. The method of weaving with loops on the surface of a stuff seems to have arisen in the i6th century, and pro- duced new effects of texture. These were simulated both in silks and da- masks, as may be detected in the central devices and the knots on the curved stems of Fig. 82, and again, in the bands forming the framework in the green silk damask of Fig. 83. Both these two latter specimens are pro- bably a little later than Holbein’s time. More typical of it would be such a de- sign as that in Fig. 81, where we have a portion of a crimson, green velvet, and looped gold thread fabric. Its pattern consists of naturalistic branches bearing leaves and blossoms treated with much realism, and shaped to form an ogival framing enclosing a large concentric ornament, wrought in a texture of gold-thread loops picked out with lines of red 102 Fig. 81. — Piece of ciim-::on velvet, with the floral stems in ^reen and red velvet, and the lar^^e repeated pointed oval forms in cloth of gold, with concentric forms raised in looped gold threads picked out with crimson velvet. Italian. First half of 16th century. i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS velvet ; this circular device has a relationship to the large repeated blossoms noted in the Ottoman specimen, Fig. 75. The specimen in Fig. 82 is of cloth of silver with an ogival frame of crimson velvet intersected here and there with raised knots and semi- botanical forms, which are woven in closely pulled loopings of red silk. Of similar weaving is the central device, about which radiate stems and leaves of a carnation character in red velvet ; the whole forming a group which recurs within the ogival frame. The ornamental intention of this group is derived from the cone of fruit with radiating blossoms and leaves. Fig. 82. — Piece of cloth of silver or silver tissue, with the pattern partly wrought in crimson velvet and partly in loopings of crimson silk. Italian. Middle of i6th century. of the 15th century, which has been often referred to previously. The green satin damask of Fig. 83 is said to be of Spanish manufacture of the middle of the i6th century ; but whether it be Spanish or not, its pattern has the same character of basis as that of Fig. 82. Its ogival framework, which is intersected by crowns and a knot combined with bud devices, en- closes recurrent versions of the cone or fruit shapes surrounded by conven- tional ornament. Again, a further variety of pattern constructed according to the ogival frame scheme, but with leaves more realistic than any in the last figure, 83, is displayed in Fig. 84. This is from a specimen of red and fair yellow silk damask, or perhaps it should be called “lampas, " 103 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS woven probably towards the latter half of the i6th century. In it are to be noted overlapping stems, and the curled ends of the leaves with fibres carefully marked. These denote a departure from the usual manner in which corresponding details are treated in patterns earlier than 1560, about which time the picture of the Virgin tion only is given in Fig. 85, was hanging of the background here is crimson silk and gold thread. Its pattern retains a suggestiveness of earlier types, especially in regard to the big pointed cone or fruit devices. On the other hand, the wreaths are Fig. 84. — Piece of red and yellowish silk damask satin or lampas. Italian, Middle of the 16th century. and Child, of which the central por- painted by Paul Veronese. The Fig. 83. — Piece of green silk brocatelle, with ogival frame pattern and crowns. Although considered to be of .Spanish, it is as likely to be of Italian manufacture. Middle of i6th century. freer in form, and the leaves of which they are composed are almost realistic in shape. Such patterns stand midway between the formal and conventional ones produced at the beginning of the i6th century and those with more numerous inclinations to realism produced at the end of it. To the same class of semi-realistic patterns — if one may call them so — belongs the leafy and flower-red satin damask of the skirt worn by the 104 i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS golden -haired lady (Fig. 86), painted by Paris Bordone, probably some twenty years earlier than Paul Veronese’s Mother and Child. Whilst these and several other specimens supply the evidence of a tendency amongst designers at this time to depict with some appearance of realism the objects brought into the compo- sition of their patterns, there are a good many contemporary patterns which are composed with almost nothing but con- ventional and abstract ornament, and of these a few specimens have been selected for illus- tration. Fig. 87 is from a portrait, painted by Bronzino about 1555, of Eleonore of Toledo, Duchess of Florence, with her son. The pattern on her dress is of curling scrolls or Arabesques, wholly conventional in style, intermingling with reminiscences of the cone or pointed fruit device, also of a very conventional type.^ The original stuff of the duchess’s dress seems to have been either cloth of silver or white creamy silk, with the ornament raised on it in dark velvet. Of the same class of conventional pat- tern is that in Fig. 88, Fig. 85. — IMoiher and Child, from a painting by Paul \^eronese, (’?) about 1560. The lianging at tlie back is of crimson silk, with pattern in gold tliread. 1 It may be worth while to notice in connection with this class of Arabesque and scroll designs, that amongst pattern books published in the i6th century, one of the earliest is La Fleur de la Scicnie de 1‘ortraitiirc ct Patrons do Brodcrie facou aral>its/ue ct italiqu.'. The license for its publication was granted by Francis I. to “ Messir Francisque pelegrin de Florence.” 105 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS from a red and gold colour silk brocatelle. The constructive basis of this pattern is an ogival frame enclosing cone or fruit devices, which are connected with a symmetrical arrangement of scrolls and stems that develope into fanciful-shaped framings, subordinate to the main and Fk;. H6. — Porirait by Pari> Ponlone, painted aboiiL 1560. The costume isoflight red damask satin. Many of the designs in it are called “ ouvraiges Moresques et Damasquins.” The work was issued in Paris by Jacques Nyverd, 4th August, 1530. A weaver’s pattern book of the same class was published under the title of l.iuic (Livi'i ) Nonvcaa^ by a Lyons printer, about the same time. Its title-page has a woodcut of a man and woman weaving at their looms. 106 i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS simpler ogival frame. A more fantastic example of this type is given in Fig. 89, taken from a gold colour and dark brown brocatelle. Another version of this class of conventional ornament with semi-naturalistic garlands of flowers, represented in an Ottoman manner, will be seen in Fig. 90, also from an Italian crimson brocatelle weaving. A large strip of cloth of gold, with the ornamentation raised partly in Fig. 87. — Portrait by P>ronzlnoof Kleonore of Toledo, Duchess of Florence, with her son (Ferdinaml I.), wearing a dress of cloth of silver or white silk, with dark-coloured pattern rai.sed on velvet. Abmit 1555. plain crimson velvet and crimson velvet flecked with loops of gold thread, is the example from which Fig. 91 was made. The original piece is one of several that were used both for the panels of pilasters and, when joined together, as curtains or wall hangings. The width of the fabric, which coincides with the shape of the long and narrow pilaster panel, regulated 107 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS the design of the pattern, of which one complete “ repeat ” is given ; it is a vertical arrangement of symmetrical large leaf and entirely artificial flower forms, somewhat of a tulip type. It is not, perhaps, strong in invention and contrast. The frequency of the small leaflets, running along the main ribs of the big leaf devices, is rather a poor device that becomes monotonous ; and the prevailing roundness of the principal shapes is also Fig. 88. — Brocatelle of red aad gold coloured silk. —perhaps of Milanese make. About 1560. tedious. Then, again, the disproportion between the large length of the leaves and scrolls and the narrow width of the stuff, seems to militate against gracefulness in effect. Certain elementary principles which may be deduced from older ornament are not observed here, so that the pattern lacks the style and interest of many earlier designs we have seen. Nevertheless, the stuff was evidently intended to be sumptuous, for the materials of which the original is made are as rich as those in Fig. 66, and io8 CENTURY PATTERNS necessitated as much ingenuity in the weaving of them. But a compari- son of the two designs shows where a refinement of style distinguishes the one and is relatively absent from the other. The gradual loss of such style seems, as I have said, to take its start from about the middle of the Fig. 89. — Brocatelle of brown and gold coloured silk. Italian — perhaps of Milanese make. About 1560. i6th century, to which period the manufacture of the piece shown in Fig. 91 probably belongs. This loss of style coincides in point of time with that of the growing public demand for all sorts of ornamental stuffs, and the consequent decline of that description of individual interest in producing them for particular people and particular occasions, which a 109 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS hundred years earlier was so influential in conducing to style in the ornamental fabrics then made. In many of the lighter silken fabrics of the latter part of the i6th, and early part of 17th, century, which are rather of the nature of flne twilled silks or taffetas, the definition of the ornamentation is brought out by freely used white outlining, as in Figs. 92, 93, and 94. The general construction and certain of their details of patterns of the Figs. 92 and 93 are similar to one another. The construction of that in Fig. 92 is more intricate and elaborate than that of Fig. 93. In both, however, there is Fig. 90.— Lrocntelle of crimson silk. Italian. About 7565-70. suggestion of a more or less connected framework formed with fanciful stems, which intertwist, and terminate in abstract and semi-realistic de- tails. In Fig. 92 birds and lions are introduced together, with much play of scrolling and winding forms. The use of the white outline in the textile itself, and the regular interchange of the red and yellow between the ground and the ornament blend the rather busy pattern into a unity, which is less successfully obtained in Fig. 93, where the colours are red, yellow, and black, and in masses, yielding strong contrast and making a rather spotty effect ; the ornament, too, is less well drawn in this. Both no i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS pieces possibly emanated from closely allied sources, and it is hardly likely if Fig. 92 be of Italian weaving and design, as is probable, that Fig. 93 should be otherwise, although it is considered by some to be Hispano- Moresque, a nomenclature which is too suggestive of an earlier period to be well applicable to a fabric of the end of the i6th century. Fig. 94 is also from a brilliantly-coloured twilled silk, in which crimsons and greens are largely used. Almost all the forms are daintily outlined with white, and for the most part are Ottoman in drawing and treatment. But here the pattern is composed of repetitions of vertical groupings of leaf and semi- fruit forms, many of them after the manner of i6th century Persian pat- terns. The charging of the leaf and semi-fruit forms with small flowerets, and the recurrence of narrow, elon- gated and curved leaves of long pe- talled tulips or rosebuds, conspicuously show Oriental influence. It is probable, therefore, that the orginal fabric was produced in Constantinople or in Ana- tolia, although some experts favour the supposition that it is of Italian - Venetian manufacture of the late i6th or early 17th century. The design of Fig. 95, with its slender ogival frame united by crowns, is undoubtedly of Italian late i6th century origin ; but a measure of Ottoman feeling seems to have had some influence upon the Italian designer in his symmetrical arrangement and treatment of the elegant leaves, lilies, and other more fanciful blossoms brought