Transcriber's Note

A carat (^) is used to indicate superscripted characters. 

The original text contained an errata list. The corrections have beenmade to this text, and the list moved to the end of the book forreference purposes only. 

Other notes may be found at the end of the book. 

 NEEDLEWORK AS ART

 BY

 LADY M. ALFORD

 [Illustration]

 London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, AND RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1886. 

 [_All rights reserved. _]

 LONDON: PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. 

 [Illustration: TELEMACHUS PENELOPE]

DEDICATED BY PERMISSION

TO

THE QUEEN. 

TO

THE QUEEN. 

_Your Majesty's most gracious acceptance of the Dedication of my bookon "Needlework as Art" casts a light upon the subject that shows itsworthiness, and my inability to do it justice. Still, I hope I mayfill a gap in the artistic literature of our day, and I venture to laymy work at your Majesty's feet with loyal devotion. _

 MARIAN M. ALFORD. 

PREFACE. 

In the Preface to the "Handbook of Art Needlework, " which I edited forthe Royal School at South Kensington in 1880, I undertook to write asecond part, to be devoted to design, colour, and the common-sensemodes of treating decorative art, as applied especially to embroideredhangings, furniture, dress, and the smaller objects of luxury. 

Circumstances have, since then, obliged me to reconsider thisintention; and I have found it more practicable to cast theinformation which I have collected from Eastern and Western sourcesinto the form of a separate work, which in no way supersedes orinterferes with the technical instruction supposed to be conveyed in ahandbook. I have found so much amusement in learning for myself thehistory of the art of embroidery, and in tracing the beginnings andthe interchanges of national schools, that I cannot but hope that Imay excite a similar interest in some of my readers, and so inducethose who are capable, to help and lift it to a higher place than ithas been allowed in these latter days to occupy. If I have given tooimportant a position to the art of needlework, I would observe thatwhile I have been writing, decorative embroidery has come to thefront, and is at this moment one of the hobbies of the day; and Iwould point out that it contains in itself all the necessary elementsof art; it may exercise the imagination and the fancy; it needseducation in form, colour, and composition, as well as the craft of apractised hand, to express its language and perfect its beauty. 

I confess that when I undertook this task, I did not anticipate thetime I have had to spend in collecting and epitomizing the manynotices to be found in German, French, and English authors, on whathas been considered among us, at least in this century, as merely asecondary art, and therefore, as such, of little importance. Cursorynotices of needlework are scattered through almost every book on art;and under the head of textiles it is usual to find embroideryacknowledged as being worthy of notice, though not to be named incompany with sculpture, architecture, or painting, however beautifullyor thoughtfully its works may be carried out. I have tried to showthat it deserves higher estimation. 

My first intention was simply to consider STYLE, good or bad, as itinfluences our embroidery of to-day, and to find some rules by whichto guide that of the future in its next phase. But when we search intothe fluctuations of style, and their causes, we find they have anhistorical succession, and that we must begin at the beginning andtrace them through the life of mankind. 

This led me to attempt a sketch of consecutive styles, their overlapand variations. 

I then found that DESIGN, PATTERNS, STITCHES, MATERIALS, each requirea separate study. 

COLOUR, as applied to dyes, claims to be regarded as differing frompigments on the painter's palette. 

HANGINGS, DRESS, and ECCLESIASTICAL EMBROIDERIES each requiredifferent rules, and the study of the best examples of past centuries. Finally, it seems natural to dwell on our own proficiency indecorative work. ENGLISH EMBROIDERY has always excelled; and, as wehave again returned to this occupation, it is worth while to recollectwhat we have done of old. 

In writing chapters on these subjects, I have found it most convenientto separate the historical and æsthetic questions from the technicalrules, and the instruction which naturally belongs to a handbook, ofwhich the purpose should be to teach the easiest and most orthodoxmanner of executing the simplest, and elaborating the finest works. Such questions ought not to be overlaid with archæological inquiries, or with the information which only profits the designer; though ofcourse it is best that the knowledge of design should be part of theeducation of the craft. 

Perhaps I may be found to have written a book too shallow for thelearned, too deep for the frivolous, too technical for the generalpublic, and too diffuse for the specialist of the craft. [1]

I must deprecate these criticisms by saying that I have written it forthe benefit of those who know nothing of the art, and are too muchengaged to seek information here and there; who yet, being women, haveto select and to execute ornamental needlework; or, being artists, arevexed at the incongruities and want of intention in the decorations indaily domestic use; I have also sought to help the designer, that heor she may know something of the history of patterns and stitches. 

If my readers should be aware of repetitions, they must forgive them;remembering that the same idea has to be looked at sometimes from adifferent point of view, according to the use to which it is to befitted. The same material may be employed for wall-hangings and dress, and then the principles which have been formulated have to be varied. I do not shrink from repetitions if they make my meaning clear, remembering the Duke of Wellington's direction to his privatesecretary, "Never mind repetitions; and _dot_ your i's. "

Portions of these chapters have been already published in No. 49 ofthe _Nineteenth Century_, [2] in 1881; and more was delivered in threeunpublished lectures the same year. 

I have acknowledged and noted on each page my authorities for thefacts I have quoted. The illustrations that are not original, havebeen copied from other works by permission of authors and publishers. To all of these I wish to express my obligations and thanks, especially to Mr. Villiers Stuart, Dr. Anderson, Sir G. Birdwood, andSir H. Layard, for their courtesy in allowing me the use of theirplates. To my old and valued friend, Mr. Newton, I wish to express mygratitude for his unstinted gifts of time and trouble, bestowed incriticizing and correcting my book, encouraging me to give it to thepublic, and making it more worthy of publication. 

I have largely quoted Charles Blanc ("Ornament in Dress, " Englishtranslation), Von Bock ("Liturgische Gewänder"), Dr. Rock ("The Churchof our Fathers" and "Introduction to Textiles"), Semper ("Der Stil"), Yates ("Textrinum Antiquorum"), and Yule ("Marco Polo"), besides manyothers. But these authorities often differ, and, after weighing theirarguments, I have ventured to select for my use the facts andtheories which accord with my own views. Facts are often sointerdependent and closely linked, that it requires great care todistinguish where they have been shaped or coloured (howeverunintentionally) to fit each other or the writer's preconceived ideas. Certain it is that facts are but useless heaps till the thread of atheory is found on which to hang them. This process, like that ofstringing pearls, has to be often repeated, till each occupies itsright place. Only those who have adopted and cherished a theory canappreciate the pain of cutting the thread, to displace what appearedto be a pearl, but which, from its false position as to date or place, or its doubtful origin, has proved only an empty manufactured glassbead of error. 

This has happened to me more than once; and since I read my lectures Ihave had to change my opinions in several instances. If, therefore, any of my readers should observe such changes, I hope they will giveme credit for trying to convey _now_ what appears to me on eachsubject a correct impression. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Besides the art, I have sought to give something of the archæology of needlework. Now the qualifications for being a teacher on such subjects are rarely to be met with, all combined. Mr. Newton, in his "Essays on Art and Archæology, " p. 37, says that "the archæologist should combine with the æsthetic culture of the artist, and the trained judgment of the historian and the philologist, that critical acumen, required for classification and interpretation; nor should that habitual suspicion which must ever attend the scrutiny and precede the warranty of evidence, give too sceptical a bias to his mind. " Such authorities have been interrogated on each part of my subject. 

 [2] Quoted by permission of the Editor. 

CONTENTS. 

 PAGE INTRODUCTION. 1

 CHAPTER I. --STYLE. 

 Definition of style--Development of style--Primitive-- Archaic--Egyptian--Babylonian--Phœnician influences on early Greek style--Decoration of hangings of the Tabernacle in the wilderness--Aryan ideas--The Code of Manu--Indian art--Celtic style--Greek art in dress and embroideries--Homer's descriptions of embroideries--Pallas Athene--Shield of Achilles--Roman art--Byzantine art--Art of Central Asia--Its arrival in Europe--Art of China, Japan, and Java--Christian art--Scandinavian art--The Dark Ages--Sicilian textile art--Renaissance--Arabesque-- Grotesque--Spanish Plâteresque--Style of Queen Anne and the Chippendales--Louis XV. Style--Classical revival--Young England's style--Nineteenth century style 14

 CHAPTER II. --DESIGN. 

 Artist and artisan--Prehistoric design--Naturalistic design--Egyptian immutability--Slow evolution of design--Greek perfection--Necessity of following rules--M. Blanc's laws of ornamentation--Laws of composition-- Repetition--Alternation--Symmetry--Progression--Confusion-- Designs for hangings and dress materials--Floral design--Design for carpets--The conventional--First principles 54

 CHAPTER III. --PATTERNS. 

 Ancestry of patterns--Classification--Their historical value--Primitive patterns--The wave--Tartan--Prehistoric African patterns--The naturalistic--Flowers--Shells--Indian forms of naturalistic patterns--Egyptian--The lotus-- Sunflower--Celtic Zoomorphic patterns--The human figure on Greek textiles--Animal forms in Oriental patterns--Symbolical and conventional patterns--The wave patterns--The palm leaf-- The cone--Gothic--Arab--Moresque--The Sacred Hom--Egg and tongue--The cross--Swastika--Fylfote--Gammadion--The crenelated pattern--The Ninevite daisy--Emblematic patterns--Bestiaria--Volucraria--Lapidaria--Byzantine patterns--Gothic--Renaissance--The cloud pattern--The fundata--Italian--French patterns--Radiated patterns--The shell--Patterns by repetition--Balcony pattern--Chinese wicker-work--Survival of a pattern--Opus Alexandrinum--Quilting patterns 82

 CHAPTER IV. --MATERIALS. 

 Raw materials--Revelations of the microscope--Hemp--Jute-- Honduras grass--Spartum--Pinna silk--Hair--Leather-- Feathers--Asbestos--Coral--Pearls--Beads--Wool--Classical notices of wool--Careful improvement of wool by the ancients--Tanaquil--Homeric woollen carpets--Crimson textile fragments--Scandinavian woollen garments--Qualities of wool--English wool--Goats' hair--Flax--Lake cities-- Byssus--Fine linen of Egypt--The Atrebates--Embroidery on linen--Cotton--Indian origin--Carbasa--Buckram--Cotton fabrics--Gold--Silver--Gold brocades--Jewish--Indian-- Chinese--Dress of Darius--Attalus--Attalic textiles-- Agrippina's golden garments--St. Cecilia's mantle--Roman tombs--Gold wire--Anglo-Saxon tomb--Childeric's tomb--Proba's gold thread--Golden wrappings from tombs of Henry I. And Henry III. --Gold embroideries and jewellers' work of Middle Ages--Spangles--Enamels--Purl--Modern schools of gold embroidery--Silk--Pamphile of Cos--Early specimens of silk stuffs--Chinese silks--The Seres--Mela--Seneca--M. Terrien de la Couperie--Empress Si-ling-chi--Princess of Khotan--Euripides--Lucan--Pliny--Silk in Rome--Ælius Lampridius--Flavius Vopiscus--Tailor's bill--Justinian's codex--Imperial monopoly--Paul the Silentiary--Bede--King John's apparition--Greek and Sicilian manufactories of silk--Distinctive marks of different periods--Lyons--Spain-- Italy--Flemish towns--Marco Polo--Satin--Welsh poem, "Lady of the Fountain"--Chaucer--Velvet--Transference of work to new materials 118

 CHAPTER V. --COLOUR. 

 Harmony and dissonance--Names of tints--Authorities for theories--Art of colouring--Expression of colouring-- Purple--Red--Crimson--Blue--Yellow--Pliny--Renouf--Chinese colours--Indian dyes--Persian colours--Dyes of the Gauls--Romans--Scotch--Scales of colour--MM. Charton and Chevreul on tones of colour--Gas colours 175

 CHAPTER VI. --STITCHES. 

 Stitches--Part I. : The needle--Gammer Gurton's needle--Art of needlework--Lists of stitches--Part II. : Plain work-- The seam--Mrs. Floyer--White embroidery--Nuns' work-- Greek--German--Spanish--Italian white work--Semper's rules for white work--Part III. : Opus Phrygium--Gold embroideries--Part IV. : Opus pulvinarium--Cushion stitches-- Mosaic stitches--Traditional decorations from Chaldea and Assyria--German and Italian pattern-books--Part V. : Opus plumarium--The Plumarii--Feather-work of India--Islands of the Pacific--African work--Mexican and Peruvian--Cluny triptych--Mitre of St. Charles Borromeo--Essay by Denis--Chinese and Japanese feather-stitches--Part VI. : Opus consutum or cut work--Patchwork--Egyptian and Greek examples--Irish cut work--Chaucer--Francis I. 's hangings at Cluny--Lord Beauchamp's curtains--Spanish examples-- Remarks--Art of application--Part VII. : Lace--Opus filatorium--Mrs. Palliser--M. Blanc--Guipure--Sir Gardiner Wilkinson--Netted lace--Homer--Solomon's Temple--Bobbin laces--Yak--Coloured laces--Venetian sumptuary laws--Golden laces--Point d'Alençon--Mr. A. Cole's lectures--M. Urbani de Gheltof on Venice laces--Lace stitches--Revival of lace school at Burano--English laces--Part VIII. : Tapestry--Opus pectineum--Modes of weaving tapestry--Its great antiquity-- Egyptian looms--Albert Castel on tapestries--Homeric picture-weaving--Arachne--A paraphrase by Lord Houghton-- Nomenticum--Sidonius Apollinaris--Saracenic weaving--Arras-- Brussels--Italian tapestries from Florence, Milan, and Mantua--French tapestries--Cluny Museum collection--Gobelins-- Beauvais--English tapestry--Comnenus--Matthew Paris--Early trade with Arras--Coventry tapestries--Chaucer--Tapestry "of verd"--Hatfield tapestries--Armada tapestries--Sir F. Crane--Mortlake manufactory--Francis Cleyne--Raphael cartoons--Percy tapestry from Lambeth 194

 CHAPTER VII. --HANGINGS. 

 Classical hangings--Babylonian and Persian--Semper's theory--Sanctuary in the wilderness--St. Peter's at Rome--Abulfeda--Akbar's tent--Nadir Shah's tent--Tent of Khan of Persia--Tents of Alexander the Great at Alexandria--Roman hangings--Funeral pyres--Kosroes' tent--Semper's rules for hanging decorations--Ancient carpets--English and French hangings--Rules for designs of hangings 260

 CHAPTER VIII. --FURNITURE. 

 Penelope's couch--Chaldean furnished house--The bed--Earl of Leicester's inventories--State apartment of Alessandri Palace--Indian embroideries for furniture--The sofa and chair--The footstool--Furniture stitches--The table cover--The screen--Book covers--Morris on furniture 280

 CHAPTER IX. --DRESS. 

 Art of dress--Ancient splendour--Persian, Greek, and Roman--Indian--Homeric--Early Christian--Charlemagne's mantle and robe--Objects of dress--Embroidered garments 294

 CHAPTER X. --ECCLESIASTICAL EMBROIDERY. 

 Christian art--Dark ages--Greek and Roman ecclesiastical dress--Northern influence--Continuity of ecclesiastical art--Authorities--Anglo-Saxon orthodox colours--Veils of the Temple--Hangings in Pagan temples and Christian churches--Russian use of veils--Art in the early Church-- Rare examples--Destruction by the iconoclasts--Early embroiderers--Empress Helena--Bertha, mother of Charlemagne--His dalmatic--Pluvial of St. Silvester--Pluvial of museum at Bologna--Daroca cope--Cope of Boniface VIII. -- Style of the twelfth century--Mantle of St. Stephen of Hungary--Kunigunda's work for Henry II. --The Romanesque-- Movement perfecting Gothic art, thirteenth century--Opus Anglicanum--Syon cope--Embroidery on the stamp--Pictures in flat stitches--Flemish work--Renaissance--Work of some royal ladies--French--Spanish--Sicilian and Neapolitan--German work--Sacred symbolism--Melito's "The Key"--Mystical colours--Prehistoric cross--Many forms of the cross--The roës--The chrysoclavus--Modern decoration--Principles and motives for church embroideries--The altar-cloth--The reredos--The pulpit and reading-desk--The ancient Paschal--The banner of St. Cuthbert--The fringe--Lay heraldry of the Church--South Kensington Museum 303

 CHAPTER XI. --ENGLISH EMBROIDERY. 

 First glimpse of art in England--Dyeing and weaving in Britain in early times--Cæsar's invasion--Roman civilization--Anglo-Saxon times and art--Adhelme's poem--Icelandic Sagas--Saga or story of Thorgunna--English work in the eighth century--The Benedictines--Durham embroideries--Aelfled--St. Dunstan--Queen Emma's work--William of Poitou--The Bayeux tapestry--Abbess of Markgate--Gifts to Pope Adrian IV. --Robes of Thomas à Becket at Sens--Innocent III. --English pre-eminence in needlework from the Conquest to the Reformation--John Garland on hand-looms--Blode-bendes and lacs d'amour--Opus Anglicanum--English peculiarities in ecclesiastical design--Penalties against luxury in dress--Protection the bane of art--Dunstable pall--Stoneyhurst cope--Destruction of fine works at the Reformation--Much on the Continent, much collected in our old Catholic houses--Field of the Cloth of Gold--Mary Tudor's Spanish stitches--Queen Elizabeth's embroideries--Institution of Embroiderers' Company--East India Company--Oriental taste discouraged on Protectionist grounds--Decay of the art in England--Style of James I. --Dutch style--Cushion stitches--Miss Linwood-- Miss Moritt--Mrs. Delany--Mrs. Pawsey--Postscript--Revival of the art of needlework--"Royal School of Art Needlework" 356

 APPENDIX

 I. Charles T. Newton on Votive Dresses 400

 II. The Moritzburg Feather Hangings 401

 III. The Story of Arachne, translated by Earl Cowper 402

 IV. Charlemagne's Dalmatic, by Lord Lindsay 405

 V. Notices of various Mediæval Embroideries by the Hon. And Rev. W. Ignatius Clifford 407

 VI. Syon Cope, Rock's Introduction, "Textile Fabrics" 408

 VII. Assyrian Fringes 412

 VIII. Hrothgar's House Furniture: Poem of Beowulf 412

 IX. Thorgunna, by Sir G. Dasent 413

 X. Pedigree of Aelswith 414

 XI. Statutes at Large 414

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CUTS. 

 Fig. |Page. | ----+-----+ 1 | 20 | Egyptian corselet. Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " p. | | 332. 2 | 25 | Tabernacle of Balawat. Temp. Shalmaneser. British | | Museum. 3 | 30 | Zoomorphic Celtic pattern. 4 | 32 | Pallas Athene attired in the sacred peplos. Panathenaic | | vase, British Museum. 5 | 62 | Wave pattern. 6 | 63 | Key pattern. 7 | 63 | Metopes and triglyphs. 8 | 73 | Persian carpet. Egyptian symbolic patterns. 9 | 91 | Gothic sunflower. R. S. A. N. 10 | 98 | Wave. 11 | 104 | Egyptian ally and enemy. Temp. Rameses II. Wilkinson's | | "Ancient Egyptians, " iii. P. 364. 12 | 105 | Assyrian crenelated pattern. 13 | 107 | Gothic type of trees, Bayeux tapestry. 14 | 111 | Radiated pattern. 15 | 111 | Radiated sunflower. 16 | 112 | Shell pattern. 17 | 112 | Balcony pattern. 18 | 115 | Varied adjustments of square and circle. 19 | 146 | Spangles. 20 | 195 | Needles. 21 | 208 | Feather patterns. Egyptian. 22 | 216 | Application. Egyptian. Auberville's "Tissus. " 23 | 217 | Embroidered border on mantle. Crimea. "Compte Rendu. " 24 | 281 | Babylonian or Chaldean house and furniture. 25 | 311 | Italian fifteenth-century pattern. Celtic type. 26 | 377 | Barbed quatrefoil. 27 | 380 | Holbein pattern. Sampler. 28 | 388 | Arms of Embroiderers' Guild; given by Queen Elizabeth. 29 | 393 | Portion of James II. 's coronation dress; from an old | | print. 

PLATES. 