into his de- III ,'Fig. 91. — pAi t of a hanging of cloth of gold, with ornament raised partly in crimson velvet and partly in crimson velvet decked with small gold thread loops. Wnctian. Latter half of i6th century. Fig. 92. — A piece of red and yellow silk taffeta, with ornament outlined in white. Italian. Latter half of i6th century. Fig. 93. — A piece of taffeta material woven with red, green, and yellow silks, the ornament outlined in white. Though considered to be of Spani^'h, it i'' likely to be of Italian manufacture. Latter half of i6th century'. II2 i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS sign. In the stuff itself these are rendered in coloured silks, the more frequent colour being green, in which the framework and most of the leaves are woven ; the ground to the ornament is of silver tissue. Another pattern with an ogival frame of slender bands, knit together by crowns, would be displayed were the portion given in Fig. 96 to be repeated. This is a weaving with less costly materials than those of Fig. 95, and is the kind of crimson and yellow brocatelle which represents a good class of stuff for regular trade purposes in the late i6th or early 17th century. The collared leopards almost take one back to the 14th century ; but the ga- drooned vase, which is a reflex of Italian pottery fashionable at the time, brings one back to the middle of the i6th century. We find a kindred ogival framework pattern, but more subdued Fig. 94. — Piece of crimson satin. The orna- ment in coloured silks is woven with a sort of taf- feta te.xture. The ornament is outlined in white for the most part. Probably of Otioman manu- facture. Latter part of the i6th century. Fig. 95. — I’ortion ot a cloth of silver niateihal woven witli coloured silks, for costume purposes. Italiau. Late i6th century. in effect, in the crimson silk damask from which Fig. 97 was taken. The leaves here are possibly too large, and out of scale with other details. Still there is a pleasing flow of line through the design, which has a modest, harmonious effect both in the distribution of its forms and in its colour. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS Fig. 98 is from a brocatelle or lampas, having a purple ground with the ornament in green. The pattern has no framework ; it consists of repetitions of three sets of devices — one is a vertical stem hearing a Tudor rose and oak leaves passing through a crown ; the second is a sort of scroll coming from the lower end of the vertical stem up towards the crown on each side of it ; and the third is a balanced arrange- ment of leaf forms with large and deep serrations between the repeated Tudor roses. The prin- ciple of this pattern is the repetition or powdering of such units as above de- scribed, and is similar to that which appears to have governed the arrangement of such patterns as those of the 14th century (Figs. 42, 43, 44, and 45). Its revival towards the end of the i6th century and in the earlier years of the 17th century is possibly traceable to Ottoman influence ; and we find it used in such patterns as Figs. 78 and 94. It is possible that, whilst the immediate progenitors of the mode of planning patterns as given in Fig. 98 were Italian designers, the specimen itself may be of French or Flemish origin, and if so, then probably Fig. 96. — Piece of .1 h.iiiging of brocatelle, with pattern woven in rather later in date Say crimson on a yellow ground. Italia}i. Late i6th century. 4 ft. 2 in. abOUt thc flTSt VCSTS of thc by iStT in, 17th century. Looked at from an English point of view, it would, I think, be considered more Jacobean than Elizabethan. Silk weaving and dyeing in London are stated by Monsieur Michel to have been commenced by some Italian manufacturers during the reign of James I. ; and it is possible, though scarcely likely, that the original of Eig. 98 might be of London make. The drift of the foregoing remarks upon the patterns of the latter II4 i6TH CENTURY PATTERNS portion of the i6th century, no less than the types which have been illustrated, will have prepared the way for what is to follow in demon- Fig. 97. — Piece of crimson satin Uamask. Italian. Late i6th century. strating a diminution in the use of conventional ornament, and a gradual concentration of designers’ draughtsmanship to portray the details of their decorations, as woven in silks, with as close a likeness to real objects, flowers, and foliage as could be attained, imparting to them a Fig. 98. — Silk damask or lampas, witli purple ground and pattern in green. This is a portion of a chasuble. Italian. Late 16th or early 17th century. 175 in. by 10} in. realism not merely of natural shapes, but also in perspective effects of light and shade, through which the unity of ornamentation with its surface and material is certainly lessened. II5 CHAPTER IX 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS M any features in Fig. 99, from a gold-coloured brocatelle, with details picked out for the most part in red outline, serve to explain a striv- ing on the part of designers, late in the i6th century, after effects in patterns which tended to lessen such unity as we have had the opportunity of noting in earlier patterned stuff, between ornamentation and its surface and material. But this striving is still more pronounced in typical designs for silks of the late 17th century and subsequently ; and the expression “unity,” which I have employed, may be better understood if a comparison be made between a type of late i6th and late 17th century patterned stuffs. For this purpose let us take Figs. 99 and 122. Now the design of Fig. 99 possesses a characteristic order and formality, the like of which is absent from the design of a hundred years later, given in Fig. 122. This is relatively without such order and coherency in composition as are shown in Fig. 99 : for in spite of the sparkle and wealth of its gold and silver brocade and the admirable touches of bright-coloured silks, considerations of ornamental relevancy, of pattern to its surface and material, cannot surely have prevailed with the designer of Fig. 122. His mingling of the pattern elements, which we see here overlapping one another, gives one the impression that he has ignored the fact that the actual textile has but a single plane for its surface, and consequently for its consistent ornamenta- tion. Tbe designer’s idea was foreign to such a limited consideration, and seems to have been to produce a mazy confusion of floral and other forms of many shapes and sizes, falling above and under one another, and to leave the weaver to overcome a number of interesting technical difficulties, in his production of a many-coloured and glittering brocade. Such weaving unquestionably found favour with popular taste, which, therefore, at this period, maybe said to have shown preference for tours de force in weaving, rather than for order, formality, and fitness in ornamental design ; and, although this marked preference is singularly apparent from the end of the i6th, and through the 17th and i8th centuries, the incipiency of a similar tendency at an earlier date may also be detected if one com- I16 lyTH and i8Th century PATTERNS pares such a design as that of a late 15th century stuff, say Fig. 71 (where we find a curl given to certain leaf forms), with that of Fig. 99. Fig. 99. — A piece of golden-colouretl ^ilk weaving of the bmcatellc class, with the pattern chielly outlined in red silk. Made towards the latter half of the i6th century. But let us pass from making this particular comparison, and ex- amine the pattern scheme of Fig. 99. We find it to consist of an elabo- II7 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS rated framework enclosing, alternately, groups of leafy radiations and vases with bouquets of formal flowers. One portion of the framework is composed of griffins that prance along the upper stems, the lower reverse curve stems being overlaid by overlapping leafy devices. All of these are rendered in outline, and thus an evenness or unity of ap- pearance is imparted to this part of the pattern. In its other portion, however, there are suggestions of bulk and relief, as in the masks and their drapery, which are slightly shaded, and in the garlands and hanging branches of leaves and fruits, which seem to stand out solidly. A sense of unity between the ornament and its surface may consequently be said to be as fairly satisfied in the one portion as it is dis- turbed in the other. Again, the heterogeneous objects of which the whole pattern is composed convey no such sense of harmony in selec- tion as that to which earlier patterns Figs. 84, 88 or 89) have accustomed us. Allied in scheme and in mixture of details to the pattern of Fig. 99 is the green velvet pattern on a gold yellow silk ground. Fig. 100. Here again an elaborately-shaped framing , ... Fig. ioi — A piece of silk lampas (a sort of damask) with a purple IS tnC principal construe- ground, the pattern woven in green. Italian. Late loth centur3a 118 Fig. ioo. — A piece of dark-green cut silk velvet, on a yellow .silk ground. Italian. Late i 6 th centur3^ lyTH and i8Th century PATTERNS tive basis ; and it is filled in with winged boys or cupids supporting a crown, birds, masks, lions, and escutcheons, bearing an M and a crown, and serrated leafy forms. But by being rendered in the same colour and texture they are brought on to a single plane, and to this extent their ornamental unity with the stuff is secured. Both patterns. Nos. 99 and 100, although so different in effect, come from the same school of de- signers which produced work typical of the taste of the late i6th century. Fk). 102. — Piece of silk Linipas (a sort of damask) with .t fawn-coloured ground, the paltern woven in yellow and bUie. Italian. Late i 6 tli century. Less important in effort, but equally typical of the late i6th and early 17th century taste in damasks or lampas, are the specimens illustrated in Figs. loi and 102. In the first there is rather less suggestion of a frame- work enclosing separated groups of ornament than there is in the second. The vase with two masks on it has a radiating bouquet of carnation, tulips, and irises, and is kindred to the vase and flowers in Fig. 99 ; and both are also kindred to corresponding devices in Fig. 102, where the II9 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS well-known device we have so Fig. 103. — Piece of yellow satin, with pattern in silver thread. Italian. Early 17th century. such Italian patterns of the late in Figs. 108 and 109. Fig. 103 is typical of another class of pattern be- longing to the same period. The material is yellow satin, and the ornament is woven in silver thread. The scheme of the pattern consists of small and separate details, spotted about in two definite orders of arrangement : one of these arrangements suggests re- peated sets of serpentine meanderings up and down, and the other suggests a trel- lis plan. In this, therefore, whilst the separation of details is characteristic of this type of pattern, a further character- often noted — an ogival frame — is formed with somewhat burly foliations. Tudoresque roses are noticeable in this piece, which is of the same sort of manu- facture as the specimen illustrated in Fig. 98. Patterns such as these possess a lumpiness in their forms which, as I have elsewhere hinted, may be characteristic of an English or Flemish taste, notwithstanding that by many collectors they are classed as Italian. However, they are certainly not marked by the lightness and relative gracefulness of 1 6th or early 17th century as those given Fig. 104. — A piece of silk lampas (a sort of damask) woven in yellow on a brown satin ground. Italian. Early 17th century. 120 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS istic lies in the combination of two distinct plans in arranging or grouping the details together. A transition to still more openly - spaced - out Fk;. 