 Plate|Page. | Ref. | -----+-----+-----| | | | TITLE-PAGE. Penelope at her loom, reproached by her | | | son Telemachus. From vase found at Chiusi, in | | | Etruria. "Monum. D. Inst. Arch. Rom. " ix. Pl. 42. 1 | 22 | 93 | ASSURBANIPAL (Sardanapalus). Sculptures from Nineveh. | | | British Museum. 2 | 22 | 93 | Portion of royal Babylonian mantle. From Layard's | | | "Monuments, " Series i. Pl. 9. 3 | 29 | | ST. JOHN. From King Alfred's Celtic Book of the | | | Gospels. Lambeth Palace Library. 4 | 30 | | A PAGE of the Book of St. Cuthbert, or Book of | | | Lindisfarne. 5 | 33 | | SILVER BOWL from Palestrina. From Clermont Ganneau's | | | "Journal Asiatique, Syro-Egyptien-Phœnicien. " 6 | 40 | 93 | EMPRESS THEODORA. Ravenna Mosaic. 7 | 42 | | ITALIAN EMBROIDERY, fifteenth century. South | | | Kensington Museum. 8 | 43 | | ITALIAN and SPANISH orphrey, sixteenth century. 9 | 45 | | PLÂTERESQUE DESIGN. Spanish coverlet, green velvet | | | and gold, sixteenth century. Goa work. 10 | 87 | | WAVE PATTERN. 1, 4, 9, 12, 13. Greek wave pattern. | | | 2. Key or Mæander Greek wave. 3. Greek broken wave. | | | 5, 6, 7. Egyptian smooth and rippling wave pattern. | | | 8. Mediæval wave. 10, 11, 14. Babylonian and | | | Chaldean. 15. Persian or Greek, from glass bowl, | | | British Museum. 16. English wave (or cloud). Durham | | | embroideries, tenth century. 11 | 88 | | SIMPLE PATTERNS. 1. Persian. 2. Lotus border, | | | Egyptian. 12 | 90 | | LOTUS BORDERS. 1. Indian. 2, 3. Egyptian. 4, 5, Greek. | | | 6. Indian. 13 | 95 | 102 | INDIAN LOTUS. 1. With Assyrian daisy. 2. Lotus. 3. The | | | egg and tongue, or Vitruvian scroll from Vignola. | | | "Regole di Ordine di Architettura. " 14 | 91 | | SUNFLOWER PATTERN. R. S. A. N. Nineteenth century. 15 | 92 | | PORTION OF A PAGE of the Book of Kells. Dublin | | | University Library. 16 | 93 | 114 | DEMETER. Greek fictile vase. British Museum. 17 | 93 | 217 | 1. GREEK EMBROIDERY, 300 B. C. From tomb of the Seven | | | Brothers, Crimea. | | | 2. EGYPTIAN painted or embroidered linen. The cone, | | | bead, daisy, wave. Lotus-under-water patterns are | | | represented on this fragment. 18 | 93 | | EGYPTIAN Tapestry weaving finished with the needle. | | | British Museum. 19 | 97 | 114 | EGYPTIAN key patterns. Wilkinson's "Ancient | | | Egyptians, " p. 125. 20 | 99 | 101 | TREES OF LIFE. 1, 2, 3. Assyrian. 4. Sicilian silk. | | | 5. Mediæval. Birdwood's "Indian Arts. " 21 | 101 | | TREES OF LIFE. 1. Sculpture over gate of Mycenæ. | | | 2. Sicilian silks; Persian type. 22 | 101 | | LOTUS MERGED INTO TREE OF LIFE. 1. Split Chinese | | | Lotus. 2. Split Persian Lotus, from a frieze by | | | Benozzo Gozzoli. Ricardi Palace, Florence. 3. Petal | | | of flower. Greek glass bowl from tomb in Southern | | | Italy. 23 | 101 | | TREES OF LIFE. Sicilian silks. Auberville. 1, 2, 3, | | | 4, 5, 10. Persian type. 6, 7, 8, 9, 11. Indian type. 24 | 101 | | TREE OF LIFE transformed into vine. Modern pattern of | | | work from the Principalities. 25 | 103 | | TYPICAL CROSSES. 1. Swastika fire-stick cross. 2. | | | From Greek vase, British Museum, 765 B. C. 3. | | | Sectarial mark of Sakti race. India. 4. Sectarial | | | mark of Buddhists and Jainis. 5. On early Rhodian | | | pottery. 6. Egyptian prehistoric cross. 7. Tau | | | cross. 8. Mark of land, Egyptian and Ninevite. | | | 9. Mark of land, Egyptian and Ninevite. 10. Clavus, | | | "nail" or "button, " or sun-cross. 11, 12, 13. | | | Scandinavian sun and moon crosses. 14, 15, 16. | | | Celtic. 17. Chrysoclavus. 18, 19. Stauracin | | | patterns. 20. Norwegian. 21. Runic. 22. Cross in | | | Temple of the Sun, Palenque. 23. Scotch Celtic | | | cross. 24. Cross at Iona. 25, 26. Runic and | | | Scandinavian crosses. 27. Cross diapered on | | | Charlemagne's dalmatic. 28. From mantle of Henry | | | II. , Emperor of Germany. 26 | 103 | | PREHISTORIC CROSSES. 1. Greek. Pallas, with plaited | | | tunic worked with Swastika. 2. Greek. Ajax playing | | | at dice with Achilles. Cloak embroidered with | | | Swastika and other prehistoric patterns. Fictile | | | vase, Vatican Museum. 27 | 105 | | ASSYRIAN CARPET carved in stone, British Museum. 28 | 107 | | GOTHIC. 1. Dress patterns from old MS. 2, 3. Old | | | English tiles. 29 | 109 | | CLOUD PATTERNS. 1, 2, 3, 7. Japanese. 5, 8, 9. | | | Mediæval. 4. Chinese. 6. Badge of Richard II. 30 | 109 | | INDO-CHINESE COVERLET. Hatfield. Supposed to have | | | belonged to Oliver Cromwell. 31 | 109 | | FUNDATA PATTERNS. 1. On Phœnician silver bowl. | | | ("L'Imagerie Phénicienne. ") 2, 3. From tomb at | | | Essiout, Egypt. Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " | | | ii. P. 125. 1600 B. C. 32 | 124 | | PART OF BORDER of silk, gold, and pearls. Worked by | | | Blanche, wife of Charles IV. Of Bohemia. Bock's | | | "Lit. Gew. " ii. P. 246. 33 | 147 | | EMBROIDERED WINDOW HANGING from portrait of Mahomet | | | II. , by Gentil Bellini; belonging to Sir Henry | | | Layard. 34 | 153 | 110 | CLASSICAL SILKS. 1. Greek. 2. Roman. 35 | 163 | | DURHAM RELICS. Persian type of silk weaving. 36 | 164 | | DURHAM RELICS. Norman and Persian types mixed. 37 | 164 | | DURHAM RELICS. Græco-Egyptian type. 38 | 164 | | EGYPTIAN BOAT with embroidered and fringed sails, | | | and floating scarves. Wilkinson's "Ancient | | | Egyptians, " iii. P. 211. 39 | 200 | | WHITE EMBROIDERY from sculptured tomb of a knight, | | | fifteenth century. Ara Cœli, Rome. 40 | 201 | | PROCESSIONAL CLOAK, Spanish work, temp. Henry VIII. , | | | belonging to Lord Arundel of Wardour. 41 | 204 | | OPUS PULVINARIUM. Counted stitches. 1. Italian. 2. | | | Scandinavian. 3. Ancient Egyptian. Turin Museum. 42 | 206 | | ITALIAN MOSAIC STITCH work, sixteenth century. | | | Alford House. 43 | 214 | | JAPANESE OPUS PLUMARIUM. White silk. 44 | 216 | 25 | OPUS CONSUTUM. Funeral tent of an Egyptian queen. 45 | 219 | 123 | OPUS CONSUTUM. "Inlaid" and "onlaid. " Italian, | | | seventeenth century. 46 | 235 | | EGYPTIAN GOBELINS finished with the needle. 47 | 236 | | RHEIMS CATHEDRAL TAPESTRY. The Virgin weaving and | | | embroidering on frame a "basse-lisse. " 48 | 243 | | TENT OF CHARLES THE BOLD, taken at Grandson, now in | | | museum at Berne. The badge is that of the Golden | | | Fleece. 49 | 252 | | ENGLISH TAPESTRY belonging to Lord Salisbury, at | | | Hatfield House, temp. Henry VIII. 50 | 294 | | ITALIAN KNIGHT of fifteenth century armed for | | | conquest. Gentile da Fabriano. Academia, Florence. 51 | 309 | | ST. MARK. Anglo-Saxon Book of the Gospels. York | | | Minster Library. 52 | 312 | | CLASSICAL PATTERN adapted into Christian art. 53 | 318 | | CHARLEMAGNE'S DALMATIC. Vatican Treasury. 54 | 318 | | CHARLEMAGNE'S DALMATIC. Vatican Treasury. 55 | 318 | | PORTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S DALMATIC. Half-size. 56 | 319 | | ST. SILVESTER'S PLUVIAL. Treasury of St. John | | | Lateran, Rome. Opus Anglicanum, thirteenth | | | century. 57 | 319 | | PORTION OF ST. SILVESTER'S PLUVIAL, showing its | | | condition. 58 | 319 | | BOLOGNA COPE. Museo del Municipio. Opus Anglicanum. 59 | 319 | | DAROCA COPE. Archæological Museum at Madrid. Opus | | | Anglicanum. 60 | 319 | | BONIFACE VIII. 'S COPE from Anagni, his native place; | | | now in Vatican Treasury; twelfth century. 61 | 319 | | ALTAR FRONTAL at Anagni, Italy. Italian work, | | | fourteenth century. 62 | 320 | | WORCESTER RELICS of the tenth century. 1. From tomb | | | of Walter de Cantilupe. 2. From Aix, in Switzerland. | | | Same type. 63 | 320 | | 1. MITRE OF THOMAS À BECKET. 2. The cross with twelve | | | leaves, "for the healing of the nations. " Coronation | | | vestments at Rheims. 64 | 321 | | ANGLO-SAXON WORK, purple and gold, from tomb of | | | William de Blois, Worcester. He died Bishop in 1236. 65 | 321 | | A PORTION OF ST. STEPHEN OF HUNGARY'S MANTLE, worked | | | by his Queen Gisela. From Bock's "Kleinodien. " 66 | 322 | | PORTION OF MANTLE OF HENRY II. , worked by his Empress | | | Kunigunda. From Bock's "Kleinodien. " 67 | 325 | | THE SYON COPE. South Kensington Museum. 68 | 329 | | ITALIAN EMBROIDERIES designed by Pollaiolo; worked by | | | Paolo da Verona. Sixteenth century. 69 | 330 | | SPANISH ALTAR FRONTAL. THE ARMS OF CASTILE embroidered | | | in gold with pearls. Ashridge. Plâteresque style, | | | seventeenth century. 70 | 337 | 113 | CONSULAR IVORIES. Two diptychs. 1. Zurich, | | | Wasser-Kirche. Inscribed to Consul Areobindus, | | | A. D. 434. 2. At Halberstadt. No date. From Bock's | | | "Lit. Gew. " 71 | 363 | | AELFLED'S ORPHREY, signed by her. Durham Cathedral | | | Library. 72 | 363 | | ST. GREGORY AND ST. JOHN (PROPHET), from Aelfled's | | | orphrey. Durham. English work, tenth century. 73 | 365 | | ST. DUNSTAN in adoration, drawn by himself. Bodleian | | | Library, Oxford. Tenth century. 74 | 369 | | SMALL PARSEMÉ PATTERNS from Strutt's "Royal and | | | Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the English from | | | 1100 to 1530. " 75 | 369 | | ENGLISH PATTERNS of embroidery. 1. Panel of a screen | | | in Hornby Church, Yorkshire. 2. Dress on a painted | | | window in St. Michael's Church, York. 3. Woven | | | material of the Towneley Copes. 76 | 375 | | OPUS ANGLICANUM, twelfth century. British Museum. 77 | 376 | | TYPICAL ENGLISH ORNAMENTS for ecclesiastical | | | embroideries, twelfth century. 78 | 377 | | DUNSTABLE PALL. Temp. Henry VII. 79 | 378 | | VINTNERS' COMPANY PALL. Henry VII. 80 | 378 | | HENRY VII. 'S COPE, from Stoneyhurst; designed by | | | Torrigiano, the sculptor of his tomb. 81 | 382 | | SPANISH WORK. Temp. Henry VIII. 82 | 383 | | ENGLISH "SPANISH WORK. " Temp. Henry VIII. 83 | 389 | | CUSHION COVER, Hatfield House. Temp. Elizabeth. 84 | 390 | | ORIENTAL "TREE AND BEAST" PATTERN. Cockayne-Hatley. | | | Temp. James I. 85 | 391 | | ENGLISH CREWEL WORK. Indian design. Temp. James I. 

NEEDLEWORK AS ART. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The book of the Science of Art has yet to be written. Art has beencalled the Flower of Life, and also the Consoler;--adorning theexistence of the strong and bright, --sheltering and comforting the sadand solitary ones of the earth. But, rather, it resembles awide-spreading tree, covered with varied blossoms--bearing manyfruits. 

To point out the history and the possibilities in the future of eachbranch that shades, refreshes, and gives wholesome fruit to the world, would be a task worthy of a master-hand and a pen of gold. But lessambitious labourers in the field of investigation which is only as yetpartly cultivated, may each assist, by carefully collecting a littleheap of ascertained facts; and it is, indeed, the duty of each as hepasses to add his pebble to the slowly accumulating cairn of recordedhuman knowledge. 

Some one has said, "Build your house of little bricks of facts, andyou will soon find it inhabited by a body of truth; and that truthwill ally itself with other houses of facts, and in time awell-ordered, cosmical city will arise. "

My pebble is not yet polished. It is neither a diamond nor a ruby, butI think there are a few streaks of golden light in it, which I mayventure to add to the daily accumulating treasure in the house ofhuman artistic knowledge. 

My object in writing this volume is to fill up an empty space in theEnglish library of art. 

The great exponents of poetic thought--verse, sculpture, painting, andarchitecture--have long since been well interpreted and appreciated. Men and women have written much and well on these large subjects, andwe may hope for more ere long. The secondary or smaller arts have beenhitherto neglected by us, --either treated merely as crafts, to whichartistic education may give help, or as the natural or inferioroutcome of the primal arts, having no claim to the possession ofspecial laws and history. And yet, when Moses wrote and Homer sang, needlework was no new thing. It was already consecrated by legendaryand traditionary custom to the highest uses. The gods themselves werehonoured by its service, and it preceded written history in recordingheroic deeds and national triumphs. 

It may be said that ivory carving is sculpture, and illuminatedmanuscripts and coloured glass windows are painting. But for metalwork, whether in iron or gold, a place must be kept apart; and thesame privileges are due to embroidery and to metallurgy. All arts mustof necessity have their own laws and rules, which ensure their beautyof execution and their special forms of design; these two last, fromthe nature of their materials, and the modes of working them, must bestudied independently of any connection with painting, architecture, or sculpture. 

Yet, if the unity of nature is an accepted fact, [3] then theacceptance of the unity of art must follow. Art must be considered asthe selection of natural phenomena by individual minds capable ofassimilating and reproducing them in certain forms and with certainmaterials adapted to the national taste, needs, and power ofappreciation. If man cannot originate materials, he can inventcombinations;--and this is Art. 

If proportion, colour, and sound alike depend on certain mathematicalmeasurements, and on rhythmical vibrations, there must be a real andtangible relation between these elements, though applied to obtaindifferent results. In music, as in all art, harmony is, or ought tobe, a first consideration. We have seen by experiment how a note ofour scale can by touch form geometrical figures with sand on a sheetof glass, --here form obeys the force of harmony. But what is harmony?

By analogy we may argue from the art of music. We who believe that wehave acquired the knowledge of music as a science, beyond allpreceding knowledge of the subject, have in Europe been able to enjoyonly our own musical scales; whereas throughout the East, thoseaccepted by the human ear are very various, and appear to depart fromwhat to our senses is harmony. Those Oriental musics have either beenadapted to the Oriental ear, or the ear has been adapted to appreciatethe forms and laws of harmony with which it came in contact. 

The same questions occur to us while examining into the differentforms of decorative art; and we are constantly reminded that the lawswhich should govern them, are perhaps, infinitely larger and widerthan we with our limited human capacities and experience, havehitherto been able to appreciate. 

"Ars longa--vita brevis" has been so often said, that from a proverbit has become a truism; but it must continue to be the refrain ofthose who write upon art. The subject is so long, and itsramifications are so intricate, that it is difficult to include themall under one category. 

My furthest aim here is to trace back the art of needlework to itsbeginning, without turning my eyes to the right or the left, though Icannot help feeling myself drawn aside almost irresistibly by casualglimpses of architecture, sculpture, and painting, which here andthere touch very nearly the history of needlework. 

Except where they visibly influence each other, I avoid dealing withthe greater arts, leaving them to the study of the learned in eachspecial branch. 

All art, however, throws reflected lights, and gleaning in the trackof those authors who have preceded us, we often pick up valuable hintswhich we accept, and make use of them gladly. 

Some writers have thought it incumbent on them to give a localhabitation and an abiding place to needlework, and they have regardedit as a branch of painting. But I cannot endorse this classification. According to Semper, indeed, it is the mother-art of sculpture andpainting, instead of being the offspring of either or both, as othershave maintained. [4] They have, indeed, such distinct functions thateach may justly boast its own original sources. Painting is the art ofcolour; sculpture is that of form; embroidery is the art of clothingforms. They are all so ancient, that in seeking to ascertain theirbeginnings and dates. It is difficult to fix the precedence of oneover another. We may compare, distinguish, and yet again change ouropinions as fresh facts come under our observation. 

The art of needlework reached its climax long ago, and is now veryold. History and faded rags are the only witnesses to its fabulousglories, in Classical, Oriental, and early Mediæval days. It wouldappear that nothing new remains to be invented. Copies of past styles, and selections from the scraps we retain and value as models, are allthat we can boast of now. 

Dr. Rock truly says that few persons of the present day have thefaintest idea of the labour, the money, the time, often bestowed ofold upon embroideries which had been designed as well as wrought bythe hands of men and women, each in their own craft the best andablest of their day. 

Time is too short, our life too densely crowded, to allow leisure forthe extravagance of what is, after all, only a luxury of art--nolonger a civilizer, as of old, but just an efflorescence of ourculture. 

Embroidery is now essentially "decoration, " and nothing more. It isintended to appeal to the sense of beauty of the eye, rather than tothe imagination. The designer for needlework should be an artist, buthe need not be a poet. You may omit this art altogether, and you needbe none the less sumptuously clothed and lodged. Yet it is worthy ofcareful study as historical evidence, and that in the present andfuture, as in the past, it may be an _art_, and not merely a _craft_. 

For the great web of history is composed of many threads of diverscolours, and the warp and the woof are often exchanged, yet soconnected and knotted together that the continuity is never broken. Onthis web, Time has drawn the picture of the past--sometimes faintly, sometimes with indelible tints and pronounced forms. By poetry; byarchitecture and its decorations; by dress, which represents anddistinguishes nationalities; by customs, such as the different formsof burial; or even by such details as painting the eyes; also by thetradition and outcome of the laws of the tribes that flowedconsecutively over Europe from the East; by the institutions whichremained immutably fixed on their native soil, such as those of theCode of Manu, and those of Babylon, inscribed on bricks or clay; or bythe words, their form and lettering, in which these are handed down tous;--out of all these the history of man is being reconstructed. 

How valuable is every witness to the ancient records, which werefading into myths in the memories of men. How joyfully is each littlefact hailed as a landmark, in the general fog of doubt!

Now embroidery may boast that it is a source of landmarks for alltime. 

Without presuming to fix a date for its first beginning, that which Iwish to impress on the mind of the reader is the long continuity ofthe art of needlework. 

The sense of antiquity induces reverence, and I claim for the needlean older and more illustrious age than can be accorded to the brush. While the great pendulum of Time has swung art in sculpture, painting, and architecture, from its cradle as in Mycenæ, to its throne inAthens in the days of Pericles, and then back again to the basestpoverty of decaying Rome--needle work, continually refreshed fromEastern inspiration, never has fallen so low, though it had neveraspired as high as its greater sister arts. 

The stuffs and fabrics of various materials of the Egyptians, Chinese, Assyrians, and Chaldeans are named in the earliest records of thehuman race. How much these decorations depended on weaving, and howmuch on embroidery with the needle, may in each case be disputed. Theproducts of the Babylonian looms are alluded to in the Book of Joshua. Their beauty tempted Achan to rescue them when Jericho fell;[5] andEzekiel speaks of the embroideries of Canneh, Haran, and Eden, as wellas of their cloths of purple and blue, and their chests of garments ofdivers colours[6]. 

All these fabrics are named as merchandise, and were carried to thesea-coast, and thence over the ancient world, by the Phœnicians, the great shipowners and dealers of the East. 

Indian needlework and design is 4000 years old; and the longperspective of Egyptian art, while leading us still further back intounlimited periods, shows it changing so slowly, that we feel as if ithad been all but stationary from the beginning. 

The Chinese claim 5000 years as the life of their history; but if, asis now suggested, their civilization is Accadian or Proto-Babylonian, their wonderful artistic and scientific knowledge may have beenfragments of the great dispersal, secreted and preserved behind thewonderful wall[7] of stone, silence, and law, where it has lainfossilized ever since. One cannot but wonder at the perfection of thetextile manufactures of the Chinese, their marvellous embroideries, and the peculiar modes of construction and design throughout theirarts, which have shown but few moments of change in growth--scarcely asign of evolution. And we may fairly surmise that this Accadianculture (if such it be) is reflected from antediluvian tradition. 

The archæology of Oriental art is most interesting. We contemplatewith awe the vast splendours of the consecutive civilizations of theEast; the ancient richness and fertility of the whole of the Asiaticcontinent; the genius for empire and for commerce; the creative powerwhich seemed to pour itself forth, unchecked by wars and conquests;the great dynasties which rose and fell, leaving behind them giganticworks, and the records of fabulous luxury in the empires of China, Assyria, India, and Persia, of which the remains have been of lateyears excavated, deciphered, and confronted with the historical textswhich we have inherited, and had only partly believed. And studyingthese new aspects of history, we are saddened, thinking that thesunrise comes to us from shining over desert sands or the mounds ofempty cities, where the lion and the jackal "reassert their primevalpossession, " or where the European and the Tartar, from the West andfrom the East, dispute their rights to suzerainty. We are dazzled andconfused when we look back to those great days when the over-peopledkingdoms sent forth whole tribes, eastward to the confines of Asia, southward over India, and westward over Europe; and we bow reverentlybefore the mighty Power that led the Jews, by a promise and a hope, across the seething nationalities, through the long passage of timefrom Abraham to Solomon; and which is again giving into the hands ofthose Oriental-looking men, so much power in shaping the destiny ofmankind through their great riches. 

Moses commanded the Hebrew people to lend and never to borrow. Theyhave obeyed his precept, except in art; to that they have lent orgiven nothing. There is no national Jewish art. For music only do theyshow artistic genius, and that is European and not Oriental. Asillustrating their lack of intuitive decorative art, one need onlyrefer to the architecture of the first, second, and third Templebuildings, which apparently reflected Babylonian and Semiticinfluences on an early Chaldean type. The embroideries mentioned bydifferent writers, from Moses to Josephus, appear to have had always aBabylonian, or later a Persian inspiration. 

This absence of artistic genius is very remarkable in a people thathad its origin in the Eastern centre from whence all art has radiated. 

The reason that so little survives of ancient embroidery is evident. Woollen stuffs and threads decay quickly--the moth and rust do corruptthem--and the very few ancient bits that remain, have been preservedby the embalming process, which has kept the contents of tombs frombecoming dust. 

As to more modern embroideries, we ought to be thankful that the arthas had its fashions; otherwise, the world would be overwhelmed withshabby rags. Human nature has a tendency to dislike the"old-fashioned"--i. E. The fashion of the last generation. That whichour mothers worked or wore, is an object for affectionate sentiment, and the best specimens alone are preserved. That which belonged to ourgrandfathers and grandmothers has receded into the rococo; and a fewmore generations take us back to the antique, of which so littlesurvives, from wear and tear, carelessness and theft, that we put awayand preserve it as being curious and precious. We may hope that thegeneral law of the survival of the fittest has guarded what is mostremarkable. 

Certain works have been consecrated by the hands that executed them, or by that of the donor, or by the purpose for which they werebestowed, and are mostly preserved in churches or national museums. Ofthese there are vestments and altar decorations worked by royal andnoble ladies; and coronation garments given by Queens and Empresses, such as Queen Gisela's and the Empress Kunigunda's at Prague andBamberg, and Charlemagne's dalmatic at the Vatican, described in thechapter on ecclesiastical embroideries. Sculptured effigies help us asto embroidered patterns; for our forefathers often actually copied inbronze or stone the patterns of the garments in which the body wasburied, or at any rate, those the man had worn in his life. Of these, King John's monument at Worcester, and the surcoat of the Black Princeat Canterbury, are remarkable examples. [8]

The succeeding chapters will contain sketches of the history of thedifferent stitches, and of the best examples of stitch and styleremaining to us; and I shall try to extract from both the bestsuggestions for guidance in design and handicraft. 

Embroidery from its nature is essentially the woman's art. [9] It needsa sedentary life, industry and patience. It does not require a room toitself, and the worker may leave it at any moment between two stitcheswhen called to other duties. Nunneries produced the finest work of thedark and middle ages; and their teaching inaugurated the workrooms inthe palaces and castles, where young girls, whether royal, noble, orgentle, were trained in embroidery as an accomplishment and ahousehold duty. 

The history of domestic embroidery ought to be looked upon as that ofan important factor in the humanizing effect of æsthetic culture. 

The woman of the house has always been strong to fulfil her part inthis civilizing influence with the implement which custom has awardedto her. Every man in the ancient East began his life under the tent orin the palace adorned by the hands of his mother and her maidens, andhis home was made beautiful by his wife and his sisters and theirslaves. There, as in mediæval homes, lessons of morality and religion, and the love and fame of noble deeds, were taught by the painting ofthe needle to the minds of the young men, who would have scorned moredirect teaching; and the children felt the influence, as the womenwove what the bards sang. 

Alas! we have but few specimens of embroideries of which we know thehistory, earlier than the tenth and eleventh centuries. [10] Yet fromthe days of the books of the Old Testament and the song of the siegeof Troy, down to the present time, the woman of the house has adornednot only herself and her dear lord, but she has hung the walls, theseats, the bed, and the tables with her beautiful creations. 

Homer's women were all artists with the needle. Venus seeking Helen, --

 "Like fair Laodice in form and face, The loveliest nymph of Priam's royal race, Here in the palace at her loom she found: The golden web her own sad story crown'd. The Trojan wars she weaved (herself the prize), And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes. "[11]

This must have been intended for hangings. 

Hecuba's wardrobe is thus described:--

 "The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went, Where treasured odours breathed a costly scent; There lay the vestures of no vulgar art, Sidonian maids embroider'd every part. Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyes The various textures and the various dyes She chose a web that shone superior far, And glow'd refulgent as the morning star. "[12]

The women of the Middle Ages were great at the loom and frame. Fromthe Kleine Heldenbuch of the thirteenth century, Rock quotes theselines:--

 "Who taught me to embroider in a frame with silk, And to sketch and design the wild and tame Beasts of the forest and field? Also to picture on plain surfaces; Round about to place golden borders-- narrow and a broad one-- With stags and hinds, lifelike. "

Gudrun, like the women of Homer, embroidered history--that of theancestors of Siegfried. 

But in the Middle Ages the embroiderers were ambitious artists. Thedeeds of Roland and the siege of Troy, all romantic and classicallore, provided subjects for the needle. 

Shakespeare gives a pretty picture of the graceful weaver andembroiderer:--

 * * * "Would ever with Marina be:-- Be't when she weaves the sleided silk, With fingers long, small, white as milk; Or when she would with sharp neeld wound The cambric, which she makes more sound By hurting it. . . . Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her neeld composes Nature's own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry, That even her art sisters the natural roses. "[13]

Before closing this Introduction, I will take the opportunity toprotest against the abuse of the phrase "High Art. " It is generallyappropriated by that which is the lowest and most feeble. 

An old design for a chair or table, by no means remarkable originally, but cheaply copied, and covered with a quaint and dismal cretonne orpoorly worked pattern, of which the design is neither new norartistic, is introduced by the upholsterer as belonging to "High Artfurniture. " The epithet has succeeded to what was once "fashionable"and "elegant. " To get rid of carpets, and put down rugs, to hang uprows of plates instead of family portraits--this also is "high art. "Likewise gowns lumped upon the shoulders, with all the folds drawnacross, instead of hanging draperies. The term is never used when wespeak of the great arts--painting, sculpture, and architecture. It is, in fact, only the slang of the cabinet-maker, the upholsterer, andmilliner. 

All true Art is very high indeed and apparent; and needs not to beintroduced with a puff. It sits enthroned between Poetry and History. Even those who are ignorant of its laws feel its influence, and thesoothing grace which it sheds, falling like the rain, equally upon thejust and the unjust. Man's nature always responds to the truly highand beautiful; only the most degraded are deprived of this source ofhappiness. And there are but few women, till debased by cruelty, misery, or drink, that do not try in some humble way (but especiallywith their needle) to adorn their own persons, their children, andtheir homes; and if their art is not high, it yet has the power toelevate them. [14] While the most ambitious women try a higher flight, into the regions of poetry, literature, painting, and even sculpture(why has no woman ever been an architect?), millions have enjoyed theart of the needle for thousands of years, and it will continue to be asolace and a delight as long as the world lasts, for, like all art, itgives the ever new joy of creation. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [3] See Duke of Argyll's "Unity of Nature. "

 [4] Walls, pillars, and roofs were certainly hung with textile ornament before they were carved or painted. This is Semper's theory, and though Woltmann and Woermann ("History of Painting, " Eng. Trans. , Sidney Colvin, p. 38) hardly accept this view, they do not gainsay it. The women who wove hangings for the grove, or more literally, "coverings for the houses" of the grove, were probably the priestesses of Astarte, and wove and worked the hangings of various colours. 2 Kings xxii. ; Ezek. Xvi. 16-18. 

 "It is probable that the earliest kind of pictures were either woven or embroidered upon figured stuffs of various colours; and that in these decorations the Greeks in the first instance imitated the Semitic races, who had practised them from time immemorial. " See Woltmann and Woermann's "History of Painting" (Eng. Trans. ), p. 38. 

 [5] Joshua vii. 

 [6] Ezek. Xxvii. 23. 

 [7] The wall of China, which, both figuratively and literally, enclosed its civilization, and fenced off that of the outer world, for thousands of years. 

 [8] When the tomb of King John was opened, the body was found wrapped in the same dress as that sculptured on his effigy. The surcoat of the Black Prince, of embroidered velvet, still hangs above his monument, on which it is exactly reproduced. 

 [9] Yet men, too, have wielded the embroidering needle. 

 [10] These remnants are not, like the straws in amber, only precious because they are curious; they are most suggestive as works of art. 

 [11] Pope's Homer, Iliad, book iii. 

 [12] Ibid. Book vi. 

 [13] Shakespeare, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre, " act iv. 20; v. 5. 

 [14] Surely it is a humanizing and Christian principle which in Italy permits artistic work to be done in the prisons where criminals are confined for life. Sisters of Mercy teach lace-making to the wretched women who, having committed great crimes, may never be seen again. The produce of the work helps to pay the expense of the prison, and at the same time a very small percentage is given to the prisoners to send to their friends, or to spend on little comforts, thus encouraging the poor human creatures to exercise their best powers. We believe this is sometimes allowed also in England and France. 

CHAPTER I. 

STYLE. 

In venturing to approach so great a subject as the history of style, Iwould beg my readers to believe how well I am aware that on each pointmuch more has been already carefully treated by previous writers, thanwill fall within the limits of a chapter that is intended only tothrow light on textile art, and especially on embroidery. 

I suppose it is the same in all subjects of human speculation whichare worthy of serious study; and therefore I ought not to have beensurprised to find how much has already been written on needlework andembroidery, and how unconsciously I, at least, have passed by andignored these notices, till it struck me that I ought to knowsomething of the history and principles of the art which with others, I was striving to revive and improve. 

Then new and old facts crowded round me, and became significant andinteresting. I longed to know something of the first worker and thefirst needle; and behold the needle has been found!--among the débrisof the life of the Neolithic cave-man, made of bone and very neatlyfashioned. 

Alas! the workwoman and her work are gone to dust; but _there_ is theneedle!--proof positive that the craft existed before the last glacialperiod in Britain. [15] How long ago this was, we may conjecture, butcan never finally ascertain. Then I find embroidery named by theearliest historians, by every poet of antiquity, and by the firsttravellers in the East; and it has been the subject of laws andenactments from the date of the Code of Manu in India, to the presentcentury. One becomes eager to systematize all this information, and toshare with the workers and thinkers of the craft, the pleasure foundin its study. 

Perhaps what is here collected may appear somewhat bald anddisjointed; but antiquity, both human and historical, is apt to bebald; and its dislocation and disjointed condition are owing to thefrequent cataclysms, physical, political, and social, which needleworkhas survived, bringing down to us the same stitches which served thesame purposes for decoration under the Code of Manu, and adorned theSanctuary in the wilderness; and those stitches probably were not newthen. 

I propose to give a slight sketch of the origin of the styles[16] thathave followed each other, noting the national influences that havedisplaced or altered them, and the overlap of style caused by outsideevents. 

First, I would define what "STYLE" means. 

Style is the mark impressed on art by a national period, short orlong. It fades, it wanes, and then some historical element enters onthe scene, which carries with it new materials, needs, and tastes(either imported or springing up under the new conditions). The styleof the day in art and literature alters so perceptibly, that all whohave had any artistic training are at once aware of the difference. 

Of late years, the science of history has been greatly assisted by thescience of language. When the mute language of art shall have beenpatiently deciphered, the historian will be furnished with new powersin his researches after truth. 

The first "ineffaceable" is a _word_; the second a _pattern_. This isproved by the history of needlework. 

As the world grows old, its youth becomes more interesting. Alas! thechildhood of mankind is so distant, and it was so long before itlearned its letters, that but few facts have come down to us, on whichwe may firmly build our theories; yet we must acknowledge the greatstride that has been made in the last few years, in the scientificmode of extracting history from the ruins and tombs, and even thedust-heaps, of the past. Whole epochs, which fifty years ago were asblank as the then maps of Central Africa, are being now graduallycovered with landmarks. 

Layard, Rawlinson, C. T. Newton, Botta, Rassam, Schliemann, Birch, G. Smith, and a crowd of archæologists, and even unscientific explorers, are collecting the materials from which the history of mankind isbeing reconstructed. 

From them I have sought information about the art of embroidery, and Ifind that Semper gives it a high pre-eminence as to its antiquity, making it the foundation and starting-point of all art. He clothes notonly man, but architecture, with the products of the loom and theneedle; and derives from them in succession, painting, bas-relief, andsculpture. [17]

 * * * * *

Style has to be considered in two different aspects, from twodifferent standpoints. First, historically and archæologically, distinguishing and dating the forms which follow upon each other; andtracing them back in the order of their natural sequence; so as toguide us to the root, nay, to the seed[18] of each and all art. 

The subsidiary art of embroidery, in its highest form the handmaid ofarchitecture, is full of suggestion, and may assist us greatly in thesearch which culminates in the text of "In the beginning. "

The other point of view from which style should be considered is theæsthetic. This enables us to criticize the works of different periods;extracting, as far as we may, rules for the beautiful and thecommendable, and seeking to find the "why?" also observing theoperation of the law by which decay follows too soon after the bestand highest efforts of genius, thought, and invention in art. 

My present object is the history of consecutive styles, in so far asthey concern needlework. 

Alas! nothing endures. This law is acknowledged by Goethe, when hemakes Jove answer Venus, who bewailed that all that is beautiful mustdie, --that he had only bestowed beauty on the evanescent. 

It seems as if the moment the best is attained, men, ceasing tostruggle for the better, fall back at once hopelessly and become mereimitators. They no longer follow a type, but copy a model, and thencopy the copy. Imitation is a precipice, a swift descent throughpoverty of thought into the chaos of mannerism, in the place of style. 

The imitative tendency, as existing in all human minds, cannot beignored or despised. In individuals it accompanies enthusiasm for thebeautiful, and the graceful charm of sympathy. It maintains continuitybetween specimen and specimen, between artist and artist, betweencentury and century; and it is this which enables an adept to say withcertainty of consecutive styles, "This is Spanish work of thesixteenth century; that is Flemish or German work of the seventeenthcentury. "

The theory of development and of the survival of the fittest has beenworked so hard, that it sometimes breaks down under the task imposedupon it. It would need to include Death in its procedure. In ourcreed, Death, means the moment of entrance into a higher existence;but in art it means extinction, leaving behind neither a history noran artisan--only, perhaps, an infinitely small tradition, like thegrain of corn preserved in the wrappings of a mummy, from which atfirst accident, and then care and culture, may evoke a future life. 

The various ways in which art has appeared at the beginning cannothere be discussed; nor how the Chinese and Hindu may have leapt into aperfection which has stood still for thousands of years, protectedalike from expansion as from destruction, by the swaddling bands ofcodified custom; while Greek art rose like the sun, shone over thecivilized world, and set--never again to see another epoch of glory. These subjects must be left for the study of the anthropologicalphilosopher, who is working for the assistance and guidance of thefuture historian of art. 

Style in needlework has passed through many phases since theaboriginal, prehistoric woman, with the bone needle, drew together theedges of the skins of the animals she had prepared for food. 

For absolute necessity, in forming the garments and covering the tent, needlework need go no further than the seam. This, however, in thewoven or plaited material, must fray where it is shaped, and becomefringed at the edges. Every long seam is a suggestion, and everyshaped edge a snare. 

The fringe lends itself to the tassel, and the shaped seam suggests apattern; up-stitches are needed for binding the web, and before she isaware of it, the worker finds herself adorning, _embroidering_; andthe craft enters the outskirts of the region of art. 

The humble early efforts at decoration, called by the French"primitif, " are the first we know and class, and are found in allsavage attempts at ornament. This style consists mainly of straightlines, zigzags, wavy lines, dots, and little discs. [19]

Gold discs of many sizes, and worked with a variety of patterns, arefound equally in the tomb of the warrior at Mycenæ, and in Ashantee, accompanied in both cases with gold masks covering the faces of thedead. The discs or buttons remind us of those found in Etruscan tombs, though the execution of these last is more advanced. They appear to bethe origin of the "clavus" or nail-headed pattern woven into silks inthe Palace of the Cæsars. The last recorded survival of this patternis in woven materials for ecclesiastical purposes in the Middle Ages. 

Of very early needlework we only find here and there a fragment, illustrated occasionally by passing allusions in poetry and history. 

The ornamental art of Hissarlik[20] is so primitive that we cannotfeel that it has any resemblance to that described as Trojan by Homer, who probably adorned his song with the art he had known elsewhere. [21]

We know not what the actual heroes of the Iliad and Odyssey wore; butwe do know that what Homer describes, he must have seen. Was Homer, therefore, the contemporary of the siege of Troy?--or does he notrather speak of the customs and costumes of his own time, and applythem to the traditions of the heroic ages of Greece? Whatever be thedate of Homer himself, we can, with the help of contemporarysurvivals, reconstruct the house and the hall, and even furnish them, and clothe the women and the princes, the beggars and the herdsmen. 

From the remains of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian art we canperceive their differences and their affinities. It is from textilefragments, found mostly in tombs, that we obtain dates, and cansuggest them for other specimens. 

The funeral tent of Shishak's mother-in-law, at Boulac, is mostvaluable as showing what was the textile art of that early period. [22]

 [Illustration: Fig. 1. Egyptian corselet. (Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians. ")]

The corselet which, according to Herodotus, was given by Amasis, Kingof Egypt, to the Temple of Minerva at Lindos, in Rhodes, was possiblyworked in this style; for Babylonian embroidery was greatly prized inEgypt, and imitated. 

The second corselet given by Amasis to the Lacædemonians was worked ingold and colours, with animals and other decorations. This was of theseventh century B. C. [23]

Amongst the arms painted on the wall of the tomb of Rameses, at Thebes(in Egypt), is a corselet, apparently of rich stuff, [24] embroideredwith lions and other devices. (Fig. 1. )

The Phœnicians imbibed and reproduced the styles they met with intheir voyages. The bowls found in Cyprus described and engraved in theSeptember number of the "Magazine of Art" (1883), are most interestingillustrations of the meeting of two national styles, the Assyrian andthe Egyptian. [25]

Homer's "Shield of Achilles"[26] must, in general design, haveresembled these bowls (see Pl. 5). They also recall the description byJosephus of the Temple veils at Jerusalem, which were Babylonian. [27]

Phœnicia, which was the carrier of all art, dropped specimens hereand there, for many hundred years, along the borders of theMediterranean and the coasts of Spain. We fancy we can trace herocean-path by the western shores of Africa, and even to America;otherwise, how could it happen that a mummy-wrapping in Peru should sonearly resemble some of those wrappings found at Saccarah, [28] inEgypt, woven in precisely the same tapestry fashion?

Among the puzzling phenomena due probably to Phœnician commerce, isthe complete suite of the sacerdotal ornaments of a High Priest, foundin his tomb, [29] now in the Vatican Museum. This reminds us of otherspecimens of archaic art from distant sources, that our attention isforcibly arrested, and we wonder whence they came, and whether theywere collected from alien civilizations by the Phœnicians beforethey dispersed them. [30]

Certain Egyptian sculptures of deformed and repulsivedivinities--idols of the baser sort--are most interesting and puzzlingby their affinity in style to the Indo-Dravidian and the art ofMexico, while they are entirely unlike that of Egypt. If Atlantis andits arts never existed, it may be suggested that it was the easterncoast of America that was spoken of under that name by the Egyptianpriest with whom Herodotus conversed. 

The Babylonian and Ninevite embroideries, carefully executed on theirbas-reliefs, have a masculine look, which suggests the design of anartist and the work of slaves. There is no following out of gracefulfancies; one set of selected forms (each probably with a symbolicalintention) following another. The effect, as seen on the sculptures inthe British Museum, is royally gorgeous; and one feels that creaturesinferior to monarchs or satraps could never have aspired to suchsplendours. Probably the embroidery on their corselets was executed ingold wire, treated as thread, and taken through the material; and thesame system was carried out in adorning the trappings of the horsesand the chariots. The solid masses of embroidery may have beenafterwards subjected to the action of the hammer, which would accountfor their appearing like jeweller's work in the bas-reliefs (Pl. 1 and2). 