105. — A piece of silk velvet woven with a purple pile on a ''alinon-coloured ground. Italian. Early lytli century. patterns, in which two or three varieties of separated sprays and small devices were spotted or powdered over the ground at regular distances, occurred, and a class of spotted pattern arose, which is identified with the change in the fashion of costumes, when trunk hose, short cloaks. Fig. 106. — Painiing, by Cornelius de Vos (about 1620), of bis two daughters. Reproduced from a large photograph by kind permission of Messrs. A. F.raun Co., Paris. I 2 I ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS and jackets had superseded fuller and more flowing draperies. It belongs to the period of Henri IV., Louis XIII. and Philip IV. of Spain. In Fig. 104 five different blossoms and fanciful sprays are used. The stuff itself, from which the illustration is taken, is a damask or lampas, the pattern being of yellow silk, and the ground of brown satin. The pattern of Fig. 105, which is from a silk velvet woven in purple pile on a salmon-coloured ground, is made with one leaf and label device, repeated and counter- changed. It is very similar to the pattern on the dress of the fore- most little girl represented in Fig. 106, from the painting (about 1620) by Cornelius de Vos of his two children, and may therefore be ascribed to such a period. Another variety of this class, of powdered pattern, is given in Fig. 107, which has close repetitions of two devices, a formal carnation, and an S entwined about a nail wrought in silver thread, on red satin ; this specimen was used as the cover to a case for the ecclesiastical linen known as a “ Corporal.” As examples of a comparatively simpler class of coloured silk weaving, often employed for altar cloths, church vestments, as well as for ladies’ cos- tume, I have chosen two specimens, from which Figs. 108 and 109 have been made. The weaving of the silk threads in varied directions, especially in Fig. 109, simulates the varied directions of stitching which is usually seen in leaf and flower patterns of needlework at this period. The repetition of scrolling slender stems bearing large and fantastical blossoms is an obvious charac- teristic of this type of design. The flowers, birds and hounds introduced into Fig. 108 are rather more naturalistic in effect than the composite semi- fruit and blossom forms in Fig. 109 ; but the kinship of the two designs to one another is quite apparent. The bordering to Fig. 108, with its alternations of a vase holding a conventional triple spray of floral devices, and the single blossom surmounting a double broken scroll base, is quite in the style of many of the ornamental borders published in late i6th and early 17th century pattern books. According to engravings of the time, silks such as Figs. 108 and 109 were worn by French ladies in 1620 ; but they appear to have been manufactured principally in Italy. Similar in intention of detail — with the repetition of scrolling leafy Fig. 107. — A piece of red satin, wov^en in ■^ilver- ^ilt thread'^. Italian. 17th century. 122 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS stems bearing large blossoms — are patterns, of which Fig. no is a speci- men. This, however, is considered to be of French manufacture of the 17th century. It is a cream-coloured silk damask. The stems are stouter Fig. 108. — I'art of bangin'^ of green silk woven In wiiitish silk, with .1 repeating pattern of formal lloral sprays, each having a bird or a dog upon it. At the upper end is a bantl of floral devices and vases of flowers alter- nating, and beyond this is a narrow border of a wa\y stem, Irom whi< li branch off conventional leaves. Italian, Fate lAth century. than those in the Italian silks (Figs. 108 and 109), and they are represented as crossing and looping through one another. The foliations and long petals are much more playful in their curls and twistings than any we have 123 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS hitherto seen ; and in this respect they approach rather nearer to the patterns in which the imitation of the real effects of natural leaves and flowers became a chief aim with designers. But the style of ornament in this damask (Fig. no) lasted for some time, and I have traced it in a Fig. T09. — Part of a chasuble of white silk, with a pattern of repeated formal floral sprays in colours, Italian. Early 17th century. portrait of a young Duchess d’Orleans, painted by Mignard, in 1665; as well as in the tablecloth to be seen in the picture of the Flax Spinners, by the Dutch painter, N. Maes ; and in a portrait after Girardon (1690) of Colbert, the great Minister of Louis XIV., who did so much to promote artistic manufactures in France. 124 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS patterns is presented in the portrait of a young woman by Franz Hals, who painted it about 1620 (see Fig. iii). The same type of design occurs in a painting of Mary Stuart, by Vandyke, in 1630, as well as in paintings by Van der Heist, 1650 ; and in engravings of costume by Abraham Bosse, and by Hollar. An actual specimen of this type occurs in the brown silk figured in cream-coloured silk, from which Fig. 112 is made. The details here are entirely of varieties of scroll forms — some bigger than others — the larger ones being enriched by little spots and curls within them and along their edges. It would appear that the designer for this woven fabric had set himself to imitate the effect of much of the gimp and finely knotted trimmings which were made in embroidery during the middle of the 17th century. In Fig. iio. — Piece of cream-coloured silk damask, woven with a repeating pattern of scrolling lloral stems linked together in verti- cally arranged bands. Period of Louis XIII. French. First half of 17th century. In contrast to such patterns of fantastic botanical forms, on a com- paratively large scale in size, there were, during the 17th century, especially the earlier part of it, formal and intricate designs on a small scale, consist- ing of purely ornamental details,' the shapes of which bear no relationship to those based upon the study of flowers, sprays, leaves, or animals and birds. A good instance of such non -floral * This type of abstract ornamentation is a survival, to some extent, of the i6th century patterns “Moresque” or “ Arabicque ” (see note on p. 105). During the first part of that century books of patterns were issued at Lyons, where many of the silken fabi Tcs we are now beginning to review were made ; and amongst early designers at Lyons of ornament suit- able for weaving and embroidery in 1530, it is interesting to note the names of “ Messire 125 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS some respects, too, there is a suggestiveness of designs, of the period, for Venetian point lace. But the principal characteristic of this type of pattern may be traced to ornament of even earlier date in chiselled and Fig. hi. — I^ortrait by Franz painted about 1620. Reproduced by kind perniis<,ion of Messrs. A. Braun ^ Co., Paris, from their large photograph of the original painting. enamelled gold work. And in this connection we may pass to Fig. iig, which shows again how pattern makers for silks borrowed forms from Anthoine Belyn, recluz de Sainct Marcial de Lyons,” and a brother monk, “ frere Jehan Mayol. Carme ” (a Carmelite), whose patterns are amongst the first known of those published at Lyons. 126 i7^'» AND 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS ornament which had, so to speak, grown out of other very different materials. The design of this crimson damask satin with its salient forms wrought in gold thread cannot be taken as one which is exclusively appropriate to weaving. For it, or its counterpart, has often been rendered in wrought iron work, and in those inlayings of brass and tortoiseshell which Boule and his followers produced. Whether it be expressed in textiles or metal, it is a style of symmetrical composition, with fantastic shapes, in which the French designer, Berain, excelled. Skilfully woven, this crimson damask and gold brocade conveys a sense of an ingenious and elaborate ormolu or wrought metal device, set off by a crimson background, and thus it is a con- tribution to the story of the license in which the designers of ornamental textiles indulged during the 17th and i8th centuries. The pattern of the rich crimson velvet and cloth of silver hangings displayed in the painting (about 1680) by Velasquez, of Donna Maria of Austria, wife of Philip IV., at prayers. Fig. 1 13, shows the survival a hundred years later of a type of i6th century design. The original hangings were probably of Italian manufacture. Their materials alone would be similar to those used for a set of hangings of Venetian early i8th century make, of which a specimen is figured in No. 117. But in this the design is of pronounced realistic character, without regard for unity between ornament and its surface. The thin serpentine stems, bearing enormous leaves and blossoms of a peony description, wind in and out of a countertwisting braid or ribbon. The realistic curves of the leaves, and the foreshortening and relief effects of the flowers, are admirably emphasized by white lines, either as veinings, or to define and detach the several petals of the massive blossoms. A richer-looking example of this type of pattern is given in Fig. 118. It has a stronger constructive effect, and the foliations are more sharply pointed than in Fig. 117. This piece is of cut and uncut velvet weaving ; no silver or gold brocading is introduced into it. About the middle of the 17th century the combination of brocaded and damasked satins ranks amongst the lively efforts of silk weavers and de- signers. The heavier and darker forms in Fig. 114 are of gold brocade, the lighter ones being of damasked white satin. Here and there are touches 127 Fig. 112. — Piece of brown silk, woven with a pattern in tirab. French. Early 17th century. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS of coloured silk, but they are sparingly used. The effect of the design is slightly tangled. A more involved entanglement of forms is seen in Fig. 115. The wide-open mouths of strange dolphin-like shapes resolve them- Fig. 113. — Portrait of Donna Maria of Austria, wife of Philip IV. of Spain, painted by Velasquez about 1630. Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. A. Hraun & Co., Paris, from their large photograph of the original painting. selves into odd leaves, and much of the subordinate damasked ornament falls into shapes something like heavy cumulus clouds ; elsewhere there are angular details and stiff hanging draperies suggestive of a Chinese 128 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS origin. Such devices as these occur in the decoration of porcelain from China, which was freely imported into Europe at this time, and had, no doubt, been observed by silk pattern makers. Fig. 116 is more orderly in the arrangement of its forms, though for the most part they are grotesque rather than graceful. The designer seems to have been intent upon the creation of a new order of fruit and leaf forms, but where his invention I'lG. 114. — Piece of damask drab-coloured '^atin, brocaded Fig. 115. — I’iece of blue damask satin, brocaded with with coloured silk and gold. Jtal/an. 171I1 century. coloured silk and gold thread. /fink satin, the leaves, lloweis, and fruits of which arc- picked out with green and pink line-^ in isilk. M ilancst. Late 17th century. to be only a reflection of that in French designs, and therefore lacks the freshness and vivacity of the originals. Let us now turn to the series of French silk patterns— probably all 137 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS from specimens woven at Lyons — which I have selected with the view of showing some of the leading types of realistic floral patterns prevalent at the end of the 17th century and through the i8th century. Fig. 125 is a satin and coloured silk brocade. The arrangement of its leading forms conveys a distinct recollection of the ogival framework of Fig. 124. — A piece of gold and silver brocade, with cloth of silver and gold. A few of the leaves and steins are liere and there picked out in green and brown silks. The pattern is a rather clumsy and cumbersome version of a late lyih century French or Italian original. Heavy brocades of this description have been used by magnates of Fokhara and Yarkand for their gala costumes, and are said to be of Polish manufacture. which we have seen varieties dating from the 12th century onwards. The ogees in this are of two sizes. The bands forming them are broad, and elaborated with small trellisings and spots, which lace fanciers will recog- nize as being very similar to the fillings, or a-jo/trs, so frequently introduced into the larger pieces of point de France, point d’Alencon, and point 138 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS d’Argentan of the later years of the 17th and earlier years of the i8th centuries. A greater variety of effects arising from this characteristically French adaptation of lace devices is given in the embellishments of the leaves and flowers in Fig. 126. The whole pattern, however, is less sedate or formal than that of Fig. 125. This is due in a measure to the absence from it of any such marked framework as that in Fig. 125. However, the continuity of the groups of leaves and blossoms in Fig. 126 is assisted by Fir.. 125. — Piece of red satin brocade, woven in wliite, lilne, and green. Period of Louis XIV. Fraich, Late i7tii century. the introduction here and there of portions of curved shapes. A definitely constructed framework for the entire design is not however insisted on. Compared with those in contemporary Italian patterns, such as Figs. 122, 123, the shapes of the flowers and leaves in Fig. 126 are more detached from one another and distinctly depicted, with the result that more definite ornamental value from the contrasting quasi-natural forms is obtained. Pairs of large white leaves are ornamented along their centres with 139 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS delicate sprays of dark floral or fruity forms, and here in this essentially realistic design we have a survival of the Ottoman method of placing subordinate devices within larger ones, to which, as will be remembered, the term “ charging” has been given (see, for example. Fig. 76). By repeating the constructive lines, which underlie the plan of pattern Fig. 126. — Piece of oliv^e-green satin damask, woven in white silk. Period of T..ouis XIV. French, Late lytli century. Fig. 127. — Piece of black silk, brocaded in coloured silks. French. Early i8th century. in Fig. 127, we should find that they would give us an ogival frame placed over a trellis of similar proportions. Upon such lines the designer has arranged in orderly recurrence small blossoms and double fruits, on which latter are perched birds. The realism of these objects is obviously French of the i8th century. More realistic are the various large flowers and 140 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS bunches of smaller flowers in Fig. 128. The canopies and scroll devices on each side of them are peculiarly in the style of French Louis XIV. ornament, whilst the speckled ground of the whole fabric appears to be a device derived from some lace a-joiirs- The downward spread from the upper canopy of the forms, and their contraction towards the lower canopy, indicate a setting out of the design upon the lines of an ogival frame ; though any definite indication of it does not appear in the pattern. Fig. 128. — Piece of coloured silk brocade. French. i8th century. A much lighter pattern is given in Fig. 129. It is composed of repeti- tions of irregularly-shaped compartments, bounded by undulating stems bearing short sprouts or stalks, and at regular intervals nosegays of flowers and leaves, the larger ones of which surmount the upper and lower junc- tions of the framework stems. The ground of the pattern is enlivened with speckled and lightly indicated bands or ribands, which meander in counter curves to those of the stem framework. The whole of this design ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS has a much freer character than that, for instance, of either Figs. 125 or 126, and is therefore of a later date — probably about 1730-40 or so. A still later taste seems to be reflected in such patterns as that of Fig. 130. This is rather less fantastic, in its details and their arrangement, than patterns Figs. 128 and 129, and so by its comparative simplicity presents a clearer Fig. 1:9 — Coloured silk brocade. Fy-cnch, 18th century. order in effect. But the leading characteristic of realistic appearance pervades the rendering of the bunches of flowers, the counter-winding ribands, and chains of flowers. Some thirty or forty years later, patterns were still more simplified than this last specimen ; and variations with alternating straight stripes and bands running vertically up and down the pattern, mingled with small bunches of flowers sometimes, and sometimes with tiny detached sprays and spots, mark another change in fancy and 142 lyTH and iS'th century patterns taste. It is interesting to note that the output of examples of this type coincides in point of time with the period when the finances of France were suffering immediately from the extravagances both of the Govern- ment and of individuals during the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV. Stripes, combined with spots of small flowers or sprays, in figured silks, may therefore be said to mark the ruined period of Louis XVI. Fig. 131 Fig. 130. — Piece of pink silk, brocaded in silver and white and coloured silks. French. 18th century. is another version of the Louis XV. wavy riband and floral garland class of pattern. In this the riband element appears to be compounded of feathers and snake skins, and these alternate with undulating floral gar- lands. But it is useful to remember that the scheme of such patterns as those in these two last figures is of old date. We trace it back to the i6th century in a simple form, as in Fig. 77, with its series of undulating stems, and again still earlier in a richer and more ornamental form, as 143 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS shown in Fig. 6o. Thus the use of traditional schemes for laying out patterns pronounces itself, notwithstanding the considerable change in rendering the objects themselves in the patterns ; and i8th century French designers were possibly hardly conscious that between their realistic fantaisics and the more sedate ornament of pattern-makers, many hundred years earlier, any relationship would be found to reveal itself. Fig. 131. — Piece of ribbed silk brocade, woven in colours, on a light browni.sh ground. Parts of the design are in chenille. Period of Louis XV’^. French. jMiddle of i8th century. In Van Loo’s portrait of Queen Maria Leezinska, painted about the middle of the i8th century (Fig. 132), her Majesty’s dress is brocaded with light floral branches and delicate sprays, scattered about without any ap- parent or well-marked order. The larger details occur towards the lower part of the dress and the lighter and smaller ones above. More formal in arrangement are the repeated garlands and bouquets in Fig. 133, which is 144 17TH and 18TH CENTURY PATTERNS a type of pattern that was in vogue about 1745, as is shown in a plate by Cochin, in the Chalcogmphie dii Miisee Imperial of the marriage of Louis, Dauphin of France, with the Infanta Marie Therese of Spain. The Fig. 132. — Portrait of (^iieeii Maria Leczinska, painted by Van Loo. Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. A. Braun d: Co., Paris, from their large photogra])h of the original painting. design in Fig. 134 is from a Lyons silk of about 1760. Instead of repeated wavy stems or ribands, we have here an arrangement in zig-zags of thin stems, bearing large and small blossoms and leaves. These are brocaded 145 L ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS upon a damask satin ground, in which faintly indicated riband ovals and small leaves appear as a subordinate patterning. I have not thought that much additional information upon the de- velopment of ornament in silk could be usefully derived from illustrations of designs for Spitalfields silks, which, about 1730 or so, and for many years later, were dangerous rivals of Lyons silks. There are a number of original designs for Spitalfields silks in the National Art Library of the Fig. 133. — Piece of pale blue and white silk brocade. French. i8th century. South Kensington Museum. Many of them bear names apparently of customers for whom they were produced. A large number of the designs are by Anna Maria Garthwaite. These were made between the years 1727 and 1741. Others again are marked as French in the manuscript descriptive of the series. The stuffs made from them bore particular trade names, such as “ brocade lutstring, brocade tabby, brocade tissue, brocade damask, tobine, flowered tabby, figured tobine, four-comber damask, double tissue, gold stuff, double tabby, brocade satin, Venetian 146 lyTH and i8th century PATTERNS brocade, India figured brocade, tobine tabby, tobine lutstring,” and so forth. The style of their patterns closely corresponds with that of contemporary Lyons silks : and the shades of difference between the two are so slight that any attempt on my part to describe them would lead to disquisitions upon relatively minute points. During the later periods of the English manufacture of figured silks, Fig. 134. — Piece of wliite silk damask, brocaded witli a pattern in coloured silks. French. About 1760. French workmen, designers and methods were largely transferred to this country, and to such a degree that, about i860, the United Kingdom practically commanded the market. Since the Franco-German War of 1870 this condition has very materially changed, and French figured silks have regained supremacy. 147 CHAPTER X ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY T he method according to which I have attempted to frame some account of a succession of phases of ornament in woven silk is one which, if applicable to an extensive and fully illustrated survey of ornament in embroidery, is not suited to the brief review I am about to make with the help of a small number of illustrations. Now the two processes of weaving and embroidery are naturally very different in character, notwithstanding that both are concerned with the same kinds of materials — namely textiles. Weaving, as we have seen, is essentially a handicraft in which mechanical appliances are indispensable. Em- broidery, on the other hand, is a non-mechanical handicraft. With needle and threads you depict or draw according to your fancy as freely almost as you do with pen, pencil, or brush. There is no obligation to repeat your ornamental devices when you are doing a piece of em- broidery. You can vary them in shape and colour as you please. When, however, you set to work to weave ornament, you cannot have the same liberty, for you are virtually obliged to have repeats in your patterns. If you tried to avoid repeats and to have continually unceasing variety of ornament in a woven fabric, you would practically paralyze your weaving, since momentary and frequent changes in ornament would require momentary and frequent changes in the mechanisms of your loom. The main intention of the act of weaving, is the manufacture of lengths of stuff ; and repeated production of the same ornamen- tations has always occurred in weaving, with the result that after great lapses of time sufficient numbers of pieces of very early silk weavings have remained in existence to give us the means of seeing fairly in detail how patterns and textures of early times have succeeded one another, whilst in respect of late times, the supply of materials is considerably larger. I recall this fact because in dealing with ornament in embroidery we are placed in a set of different circumstances. The immunity of embroidery from having to repeat its patterns and ornaments has naturally led to a variety in them which is greater than that of woven 148 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY patterns. It is not of course possible within the limits which have to be observed in the present book to do more than suggest this greater variety. But the small number of illustrations which can be given are intended to show more particularly certain kinds of embroidered ornament many of which could not be woven, and others not so effectually carried out in weaving as they are in embroidery. Those who have followed me up to this point will have obtained some insight into devices and arrangements in ornament which, so far as weaving is concerned, are characteristic of different patterns produced in workshops or schools of weaving at different periods. And this, I think, will help them to recognize reflections of such characteristics as they occur in embroideries, and so to give an approximate date to these embroidered versions of ornament. Changes in social conditions, taste, and so on, are associated with various times, and when one