 [Illustration: Pl. 1. Assurbanipal fighting lions. British Museum. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 2. Portion of a Babylonian Royal Mantle. Layard's "Monuments, " series i. , pl. 9. ]

The style of the Babylonian embroideries appears to have beennaturalistic though conventionalized. We may judge of their styles fordifferent purposes by the reliefs in the British Museum. From theirveils and curtains at a later date, when they had crossed theirart with that of India, we may imagine the mystical design of theTemple curtain as described by Josephus; in fact, as much as possibleembracing all things on the earth and above it, excepting the imagesof the heavenly bodies. [31]

Small carpets from Persia of the Middle Ages, as well as those wovenand embroidered even to the present day, are echoes of the ancientBabylonian style, and most interesting as historical records of thetraditions of human taste. Our artistic interests are stirred when weread in Ezekiel lists of the fabrics and materials of which Tyre hadbecome the central depôt, and we enjoy tracing them to the variouslooms, named in verse and history, where they were adorned withembroidery, and then either became articles of commerce, or werestored away to be kept religiously as heirlooms, or presented as giftsto the temples or to honoured guests. 

Mr. G. Smith, after saying that the Babylonian is without doubt theoldest of civilizations, continues thus:--"To us the history ofBabylonia has an interest beyond that of Egypt, on account of its moreintimate connection with our own civilization. [32] Babylon was thecentre from which it spread into Assyria, thence to Asia Minor andPhœnicia, then to Greece and Rome, and so to all Europe. The Jewsbrought the traditions of the creation and of early religion from Urof the Chaldees, [33] and thus preserved they became the heritage ofall mankind; while the science and civilization of that wonderfulpeople (the Babylonians) became the basis of modern research andadvancement. "[34]

The hangings of the Tabernacle are so carefully described in the bookof Exodus, that we can see in fancy the linen curtains, blue or white, embroidered in scarlet, purple, blue, and gold; the cherubim in thewoven material; the fringes enriched with flowers, buds, fruit, andgolden bells: and we can appreciate how little of Egyptian art andstyle the children of Israel brought back from their long captivity, and how soon they reverted to their ancient Chaldean proclivities, after returning to their wandering life of the tent. 

On the bronze gates from the mound of Balawat, near Nimroud, set up byShalmaneser to celebrate his conquest of Tyre and Sidon, [35] we find aportable tabernacle, evidently meant to accompany the army on a march. It is not much larger than a four-post bed, with transverse poles fordrawing the curtains, all fringed with bells and fruit. This is anillustration of the motive for the Tabernacle of the forty years'wandering in the desert. (Fig. 2. )

 [Illustration: Fig. 2. Tabernacle on gates of Balawat, time of Shalmaneser II. (British Museum). ]

Egyptian textile art is, perhaps, that of which we have the most earlyspecimens. These are to be seen at Boulac, at Vienna, Turin, and theBritish Museum. [36] The Hieroglyphic, the Archaic, and theGræco-Egyptian are all unmistakably the consecutive outcome of thenational original style, which had totally disappeared in thebeginning of our era. Few of the embroideries are more than twothousand five hundred years old. But the great piece of patchwork inleather, "the funeral tent of an Egyptian queen, " as it covered theremains of a contemporary of Solomon, [37] absolutely exhibits theproficiency of the designer and the needlework of the eleventh centuryB. C. (Pl. 44. )

The connection between Indian and Egyptian early art appears to haveexisted only in their use of the lotus as an emblem and a constantdecoration; but their manner of employing it was characteristicallydifferent. (Pl. 12 and 13. )

The Phœnicians carried with them the seeds of the Egyptian styleover the ancient world; but these seeds only took root and flourishedon the soil of Greece. The imitations of Egyptian style reappeared inRome, and again in France "under the two Empires. " In both cases theywere only imitations, and neither had any permanent influence on theart of their day. 

I shall have to allude very often to our Eastern sources of artisticculture. 

Our own Aryan ancestors were so impregnated with beautiful ideas, thatwe must believe that we inherit from them all our gracefulappreciation of naturalistic ornament. But even Aryan art met withreverses on its Eastern soil, from which it constantly rose again andrenewed itself. 

The Mongols crushed for a time the element of beauty in India. Theyintroduced a barbarous and hideous style which has its onlycounterpart in that of Central America. It was the produce of areligion, superstitious, cruel, and devilish. 

The Aryan art of India, which was elegant and spiritual, was revivedby the kindred influence of Persia, and by the Renaissance in Europe. Italian and other artists were employed in India, and "the spirit ofaerial grace, and the delicate sense of beauty in natural forms, blossomed afresh and flourished for 300 years. Birds, flowers, fruit, butterflies, became once more the legitimate ornament of everymaterial. "[38]

I continue to quote from Sir G. Birdwood's "Arts of India. " "The Codeof Manu, from 900 to 300 B. C. , has secured to the village system ofIndia a permanent class of hereditary artistic workmen and artisans, who have through these 2500 years, at least, been trained to the samemanipulations, and who therefore translate any foreign work which isplaced before them to copy, into something characteristicallyIndian. "[39] Indian art has borrowed freely from all sources withoutlosing its own individuality. It has been said, "There is nothingnewer in it than of the sixteenth century; and even then nothing wasoriginal, especially in the minor arts. " But this is owing to theHindu being equally endowed with assimilative and receptivecapacity, [40] so that in the hands of the Indian craftsman everythingassumes the distinctive expression of ancient Indian art. 

In India everything is hand-wrought; but as the spirit of itsdecorative art "is that of a crystallized tradition, its type hasremained almost unaltered since the Aryan genius culminated in theRamâyana and Mahabhârata--and yet each artisan in India is a trueartist. "[41] In art, unfortunately, "the letter killeth;" and trueartists as they are, the ancient traditions bind and cramp them, while the ancient materials, the dyes, and the absolute command oftime are failing: so that the beauty of Indian embroideries and otherdecorations is gradually reducing itself to mannerism, which is moredangerous to art than even had been the vicissitudes of war; for whenpeaceful days returned, and the waves of conquest had subsided, theancient arts were found again deeply embedded in the traditions of thepeople. They gradually returned to their old ways, which are soindelible in the Hindu mind, that they will perhaps survive even thefashions of to-day. [42]

From Yates' account it would appear that Europe had been fertilizedwith taste in art and manufactures from the East by three differentroutes. 

The Egyptian civilization, with all its Eastern antecedents andtraditions, came to us by the Mediterranean and the Adriatic; thePhœnicians being the merchants who brought it through thosechannels. The Etruscans, who were the pedlars of Europe, travellednorth, conveying golden ornaments and coral, and bringing back jet andamber. Their commercial track is to be traced by the contents of tombson their path. [43]

 [Illustration: Pl. 3. St. John. From King Alfred's Celtic Book of the Gospels. Lambeth Palace Library. ]

Secondly, there was also a Slavonian route from Eastern Asia, whichconveyed Oriental art to the north of Europe. Celtic art, whichcertainly has something of the Indo-Chinese style, came to us probablyby this route. Another branch of the Celtic family was settled on thenorth-eastern shores of the Adriatic. Celtic ideas and forms in artprobably crossed Europe from this point, [44] and came to us meeting acognate influence, [45] arriving from the north. [46] (Pl. 3. )

Thirdly, Oriental taste and textiles came from the Byzantine Empire inthe early days of Christianity, spreading to Sicily, Italy, Spain, andfinally to France, Germany, and Britain. 

Runic art, whether Scandinavian or our own purer Celtic, is soremarkable for its independence of all other European national andtraditional design, that I cannot omit a brief notice of it, though wehave no ascertained relics of any of its embroideries. [47] It appearsto have received, in addition to its own universal stamp--evidentlyderived from one original source--certain influences impressed on itlike a seal by each country through which it flowed. [48] Wherever theRunes are carved in stone, or worked on bronze, gold, silver, ivory, or wood, or painted in their splendid illuminations (pl. 4), theinvolved serpent, which was the sign of their faith, appears, sometimes covered with Runic inscriptions; and this inscribed serpent, later, is twined round or heaped at the foot of the peculiarScandinavian-shaped cross, the type of conversion. The serpent wassometimes altered into the partial semblance of a four-footed animal, the body and tail being lengthened and twined, and sometimes split, togive a new turn to the pattern. (Fig. 3. ) All these zoomorphicpatterns, as well as the human figures seen in the Book of Kells, themissal at Lambeth, and the Lindisfarne Book (which is, however, moreEnglish in its style), are yet of an Indo-Chinese type; thewicker-work motives often replacing the involved serpent design. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 3. Celtic Zoomorphic pattern. ]

The Paganism of our own Celtic art, when it appears, is aninterpolation between our first and second Christian conversions, andwas brought to us in the incursions of the Vikings over Scotland andinto England. 

 [Illustration: Page from the Lindisfarne MSS. British Museum]

 [Illustration: Pl. 5. Silver bowl from Palestrina. Ganneau. "Journal Asiatique, Coupe de Palestrina. " 1880. ]

Our knowledge of their advanced and most singular art comes outof their tombs, in which the warrior was laid with all his arms andhis horse and his precious possessions, splendidly clothed accordingto his degree--in the belief that he would need them again in a futureworld. 

This northern tradition was so long-lived, that Frederick Casimir, aknight of the Teutonic Order, was buried with his sword and his horseat Treves, in 1781. [49]

Greek embroideries we can perfectly appreciate, by studying Hope's"Costumes of the Ancients, " and the works of Millingen and others;also the fictile vases in the British Museum and elsewhere. On theseare depicted the Hellenic gods, the wars, and the home life of theGreeks. The worked or woven patterns on their draperies are infinitelyvaried, and range over many centuries of design, and they are almostalways beautiful. It is melancholy to have to confess that in this, asin all their art, the Greek taste is inimitable; yet we may profit bythe lessons it teaches us. These are: variety without redundancy;grace without affectation; simplicity without poverty; theappropriate, the harmonious, and the serene, rather than that which isastonishing, painful, or awe-inspiring. These principles were carriedinto the smallest arts, and we can trace them in the shaping of a cupor the decoration of a mantle, as in the frieze of the Parthenon. 

Homer makes constant mention of the women's work. Penelope's web isoftenest quoted. This was a shroud for her Father-in-law. Ulyssesbrought home a large collection of fine embroidered garments, contributed by his fair hostesses during his travels. 

Pallas Athene patronized the craft of the embroiderers; and the sacredpeplos which robed her statue, and was renewed every year, wasembroidered by noble maidens, under the superintendence of apriestess of her temple. It represented the battles of the gods andthe giants (fig. 4), till the portraits of living men were profanelyintroduced into the design. The new peplos was carried to the temple, floating like a flag, in procession through the city. 

The goddess to whom the Greeks gave the protection of this art waswise as well as accomplished, and knew that it was good for womenreverently to approach art by painting with their needles. She alwayswas seen in embroidered garments, and worked as well as wove themherself. She appeared to Ulysses in the steading of Eumœus, theswineherd, as a "woman tall and fair, and skilful in splendidhandiwork. "[50]

 [Illustration: Fig. 4. Pallas Athene attired in the sacred peplos. (Panathenaic Vase, British Museum. )]

Homer never tires of praising the women's work, and the chests ofsplendid garments laid up in the treasure-houses. [51] Helen gave ofher work to Telemachus: "Helen, the fair lady, stood by the cofferwherein were her robes of curious needlework which she herself hadwrought. Then Helen, the fair lady, lifted it out, the widest and mostbeautifully embroidered of all--and it shone like a star; and this shesent as a gift to his future wife. "[52]

Semper's theory is, that the one chief import of Oriental style beingembroideries, therefore the hangings and dresses arriving from Asiagave the poetic Greek the motives for his art, his civilization, hislegends, and his gods. [53] This may or may not be; there is no doubtthat they influenced them. [54]

Böttiger accordingly believes that Homer's descriptions of beautifuldress and furnishings are derived from, or at least influenced by, what he had learnt of the Babylonian and Chaldean embroideries. Thisis very probable, and would account for his poetical design on theshield of Achilles, in which his own inspiration dictated thepossibilities of the then practised arts of Asia, of which the fameand occasional glimpses were already drifting westward. (Plate 5. )

The description of the shield of Achilles is as follows: Hephaistos, "the lame god, " "threw bronze that weareth not, into the fire; andtin, and precious gold and silver. " "He fashioned the shield great andstrong, with five folds (or circles) in the shield itself. " "Thenwrought he the earth and the sea, and the unwearying sun, and the moonwaxing to its full, and the signs, every one wherewith the heavens arecrowned. " "Also he fashioned therein two cities of mortal men; andhere were marriage feasts, and brides led home by the blaze oftorches--young men whirling in the dance, and the women standing eachat her door marvelling. " Then a street fight, and the elders sittingin judgment. The other city was being besieged; and there is awonderful description of the battle fought on the river banks, and"Strife, Tumult, and Death" personified, and mingling in the fight. Then he set in the shield the labours of the husbandman. This is soexquisitely beautiful that with difficulty I refrain from quoting itall. "He wrought thereon a herd of kine with upright horns, and thekine were fashioned of gold and tin, " "and herdsmen of gold werefollowing after them. " "Also did the glorious lame god devise adancing-place like unto that which once, in wide Knosos, Daidaloswrought for Ariadne of the lovely tresses. There were youths dancingand maidens of costly wooing, their hands upon their waists. " "And nowwould they run round with deft feet exceedingly lightly"--"and nowwould they run in lines to meet each other. " "And a great companystood round the lovely dance in joy; and among them a divine minstrelwas making music on his lyre; and through the midst of them, as hebegan his strain, two tumblers whirled. Also he set therein the greatmight of the River of Ocean, around the utmost rim of thecunningly-fashioned shield. "[55]

There is, indeed, every proof that Greek art was the joint product ofthe Egyptian and Assyrian civilizations. Their amalgamation gave birthto the archaic style, struggling to express the strength and thebeauty of man--half heroic, half divine. Gradually, all thesurrounding decorations of life assumed as a governing principle andmotive, the worth of noble beauty. 

The Greeks were the first artists. They broke away from the ancienttrammels of customary forms, and replaced law with liberty of thought, and tradition with poetry. 

They destroyed no old ideas, but they selected, appropriated, andevoked beauty from every source. From the great days of Athens we maydate the moment when materials became entirely subservient to art, andthe minds of individual men were stamped on their works and datedthem. Phases indeed followed each other, showing the links oftradition which still bound men's minds together to a certain extent, and formed the general style of the day. Yet there was in art fromthat time--life, sometimes death, --but then a resurrection. 

It appears from classical writers that about 300 B. C. Greek art hadthrown itself into many new forms. Painting, for example, had triedall themes excepting landscapes. We are told that within the space of150 years the art had passed through every technical stage; from thetinted profile system of Polygnotus to the proper pictorial system ofnatural scenes, composed with natural backgrounds; and Peiraiïkos isnamed as an artist of genre--a painter of barbers and cobblers, booths, asses, eatables, and such-like realistic subjects. [56]

I suppose there is no doubt that all the Romans knew or felt of artwas borrowed directly or indirectly from Greece, [57] first throughPhœnician and perhaps Etruscan sources, and finally by conquest. Everything we have of their art shows their imitation of Grecianmodels. Their embroideries would certainly have shown the sameimpress. 

Greece--herself crushed and demoralized--even as late as the EasternEmpire gave to Rome the fashion of the Byzantine taste, which she atonce adopted, and it was called the Romanesque. This style, which waspartly Arab, still prevails in Eastern Europe, having clung to theGreek Church. In her best days, Roman poetry, architecture, anddecorative arts were Greek of Greece, imitating its highest types, butnever creating. 

It is surely allowable to quote here one of Virgil's Homeric echoes, which touches upon our especial subject, --

 "Mournful at heart at that supreme farewell, Andromache brings robes of border'd gold; A Phrygian cloak, too, for Ascanius. And yielding not the palm in courtesy, Loads him with woven treasures, and thus speaks: 'Take these gifts, too, to serve as monuments Of my hand-labour, boy; so may they bear Their witness to Andromache's long love, The wife of Hector:--take them, these last gifts Thy kindred can bestow; in this sad world Sole image left of my Astyanax!'"[58]

It is sad to mark how not only the refinements of taste, but even theguiding principles of art, were gradually lost in the humiliation of aconquered people, the dulness and discouragement which followed on theexpatriation or destruction of their accumulated treasures, and thedeterioration of the Greek artist and artisan, carried prisoners toRome, and settled there because it was the seat of luxury and empire. As the captive Jews hung their harps on the willow-trees by the watersof Babylon, and refused to sing, so Greek genius succumbed, weigheddown by Roman chains. It sickened and died in exile. 

Late Roman art reminds us of the art of Etruria in its archaic days, except that the freshness and promise are wanting, and that the onewas in its first, the other its second childhood. 

Before entering on the subject of Christian art, I must again refer, however briefly, to the Eastern origin of all art. It is evident thatthis had always flowed in streams of many types from that highwatershed of Central Asia, where our human race is said to have beencreated, and whence all wisdom and knowledge have emanated. In theimage of the Creator, man issued from thence, endowed with the gift ofthe creative power. Wave after wave of fresh and apparently differingnationalities followed each other; partially submerging those that hadgone before, and spreading till it had reached the furthest shores ofthe Northern seas and the Atlantic, and encircled the Mediterranean. They all followed the same course from east to west. The Greekcivilization was indeed so dazzling and strong, that it lighted theworld all around; and India, Persia, and Assyria felt its influencereflected back on its old Asian cradle. 

But from the same high watershed[59] flowed other tribal types towardsChina, Java, and Japan, that had no affinity with any westerncivilization; and while the Assyrian, Persian, Indian, and Mongolianstyles mixed and overlapped so near their sources, that it issometimes hardly possible to reason out and classify theirresemblances and their differences, the tribes flowing Eastward turnedaside and went their own way, and have remained till now perfectlydistinct. [60]

In spite of their matchless dexterity in the manipulation of theirmaterials, the infinite variety of their stitches, and exquisitefinish in execution, carrying out to the utmost point the intendedeffect, yet Chinese and Japanese textile art differs in its innerprinciples from all our accepted canons of taste; so that their wantof harmony, and sometimes their absurdity, is a puzzle of which wecannot find the key. This I have already alluded to (p. 3). 

I purposely avoid the questions suggested by Chinese art. The immenseantiquity it claims cannot be allowed without hesitation. M. Terriende la Couperie, however, believes that he has found the actual pointof departure of Chinese civilization, and he considers it to be anearly offshoot from Babylon. [61] He supports his theory on linguisticgrounds, and we must anxiously wait to see if it is corroborated byfurther researches into the earliest records of the archaic Chineseliterature. But immobility in art is a Chinese characteristic, and nonational cataclysms seem to have disturbed it. The oldest specimensknown are very like the most modern. Yet an adept, learned in Chineseart, can detect the signs which mark its different epochs. 

In this they differ from the Japanese, who, added to their inheritedexquisite appreciation of natural beauty, have a power of assimilationthat might lead in time to their possessing a school of art which, being really original, might become the style of the future. Thecivilization of Japan is not older than the fifth century A. D. , andwas probably then imported from Corea. Some of the earliest specimenswe know of their art are embroidered religious pictures by the son ofa Mikado Sholokutaiski, who was in the seventh century the greatapostle of Buddhism in Japan; and the next earliest works are by thefirst nun, Honi, in the eighth century. We have European work as old, and it is most interesting to compare the differences of their stylesand stitches. 

We must now return to the beginning of our era, when we find Greektaste, such as it was, still influencing and colouring art in Italy, and throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, wherever Roman colonies werefounded, till the eighth century. It died hard; but by that time thebarbarians had poured from the east and north in successive waves, andconquered and suppressed the classical civilization. 

Nothing is so puzzling in textile art as the mixture of styles duringthe first 1000 years A. D. The Græco-Roman, the Byzantine, and theEgyptian, crossed by the Arabian, Persian, and Indian styles, werereproduced in the Sicilian looms. Certain stock patterns, such as thereclining hares or fawns, as we find them on the Shishak pall, or thatof the Tree of Life, approached by worshipping men or animals, originating in Assyrian art, are employed as borders, and fill upvacant spaces. The information collected from the tombs in the Crimeaimmediately preceding our era, is supplemented by the variety in styleand materials from the Fayoum, now placed by Herr Graf'schen in theMuseum at Vienna. 

Christian art, which began in Byzantium, gradually grew, and formeditself into the Gothic, [62] which in time overcame the general chaosof style. 

Eastern art continued to flow westward, modifying and suggesting. When the Phœnicians and Carthaginians had laid down their ancientcommercial sceptre, it was taken up by the Greeks, and later by theVenetians and Genoese, always trading with Asiatic goods. Then thearts of the Scandinavians[63] and of the Celts (who were the weavers), though barbaric, still retained and spread certain Orientaltraditions. Luxury was born in Babylon, and Persia became its nurse, whence all its glories and refinements spread over the world. But ifluxury was Babylonian, art was Greek. Alas! the love of luxurysurvived in Rome the taste for art. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 6. The Empress Theodora. Mosaic at Ravenna. Church of San. Vitale. ]

At Ravenna we learn much of the early Christian period from themosaics in the churches. The Empress Theodora and her ladies appear tobe clothed in Indian shawl stuffs. (Plate 6. ) These, of course, haddrifted into Rome, as they had long done into the Greek islands, bythe Red Sea or by land through Tyre. Ezekiel (590 B. C. ) mentions theIndian trade through Aden. Theodora's dress has a deep border of gold, embroidered with classical warriors pursuing each other withswords. [64] Works enriched with precious stones and pearls now appearfor the first time in European art, and testify to its Orientalimpress. 