speaks of a ist or a 19th century work of art, one is supposed to have some sort of idea of the general conditions of the period that may be in question and their bearing upon its art. The less that may be known of a period the greater is the problem to find types of its art. But apart from the dating of works of art which implies so much, and has its fascinations, works of art possess qualities and merits which can be compared and gauged according to a standard to be agreed upon, and it is with some such standard in view that I propose to discuss our embroidery illustrations. In accordance with the title of this book we are to concern ourselves with ornament in silk. The employment of silk in embroidery seems to be later in date than in weaving. The introduction of silk in weaving led by degrees to the fabrication of new varieties of textures, which imply considerable extensions and modifications of the primitive and simple process of weaving. But when embroiderers took to using silks, no corresponding effects in developing new sorts of stitches arose. The silk certainly gave rise to more delicate and more precious-looking work, but the same stitches were used with it as had been used when em- broiderers of the classic and early middle ages were almost entirely limited to worsted and linen threads. Suggestive evidence in this direction is given us by specimens of embroideries from pre-Christian Greek colonies in the neighbourhood of the Crimea, and of others from tombs in Egypt of early Christian times. These latter specimens were apparently the work of Copts under Roman and later Greek Byzantine and Persian influences. This little square, for instance (Fig. 135), for ornamenting a child’s linen tunic, with its two handled amphora-shape vase and two pendent stems, terminated each with a rudely formed vine-leaf, is done 149 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS in long and short stitches with brown wool, and is possibly some fifteen hundred years old ; and yet the mere stitchery is the same as modern long and short stitch work. Again, this small round ornament (Fig. 136), consisting of a rather clumsy wreath enclosing the representation of a jewelled Greek cross, with a pair of doves between the lower limbs of Fig. 136. — Medallion or circular panel worked in long, ^hort, and twisted stem stitches, with red, yellow, green and blue worsteds, on a linen tunic. The device is a wreath enclosing a jewelled cross, with chain and pen- dent jewels; on either side of the lower limb of the cross is a dove. (?) Egypto-Byzantinc. (?) 5th to 8th century. from then up to the present day. embroidery between those of then of the ornament and the different Its figures are probably adapted from a Greek or Byzantine painting or mosaic of the 8th or gth cen- tury. These three examples give us grounds for saying that the stitches of old time have not been changed The real changes in the effects of and now are seen in the variations the cross, is wrought in long, short, and twisted stem stitch with bright- coloured wools, and is perhaps thir- teen or fourteen hundred years old. The fragment shown in Fig. 137 is a silk embroidery on linen, in long, short, and chain stitches. It is part of a round ornament for a linen tunic. manners in which it is variously expressed. Figs. 135 to 137 show that the early needleworkers in close touch with Europe, adapted forms from pottery, plant growth, jewellery, figure painting, etc., and drew and depicted such forms without apparent influence from any such conventionalities as must have been obvious in the ornamented fabrics that were then issuing from shuttle looms. And this independence ot in- fluence from woven designs has, for the most part, been main- tained in ornamental embroidery Fig. 135. — Square panel worked in long and short stitches in brown wool on linen ; part of a child’s tunic. The ornament consists of an amphora-shape vase, from the handles of which depend vine stems and leaves, on each side of the vase. (?) Egypto-Roman. 3rd and 6th century. From tombs at Akh* mim in Upper Egypt. 150 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY ever since ; although in typical 13th century embroideries we meet with some instances of repeated ornament and pattern suggestive of conven- tionalities derived from woven or- nament. The patterning of a famous English embroidery of the 13th century (Fig. 140) bears out this remark. Fig. 138 is an outline of a 13th century pattern frame- work which, in common with other varieties of framework, has been used in woven fabrics. The framework in the embroidery of Fig. 140 is practically the same. This coincidence is not perhaps of much importance when the whole of the ornamentation of the cope, with its multitude of figures and devices, is examined, and does not seriously affect the broad fact that freedom in depicting all sorts of things for ornamental effect has been, and is, a peculiar attribute of embroidery. As in other branches of ornamental and decorative work, so in embroidery the designs of a period possess features which, when looked at from a general point of view, indicate distinctive and particular phases of design and treatment. The rendering, the treatment and arrangement of figures, drapery, architectural details, emblems, floral patterns, etc., whether for sculptures, carvings, painted MSS., or embroideries of a given period in Europe, are much alike, subject of course to the special modifications in them which are occasioned by process and material. Take, for instance, the piece of an embroidered altar frontal of early 12th century work (Fig. 139), and compare the figures and architec- ture in it with those in say many Byzantine ivory carvings of the same period, and the Fig. 137. — Part of a medallion or circular ornament worked in long chain and long and short stitches in col- oured silks on a linen tunic. The figures apparently repre- sent the Virgin and Child and the three Magi, or three saints. Coptic. About 6th to 9tii century. From ancient Christian tombs in Egypt. Fig. 138. — Outline pattern scheme or ramework. From a 13th century .speci* 151 men. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS same characteristics in proportions, arrangement, and what may be called grotesqueness, are seen in them. A glance at the far less grotesque, architectural, and figure representation as is shown in Fig. 144, and then at Fig. 139. — Part of an altar frontal of canvas, worked in chain stitch, with faded worsteds. 12th century. 2 ft. 8 in. by i ft. 6 in. the woven figure subject in Fig. 53, satisfies us that these two designs, in their respective methods of depicting the human figure and draperies, be- long very nearly to the same date ; so, too, such purely ornamental design 152 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY as in Fig. 146, with formal scrolls and birds, is akin in character and in point of time with the formal scrolls and animals of the silk weaving, Fig. 92. Such rough and ready instances of the likeness between periodic peculiarities or mannerisms cannot of course meet the more recondite requirements of antiquaries and connoisseurs who go deeply into the analysis of appearances and qualities of ornamental work, and from them deduce interesting historical points, or propound ingenious argumenta- tions upon the identity of the individuals who made the works of art, that may be under discussion : where, when, and why they were made. As I do not pretend to make any contributions to such detailed studies, I am obliged to deal in generalities regarding only types of ornament and to make the best I can of them. It will be seen that most of the earlier of my embroidery illustrations are from church vestments and hangings, and the ornamentation of them is distinctly religious in motive pointing to preponderance of religious influence in embroidery. Much of it was made in monasteries and convents, as well as by guilds of embroiderers and individual workers, members of families, or, as they might be called, devoted amateurs. The religious influence lasts, according to our illustrations, from the gth to the i6th century. But in this century there is a tendency to secularism in ornament even in that used for ecclesiastical purposes. This is apparent in Fig. 146, which is of two portions of a i6th century church vestment — a dalmatic. The scrolls and bird forms in this decora- tion have no peculiar religious significance. Fig. 147 gives us similar i6th century non-religious ornament for bands or orphreys from priests’ copes or chasubles. The only indication of religious intention in the ornament of the 17th century chalice veil of Fig. 160, is the sacred monogram in the centre of it ; whilst the decoration of the 17th century altar frontal (Fig. 161) is entirely devoid of any ecclesiastical device or symbolism. The illustrations after Fig. 161 are of various articles for secular use, and each is more or less typical of some phase of ornamental embroidery in the 17th and i8th centuries. In saying this much I do not suggest that no em- broidery was produced for church purposes at these periods. A good deal certainly was, but then it was from ornament having no specific ecclesiastical significance, and merely reflected the style of designs worked in the greater quantity of embroideries which was produced at this time for secular usage. Hence one may loosely divide the range of embroidery from the gth to igth century into two periods, the one, say from i2th to i6th century, particularly ecclesiastical, and the other, from the i6th to igth century, chiefly secular. Throughout the earlier centuries of the first of these two periods there is practically no sign of 153 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS embroiderers having recourse to means for obtaining effects which might be considered to be foreign to straightforward and honest stitchery and bo}ia fide needlework. The gold and silken threads, then used, were fine enough to be worked into the stuff, and in combining with it enriched it and often completely hid it. But about the 15th century embroidery became subject to other treatments. Relief effects were then attempted and obtained in much of the gold thread work, and an early indication of the departure from flat simplicity of earlier work is given in the modelled feathers of the 15th century angels’ wings in Fig. 142. This modelling or padding out of needlework is more pronounced in the early i6th century architectural work of Fig. 144, and is carried still further in coats of arms of the 17th century pouches (Fig. 166 A to D). The later phases of this particular sort of raised work favoured the manufacture and use of stout silken and stout twisted bullion cords and gimps which could not be stitched into a material, but, when used, were merely stitched or fastened on to a material. When metallic threads were used, the variety of ways in which they were sewn down to the surface of a stuff has been termed “ couching.” Certainly in much i6th century embroidery, cords, gimps, stout threads, and hanks of floss silks are also so used. The relief effects which are allied with “ coachings,” were carried almost as far as possible in the characteristically raised embroideries of the Stuart period for caskets (as in Figs. 163 and 164) and mirror frames. Accompanying the method of sewing stout threads on to a stuff (and many elegant arabesques in gold outline on velvets and satins particularly were produced in this way by embroiderers of the i6th and 17th centuries) was the application also of pieces of rich material cut into shapes and sewn on to a foundation, as in Figs. 146 and 147. Both of these figures are good specimens of the well-known applique work. Spangles, tinsel, and chenille were freely used in the 17th and i8th centuries’ embroideries, and had to be sewn on to stuffs and not into them. Of course the earlier and, as I think, the more bona fide embroidery or stitching into a material remained in practice. But when we find it mingled with a stitching down to the face of a material, of layings of floss silk, of cords, of heavy bullion threads, spangles, tinsel, and such like, it is nearly safe, apart from any considerations of the ornament so expressed, to assign such work to later phases of European embroidery, i.c. from the i6th to the 19th century. Hence we may again broadly divide embroidery into two classes — an earlier one of bona fide needlework with suitable threads that pass into and combine with the fabric being embroidered, and a later one in which, if I may say so, “dodges” are employed to secure, with less labour, quasi-embroidery effects by sewing cords and materials on to a stuff. I 154 155 Fig. 340.— Cope of canvas entirely covered with embroidery in coloured silks and gold and silver threads. This fine specimen of English ecclesiastical work of the 13th century is known as the Syon Cope. Jt is 9 ft. 7 in. long by 4 ft. 8 in. wide. ! ^ I I ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY do not depreciate such “dodges,” since many admirable results have attended their use — as, for instance, in i6th century gold-thread tracery or outline patterns, which Holbein and Bronzino have often depicted in their portraits of European rulers, nobles, and other distinguished persons. I will now take my embroidery illustrations one by one, and endeavour to discuss a few of their technical and ornamental features. Fig. 139 is from a 12th century altar frontal or hanging, worked chiefly in chain stiches with coloured worsteds, which are now much faded. Strictly regarded, it should not find a place here, as it is not a silk embroidery. But it is of appropriate value as a sample of the figure drawing more or less peculiar to this period. The two saints represented each standing under a round arch supported by slender columns- are St. Bartholomew and St. Paul. A corresponding figure of St. John is in the Cluny Museum at Paris, and was evidently part of the original hanging or altar frontal which probably contained representations of the twelve apostles, and was, no doubt, about nine feet long by two feet eight inches wide. Embroidered work of much the same character, but different in decorative disposition, is to be met with in the Cathedrals at Halberstadt, Ratisbon, and elsewhere. The peculiar treatment and drawing of the figures, with their large eyes, odd-shaped heads, hands, and feet, in all these specimens are typical of an average standard of 12th century figure design displayed not only in ecclesiastical but also in secular embroidery, of which latter the famous Bayeux tapestry is the most important specimen in existence. This is a long, narrow linen hanging covered with figures and groups. Its object is to tell by such needlework pictures as could then be made the story of the Norman Conquest. Its designer adopted no formal arrangements of shapes for the attainment of an ornamental purpose, excepting here and there in the bordering. Having no peculiar genius to depart from the then typical rendering of figures, his treatment of them is in accord- ance with the style, which, if anything, is to our eyes more curious than that of an even earlier type of figure drawing, such as we have seen in the fragment of Fig. 137. However, the grotesqueness I am alluding to diminished as time went on ; and it is interesting to notice this by comparing the illustrations of figure design in embroidery from Figs. 139 to 144 inclusive. Order in decorative intention in the formal arrangements of figures and their surroundings, architectural and other- wise, is as strongly indicated in the portion of an altar frontal given in Fig. 139 as it is in the copes of Figs. 140 and 141, which are respectively about one hundred and thirty years and two hundred years later in date. The scheme of the design in Fig. 140, which is from the well-known Syon cope, is regulated by a framework of repeated large and small panels, 157 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS and, as I have previously pointed out, this framework is analogous to such as occur frequently in patterns of 12th and 13th century woven silks. In a weaving of the same kind of design we should find that figures or de- vices filling the panels would be less varied and repeated than they are in this embroidery. Some panels contain groups of figures, others single figures ; with the exception of the repeated single winged cherubims or angels, no two sets of figures or single figures are precisely alike ; all of which illustrates that freedom of treatment which is so special to em- broidery. The designer’s appreciation of the position into which the vestment would fall when worn, hanging over the shoulders of the officiating priest, and how it properly affects the pose of each figure in its appointed space, is exhibited in the radiation of the figures, some being placed vertically and some in slanting directions. The foundation of the cope is canvas, and this is entirely concealed by the coloured silk and gold-thread embroidery, which is of different stitches. The framework containing the figures is bordered with gold threads worked in close-lying short stitches, between which are three rows of green or red and yellow and white silks in chain stitch. The grounding within the framing is alternately of green and faded crimson silks, so worked in short stiches as to form a chevron or diaper pattern. The figures are wrought with fine and differently coloured silks in small chain stitches, and this latter sort of stitch has been considered by some to be the peculiarity of English embroidery so famous, under the name of Opus Anglicum, in the 13th century. “Opus Anglicum,” however, was evidently a generic term for English embroidery which held an unique position amongst the European embroideries of the time. Even now, many relics of this famous English work are extant and are preserved with due veneration in several places on the Continent, as at Bamberg where there is a splendid cope, at Salzburg where there is an altar frontal, and at Anagni where there are fragmen- tary and complete specimens of embroideries that belonged, according to contemporary inventories, to Pope Boniface VIII. The famous Daroca cope at Madrid is also of English embroidery of the 13th century. The design of it is a good deal more ornate than that of Fig. 140, wnich is, as I have said, known as the Syon cope. The late Dr. Rock has given a detailed description of it. Its main portion has been cut into by the border or orphrey and hem which encloses it. “ In its original state the cope was probably figured with twelve apostles, as the imperfect pieces on the right-hand side afford us parts of three of the missing heads, while another imperfect portion to the left shows us the hand, with a book, belonging to a fourth apostle. The lower part of this vestment has been reshaped with shreds from itself ; and perhaps at such a time were added 158 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY its present heraldic orphrey, morse, and border, perhaps some fifty years afterwards. Eight angels standing upon wheels, and so placed that they are everywhere close to those quatrefoils wherein our Lord’s person comes, may be taken to represent the upper hierarchy of the angelic host ; other angels- -and two of them only are entire — not upon wheels, and far away from our Lord, one of the perfect ones under St. Peter, the other under St. Paul, no doubt belong to the second hierarchy ; while those two (partly shown) having but one, not three, pair of wings, the first under the Death, the other under the Burial, of the Virgin, both of them holding up golden crowns, one in each hand, represent, possibly, the lowest of the three hierarchies.” In the lowest central panel is St. Michael overcoming Satan. In the next quatrefoil above is the Crucifixion ; in the one above that is a group of Christ crowned as a king, and the Virgin. “ In the quatrefoil on the right hand is shown the Death of the Virgin Mary ; in that to the left, her Burial. In the next quatrefoil to the left (beyond that of the Burial of the Virgin) is shown Christ in the garden. In His left hand He holds the banner of the Resurrection, and with his right bestows His benediction on the kneeling Magdalene. Below, but outside this quatrefoil, is part of the figure of a layman (?) upon his knees, and holding a long, narrow scroll, bearing words which cannot now be satisfactorily read. In the next lower panel is St. Philip, to the right of St. Bartholomew, holding a book in one hand, in the other the flaying knife. Above him, St. Peter with his two keys, one gold, the other silver, and under him, to the right, is St. Andrew with his cross. On the other side of the panel, with St. Michael and the dragon, is one containing St. James the Greater, sometimes called of Compostella, with a book in one hand, and in the other a staff, and a wallet slung from his wrist. In the next quatrefoil, above, stands St. Paul, with sword and book ; lower, to the right, St. Thomas, with his lance of martyrdom and a book; and, still further to the right, St. James the Less, with a book and club. Just above, in another panel, is our Saviour, clad in a golden tunic, and carrying a crozier ; upon his knees St. Thomas feels, with his right hand held by the Redeemer, the spear-wound in H is side.” The broad upper band, or orphrey, contains heraldic shields, of which, in the centre, four are round, and set on green grounds. Ten square shields are set alternately upon grounds of green and crimson (faded to brown) ; and sets of five flank the four circular shields in the centre of the band or orphrey. Smaller diamond-shaped shields occur in the narrow semicircular border of the hem. The small cross-stitch embroidery of these borders, which are perhaps fifty years later than the other work, is different from that of the main part of the cope. Dr. Rock identified 159 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS almost all the armorial bearings. He considers that the cope may have been worked by nuns of some convent which was situated in or near Coventry, and brings his description to a close with an account of how the cope seems to have been presented by a Master Thomas Graunt, in the fifteenth century, to the nuns of St. Bridget’s order, for whom Henry V. built a monastery, called “ Syon,” at Isleworth. After the dissolution of monasteries, and in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the cope was taken by the nuns as they wandered through Flanders, France, and Portugal, where they halted. In the earlier years of the present century it passed through the hands of dealers and others from Lisbon to Eng- land, and was bought in 1864 for the art collections of the South Kensing- ton Museum, where it is exhibited. To suggest something of the variety of designs wrought in English ecclesiastical needlework of the late 13th or early 14th century, I have chosen another example also exhibited in the South Kensington Museum. The original cope figured in Fig. 141 has been much cut up. But its frag- ments are sufficiently numerous to enable a skilful lady. Miss Blanche Hunter, to make, with the aid of photographs, an admirable restoration, and our Fig. 141 is taken from that restoration. The needlework of this piece is of stitches identical with many of those used for the Syon cope. The style of the rendering of the figures is closely similar to that of those in the Syon cope, but the motive of the whole design is altogether different. Instead of a rigid, geometrically-constructed framework, the spaces in which the figures appear are encircled by scrolling vine stems worked in gold thread, which spread over the ground of the cope, shooting off on each side from two interlacing stems that spring from the lower centre of the composition, where lies a recumbent figure (half of it has been cut away in the shaping of the cope) of Jesse. Above, in their respective spaces, are the figures of David, Solomon, and the Virgin and Child, this last group being in the style of 14th century types of this favourite subject. In the left hand side of the cope are the figures of Jacob, Eliachim, Thares, Abraham, and Abias ; in the right hand side are Isaye (Isaiah), Moyses (Moses), Roboas (Jeroboam?), Zorobabel, and Jeremias. Another special difference between the Syon cope and this Jesse tree cope is that this latter cope is of crimson silk, the employment of which as a ground of colour got rid of the necessity of any so large an amount of embroidery as that wrought on the Syon cope, the foundation material of which, it will be remembered, is canvas. It is evident that as embroiderers took to thus adorning silks, satins, and later on velvets, so they were able to dispense with a vast amount of stitchery. A later