The Byzantine Christian style was essentially the art of mosaic. Itspatterns for architecture or dress, easily square themselves intolittle compartments, suggesting the stitches of "counted" embroideries("opus pulvinarium"). 

In the beginning of the fourth century, when Greek influence was stilllanguishing, we may date the commencement of ecclesiastical art. Itwas a new birth, and had to struggle through an infancy of nearly 800years, ignoring, or unconscious of all rules of drawing, colouring, and design. Outlines filled in with flat surfaces of coloursrepresented again the art of painting, which had returned to archaictypes, and in no way differed from the essential properties of the artof "acu pingere" or needlework, which was in the same phase--being, fortunately for it, that to which it was best suited. 

Therefore fine works of art were then executed by the needle, of whicha very few survive, either in description or copied into more lastingmaterials; and showing that, with the minor arts of mosaic andillumination, it was in a state of higher perfection than the greaterarts, which till the twelfth century were all but in abeyance. 

In discussing textile art, I am obliged to pass over a part of thedark ages, and to approach the period when it must be studied chieflyin Sicily, which became the half-way house on the high road to theEast, and later the resting-place of the Crusaders to and from theHoly Land. 

Sicily, which had succeeded to Constantinople as being the greatmanufacturing mart during the Middle Ages, was in the hands of theMoors, the origin and source of all European Gothic textile art. Yeteven at Palermo and Messina this art was long controlled by thetraditions of Greece, ancient and modern, while fertilized by Persianand Indian forms and traditional symbolisms. 

The next European phase was the Gothic. [65] This was Arab and Moresquesteeped in northern ideas; and finding its congenial soil, it grewinto the most splendid, thoughtful, and finished style, fartranscending anything that it had borrowed from eastern or southernsources. 

All its traditions were carried out in the smaller decorativearts--mosaics, ivories, and metal works; and, last and not least, beautiful embroideries, to adorn the altars and the dresses ofmonarchs and nobles. (Plate 7. )

When taste was imperfect or declined, then the decorations were allrude, and the embroideries shared in the general rudeness or poverty;but as these crafts rose again, adding to themselves grace and beautyby study and experience, then needlework in England, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain grew and flourished. [66]

 [Illustration: Italian embroidery XV. Century Kensington Museum]

 [Illustration: Italian orphreys XVI. Century South Kensington Museum]

 [Illustration: Orphreys French and Spanish XVI. Century]

Then came the Reformation, which, in Germany and England especially, gave a blow to the arts which had reserved their best efforts for theChurch; and the change of style effected by the Renaissance was notsuited to the solemnity of ecclesiastical decoration. 

The styles of the fifteenth and sixteenth century embroideries arebetter adapted for secular purposes; though their extreme beauty asarchitectural ornament in Italy, reconciles one to their want ofreligious character, on the principle that it was allowable todedicate to the Church all that in its day was brightest and best. (Plate 8. )

We possess much domestic embroidery of the Renaissance which isexceedingly beautiful--Italian, Spanish, and German. Englishneedlework had lost its prestige from the time of the Reformation. [67]

The best efforts of the German schools of embroidery preceded theReformation, while those of Belgium never lost their excellence, [68]and still hold their high position among the workers of goldenorphreys. In Italy they always retained much of the classical element. Probably the ancient frescoes which served as models were originallypainted by Greek artists and their Roman imitators. This styleflourished for a hundred years. The French adopted and modified it. 

The decorative style of that period is sometimes called the Arabesque, and sometimes the Grotesque. The fashion was really copied from theexcavated palaces and tombs of the best Roman era. Raphael admired, and caused his pupils to imitate and copy them; and they influencedall decorative art for a considerable period. As long as beautifulforms of flowers, fruit, birds, and animals were adhered to, theArabesque was a charming decoration, gay and brilliant; but when thebeautiful was set aside, and the ugly ideas were reproduced, the stylebecame the Grotesque, which word only means the grotto, cave, or tombstyle, and is as undescriptive to us as the word Arabesque, which hasnothing to do with the Arabs or their arts. 

It would appear that if the beautiful only is permissible indecorative art, and that if without beauty there is no reason that itshould exist at all, then the Grotesque should not be allowed, exceptas a scherzo of the pencil; to be relegated, like all othercaricatures, to the portfolio. 

A grotesque is something startling, laughable, perhaps ridiculous. Awoman with the head of a goose and a flowery tail may be a symbolical, but it never can be an agreeable object. When the idea conveyed is agreat one, then it is excusable. The Ninevite bull, with a human headand five legs, is a grotesque, but it is also a symbol of majesty andmight. A Satyr is a grotesque, but he has been so long recorded andaccepted that he has ceased to surprise us; and the Greeks spent somuch genius in making him a graceful creature, that he has becomepicturesque, if not beautiful. 

Arabesques and Grotesques have now so long prevailed in decoration, that we have ceased to criticize them on principle, and accept themgratefully, in proportion to the gay fancy and reticent genius of thedesigner. Most Arabesques are, in fact, only graceful nonsense. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 9. Spanish Coverlet, from Goa. Velvet and gold, Plâteresque style, seventeenth century. ]

Vitruvius (writing first century B. C. ) says, that "in his time, on thecovering of the walls were painted rather monstrosities than imagesof known things. Thus, instead of columns you will see reeds withcrisp foliage, and candlesticks supporting temples; and on the top ofthese there are rods and twisted ornaments, and in the volutessenseless little figures sitting there; likewise flowers with figuresgrowing out of their calyxes. Here a human head, there ananimal's. "[69] Evidently Vitruvius did not approve of grotesques, andhis contemporary criticism is most valuable and amusing. 

In the Louis Quatorze period, a species of vegetable grotesque was thefashion, from which we suffer even now, and it deserves censure. Leaves and flowers of different plants were made to grow from the samestem, as only artificial flowers could do. The Greeks introduced intotheir decorations sprays and wreaths of bay, olive, oak, ivy, andvine, with their fruits; which are exquisitely composed and carefullystudied from nature. It is true that they sometimes invented flowersof different shapes, following each other on the same stem, anduntrammelled by any natural laws. These classical freaks of fancy areso graceful that their want of truth does not shock us, but they aremore safely copied than imitated. 

The Renaissance was particularly marked in Spain and Portugal by theembroideries which the latter drew from their Indian possessions inGoa, whilst we in England were sedulously thrusting from our shoresany beautiful Indian textiles that we imagined could injure our ownhome manufactures. It was, consequently, the worst phase of needleworkwith us, while Spanish and Portuguese embroideries of the sixteenthand seventeenth centuries are especially fine, their designs beingEuropean, and their needlework Oriental. Their Renaissance, which wentby the name of the Plâteresque, is a style apart. (Pl. 9. ) The reasonof its name is that it seems to have been originally intended for, andis best suited to, the shapes and decorations of gold and silverplate. It is extremely rich and ornate; not so appropriate toarchitecture as to the smaller arts, and wanting, perhaps, thesimplicity which gives dignity. The style called Louis Quatorzefollowing on the Renaissance in Germany, England, Spain, Italy, andFrance, assumed in each of these countries distinguishingcharacteristics, into which we have not time to enter now. In thisstyle France took the lead and appropriated it, and rightly named itafter the magnificent monarch who fostered it. This was a splendidera; and its furniture and wall decorations, dress, plate, and booksshine in all the fertile richness and grace of French artisticingenuity. [70] The new style asserted itself everywhere, andremodelled every art; but the long reign of Louis Quatorze gave thefashion time to wane and change. Under Louis XV. The defects increasedand the beauties diminished. The fine heavy borders were broken upinto fragmentary forms; all flow and strength were eliminated; andwhat remained of the Louis Quatorze style became, under its nextphase, only remarkable for the sparkling prettiness which is inherentin all French art. 

In Italy this very ornate style was distinguished as the"Sette-cento, " and was a chastened imitation or appropriation of theSpanish Plâteresque and the French Louis Quatorze. In Germany it was adecided heavy copy of both, of which there are splendid examples inthe adornment of the German palaces, royal and episcopal. In Englandthe Continental taste was faintly reflected during the reign of QueenAnne and the first Georges; but except in the characteristicupholstery of the Chippendales, and one or two palaces, such asBlenheim and Castle Howard, we did not produce much that was originalin the style of that day. 

Under Louis XV. , Boucher and Watteau, in France, produced designs thatwere well suited to tapestries and embroideries. All the heathen gods, with Cupids, garlands, floating ribbons, crowns, and cyphers wereeverywhere carved, gilded, and worked. It was the visible tide of thefrivolity in which poor Marie Antoinette was drowned; though beforethe Revolution she had somewhat simplified the forms of decoration, and straight lines instead of curves, and delicacy rather thansplendour, had superseded, at least at court, the extravagant richnessof palatial furniture. 

This was followed by the Revolution; and then came the attempt atclassical severity (so contrary to the French nature) which theRepublic affected. [71] Dress was adorned with embroidered spots andEtruscan borders, and the ladies wore diadems, and tried to be as likeas possible to the Greek women painted in fictile art. Napoleonattempted a dress which was supposed to be Roman at his coronation. Trophies were woven and embroidered, and the "honeysuckle, " "key, " and"egg and anchor" patterns were everywhere. With the fall of the Empirethe classical taste collapsed, and the Egyptian, Greek, and Romanfurniture were handed over to hotels and lodging-houses. In most ofthe palaces on the Continent an apartment is still to be seen, furnished in this style. It was the necessary tribute of flattery tothe great conqueror, who in that character inhabited so many of themfor a short time. But there was no sign of the style being taken upenthusiastically anywhere out of France. 

After the fall of the Empire, all pretence of style was in abeyance, and it was then gradually replaced by a general craving for the"antique, " the "rococo, " and finally the "baroc, " as the outcome ofthat part of a gentleman's education called the "grand tour. " Everyone bought up old furniture; Italy and Spain were ransacked; andforeign works of all ages were added to the hereditary housefurnishings. Every wealthy home became a museum. Now the numerousexhibitions of the last few years, bringing together the works of allEurope and other continents, have enabled us to continue to collectand compare and furnish, without any reference to a particular style. 

Meantime "Young England" had become æsthetic. Bohemianism was thefashion, and the studio had to be furnished as a picturesquelounge:--ragged tapestries for backgrounds; antique chairs and bits ofcolour as cushions and draperies; shiny earthenware pots to hold aflower and to catch a high light. All these bridged the space betweenthe new æstheticism and the old family museums; and from theircombination arose the style called by courtesy the "Queen Anne"--astyle which can be brought within the reach of the most moderatefortunes. In humble mansions you will be aware of the grouping of theold pieces of furniture, culminating perhaps in "my grandmother'scabinet, " and her portrait by Hogarth; or "my great-grandfather'ssword and pistols, which he carried at Culloden;" and his father'sclock, a relic perhaps of the Scotch Dutch. 

The English style of to-day is really a conglomerate of the precedingtwo hundred years, and it is formed from the débris of our familylife. It belongs mostly to the period of the pigtail; but itstretches back, and includes all that followed the Protectorate, andis therefore coeval with the wig. The name of "Queen Anne" wouldreally do as well as any other, only that the style of her reign, which was heavy Louis Quatorze, is looked upon with suspicion, andnever admitted for imitation. The "Nineteenth Century" would be abetter name, for it has formed itself only within the last thirtyyears, in the very heart of the century, and is, in fact, a fortunateresult of preceding conditions. It owes its existence, as I have said, partly to the archæological tendencies of the day. 

The maimed tables and chairs, which had painfully ascended from saloonto bedroom, nursery, and attic, till they reposed in the garret (theBedlam of crazy furniture), now have descended in all the prestige ofantiquarian and family interest. Their history is recorded; the oldembroideries are restored, named, and honoured. What is not beautiful, is credited with being "quaint"--the "quaint" is more easily imitatedthan the beautiful; and we have elected this for the characteristic ofour new decorations. To be quaint, is really to be funny withoutintending it, and its claim to prettiness is its _naïveté_, which issometimes touching as well as amusing: this was the specialcharacteristic of the revival in the Middle Ages. To imitatequaintness must be a mistake in art; as in life it is absurd toimitate innocence. 

The nineteenth century "Queen Anne" has its merits. [72] It combinessimplicity, roominess and comfort, colour, light and shade. Softcolouring to harmonize the new furniture with the tender tints of thefaded quaintnesses just restored to society; care in grouping even thecommonest objects, so as to give pleasure to the eye; a revived tastefor embroidered instead of woven materials, giving scope to thetalents of the women of the house;--all these are so much gained inevery-day domestic decoration. The poorest and most trivialarrangements are striving to attain to a something artistic andagreeable. This is still confined to the educated classes; but as goodand bad alike have to begin on the surface, and gradually filterthrough to the dregs of society, we may hope that the women who worethe last chignon and the last crinoline may yet solace their sordidlives in flowing or tight woollen garments, adorned with their ownneedlework; and that the dark-stained floor of the cottage or humblelodging will set off the shining brass kettle, and the flower in abrown or blue pot, consciously selected with a view to thepicturesque, and enjoyed accordingly. 

From what we know, it would seem that a vital change in a nationalstyle is never produced by the inspiration of one individual genius orgreat original inventor. It invariably evolves itself slowly, by thepatient, persistent efforts of generations, polishing and touching upthe same motive, and at last reaching human perfection. 

The annihilation of a style is oftenest caused by war passing over theland, or revolution breaking up the fountains of social life, andswamping the art and the artist. 

But another cause of such an extinction--perhaps the saddest--is thathaving reached perfection as far as it may, it deteriorates, sickens, corrupts, and finally is thrown aside--superseded, hidden, andoverlapped by a newer fashion; and the worst and latest effortdiscredits in the eyes of men, the splendid successes that precededits fall. Though the next succeeding phase may be less worthy to livethan the last, yet, carrying with it the freshness of a new spring, itis acceptable for the time being. 

The moral I should draw from this is, that you cannot force style; youmay prune, direct, and polish it, but you must accept that of yourday, and only in accordance with that taste can your work be useful. Not accepting it idly or wearily, but cheerfully, on principle, seeking to raise it; refusing by word or deed to truckle to the false, the base, or the lawless in your art, or to act against theacknowledged canons of good taste. Not for a moment should ambition bechecked, but it should always be accompanied by the grace of modesty. 

To the young decorator or artist who feels the glow of original designprompting him to reject old lines, and follow his own new and perhapscrude ideas, a few words of warning, and encouragement also, may be ofuse. 

In art, as in poetry, we may recognize the Psalmist's experience: "Myheart burned within me, and at the last I spake with my tongue. "

In small as in great things, crude ideas should not be brought to thefront. No one should give his thoughts to the world till his heart has_burned_ within him, and he has been _forced_ to express himself. 

Another wise saying, "Read yourself full, and then write yourselfempty, " also applies to art. Knowledge must first be accumulatedbefore you can originate. 

Wait till your experience and your thoughts insist on expression;then subject the expressed idea to cultivated criticism, and profit bythe opinion you would respect if another's work, and not your own, were under discussion. 

It is true that taste is surprisingly various. Some will dislike yourdesign, because its style is a reflection of the Gothic; another maybe objected to as being frivolously Oriental-looking and brilliant, whereas the critic likes only the sober and the dull. Few aresufficiently educated to appreciate style: and we cannot rule our ownby anybody's opinion; but we can generalize and find something thatshall be agreeable to all--something approaching to a golden mean. Theartist for decoration should be sensitively alive to any suggestionfrom the style of that which he is to adorn, remembering theantecedent motives of its form, its history, and its date. He shouldtry to make his new work harmonize with the old; but of one thing hemay be certain--unless he absolutely copies an old design, his ownwill carry the visible and unmistakable stamp of his day. 

Even while suggesting copies this difficulty arises--how can a perfectfacsimile be obtained? No reproduction is ever really exact, unlesscast off by the hundred, stamped or printed by a machine. 

It has been said that the translator of a poem adds to, or takes fromthe original, that which he has or has not of the same poetical power;and in art the copy requires the same qualities to guide the hand thattransmits the original motive to another material. An artist usuallycarries out his own ideas from the first sketch blocked out on thecanvas, or scribbled on the bit of waste paper, to the last finishingtouch. It is, as far as it can be in human art, the visible transcriptof his own thought. In needlework this can hardly ever be. Thedesigner, whether he be St. Dunstan, Pollaiolo, Torrigiano, or WalterCrane, only executes a drawing which leaves his hands for good, and istranslated into embroidery by the patient needlewoman who simply fillsin an outline, ignorant of art, unappreciative of its subtleties, andincapable of giving life and expression, even when she is aware thatthey are indicated in the original design. This is almost always thecase; but there are exceptions. Charlemagne's dalmatic, for instance, shows signs of having been either the work of the artist himself, orelse carried out under his immediate supervision. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [15] Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain, " p. 285. See also chapter on stitches (_post_), p. 195. 

 [16] Some of these styles survive; some are still perceptible as traditions or echoes; some have totally disappeared in our modern art, such as the Primitive or the Egyptian. 

 [17] See Semper, "Der Stil. "

 [18] The history of Gaul begins in the 7th, and that of Britain in the 1st century B. C. , while the civilization of Egypt dates back to more than 4000 B. C. ; therefore the historical overlap is very great. It is probable that a large portion of Europe was in its neolithic age, while the scribes were composing their records of war and commerce in the great cities on the Nile, and that the neolithic civilization lingered in remote regions while the voice of Pericles was heard in Athens, and the name of Hannibal was a terror in Italy. --See Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain, " p. 481. 

 [19] See chapter on patterns. 

 [20] In the Troad. 

 [21] Some of the Egyptian arts we know are pre-Homeric (if Homer really sang 800 B. C. ), and Asiatic art was then in its highest development. 

 [22] See chapter on stitches, cut work (_post_). This funeral tent is a monumental work, inasmuch as the inscription inwrought on it gives us the name and title of her in whose honour it was made, and whose remains it covered. See Villiers Stewart's "Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen. "

 [23] Herodotus, book ii. C. 182; book iii. C. 47 (Rawlinson's Trans. ). See Rock's Introduction, p. Xiv. 

 [24] Homer mentions "Sidonian stuffs and Phœnician skill" (Iliad, v. 170); also "Sidonian Embroidery. " Ibid. Vi. 287-295. 

 [25] The Assyrian designs are such as are now still worked at Benares, and being full of animals, they are called Shikurgah, or "happy hunting-grounds. " See Sir G. Birdwood's "Industrial Arts of India, " p. 236. See also Plate 4. 

 [26] See Perrot and Chipiez (pp. 737-757); also Clermont Ganneau's Histoire de l'Art, "L'Imagerie Phénicienne, " Plate 1, pt. 1. Coupe de Palestrina. He says that certain scenes from the "Shield of Achilles" are literally to be found on Phœnician vases that have come down to us--vases of which Homer himself must have seen some of analogous design. 

 [27] Homer speaks of Sidonian embroideries, "Iliad, " vi. , 287-295. 

 [28] See Egyptian fragments in the British Museum, and the specimens of Peruvian textiles; and Reiss and Stübel's "Necropolis of Ancon in Peru. "

 [29] At Cervetri, Dennis' "Etruria, " ed. 1878, i. P. 268. 

 [30] The restless activity of the Phœnicians has often helped to confuse our æsthetic knowledge, and has caused the waste of much speculation in ascertaining how certain objects of luxury, belonging to distant civilizations, can possibly have arrived at the places where we find them. 

 [31] "The Beautiful Gate of the Temple was covered all over with gold. It had also golden vines above it, from which hung clusters of grapes as tall as a man's height. . . . It had golden doors of 55 cubits altitude, and 16 in breadth: but before these doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors. It was a Babylonian curtain of blue, fine linen, and scarlet and purple; of an admixture that was truly wonderful. Nor was the mixture without its mystical interpretation; but was a kind of image of the universe. For by the scarlet was to be enigmatically signified fire; by the fine flax, the earth; by the blue, the air, and by the purple, the sea;--two of them having their colours for the foundation of this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for this foundation, the earth producing the one, and the sea the other. This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens excepting the twelve signs of the zodiac, representing living creatures. " Josephus (Trans. By Whiston), p. 895. 

 [32] See also M. E. Harkness and Stuart Poole, "Assyrian Life and History, " p. 66. 

 [33] The visions of Ezekiel and St. John remind us of the composite figures and animals in Ninevite sculptures, and the prophetic poetry helps us to interpret their symbolism. 

 [34] G. Smith's "Ancient History of the Monuments, " Babylonia, p. 33. Edited by Sayce. 

 [35] In the British Museum. See "Bronze Ornaments of Palace Gates, Balawat, " pl. E 5. 

 [36] See Auberville's "Ornement des Tissus, " pl. 1. 

 [37] The Egyptian queen in question was mother-in-law to Shishak, whose daughter married Solomon. After his son-in-law's death, Shishak plundered the "King's House, " and carried to Egypt the golden shields or panels (1 Kings xiv. 26). The golden vessels went to Babylon later, and the golden candlesticks to Rome. 

 [38] Sir G. Birdwood repeatedly points out that the Vedic was the art that worshipped and served nature. The Puranic is the ideal and distorted. The Moguls, about 700 B. C. , introduced their ugly Dravidian art. Through the Sassanian art of Persia, that of India was influenced. Possibly the very forms which in India are copied from Assyrian temples and palaces, may have travelled first to Assyria upon Indian stuffs and jewellery (Sir G. Birdwood's "Industrial Arts of India, " i. P. 236). 

 [39] Ibid. , p. 130 (ed. 1884). 

 [40] Nearchus (Strabo, XV. I. 67) says that the people of India had such a genius for imitation that they counterfeited sponges, which they saw used by the Macedonians, and produced perfect imitations of the real object. See Sir G. Birdwood's "Industrial Arts of India, " ii. P. 133 (ed. 1884). 

 [41] Ibid. , ii. P. 131 (ed. 1884). 

 [42] See Sir G. Birdwood, p. 129 (ed. 1884). If Fergusson is right in suggesting that the art of Central America was planted there in the third or fourth century of our era, it would, perhaps, appear to have taken refuge in America when it was driven out of India by the Sassanians, and was really Dravidian. He gives to the Turanian races all the mound buildings, as well as the fylfot or mystic cross, and he looks in Central India for the discovery of some remains that will give us the secret of the origin of the Indo-Aryan style. He thinks the Archaic Dravidian is allied with the Chinese. See Fergusson's "Architecture. "

 [43] Etruscan and Indian golden ornaments, including the "Bolla" and the "Trichinopoly" chains and coral, are to be found throughout Scandinavia and in Ireland. See "Atlas de l'Archéologie du Nord, " par la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord. Copenhagen, 1857. 

 [44] Arrian tells us of the Celts, "a people near the Great Ionian Bay, " who sent an embassy to Alexander before the battle of the Granicus--"a people strong and of a haughty spirit. " Alexander asked them if they feared anything. They answered that they feared the "sky might fall upon their heads. " He dismissed them, observing that the Celts were an arrogant nation (Arrian, i. 4, 10). 

 [45] According to Yates, the merchandise of Eastern Asia passed through Slavonia to the north of Europe in the Middle Ages, without the intervention of Greece or Italy. This may account for certain terms of nomenclature which evidently came with goods transported straight to the north. Yates' "Textrinum Antiquorum, " vol. I. P. 225-246. 

 [46] These northern ideas, spreading over Germany, England, and France, flourished especially on German soil; and Oriental-patterned embroideries for hangings and dress were worked in every stitch, on every material, as may be seen in the museums and printed catalogues of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, &c. 

 [47] Except, perhaps, the Serpent and Tree cope in Bock's Kleinodien. 

 [48] The different Celtic nationalities are always recognizable. There was found in a grave-mound at Hof, in Norway, a brooch, showing at a glance that it was Christian and Celtic, though taken from the grave of a pagan Viking. Another at Berdal, in Norway, was at once recognized by M. Lorange as being undoubtedly Irish. There are many other instances of evident Celtic Christian art found on the west coast of Norway under similar conditions--probably spoil from the British Islands, which were subject to the descents of the pagan Vikings for centuries after the time of St. Columba's preaching of Christianity in Scotland. For information on the subject, see G. Stephen's "Monuments of Runic Art, " and F. Anderson's "Pagan Art in Scotland. "

 [49] "Scotland in Pagan Times, " by J. Anderson, pp. 3-7. 

 [50] On a vase in the British Museum, Minerva appears with her ægis on her breast, and clothed in a petticoat and upper tunic worked in sprays, and a border of kneeling lions. On another Panathenaic vase she has a gown bordered with fighting men, evidently the sacred peplos. (Fig. 4. )

 [51] See the account of the veil of Herè in the Iliad, and that of the mantle of Ulysses in the Odyssey. 

 [52] See Butcher and Lang's Odyssey. 

 [53] "Der Stil. "

 [54] The Greeks collected into one focus all that they found of beauty in art from many distant sources--Egyptian, Indian, Assyrian--and thus fired their inborn genius, which thenceforth radiated its splendour over the whole civilized world. 

 [55] Homer's Iliad, xviii. 480-617 (Butcher and Lang). 

 [56] See "Woltmann and Woermann. " Trans. Sidney Colvin, p. 64. 

 [57] Except, perhaps, the keystone arch. 

 [58] Virg. Æneid iii. Trans. G. L. G. 

 [59] The Indian Cush. 

 [60] Except in the art of the Celts, whose Indo-Chinese style shows evidence of Mongolian importation, and later we find traces of a similar influence: for instance, "Yarkand rugs are semi-Chinese, semi-Tartar, resembling also the works of India and Persia. It is easy to distinguish from what source each comes, as one perceives the influence of the neighbouring native art" ("On Japan, " by Dresser, p. 322). 

 [61] See a paper by M. Terrien de la Couperie in the Journal of the Society of Arts, 1881. 

 [62] "Rome had to be overthrown that the new religion and the new civilization might be established. Christianity did its work in winning to it those Teutonic conquerors, but how vast was the cost to the world, occasioned by the necessity of casting into the boiling cauldron of barbarous warfare, that noble civilization and the treasures which Rome had gathered in the spoil of a conquered universe! Had any old Roman, or Christian father been gifted with Jeremiah's prescience, he might have seen the fire blazing amidst the forests of Germany, and the cauldron settling down with its mouth turned towards the south, and would have uttered his lamentation in plaintive tones, such as Jeremiah's, and in the same melancholy key" ("Holy Bible, " with Commentary by Canon Cook, Introduction to Jeremiah, vol. I. P. 319). 

 [63] Scandinavian art became strongly tinctured with that of Byzantium. The Varangian Guards were, probably, answerable for this, by their intercourse between Greece and their native land, which lasted so many centuries. There have come down to us, as witnesses of this intercourse, many coins and much jewellery, in which all that is Oriental in its style has been leavened by its passage through Byzantine and Romanesque channels. Gibbon, writing of this period, says: "The habits of pilgrimage and piracy had approximated the countries of the earth" (see Gibbon's "Decline and Fall, " chap. Lv. ). 

 Greek embroidered patterns and Greek forms of dress still linger in Iceland. There was lately brought to England a bride's dress, which might have belonged to the Greek wife of a Varangian guardsman. It is embroidered with a border in gold of the classical honeysuckle pattern; and the bridal wreath of gilt metal flowers might, from its style, be supposed to have been taken from a Greek tomb. 

 [64] Evidently an imitation of the peplos of Minerva (see fig. 4, p. 32). 

 [65] The descent from the Persian of Arab or Moorish art, as we generally call it when speaking of its Spanish development, is to be accounted for by the presence of a considerable colony of Persians in Spain in the time of the Moors, as attested by numerous documents still in existence. See Col. Murdoch Smith's "Preface to Persian Art, " Series of Art Handbooks of the Kensington Museum. 

 [66] Ronsard, poet, politician, and diplomatist, compares the Queen of Navarre to Pallas Athene:--

 "Elle adonnait son courage A mainte bel ouvrage Dessus la toile, et encor A joindre la soie et l'or. Vous d'un pareil exercise Mariez par artifice Dessus la toile en mainte traits L'or et la soie en pourtraict. "

 [67] Mary de Medici brought back with her from Italy Federigo Vinciolo as her designer for embroideries. 

 [68] See "Art Needlework, " by E. Maxse, and "Manuel de la Broderie, " by Madame E. F. Celnart. 

 [69] From the Italian translation by Signor Minghetti. 

 [70] Gaston, Duke of Orleans (died 1660), kept hothouses on purpose to supply models for floral textile designs. Le Brun often drew the embroideries for the hangings in rooms he had himself designed and decorated. 

 [71] We have all seen the dining-room wine-coolers modelled in imitation of Roman tombs; and there is a drawing-room in a splendid mansion still furnished with cinerary urns covering the walls, while curule chairs most uncomfortably furnish the seats. 

 [72] In his designs for papers and textiles, Mr. Morris' poetical and artistic feeling--his admiration and sensitiveness for all that is beautiful and graceful (as well as quaint)--his respect for precedent, added to his own fanciful originality, --have given a colour and seal to the whole decorative art of England of to-day. It is a step towards a new school. The sobriety and tenderness of his colouring gives a sense of harmony, and reconciles us to his repetitions of large vegetable forms, which remind us sometimes of a kitchen-garden in a tornado. For domestic decoration we should, as far as possible, adhere to reposing forms and colours. Our flowers should lie in their allotted spaces, quiet and undisturbed by elemental struggles, which have no business in our windowed and glass-protected rooms. 

CHAPTER II. 

DESIGN. 

 _Gorgo. _ Behold these 'broideries! Finer saw you never. 

 _Praxinoè. _ Ye gods! What artists work'd these pictures in? What kind of painter could these clear lines limn? How true they stand! nay, lifelike, moving ever; Not worked--_created!_ Woman, thou art clever!

 (Scene at a Festival) _Theocritus_, Idyll xv. Line 78. 

The word design, as applied to needlework, includes the principles andlaws of the art: the motives and their hereditary outcome; the artcreating the principles; the laws controlling the art. 

Design means intention, motive, and should as such be applied to thesmallest as to the greatest efforts of art. That which results fromit, either as picture or pattern, is a record of the thoughts whichproduced it, and by its style fixes the date, of its production. 

I will first consider the principles of design, and afterwards, inanother chapter, inquire into the origin of patterns; investigatingtheir motives, and using them as examples, and also as warnings. 

The individual genius of the artist works first in design, though hiswork is for the use of the craftsman or artisan, his collaborator; forthe two, head and hands, must work together, or else will render eachother inoperative or ineffective. 

The artisan, by right of his title, claims a part in the art itself;the craftsman, by his name, points out that he, too, has to work outthe craft, the mystery, the inner meaning, of the design or intention. 

The designer himself is subject to the prejudices called the taste ofhis day. He is necessarily under the influence which that taste hasimposed upon him, and from which no spontaneous efforts of genius canentirely emancipate him. Whether he is conceiving a temple for theworship of a national faith, or the edging for the robe of a fairvotaress, or the pattern on the border of a cup of gold or brass, hecannot avoid the force of tradition and of custom, which comes fromafar, weighted with the power of long descent, and which crushesindividuality, unless it is of the most robust nature. 

Of very early design we have most curious and mysterious glimpses. Thecave man was an artist. The few scratches on a bone, cleverly showingthe forms of a dog or a stag, a whale or a seal, nay, the figure of aman, have enabled us to ascertain and to classify the Palæolithic caveman; from whom his less civilized successor, the Neolithic man, may bedistinguished by his absence of all animal design. [73]

These fragmentary scraps of information, pieced together only in theselater years, teach us the value of very small facts which time andcare are now accumulating, and which, being the remains of lives andnations passed away, still serve as the soil in which history can befertilized. 

We have no means of judging whether the cave man was an artist on agreater or more advanced scale than is actually shown by thebone-scratchings; the only other relic of his handiwork is theneedle. [74]

It is evident that a direct imitation of nature, such as is seen inthese "graffiti, " and at an immense distance in advance of them, inthe earliest known Egyptian sculptures, preceded all conventional art. Some of the earliest portrait statues in the Museum at Boulac exhibita high degree of naturalistic design before it became subservient tothe expression of the faith of the people. As soon as art was found tobe the fittest conveyance of symbolism, it became the consecratedmedium for transmitting language, thought, and history, and wasreduced to forms in which it was contented to remain petrified formany centuries, entirely foregoing the study or imitation ofnature. [75] It recorded customs, historical events, and religiousbeliefs; receiving from the last the impress of the unchangeable andthe absolute, which it gave to the other subjects on which it touched. It ceased to be a creative art (if it had ever aspired to such afunction), and was never the embodiment of individual thought. Thisphase prevailed under different manifestations in Assyria and China. Pictorial art had, in fact, become merely the nursing mother of thealphabet, guiding its first steps--the hieroglyphic delineation orexpression of thoughts and facts. [76]

In Egypt, the change from the first period of actual imitation ofnature was succeeded by many centuries of the very slowest progress. Renouf speaks, [77] however, of "the astonishing identity that isvisible through all the periods of Egyptian art" (for you could nevermistake anything Egyptian for the produce of any other country). "Thisidentity and slow movement, " he says, "are not inconsistent with animmense amount of change, which must exist if there is any real life. "In fact, there were periods of relative progress, repose, and decay, and every age had its peculiar character. Birch, Lepsius, or Marriettecould at once tell you the age of a statue, inscription, ormanuscript, by the characteristic signs which actually fix[78] thedate. 

Design, unconsciously has a slowly altering and persistently onwardmovement, which but seldom repeats itself. It is one of the mostremarkable instances of evolution. But it also has its cataclysms(however we may account for them), of which the Greek apotheosis ofall art is a shining example, and the total disappearance of classicalinfluence in Europe before the Renaissance is another. 

I will instance one prevailing habit of Egyptian art. [79] In the longprocessional subjects, and in individual separate figures, it wasusual to draw the head in perfect profile, the body facing you, butnot completely--a sort of compromise with a three-quarter view ofit--and the feet following each other, on the same line as theprofile. This mode of representing the human figure was only effacedgradually by the introduction of Greek art, and continued to be theconventional and decorative method even in the latest days of Egyptianart; and it is curious to observe, that in the Dark ages Europeandesign fell into the same habit. We cannot imagine that this distortedway of drawing the human figure could have any intentional meaning, and therefore may simply believe that it had become a custom; and thatwhen art has so stiffened and consolidated itself by precedent andlong tradition, as in Egypt and in India, certain errors as well ascertain truths become, as it were, ingrained into it. Plato remarkedof Egyptian art, that "the pictures and statues they made ten thousandyears ago were in no particular better than those they make now. "[80]

One day, however, the Greek broke away from the ancient bonds ofcustom. The body was made to accompany the head, and the feet followedsuit. But the strange fact remains that for several thousand years menwalked in profile, all out of drawing. Evidently originality was notin much estimation among the Egyptian patrons of art. Design seemed tohave restricted itself to effective adaptations in a few permittedforms in architecture and painting, and the illumination of thepapyrus MSS. 

Egyptian elasticity of design found some scope in its domesticornamentation, in jewellery and hangings, but especially in itsembroideries for dress. Here much ingenuity was shown, and thepatterns on walls and the ceilings of tombs give us the designs whichSemper considers as having been originally intended for textilepurposes. He strains to a point to which I can hardly follow him, thetheory that all decorations were originally textile (except such asproceeded in China from the lattice-work motive); though I willinglyaccept the idea that textile decoration was one of the first and mostactive promoters of design. 

It is not possible for us to trace systematically the different pointsat which Egyptian and Asiatic art touch, but we can see that they werealways acting and reacting on each other in the later centuries beforeour era, and that Greece profited by them. The first efforts of bothto break through this chrysalis stage, resulted in the early Greekarchaic style. Its strongly marked, muscular humanity reminds one ofall the conflicting impressions struggling in the conception of thegreat artist who first embodied them. They appear to be breaking outfrom the trammels of Egyptian and Assyrian styles, which by meetinghad engendered life; and Greek art was the child of their union. Thenart, having shaken off symbolism as its only purpose, and seeking torepresent the forms of men, yet possessed by a guiding spirit, firstsought to convey the idea of expression. The worship of humanity, mingling with that of their gods, produced the Heroic ideal; and allthe attributes of their heroes--majesty, beauty, grace, andpassion--had to be depicted; as well as rage, sorrow, despair, andrevenge. These were soon to be surrounded with all the splendours ofthe arts of decoration. 

Greece had prepared for this outburst of excellence and the perfectscience of art, by collecting the traditions, the symbols, theexperience in colouring, and the knowledge of beautiful forms, humanand ideal. All that was needed for the advent of the man who coulddesign and create types of beauty for all ages was thus accumulated, and the man came, and his name was Pheidias. A crowd followed him, allsteeped in the same flood of poetry and art; and for severalcenturies they filled the world with the sense and science of beauty. Then the function of the designer--the artist--was changed andelevated, and he became, through the great days of Greek and RomanPagan art, and afterwards through the rise of that of Christianity, the exponent of all that was poetical and ennobling in the life ofman. 

But though the Greek artist had broken the chains of prescribed form, he still adhered to the "motive"--the inner symbolical thought--andstrove to express it as it had never been expressed before. [81] Newprinciples were evoked, and the artist, while revelling in the"sweetness and light" of freedom, framed for himself standards oftaste and refinement, which he left as a heritage to all succeedinggenerations. 

I fear that I am repeating a platitude when insisting that freedom inall design, but especially that employed in decoration, must be keptwithin certain boundaries; otherwise it becomes lawless. Rules, likeall other controlling circumstances, are of the greatest service tothe artist, as they suggest what he can do, as well as decide what heought not to attempt. All boundaries are highly suggestive; the sizeof a sheet of paper--the form of a panel--the colours in the box ofpigments--even the touch of the brush which comes to hand, --all thesehelp to shape the idea to our ends, and assist us in giving to theoriginal motive the form which is most suitable. These restrictionsare often regarded as impediments by the impatient artist; whereas heought to look on them as hints and suggestions, and claim theirassistance, instead of struggling against them. Let us accept theprinciple that it is good for each of our efforts at decoration thatwe are controlled by the space allotted to its composition. Therelative size (small, perhaps, for a table-cover, but large for thatof a book) and the shape to which we are limited, alter all theconditions of a design. Whether it is square or oblong, or lengthenedinto a frieze; whether it must be divided into parts, including morethan one motive, or be grouped round one centre; whether it is to berepeated more than once within the range of the eye, or whether it isto disappear into space upwards or horizontally; and whether it is tostand alone, or be framed with lines or a border, --all theserestrictions must govern the design, or, in its highest phase, thecomposition. 

The composition must consist of supporting lines well balanced, and"values" filling up the whole surface of the space, which is tocontain it, and beyond which it must not seek to extend. As we have inembroidery no distances--only a foreground--the design must be placedall on one plane. The title of "composition" cannot be granted to abouquet or a bird cast on one corner of a square of linen, howevergracefully it may be drawn. It does not cover the space allotted toit. 

If we carefully study the great and guiding principles that have beendistinctly formulated by some of the Continental authorities ondecorative art, we shall find much help in composing our designs. Nothing is more interesting than to search for the foundation of thestructure which centuries have helped to raise, and to dig out, as itwere, the original plan or thought of the founder. So it is mostinstructive to learn the fundamental rules by which such results aresecured. 

M. Blanc[82] says of the general laws of ornamentation: "There can beno nobler satisfaction to the mind, than to be able to unravel what isbeyond measure complicated, to diminish what is apparently immense, and to reduce to a few clear points what has been till now involved ina haze of obscurity. Just as the twenty-six letters of the alphabethave been, and always will be sufficient to form the expression of thewords necessary for all human thought, so certain elements susceptibleof combination among themselves have sufficed, and will suffice, tocreate ornament, whose variety may be indefinitely multiplied. "

He reduces ornamental design to five principles, Repetition, Alternation, Symmetry, Progression, and Confusion. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 5. Wave Pattern. ]

First, Repetition. "You may act on the mind, through sight, by thesame means as those that will excite physical sensations. A singleprick of a pin is nothing, but a hundred such will be intolerablypainful. Repetition produces pleasurable sensations, as well aspainful ones. " An insignificant form can become interesting byrepetition, and by the suggestion which, singly, it could notoriginate. For example, the rolling of the Greek scroll or wavepattern awakens in us the idea of one object following another. "Italso suggests the waves of the ocean; or the poet may see in it atroop of maidens pursuing each other in space, not frivolously, but incadence, as if executing a mystic dance. " Change the curves intoangular forms, as making the key pattern, and it will no longer flow, but become as severe as the other was graceful. No principle givesgreater pleasure than repetition, and next to it, _alternation_. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 6. Key Pattern. ]

Variety is here added to the law of repetition. "There can berepetition without alternation, but no alternation withoutrepetition. " Alternation is, then, a succession of two objectsrecurring regularly in turn; and the cadence of appearance anddisappearance gives pleasure to the senses, whether it be addressed totaste, hearing, or sight. Alternate rhymes, and even short and longlines, soothe the ear in verse. In form, the alternations are the moreagreeable, the more they differ. Such are, in architecture, asuccession of metopes and triglyphs on a Doric frieze, where thecircle and the straight lines relieve each other. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 7. Metopes and Triglyphs. ]

Symmetry. The correspondence of two parts opposite to each other issymmetrical. "A living being, man or animal, is composed of two parts, which appear to have been united down one central line. Without beingidentical, if you folded them down the line, they would overlap andperfectly cover each other. Man is born with the sense of symmetry, tomatch his outward form; and he appreciates its existence, andinstinctively feels the want of it. Symmetry is another word forjustness of proportion. The Greeks understood by symmetry, thecondition of a body of which the members have a common measure amongthemselves. We expect the two sides of a living being to correspond, and we look for these proportions in the living body to balance eachother, which we do not expect to find in any other natural object. Alarge leaf at the end of a slender stem may be as appropriate, andgive as much pleasure, as a small leaf in the same position; but ahuge hand at the end of an arm is not so agreeable to our sense ofsymmetry as one of the size and outline which we naturally expect tosee. 