instance of this will be seen in the velvet 15th century altar frontal (Fig. 143) ; and, passing on to more 160 47, A copu uf rcil >..it7i., enibroidereil in coloured sdks ,'ind .c'old 7Uld -.ilvcr tlireadc with a design of the “ 1 ree of Jes.se." Eiii;lis/i work of the kite i rtii or early t 4 lh century ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY recent periods, the intermingling of embroidery with richly woven materials will be found to become more and more common. The 13th century method of using embroidery solely, without the intervention and aid of those colour effects of grounds which silks, satins, and velvets afford, is in later times occasionally met with in separate parts, only, of vestments, such as the orphreys (see Fig. 145, from a painting by Murillo) or hoods of copes, etc. (as in Fig. 144), or in separate panels (as in Fig. 142). Fig. 142. — A panel of canvas covered witli embroidery in coloured silks and gold threads, after a painting of Santa Francesca Roniana praying. The work is Italian, of the 15th century, and probably formed part of an altar frontal It is I ft. 5w in. long by ii-i in. wide. Here (Fig. 142) we have what may be regarded more or less as a pictorial representation of an incident. In a chamber a female saint is kneeling at her prayers before a picture ; a number of men stand behind her near a belfry, the bells of which are swinging. In the centre and above is a vision of the saint herself, borne upwards by two angels. The foundation upon which all this embroidery is done is coarse canvas ; the figures are wrought with coloured silks in chain stitches, and the back- ground is of gold threads sewn closely together upon the canvas. As I 163 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS have pointed out previously, the raised gold-thread ornamentation is managed by using small paddings of threads underneath. The stiffness of form in the drawing of figures and drapery which is so marked in Fig. 139 is less in Figs. 140 and 141, and still more diminished in Fig. 142, whilst such mannerisms as occur in this last are not traceable in Fig. 144. Fig. 142 is typical of an average early 15th century Italian treatment, and Fig. 144 of an early i6th century Italo-Flemish or late Gothic treatment. The change from one kind of conventionality to another is thus broadly and sugges- tively displayed in this series (Figs. 139, 140, 142, and 144), and from it may be inferred the influences which arose from the interaction of suc- cessive schools of designers upon one and another. The pattern of the red velvet altar frontal which is made up from pieces of a cope (Fig. 143) may be described as a “ fortuitous concurrence ” of kindred ornamental devices. The outer series of them converge to- wards the centre as they should, suitably, in a semicircular cope, but not in a rectangular altar frontal. A well-drawn group, representing the As- sumption of the Virgin amidst angels, occupies the lower centre of the frontal : the other ornaments are spotted at regular distances about it. Their construction corresponds with that of the devices, composed of a central fruit with radiating leaf, which we noted in certain 15th century weavings (see Figs. 55, 56, 58 and 59, etc.), but their details in Fig. 143 differ from those of the original motives which were introduced from Oriental sources into Europe. Instead of a distinguishable central fruit or cone we have an elongated device, and instead of distinct leaf shapes about it, there are quasi-leaf forms terminating in spirals. All these separate ornaments were embroidered on canvas, one by one, in long and short stitches with coloured silks, the intermingling gold thread being sewn on to the canvas. When completed they were stitched on to the red velvet ground. This character of ornament is associated with the later years of the 15th century, and appears to be English. Fig. 144, the hood to a cope, shows the dependence of embroidery upon painting for the more sumptuous of the ecclesiastical needleworks of the early i6th century. The subject, the Martyrdom of St. Margaret, is depicted with as much fidelity to a painting of it as long and short stitch- ing with coloured silk threads will attain. The bordering of St. Mar- garet’s sumptuous robes is of small seed pearls : and the narrow border round the hood, together with the late Gothic canopy resting on the two columns one on each side of the picture, is, as they are, of gold thread “ couching.” This example is typical of the most elaborated and finished picture embroidery which has been produced in Europe. Consider- able quantities of it were made for Church purposes for orphreys and Altar frontal made from a cope of faded red velvet, ornamented with applied piece®; of embroidery in coloured silks and gold thre;\d. Eni;^iish work of the 15th I j ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY mitres and its position in embroidery is analogous to that which the fine Flemish tapestries of the same period occupy in tapestry-making. Al- though the taste for decorating orphreys and panels in church vestments with figures of saints under canopies was so remarkable in Europe during IK., 144. — Hood for .1 cope, embroidered with a c.mopy of late Cloihic arcliitectiiral orins, in ( (uu-hed sold threads, beneath wliich, worked with coloured silks in long ami short stitches, is a representation of the martyrdom of St. M.jrgarel. I’art of the costumes are worked in gold threads whipped round here and there with tine silks of different colours, and some seed pearls are introduced as edgings to costumes. Flanish. Late 15th or early i6th century. the later years of the 15th century and during the earlier years of the i6th century, it survived into the 17th century, as may be noticed in the orphrey of St. Roderigo’s chasuble (Fig. 145), and even nowadays a 167 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS recrudescence of the taste is displayed in modern ecclesiastical em- broidery produced in Belgium, France, and England. As the designs for such figure subjects, telling the stories of incidents or pourtraying the effigies of saints, owe so much to pictures, so apparently are the designs for formal arab- esques, as in Figs. 146 and 147, largely indebted to de- corative and carved archi- tectural ornament of the yellow satin and applied {applique) to velvet ; these again are edged with white and yellow silk gimp sewn down to the velvet. The small spirals which grow off from the points of the conventional leafage are similarly of white and yel- low gimps sewn down. The bands in Fig. 147 were probably used as orphreys, though the ornament of them has no religious or emblematical intention. These, like the examples of Fig. 146, are of applique and sewn-down work. As a rule they are considered to be of Spanish workmanship of the late i6th or early 17th century, but the style is one which may, I think, be claimed, with equal right almost, by Italian Kk;. 145. — Painting of St. Roderigo, by iMmillo (about 1675), showing an orpbi'ey embroidered with figures of saints beneath architectural canopies, ornamented wicii leaf devices. Reproduced by kind permis- snm of .Mes^rs. A. Kraun Co.. Paris, from their photograpli of the origin. il in the Royal (iallery at Lresden. period. The two pieces in Fig. 146 are ornamental panels or apparels for a dalmatic ; the smaller of the two being for one sleeve of the vestment, the larger for either the front or back of it. Both are of crimson velvet ; the heavier forms are cut out of blue and 168 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY emboiderers of the time. A closely similar type of ornament but, on a much smaller scale, will be recognized in the stripes of embroidery in Charles IX’s. costume (Fig. 148). Fig 146. — Two panels or appareE for a dalmatic of crimson velvet, ornamented with af>piiquc work in yellow and blue satin, outlined with yellow and white silk gimp stitched down. These are either Italian or Spanish work of the i6lh century. I he larger piece is 2i \ in. square. In Fig. 149 we have a few samples of the linen embroideries, with red silk bands and insertions, produced in the later i6th and 17th centuries for ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS costume and domestic purposes. The upper strip and the lower specimen, which is part of a table cloth or cover, resemble one another in the angu- larity given to their ornament. This arises from the patterns having been drawn on small squared paper and with the especial intention that they should be worked by the em- broiderer in cross and tent linen, and then overstitching or whipping red silk round the linen threads which were left. This kind of work was extensively made in islands of the Levant as well as in Southern Italy. The variety of its patterns exhibits much quaintness in effect, which is to be attributed to the embroiderers altering shapes and arrangements of the original designs, either through intentional Pig. 147. — Three bands or orphreys of a/’/>n=. ]iattern. not withstanding the 1 - airo- pean style of ornament atid iiis(.ription. “ 1 ft. 8 in. 181 \ I i 1 i € t -* 1 i !’'u;. 154. Coverlet of wliite satin, cmln-uidered in coloured silks. 'The design i'. in a Per'>M-Chiticse style of the T7th century, and includes double-headed ca^iles. 1 he piece was made for the European inaiket. 183 I Fk;. 155. — 'I'he upper specimen is a cap or liood of lineti, worked witli coloured silks over-looped u])on gold tiire.ids (ill the method of neeiile-poiiit lace stitches), with chain-stitch wcti'k in gold ami ^ilver threatls. It is F.>n^/ish of the 17th century. Its si/e is 19 in. by 15 in. Tiie lower specimen is a tunic of white satin, embroidered with coloured silks, intermingled with fine gold and silvei tinsels laid on and stitched to the satin surface. 'Fhis is E>i_^iish work of the 17th century, and is 2 ft. 3I in. long. 185 . ^ f •i ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY field of the coverlet, is typical of a much-used ornamental device in Mohammedan and Perso-Chinese decoration. Amongst the scrolls occur blossoms and long-feathered birds of a Chinese description. The central group of seats and a vase is also Chinese. The inner corners contain double-headed eagles, and so suggest an Indo-Portuguese or an Indo- Dutch origin for this embroidery. Direct traces of the taste for such imported articles are to be seen in a class of English silk tambour or chain- stitch embroidery, with coloured silks on cotton, which was made princi- pally for bed hangings and coverings during the later 17th and early i8th century. This English needlework was frequently of so good finish and design that on examining specimens of it it is sometimes difficult to decide whether they were not rather imported from the East than pro- duced at home. But some hundred years before the influx in considerable quantities of Chinese and Indian embroideries, porcelain, etc., into Europe, English embroideresses were engaged in developing a style of ornament for secular purposes, of which the cap and the jacket in Eig. 155 are examples. The devices adopted by them were largely of a floral character. Sometimes they were scattered and mingled together without any apparent order, at others, a defined scheme of pattern was followed. In the cap (Eig. 155), the medley of roses, lilies, sweet peas, pears, pomegranates, and straw- berries almost quite obscures the plan governing the arrangement of their repeated curving stems. The cap is of linen, and the embroidery is of coloured silks and gold threads wrought chiefly in chain-stitches. Of similar work is much of the embroidery on tbe white satin jacket (Eig. 155), though the flowing lines which form the pointed, curved panellings of the whole pattern are of gold and silver tinsel stitched down to the white satin surface. The scheme of these panels will recall that of the framework in such patterns as those of the i6th century weavings (Eigs. 88, 89, and 90), though these latter are more complicated in construction. As in Figs. 95 and 96, so in the framework of the jacket’s pattern, crowns or coronets encircle the junctions of its double lines, between which spots or spangles will be noticed. The flower forms are rather more ornamentally rendered and arranged than those of the cap. The Tudor rose is repeated at regular intervals ; and the central panels, together with those on the sleeves, are filled with a well-balanced group of formally spread-out honeysuckles, sur- mounted by a pair of ox-eye daisies, above the centre of which is an oak apple ; along the lines of the panels are strawberry and oak leaves ; else- where, and in well-ordered repetition, are pansies. The well-ordered and symmetrical design of the jacket pattern is not often met with in the general run of what appears to be typical English embroidery of the Elizabethan 187 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS period. The more usual scheme of pattern depends upon the use of repeated scrolling stems bearing floral and fruit shapes, as in Fig. 157, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, as well as in Fig. 156, another portrait, possibly 156. — Portrait, possibly of (Jueen Elizabeth (about i6oo), in a fancy costume embroidered with scrolling stems and floral devices. I'lie original painting, which is in Hampton Court Palace, is ascribed to Zucchero. of the Queen, but at least of a lady of her period, in which the curling stems are less pronounced. The principle of the pattern scheme here 188 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY corresponds with that of the better drawn scroll patterns in Italian weav- ings of the i6th century (Figs. io8 and log). A favourite English treat- Fn;. 