"The mind of man expects to find, outside of himself and his ownproportions, something which he feels is proportionate andsymmetrical; in fact, he at once detects the want of it. The Japanese, with delicacy and taste, often substitute for symmetry itscorollary--balance. The Chinese or Japanese vase will often have anappreciable affinity and resemblance to a Greek one, each preserving asecret balance, even in the extremest whimsicality of its composition. Proportion is another corollary to symmetry, if it is not another wordfor some of its qualities. "

"Progression. In this principle are included long perspectives, pyramidal forms in architecture, and certain processionalcompositions. "

"For pyramidal surfaces, such as pediments, a progressive ornament isthe fittest. All the buildings in the East, and in the ancient citiesof Central America, which are raised on pyramids of steps, show thetendency to this species of effect in giving dignity to the buildingsplaced on such platforms. "

"Perspectives are highly attractive specimens of progression, which, when made use of in the decorations of a theatre, produce delightfulillusions. "

M. Blanc quotes Bernardin de St. Pierre, who says: "When thebranches of a plant are disposed in a uniform plan of diminishingsize, as in the pyramidal shape of a pine, there is progression; andif these trees be planted in long avenues, diminishing in height andcolour, as each tree does in itself, our pleasure is redoubled, because progression here becomes infinite. It is owing to thisfeeling of infinity that we take pleasure in looking at anything thatpresents progression, such as nurseries in different stages ofgrowth, the slopes of hills retreating to the horizon at differentlevels--interminable perspectives. "

All floral compositions which give the effect or impression of growthmay be included in the progressive principle. A composition which, beginning as it were with a stem, spreads and floreates equally oneach side; thrusting outwards and upwards, and ending in a topmosttwig or bud, is governed by this principle. 

Confusion. Boileau is quoted by M. Blanc as saying, "A fine disorderis often the effect of art;" and he adds, "But before he said it, nature had shown it. " Here we must observe that the confusions ordisorders of nature are all subject to certain laws; and it is inadopting this idea, that an artistic confusion may give us the senseof its being ordered by, and subject to definite rules. These rulesact as the frame affects the picture, circumscribing itsirregularities, and restricting them to a certain area. "Theartist-painter is, in a small space, permitted to employ confusion, because the art of the cabinet-maker will keep the geometrical effectin view. " When the Japanese throw their ornaments, apparently withoutrule, here and there on the japanned box, they reckon on the squareshape being sufficiently marked to the eye by its shining surface andsharp corners. 

The confusion in a Japanese landscape is so beautiful that oneappreciates the innate sense of balance, which modifies theconfusion--rules and orders it. 

"In the hands of the designer, confusion is only a method of renderingorder visible in a happy disorder. Here contraries meet and touch. . . . Admit these as the principles of all decoration, and you will findthat, by following and combining them, you may produce varieties asnumberless as the sands of the sea, and that a latent equilibrium willreduce nearly every complication and confusion to perfect harmony. "

Each of the five principles we have discussed has its corollary, whichadds to the resources of the decorative artist. These are asfollows:--To Repetition belongs harmony, or consonance; toAlternation, contrast; to Symmetry, radiation; to Progression, gradation; to balanced Confusion, deliberate complication. [83]

_Harmonies_ in form and in colour are produced in differentways--sometimes by repetition with variation; sometimes by thedifferent parts being rather reflected on each than repeated. Thisexplains the harmony that may be called consonance, if I rightlyunderstand M. Blanc's theory. 

_Contrast_ is most generally understood as a common resource in thehands of the artist for producing strong effects; but M. Blanccleverly expresses the reticence needed to ensure contrast beingpleasurable, not painful. "To adorn persons or things, " he says, "isnot simply for the purpose of causing them to be conspicuous; it isthat they may be admired. It is not simply to draw attention to them, but that they may be regarded with feelings of pleasure. . . . Ifcontrast be needed, let it be used as the means of rendering the wholemore powerful, brilliant, and striking. For instance, if orange isintended to predominate in a decoration, let blue be mingled with it, but sparingly. Let the complementary colour be its auxiliary, and notits rival. " Contrasts are always unpleasant, if the two forcesstruggle with each other for pre-eminence, whether it be in form or incolour. The rule to be observed in all ornamental design is this:"that contrasting objects, instead of disturbing unity, should assistit by giving most effect to that we wish to bring forward anddisplay. "

_Radiation_ belongs to the principle of symmetry, starting from acentre from which all lines diverge, and to which all lines point. This is to be found throughout nature, from the rays of the sun to thepetals of the daisy. All decorative art employs and illustrates it. 

"_Gradation_ in colour, as in form, is not quite synonymous withprogression, but expresses a series of adroitly managed transitions. The English intermingle in their decoration, colours very finelyblended; nor do they find any transition too delicate. This, as in allprinciples of ornament, has to be employed according to the feelingsintended to be produced on the mind of the spectator--whether forabsolute contrast or for imperceptible progression, when the tenderestcolours are needed. "

_Complication_ is illustrated by M. Blanc, by a quotation from"Ziegler. "[84] "Complication is another aspect of the art which ownsthe same sentiment as that expressed by Dædalus in his labyrinth, Solomon in his mysterious seal, the Greeks in their interlacing andwinding ornaments, the Byzantines, the Moors, and the architects ofour cathedrals in their finest works. Intertwined mosaics, andintersection of arches and ribs, all spring from complication. "

To follow the interlacing line of an ornament, gives the mind thepleasure of untying the Gordian knot, without cutting it. It gives theexcitement of curiosity, pursuit, and discovery. "When we see thesetraceries so skilfully plaited, in which straight lines and curvesintermingle, cross, branch out, disappear and recur, we experience ahigh pleasure in unravelling a puzzle which at first, perhaps, appeared to be undecipherable; and in acknowledging that a latentarrangement may be recognized in what at first, and at a distance, seems an inextricable confusion. " The Celtic, Moorish, and Gothicstyles illustrate and are explained by these remarks; and they arewell worthy the attention of the designer. 

Having so freely borrowed from M. Blanc's chapter on the general lawsof ornamentation, I will finish my quotations with the words withwhich he concludes: "There is no decoration in the works of nature orthe inventions of men which does not owe its birth to one of theoriginal principles here enumerated, viz. Repetition, Alternation, Symmetry, Progression, and Balanced Confusion; or else to one of theirsecondary causes, consonance, contrast, radiation, gradation, andcomplication; or lastly, to a combination of these different elements, which all finally lose themselves in a primordial cause--the origin ofthe movements of the universe--ORDER. "[85]

The extracts from M. Blanc's works I have carefully placed betweencommas, being most anxious to express my obligation to him for hiscarefully formulated epitome of the laws of design. But though I havelargely quoted, there remains still much most interesting andsuggestive matter, which I recommend the reader to seek in his book. 

Though we should call to our aid the general laws of design for allart, we must select from them what is specially appropriate for theneeds of our craft. From the art of needlework we should eliminateas much as possible all ideas of _roundness_, all variety of surfaceand effects of light and shadow and contrasting colours. Unity, softness, grace, refinement, brightness, cheerfulness, pleasantsuggestions, --these should be the objects in view when we design thepanels for the drawing-room or boudoir, the hangings for the bed, orthe cover for the table--harmony which will satisfy the eye, thoughtsthat shall please the mind. 

The objects in nature that give us the most unalloyed pleasure--birdsand flowers--are those that from all time have served as the materialsfor decorative design, and therefore have been moulded into thetraditional patterns which have descended to us from the earliesttimes. Design must follow the scientific laws of art, and shape thevariations of traditional forms from which we cannot escape. In ourpresent search after these inner truths, I repeat that we have nothingto do with the rules of painting, sculpture, and architecture, or anyother of the secondary arts, such as wood carving, metal work, &c. ;these having each their own intrinsic principles, which must be workedout as corollaries from the general laws of composition which governall Aryan art. [86]

It is curious that in drawing on the flat, in ancient frescoes, thereappear to be no acknowledged rules of perspective--hardly more inPompeii, than on early Chinese screens and plates; or than later inthe Bayeux tapestries. And yet the Greeks, with their unerringinstinct, actually made use of false architectural perspectives to addto the effects of height and depth in their colonnaded buildings. [87]They sensibly diminished the circumference of the columns, and usedother means in their designs for this purpose. They understood theprinciple, but they did not carry it into flat decorative art. Theydid not attempt, when they painted a landscape on the wall, to do morethan recall the idea they were sketching; and never thought of vyingin scientific or naturalistic imitation with the real landscape theysaw through the window; they did not wish to interfere with the effectof the statue, or the human figures grouped in front of it, to whichthe wall served as a background. Those threw shadows and cast lights;but in the flat there were no shadows, no perspective--all wasflat. [88] We must draw from this the deduction that the Greeks heldthat flatness was an essential quality of wall decoration (except infriezes) as well as of all textile ornament; and for every reason wemust accept this flatness as a general law for designs in embroidery. 

In hangings and dress materials, flatness is more agreeable than acomplicated shaded design, especially when it is further confused byfolds, disturbing and interrupting the flow of the lines of thepattern. 

The reader will perceive that the laws of composition for textilesquoted from M. Blanc, apply perfectly to designs on the flat, and tooutlined sketches in black and white, as well as to the mostelaborate compositions for pictures, either historical or "genre. "They are rules which should be understood and employed by the man whodraws for a wall-paper or an area railing; and certainly by him whomakes patterns for our schools of design. 

It may therefore be laid down as a general rule, that all designs forembroidery should be considered first as outlined drawings, covering aflat surface, and then filled in with colour. The outlines should aslittle as possible overlap one another, as flatness is one of thefirst objects to be remembered; and this, of course, will be disturbedby the parts passing over or under each other. Indian designs inflowers have invariably a wonderful flatness, in the absence of alllight and shadow; joined to a naturalistic suggestion of detail, whichis accounted for by their traditional mode of copying from nature. Thebranch or blossom to be copied, is laid on the ground and pegged downwith care, to eliminate every variety of surface, and every branch andtwig so arranged that they may not cross or touch each other. Thisconventional composition is then drawn, and every natural distinctionin the form carefully copied. I would suggest that this idea should beaccepted as useful for imitation among ourselves in certainconventional compositions of vegetable forms. Perhaps it is our Aryanancestry that has given us a prevailing taste for such decorations;and it is worth while to consider how best to manipulate them. [89]

Clinging as we do to these floral designs, we can see that they arethe only ones that bear repetition, whether covering the surface ofthe material in the rich irregularity of the flowers in a field, orconventionalized into a form or a pattern. 

The eye is never shocked or fatigued by such repetitions in orderlyconfusion, or trained by the hand into artistic shapes or meanderingsof tracery. But when embroidery or weaving attempts to representanimals or typical human figures, repetition immediately becomestiresome. A Madonna surrounded by angels, comes in badly, repeatedover and over again as a pattern, broken up by folds, cut up by aseam, dislocated in the joining, and repeated in tiers. Such a designis figured in Auberville's book. [90] The drawing is beautiful, but byrepetition it becomes ridiculous. I therefore deprecate this kind ofornament in textile work. For this reason embroidery, which can befitted to each space that is to be covered, is preferable to wovendesigns, however richly or perfectly they may be carried out. 

Another class of design, which must be considered apart, is theconventional-geometrical, of which the special distinction appears tobe that it consists of echoes or fragments of what we have seenelsewhere. These conventional patterns are often merely the _detritus_of past styles or motives crushed and placed by time in a sort ofkaleidoscope. They remind one of the little wreaths of broken shellsand coloured sea-weeds left on the sands by the retiring waves after astorm, and are sometimes full of beauty and suggestion. (Pl. 17. ) Wetrace in these fragmentary patterns forgotten links with differentcivilizations; and we ponder on the historical events which havebrought them into juxtaposition. These kaleidoscope patterns are to beseen in Persian and Turkish carpets of the present day, and we find, on examination, little bits which can only be the remnants of abroken-up motive, probably as much lost now to the designer whoinherits the traditional form, as to us who can only see the vagueresults. 

I illustrate this remark by giving the border of a modern Persiancarpet which has certainly had Egyptian ancestry. The boat, thebeetle, and the prehistoric cross are to be found in it. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 8. Persian Carpet. ]

Many conventional patterns of to-day are descendants of thelattice-work of Chinese art, and of the zigzags, lines, and discs ofbarbarous primitive ornamentation. 

The traceries in Indian stone windows show some of the most charminggeometrical forms, and are akin to the Persian and Russian modes ofcomposing conventional patterns. They appear on very ancient metalwork, and are the motives of all the embroideries in the Greek islandsand the principalities, and of the linen embroideries of Russia. TheirByzantine origin gave its impress to the European schools of theMiddle Ages, and the pattern-books of Germany and Venice of thesixteenth century are full of them. They are best suited for themosaic stitches, and, kept in their places as decoration, they areuseful for carpets and borders. 

It should be impressed on our young artists, that, in composing theirdesigns, they must be influenced by the materials to be employed, andthe purpose for which the decoration is intended. Thus in textiledesign for dress and hangings (excepting for tapestries) the fact mustnever be lost sight of that they will be subject to disturbance bycrossing folds and crumplings, which will break up the lines of thepattern. It is therefore evident that a design fitted for a rigidmaterial in a fixed place, such as an architectural decoration inwood, stone, or stucco, must be subject to a treatment different fromthat which befits an embroidered curtain or panel. 

Stone and wood, being materials of uniform colour, require all thehelp of recessed shadows and projections to catch the light; whereasin textiles, form is assisted by colour, and smoothness of surface isa primary consideration. The strongly accentuated design forwood-carving becomes poor and lifeless when deprived of its essentialconditions and _raison d'être_, and the pattern which looks charming, outlined and filled in with colour, could be hardly seen incised on aflat stone surface. This seems a truism, but the neglect of theseplain axioms causes many mistakes in decorative art. Mr. Redgravesays: "A design must be bad which applies the same treatment todifferent materials. " He further says: "The position of the ornamentrequires special consideration. The varied quantities, bolder relief, and coarser execution are not only allowable, but absolutelynecessary, at heights considerably above the eye. Moreover, eachfabric has its own peculiar lustre, texture, &c. Thus, in the use ofhangings, curtains, &c. , the design might be suitable in silk, andcoarse or dull in woollen. "[91]

Here I venture to differ from Mr. Redgrave. Perspective is as much tobe respected in decoration as in pictures, near to the eye; and thegradation in size and colour, as the ornament travels up into heightor fades into distance, is a phase of pleasure which should not bechecked by enlargement of form or reinforcement of colouring. 

It is hardly necessary to warn our artists against a sort of designwhich is conventional, yet had its own meaning in the beginning. Thisis to be found in Indian carvings and embroideries of a certain date, or imitating the works of that distant period. It proceeded from ahideous worship of monstrous Dravidian divinities. Their statues areto be found, surrounded by coarsely designed patterns, in the templearchitecture of the first and second centuries. Its characteristicsare idols in niches or shrines, distorted in form or attitude; foliageof unnatural, twisted plants, added to the recurring of the lotus andtree of life; or animals destroying each other, or kneeling in worshipto the idols. These ugly designs are purely conventional. Fergussonsuggests that they were introduced into Mexico in the fourth or fifthcenturies A. D. By Buddhism. [92]

Those many-armed, sometimes many-faced divinities drove out thebeautiful Aryan types, which, however, resumed their sway when thewave of the Renaissance flowed back to India, and was remodelled byOriental taste to the lovely designs we find in the Taj Mahal. 

In M. Blanc's classification of ornament, he has placed Gothic designunder the head of deliberate complication. The whole of the Gothicdecorations, which are a gradual growth in one direction, arose fromthe study of interlacing boughs and stems, employed as the enrichmentof the newly-grown forms of the vaulted roofs. The possibilities ofgreat size and height covered these designs and inspired all theirdecoration; and the effect of reiteration and long recurring lines inperspective was essentially the motive of these avenues in stone. [93]

Here enter the principles of repetition and progression, and you willfind how carefully the designers of the twelfth, thirteenth, andfourteenth centuries worked up to these ideas. You will see in theirembroideries, shining figures or pictures in gold, silver, andcoloured silks, shimmering on dark velvet backgrounds, each designterminating a perspective of architectural forms which enhances theirbrilliancy. The most effective, probably, were generally employed forthe adornment of the high altar, so as to be seen from a greatdistance. The smaller and less distinct and more delicate ornamentswere reserved for the side chapels or for smaller churches, where suchdistant effects were inappropriate. But the motives of ecclesiasticalembroidery will be discussed in a future chapter. 

All attempts at pictorial art are a mistake in textiles. It does notenter into such designs; and when by chance it is allowed to be soused, it is an error of judgment, and only exhibits a laborious anduseless ingenuity. It is no longer an artistic delineation of anatural object, but becomes an imitation of another way of renderingsuch objects. 

Mr. Redgrave says that pictorial art in our manufactures is one of ourgreat mistakes. "The picture must be independent of the material, thethought alone should govern it; whereas in decoration the materialmust be one of the suggestors of the thought, its use must govern thedesign. "

Perhaps it will appear to my readers that here I repeat, in differentforms, what has been said in a previous chapter on the history ofstyle. I think that it is better to do so, than to omit to show wherestyle and design must accompany each other. Style, without anyreference to design, would be but a barren subject; and design, without reference to style, would become lawless, and soon be lost inthe mazes of bad taste and mannerism. Both subjects are of so largeand important a nature that I do not attempt to do more than point outhow, in their history and their influence, they belong to the craft ofembroidery. 

Such influences belong to all art; and though I am anxious to confinemyself to only one section of it, I find it difficult to resist thetemptation to generalize and stray from the prescribed path, whenlarge and important views are opened on every side, as I travel onfrom point to point. 

In sketching the history of design, as well as I may in so short aspace, it is only considered in the light in which it illustrates ourcraft. 

I repeat that the design should be informed by the motive whichsuggested it, and by the need which has called it forth; and it mustbe moulded to the space it has to fill, and the position it willoccupy. The design must be modified into different outward forms, according to whether it is to be fitted to the edge of a buildingagainst the sky; to a high panelled wall; to be applied as a frieze, or round the capital of a pillar; to the embroidered cover of analtar, or the silken hangings of a bed, or the framed flat spaces onthe walls of a saloon. In fact, "intention, " "place, " and "shape" arenecessary motives and limits to a flat design. 

Leaving aside all architectural ornamentation, and adhering only to myown subject, embroidery, I will limit my observations to the threepurposes here suggested. Firstly, as the central effect of the holiestpart of a church; secondly, in the domestic and comfortable room, tobe adorned and made cheerful; and thirdly, as decking the refined andgay saloon or banqueting-hall. 

To the church we should devote the most splendid and effectivecontrasts, to blaze unframed against dark empty backgrounds, or amidststone and marble decorations; something set apart from itssurroundings, and asserting that separation, is the desirable effectto be attained. 

A totally different set of rules come into play when we have to selectthe decorations of a bedroom. Here a background does not exist. We aresurrounded by four walls very near to the eye, so that perspectivesare a secondary interest, if indeed they can claim any consideration;severe and magnificent ornamentation is out of place, except perhapsin that time-honoured institution--to be found in every great housepossessing a suite of reception-rooms--the State bedroom, where thedisplay of hangings and embroideries was the first motive of thedecoration of the past, clothing and garnishing the bare spaces on thelofty walls. Space and separateness are not the object or aim of thebedroom of to-day; but lightness, snugness, and cheerful comfort, withwhich the design of the textile ornaments have much to do. This willin a later chapter come under the head of furniture. 

For the saloon we may accept any splendour of rich and costly design, and the variously shaped panels assist in suggesting the form of thedecoration. The plain or moulded panels, called in Italian "targhe, "or shields, seem to be descended from the actual shields of gold whichSolomon hung on the walls of the king's house in the Forest ofLebanon. [94] The motive was apparently Tyrian, and traces of it arealso to be found in Assyrian sculpture. [95]

The practice of framing the design gives opportunities for change ofmaterials, colour, and pattern, permitting the employment of differentflat surfaces laid on each other, and scope for endless enrichment;the framed picture being, perhaps, the central culminating attraction, crowning, as it were, the textile ornamentation. 

I merely give these instances as illustrating the rule that we havemore than once laid down, that a design cannot fitly be employedexcept in the position for which the artist has composed it. I will, however, add that though it is right to give due consideration to thepreparation of each work for its intended use, yet we often havecharming suggestions offered to us, by the chance acquisition of abeautiful artistic specimen, which finds its own place andaccommodates itself to the surrounding colours and forms. These arethe happy accidents of which the cultivated artistic eye takesadvantage, adding them to the experience which may help those who areseeking for the rules of harmony and contrast in design. 

Research into the mysteries and principles of design applies to wovenarabesques and patterns, and must include machine-made textileornament, and all decorative needlework. It is, in fact, the fabricfor the million which most especially needs the careful study ofguiding rules. When a plant sends forth hundreds of winged, wind-blownseeds, like the thistle, it spreads itself over wide fields, and ismore mischievous than a more noxious growth, such as the deadlynightshade, which only drops an occasional berry into the earth. So acommon cheap chintz or carpet, with a poor, gaudy, motiveless design, carries a bad style into thousands of homes wherever our commerceextends; disgracing us, while it corrupts the taste of other nations. 