157. — Portr.iit of hotograph of the origin. il painting. ment in embroidering such scroll stem patterns was that of working them in black silk and gold thread on linen. Into some were introduced most i8g ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS finely-stitched imitations of woodcuts fitted within fruit and flower shapes hanging from scrolling stems. An interesting specimen of this style belongs to Lady Falkland, and is exhibited in the South Kensington Museum, with examples of other varieties of this black silk and gold thread English embroidery. The woodcuts imitated in Lady Falkland's specimen are taken from Geffery "Whitney’s “Choice of Emblemes,” pub- Fig. 158. — Cushion cover of brown ^ilk, embroidered witli coloured silks. 'I'he de.sign is of Gcnnan origin, in ilie late i6lh century. The size of the cushion cover is 3 ft. by 2 ft. 5 in. lished at Leyden in 1586. This, therefore, identifies such needlework with the same period approximately. Characteristic of a good deal of German late i6th century design in embroidery is a cushion cover (Fig. 158), with its armorial bearings en- circled by a leafy wreath, occupying the centre of the cover ; the parts beyond it being correspondingly ornamented with leaf and composite blossom forms, of which the curving and pointed extremities are peculi- arities quite distinctive when compared with the more realistic and soberly 190 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY rendered floral devices in Italian work (Fi^s. 159 and 160), or with the sturdy flower shapes in the English work (Fig. 162), all of them being nearly the same period. The German cushion cover is of brown silk, embroidered with coloured silks in short and chain stitches. Part of a long wall-panel hanging, of Italian late i6th or early 17th century design, is given in Fig. 159. The orna- ment is cut out of pieces of green velvet and golden yellow silk, and sewn to- gether as in patchwork. The junctures of the two contrasting materials, which become alternately the ground and the ornament, are hidden by an outline of double yellow silk gimp stitched down. The design is constructed by reversing, for its right half, the forms of its left half, a method which, as will have been noticed, is very generally adopted in many of our embroidery illustrations, though it is more evident in those of a later than in those of an earlier time. Its predominance, however, indicates how a sense of symmetrical effect has persisted and almost inevitably governed ornamentists of all schools and times. Whilst in Fig. 159 the larger quantity of the ornament is composed of conven- tionalized leaf forms, the less frequent blossoms approach more nearly to real- ism in effect. The same remark applies to various parts of the designs in Figs. 160 and 161. That in Fig. 160 the white satin chalice veil has a radiating effect, its eight groups of leaf and floral shapes converging diagonally from the corners, and rectangularly from the middles of the sides of the square to its centre ; but each group is symmetrical 191 Vu ,. 159.— I’drt of <.ii Italian I7tli century wall or pilaster hanging of green velvet anti golden yellow silk mounted on canvas, cut out, fitted together to form a repeating and couiiterclianging pattern of balanced bold .scroll forms, with white satin dowers, etc. The various forms are outlined with double yellow silk gimp cords. I'he dowers are partly embroidered with coloured silks in long and stem stitches. The height of the original is 10 ft. I In in., and the width i ft. 9^ in. ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS by Itself, and the ordered repetition and alternation of them infuses sym- metricality into tne whole pattern. There are practically but two different groups, each of which are then repeated in alternation three times. In Fig. i6i an altar frontal the design consists of wide-speading, leafy, formal scrolls symmetrically arranged on each side of a central vertical stem ; the flowers — tulips, carnations, roses, and jonquils inter- Fig. i6o. —An Italian lyih century chalice veil, of cream-coloured silk, worked in coloured silks and silver-gilt thread, with a symmetrical jiattern of tulips, convolvuli, and other flowers springing from leafy stems. In the centre is the sacred monogram, within a circular compartment sur- rounded by rays. 24 in. stpiare. spersed amongst the formal scrolls are again almost realistic in rendering. The embroidery of this ornamentation is with coloured silks, chiefly in long and short stitches, the ground being couched with silver threads, and the whole pattern is outlined with a dark-coloured silk gimp stitched down. I have already made reference to the panel of early 17th century or 192 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY Jacobean embroidery (Fig. 162). It is a well-preserved specimen of work in tent and cross stitch with coloured silks upon small-meshed canvas. The Royal arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the letters I.R. (James Rex), occupy the central position of the whole design, and the comparatively formal way in which they are depicted is in marked contrast with the German method shown in Fig. 158, or with the later French method shown in Fig. 166 A, B, C, D. The views of the English box or casket of middle 17th century embroidery are displayed in Figs. 163 and 164. The design here is pre- Fig. 162. — A panel of canvas, worked chietly in small tent and cross stitches with coloured '-ilk threads ami line gold thread. In the centre, surinonnted hy a rose and two buds, is a white shield shape, ujion wliit. h, beneath a large crown, is a scrolled escutcheon bearing the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom of (ireat Jhilain and Ireland, with tlie letters I. R. (James Rex). The gold embroidery here is in chain stitch. Beneath the Royal Arms are two confr(»nted white dogs rampant, on a mound filled in with gradated blue and yellow scale shapes. From the base of this pyramid on each side springs a triple stem, with offshoots of large conventional ornamental llowers and leaves ami scrolling stems arranged in two corresponding groups. On the lower stems are birds and snails, and beneath the lowest scrolling stem on each side is a lion with mane worked with gold thread in chain stitch. In two comp)artments occupying the bottom corners is the worker’s name, “Mary Hvlton," in gold thread chain stitch. A narrow border, with an angular, continuous wavy stem and formal llower and bud devices, in stouter wools than the threads in the main jiancl. runs round the whole panel, which is English work of the early 17th century. It is 3 ft. 3 in. long by 204 in. wide. eminently typical of the half-trained taste of English amateurs : poor draughtsmen and weak ornamentists, but highly skilled in the use of needle and threads. Much work of this kind was made during the later years of the 17th century in England. The casket (Figs. 163 and 164) which is fitted with a mirror, three bottles, and writing materials, has an outer covering of 195 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS white satin, upon which the coloured silk embroidery is worked. In Fig. 163 we have a front view of it. Along the lid will be seen quaint plant forms, a squirrel and a rabbit ; below are the two doors one with a queen bearing a sceptre, the other with a lady in elaborate costume. Both figures are in relief, and parts of their costume are of a needlepoint lace fabric. The top of the lid and the lower back panel are given in Fig. 164. There is a definite ornamental intention in the decoration of the lid top, with its large oval frame and portrait, birds with outstretched wings in the upper corners, and snails and their shells in the lower ones. The panels of the sides of the box are decorated with naive representations of Narcissus, Venus and Adonis, Apollo and Daphne, in Stuart costume, disproportionate Fid. 163. — An embroidered casket or bo.\ of English work about the middle of the 17th century The front is here shown. The bo.\ is 9I in. high. trees and shrubs, houses, and so forth. A gimp lace trimming completes the adornment of the box. Less amusing in design is the strictly arranged ornamentation of small forms upon the two ends of the scarf (Fig. 165), consisting of repeti- tions of composite pear-shape compartments containing trophies of flags, lances, swords, quivers of arrows, drums, trumpets, etc. In between the compartments are small floral and leaf devices, and below them are repeated, reversed, larger leaf scrolls of a conventional type. The scarf is of red silk, and the embroidery is done with coloured silks and gold and silver threads in satin and short stitches. Scarves of this description were worn in the 17th and early i8th centuries. That before us is probably one 196 ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY of the middle of the 17th century, and the general character of its design is French, especially in respect of the trophies of arms, etc., and the little scalloped hangings and wavy ribands immediately above them. There is a much more trade-like appearance in this piece than in any of the embroideries we have already examined. And this evidence of em- broidery done to order, and, as it were, for trade purposes, is equally noticeable in the remaining illustrations of the purses (Fig. 166 A, B, C, D), the bed embroideries (Fig. 167), the waistcoats (Fig. 168), and the dress coats (Fig. 169). The purses (Fig. 166 A, B, C, D) are all of French 17th century gold and silver thread padded work on velvet ; the subsidiary details in the coats of arms being wrought in finer stitches with coloured silks. The 197 ORNAMENT IN EUROPEAN SILKS arms of the City of Paris occur on i66A ; those apparently of the Cardinal Fic. 165. — Red Mlk scarf, as worn Ijy a military officer in the 17th century. 'I'he design and embroidery are probably French. Duke de Matignon, on i66B ; those of the Marquis de Sessac on i66C ; and those of some Duke on i66D. The various treatments of these armorial ig8 Kig. 167. — Part ot a set of white satin bed embroideries, embroidered with coloured silk-^ and chenille, d'he set coin])rises trimmings for valances and curtains, with open fringe of coloured ''ilk, and covers for seats. It is French work of the later ]>art of i8th century. 199 |C 1 SS t / i . ) f 1 1 ! ORNAMENT IN EMBROIDERY bearings very fairly expound, for the ornamentist, all that would be gleaned from a greater number of such things. The City of Paris arms are set upon crossed flags ; the Cardinal de Matignon’s are flanked by the Fid. i66a. — A 17th century I' rencli pouch or alms bag of green velvet, embroidered in gold thread. The arms of the City of Paris are worked in gold threads and coloured silks. Fig. i66n. — A 1 7th century French pouch or alms bag of red velvet, embroidered on llie base with the arms of Cardinal the l )nke de Matignon. Fig. i66c. — A 17th century I'rench pouch or alms bag of green velvet, embroidered on the base with the arms of the Marquis de .Sessac. Fk.. 1661J. — A 17th century I' rench pouch