In addressing our young designers, I would remind them that in art therace is not always to the strong. Prudence and educated powers, thoughtfulness and study, often carry us where unassisted anduncultivated genius has signally failed. Even such facilities as areafforded by the acquirement of freehand drawing, as taught in ourschools of art, are not to be despised. The workman should thoroughlymaster his tools, or they will hamper him. The first step towardsdesign is that you should learn to draw. After this, appreciation andobservation are necessary, and due balance in outline and colourshould be studied; and all this is as much needed in drawing apattern as in composing a picture. The difference lies in our artbeing only decorative, wherein beauty and fitness are to beremembered, and nothing else; whereas the picture may have to recordhistorical facts, or to inspire poetical thoughts--to awe or to touchthe beholder. A decorative design is only asked to delight him. Intelligent delight, however, can only be evoked by intelligent art, and to this, decoration must be subjected. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [73] The earliest art we know (the bone-scratching) is naturalistic and imitative. We are unaware of any attempt at a pattern of the prehistoric period. The lake cities are of so vague a date that their ornaments on pottery are puzzling rather than instructive. The earliest Hellenic pottery was scratched or painted. Cuttle-fish, repeated over and over again, are among the earliest attempts at a pattern, by repetition of a natural object. Naturalism soon fell into symbolism, which appropriated it and all art, and the upheaval of a new culture was needed to lift it once more into the region of individual creation. See Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain;" also General Pitt Rivers's Museum of Prehistoric Art, lately presented to the University of Oxford. 

 [74] See Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain. "

 [75] "I hope, indeed, to enable them" (the members of his class) "to read, above all, the minds of semi-barbarous nations in the only language by which their feelings were capable of expression; and those whose temper inclines them to take a pleasure in mythic symbols, will not probably be induced to quit the profound fields of investigation which early art will open to them, and which belong to it alone. For this is a general law, that supposing the intellect of the workman the same, the more imitatively complete his art, the less he will mean by it, and the ruder the symbol, the deeper the intention. "--Ruskin's "Oxford Lectures on Art, " 1870, p. 19. 

 [76] See Isaac Taylor's "History of the Alphabet. "

 [77] Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, 1879, p. 67. 

 [78] Now there is a point of view in which we may regard the imitative art of all races, the most civilized as well as the most barbarous--in reference to the power of correctly representing animal and vegetable forms, such as they exist in nature. The perfection of such imitation depends not so much on the manual dexterity of the artist as on his intelligence and comprehension of the type of the essential qualities of the form he desires to represent. See Ch. T. Newton's "Essays on Art and Archæology, " p. 17. 

 [79] See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians. "

 [80] Plato's Second Book of Laws, p. 656. 

 [81] "The religion of the Greeks penetrated into their institutions and daily life. The myth was not only embodied in the sculptures of Pheidias on the Parthenon, and portrayed in the paintings of Polygnotus in the Stoa Poikile; it was repeated in a more compendious and abbreviated form on the fictile vase of the Athenian household, on the coin circulated in the market-place, on the mirror in which the Aspasia of the day beheld her charms. Every domestic implement was made the vehicle of figurative language, or fashioned into a symbol. "--Newton's "Essays on Art and Archæology, " p. 23. 

 [82] "Art in Ornament and Dress, " by M. Charles Blanc, formerly Director of the French Institute. Eng. Trans. , Chapman and Hall, London. 

 [83] See Charles Blanc's "Art in Ornament and Dress, " p. 31. 

 [84] Charles Blanc's "Art in Ornament and Dress, " p. 43. 

 [85] Charles Blanc's "Art in Ornament and Dress, " pp. 43, 45, 46. 

 [86] Chinese design shows naturalistic art arrested and perpetuated on totally different principles. Their representations are all equally allied to their art of picture-painting, whether on china with the brush, or on textiles with the needle. The flatness of the picture is still preserved by their ignorance of perspective. When they attempted to express different distances, they did so by placing them one above another, so that in reading the composition the eye first takes in the distant horizon; next below it, the middle distance; and being thus prepared, it comes down to the actual living foreground, on which rests the dramatic action and interest addressed to the spectator. The Chinese understood many of the secrets of art, yet never achieved perspective. 

 [87] See Mr. Penrose's work on the measurements of the Parthenon at Athens. Published by the Society of the Dilettanti. 

 [88] Marked outlines in embroidery add to the flatness, and enable us to omit cast shadows. In this it differs entirely from pictorial art, where one of the great objects is to avoid flatness. 

 [89] Semper's theory, already mentioned, is that textile design was certainly flat; that it was the first form of decoration, and was followed by bas-relief, which could not at once rid itself of the original motive. 

 [90] Auberville's "Ornamentation des Tissus" (eleventh century). 

 [91] Redgrave's "Manual of Design, " pp. 43-45. 

 [92] This idolatrous type was introduced into England by the Buccaneers, and reflected on our carvings and embroideries of the time of James I. , slightly modified by the Italian Renaissance of that period. As this sort of vulgar ornamentation has once prevailed, let us protect ourselves against its possible recurrence. 

 [93] While making this passing allusion to the theory that the origin of all Gothic decoration is mainly founded on the motive of interlacing stems and foliage, I wish to guard myself against being supposed in any way to argue against other beginnings, whenever they can be proved. I have said before that most decorations have a mixed ancestry. But when I see single or clustered columns starting from the ground--spreading at the base like the gnarled root, and growing till they culminate in crowns of foliage, forming symmetrical capitals, like the first clusters of leaves on a strong young sapling--then the branches spreading and interlacing, only checked at equal intervals by a lovely leaf or burgeon, till they meet in blossoms on the highest point of the arch, --I cannot but adhere to the old idea that rows of trees meeting overhead suggested Gothic ornament as well as Gothic Architecture. The Spanish or Moresque Gothic was overloaded with leaves and flowers, and the German Gothic was enriched with fantastic trees and flowers, each according to its national taste and fashion. A Gothic tree is a very conventional plant; and generally carries only one leaf on each branch. I have given a specimen of archaic trees from the Bayeux tapestry. They are typical of the Gothic botanical idea and style down to the fourteenth century. (Fig. 13. )

 Nor is this interpretation of Gothic design other than a result of its descent from the Egyptian ancestral motive, where the temple columns represented the single stem of the lotus with one large blossom for its capital, or else a bundle of stems of the lotus, palm, and convolvulus flowering together into a beautiful cluster. Even the gigantic columns of the great hypæthral hall at Karnac are only a stupendous exaggeration of the same stalk and flower motive. From these were derived the forms of the early Greek column--soon enriched by substituting the Acanthus for the Lotus, but often retaining the convolvulus. 

 [94] 1 Kings x. ; Ezek. Xxvii. 10, 11. See Stanley's "Lectures on the Jewish Church. "

 [95] Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains, " vol. Ii. P. 388; Rawlinson's "Ancient Monarchies, " vol. Ii. P. 2. 

CHAPTER III. 

PATTERNS. 

In the last chapter on design I have described patterns as theexamples or illustrations of the art of decoration, and as being therecords of the motives which produced them in different eras. Mypresent object is to class and define patterns as decorative art. 

It is argued by some archæologists that the recurrence of a pattern, for instance the "wave, " over the whole world, proves that it reallycame from many sources, under the same conditions of life and art;showing also that a pattern is a thing that, like a flower, must grow, if the culture of the race be equal. I do not believe this. We cannearly always trace the family history of a pattern to its originalmotive; and in the very few cases where we are unable to do so, it ishardly necessary to cover our ignorance by stretching the fashionabletheory of development over the few instances that are as yetunaccountable. 

I have been repeatedly asked to procure or to invent a new pattern. Such is my respect for the decorative achievement called a "pattern, "that I cannot hope for the moment of inspiration in which I mightcreate such a thing. If any one has in his lifetime invented apattern, he has done something truly remarkable, and as rare as is areally original thought on any subject. Patterns are commonly, likemen, the result of many centuries of long descent from ancestors ofremote antiquity. 

Individuals differ from their ancestors through inherited andsurrounding conditions, and through the modifying powers of evolution, climate, and education. So also a pattern has, besides its ancestryand descent, the unconscious mark or seal of its day; and it is easyto trace whence it comes, if we set ourselves to examine the style ofit seriously. 

The patterns of which we can nearly always name at once thenationality, are the Assyrian, the Chinese, the Egyptian, the Hindu(Aryan and Turanian), the Persian, the Archaic and the highlydeveloped Grecian; the Roman, the Celtic, the Byzantine, the Arabian, the Gothic, the Renaissance, the Spanish Plâteresque, the LouisQuatorze, and those of the art of Central America. 

The pattern cannot exist without design. Design means intention andmotive. Many of the motives in Oriental textile decorations aresuggestive of intention, as is shown by their names. Among Indianpatterns we meet with "ripples of silver, " "sunshine and shade, ""pigeon's eye, " "peacock's neck, " &c. [96]

Patterns must be classed either by their dates, when ascertained, oraccording to their style, which must generally be allowed to covervast areas and periods irregularly drifting down, overlapping, orbeing absorbed or effaced by the circumstances they have encountered. 

Only when a national style has been obstinately fixed, as in China, and bound down by strict laws and religious formulas, suited exactlyto the people for whom they were evolved out of the national life, andimprinted on it by their own lawgivers, philosophers, and priests; andneither imposed by conquerors, nor swept over by the waves of a newcivilization;--only in such cases can we find a continuity ofdecorative art which leads us far back on its traces. Then, on thislong track, we learn how little, man, the decorating animal, hasreally advanced in his powers of creation. He has gone more than onceto a certain point, and has then either been petrified by law andcustom--turned into a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife, because he haslooked back instead of striving to advance, or else through poverty orsatiety has fallen into the last stage of the Seven Ages, "_sans_eyes, _sans_ teeth--_sans_ everything. " When what is good is neitherperceived nor desired, then the arts, small and great, dwindle anddisappear, and nothing remains to show that they have been, but aname, and perhaps a pattern. 

Chinese design is the most striking example of the first of thesephases; and the extinction of all classical art with the fall ofPaganism in Rome is an instance of the second. 

In the chapter on style it is said that a pattern is as ineffaceableas a word. But one will occasionally disappear for a time, till theruin that covers it is cleared away, and the lost design recovered andemployed simply as a decoration, if it is beautiful; or perhaps fittedwith a new meaning, and so it makes a fresh start. 

The importance of patterns, when traceable to their origin, as a meansof investigating historical influences cannot be too much insisted on, and their history is full of suggestion as a guide to the decorator. Much has been argued and much ascertained from the evidence of thesefragments of national civilizations, showing how an idea or a myth hasbeen, as it were, engrafted into the essence of another national idea, partly altering what it finds, and changing to fit itself to its newsurroundings. Eastern patterns have travelled far, and lasted long;and continue still to hold the fancy, and exercise the ingenuity, ofthe artist and decorator. When we find a pattern of which thenationality is strongly marked, it is worth our while to ascertain itsdate and history, which will help us to recognize cognate designwherever we may meet it. However, this is often not to be done; andthen it is best to set these puzzling examples aside, and to awaitpatiently the elucidation, which may come from some source of which weare as yet ignorant. 

In very early art we have little remaining but patterns, on which wemay found theories by tracing them home to their original source. Theoldest patterns had each a meaning and an intention. When a patternhas been enduring and far spread, it is because it was originally theexpression of an idea or a symbol. 

In the earliest dawn of civilization, the arts were the repositoriesof the myths and mysteries of national faiths. Embroidery was one ofthese arts, and the border which edged the garment of a divinity, theveil which covered the grave of a loved one, or the flower-buds andfruit which fringed the hangings and curtains in the sanctuary, eachhad a meaning, and therefore a use. These symbolical designs and formswere constantly reproduced; and all human ingenuity was exercised inreforming, remodelling, and adding perfect grace to the expression ofthe same idea. 

 * * * * *

Patterns may be ranged under four heads--the Primitive, theNaturalistic, the Conventional, and the Geometrical. 

The primitive are those of which we know not the ancestry, and rarelycan guess the motive. To us they are, in general, simply rudedecorations. The naturalistic are those which are borrowed fromnatural forms, and are either only imitative, or else convey somehidden meaning. The conventional are those which, by long descent, have come to be accepted simply as ornamental art, with or withoutreference to an original motive, now lost. The geometrical orsymmetrical are founded on form only, and in so far resemble ourexperience of the primitive; they express no meaning, and only serveto satisfy the eye by their balance and their ingenuity. 

PRIMITIVE. 

The first patterned forms with which we are acquainted are theprimitive. They are found in all parts of the inhabited world. In ourpresent ignorance as to the beginnings of the scattered tribes of men, we cannot judge if these are the remains of an earlier art or thefirst germs of a new one. Of one thing there is no doubt: thisprimitive decoration consists entirely of pattern; that is to say, ofthe repetition of certain (to us) inexpressive forms, which byreiteration assume importance and in some degree express beauty--thebeauty of what Monsieur Blanc calls "cadence. "

After these first unintelligible forms, which simply by repetitionbecome accepted patterns, come those called the Prehistoric, of whichwe know or guess something as to their original meaning, and which, having been reduced from the hieroglyphic-symbolical to theconventional, have thus crystallized themselves, by constant use, intoa pattern. Such, for instance, is the simplest form of the "wave"pattern, which in very early art was a representation of water. 

The prehistoric water or wave patterns had other forms; for instance, zigzags, upright or horizontal, and undulating lines which areintelligible as expressing smooth or rough water. In general, however, the primitive and prehistoric patterns convey no idea, and consist, aswe have said elsewhere, of lines, straight or wavy, sometimesintersected; of angles, zigzags, groups of dots, rings and littlediscs, and crosses of the Swastika shape. (Plate 10. )

 [Illustration: Pl. 10. WAVE PATTERNS. 1, 4, 9, 12, 13. Greek Wave Patterns. 2. Key or Mæander, Greek Wave. 3. Greek Broken Wave. 5, 6, 7. Egyptian Smooth and Rippling Water Patterns. 8. Mediæval Wave. 10, 11, 14. Assyrian. 15. Persian or Greek (from Glass Bowl, British Museum). 16. English Waves (Durham Embroideries. )]

Where shall the tartan be placed? It is certainly primitive, andapparently had no intention beyond that of employing as many colouredthreads as there were dyes, so as to form the brightest contrasts, orelse to be as invisible as possible either in the sunshine or in theshade. The Gauls brought this kind of weaving with them from the East, and probably invented the pattern, if such a motiveless design can beso called. It had its classical name, "Polymita, " and was admired inRome when newly imported, as being something original and barbaric. The Romans found it in Britain, and Boadicea wore a tartan dress onthe day of her defeat. Perhaps even then fashions came from France, and it may have been her best tunic from across the Channel. Thisfabric may have been imported by the Belgic Gauls, and was so easilywoven on house looms, that it became in time the feudal dress of theScottish tribes and clans, and the colours were ingeniously arrangedto show the most different effects. The tartan has always been aresource for the woollen trade, and the fashion constantly recurs inFrance, either from sentiment or the actually inherited Gallic taste;but it remains a primitive pattern, and nothing can make it artistic. No embroidery can soften the constantly recurring angles, and onlyfringes can be employed to decorate a tartan costume. Pliny tells usof the ingenuity of Zeuxis, who, to show his wealth, had his nameembroidered in gold in the squared compartments of his outergarment. [97]

Primitive patterns still linger in many savage nations, but especiallythroughout uncivilized Africa. Curious to say, the very ancientfossilized early art of Egypt does not assist us to trace it back toa prehistoric style, though it may lead us into prehistoric times. 

NATURALISTIC. 

The phases of the naturalistic patterns are constantly recurring. Artis always tending to realism, in the laudable effort to reach themotive without the shackles of rules. Each phase has fallen a prey tosymbolism, to conventionalism, or to mannerism, which last symptommarks the decline and fall of art. We shall find these phaseseverywhere in the design of patterns. 

Naturalism has always striven, by simple repetition, to reduce topatterns the forms of flowers, fruits, animals, birds, insects, reptiles, and other natural objects. 

In flower patterns the simplest forms by repetition make sometimes therichest patterns, and the most effective. (Plate 11, Nos. 1 and 2. )

It is remarkable that one very beautiful class of natural objects israrely employed in ancient decoration[98]--shells and corals. Thebarbarous tribes of the West Coast of Africa alone seem to haveappreciated their forms, and added them to their small repertory ofnaturalistic patterns. They do not appear in any European or Asiatictextiles till the seventeenth century, when shells were much used inthe decorations of the reigns of Queen Anne and Louis Quatorze. 

The first change from naturalism into the conventional was throughsymbolism, and belonged to the time when unwritten thought was firstrecorded by pictured signs, which then ceased to be merely decoration. We find that the naturalism of the earliest Egyptians and Asiatics wassoon entirely absorbed by the effort to express some hidden meaning ormystery, and then to fit the representation to a special place andpurpose, and to restore it, as it were, to decorative art. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 11. 1. Persian Flower Border. 2. Egyptian Border, composed of Head-dress of the god Nile (Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians"). 3. Assyrian. 4. Assyrian. ]

The lotus and the patterns founded on its forms, and the manyemblematic meanings attached to them, are notable examples of thesetransmutations in style and intention, and of the value given to theirintention and use in Egypt and India, where each development wasimmediately crystallized into a recognized pattern, and given itsplace and language. It received its "_mot d'ordre_, " and continued toact upon it long after the meaning was forgotten or out of date. 

The rolling pattern which had so long represented only the "wave, " wasgiven to the really straight stem of the lotus, and its blossom, substituted for the wave's crest, now filled many a frieze in Indiantemple architecture; whereas the lotus stems in Egypt were still boundin sheaves to form columns, and the flowers, buds, and leaves spreadand blossomed into capitals. Here we have symbolism andconventionalized naturalism, all combined, showing how theirprinciples, though quite distinct, can mix and unite. The conventionalform often superseded and effaced the naturalistic, and became thesign of an idea, or the hieroglyphic picture of a thing; immovable andunalterable in Egypt, where every effort was made to secure eternityon earth, but continually returning to naturalism in India, where theAryan tendency, with the assistance of the "Code of Manu, " alwaysrecurred to the restoration of the ancient naturalistic motive. 

In the India Museum we may see the "wave" motive converted into alotus pattern by rolling the long stems, and filling up the spacesbetween with the full-faced blossom. Sometimes the pattern is startedby the figure of an elephant, from whose mouth the stem of the flowerof the sun proceeds. This occurs so often that it must originallyhave had a meaning. Sometimes the sacred convolvulus takes the placeof the lotus. (Plate 12. )

On an Egyptian mural painting are seen parties of men snaring ducksamong papyrus and lotus plants. These are entirely conventional, andare, in fact, a sort of recognized hieroglyphic representing the ideaof a lotus. [99]

The lotus was the accepted emblem of the sun, and reduced to amany-leaved radiating pattern may be found as an architecturalornament on the outside of the Buddhist "topes, " of which the modelsare on the staircase of the British Museum. [100] (Plate 13. )

We have Sir G. Birdwood's authority for believing that, though theactual lotus was a native of India, and carried thence to Egypt, itsdecorative use as a pattern was Egyptian, and so returned to India. Both accepted it as their "sunflower. "[101]

 [Illustration: Pl. 12. 1. Indian Rolling Lotus Pattern. 2, 3. Indian Lotus Patterns. 4, 5. Egyptian Lotus Patterns. 6. Sacred Convolvulus. Indian (seventeenth century). ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 13. 1, 2. Indian Designs of Assyrian Daisy and Egyptian Lotus. 3. Vitruvian Scroll. Vignola. Architecture. ]

Can it be our Aryan descent which induces in us the earnest adoration, in our art of to-day, of our northern prototype of the sun's emblem? Ifear that we must acknowledge that our æsthetic worship of oursunflowers is somewhat false and affected. Æstheticism is not art. Sunflowers, painted or embroidered as decoration, do not "take" ifthey are ordered and ranged, and reduced to a pattern like those ofEgypt. They must be naturalistic, and, if possible, remind us of adisorderly cottage garden; whereas in India they were adaptedfrom nature on fixed principles, which immediately reduced them tothe conventional. 

 [Illustration: Sunflower pattern, R. S. A. N. XIX. Century]

I give an illustration of a Gothic sunflower resembling a transfiguredrose; and another of an ordered naturalistic sunflower pattern, from adesign of the Royal School of Art Needlework. (Plate 14. )

 [Illustration: Fig. 9. Gothic Sunflower. From Christ's College Chapel, Cambridge. ]

I have given this account of the patterns founded on the lotus, as wecan almost from this distance of time take a bird's-eye view of itsrise in naturalism, its spread, dispersion, and its crystallizationinto conventional forms; also we can trace how the lotus patterns ofIndian art have resulted, when accepted in Europe, in nothing but therolling wave, carrying flower forms which no longer represent a lotus;and how the lotus bud and flower pattern has become in time theclassical "egg and tongue;" which, however, may have resulted alsofrom a combination of other motives. 

Representations of animal forms are sometimes very remarkable inphases of naturalism. The few remains of Celtic art that have survivedare entirely animal, or very nearly so. In their stone, gold, silver, and bronze work, and in illuminated MSS. , we meet with only animalforms; never a flower or a leaf. 

Besides the Indo-Chinese patterns in Celtic art, which suggest theChinese lattice-work (so strongly insisted on by Semper as a constantmotive), we also find in all their decorations compartments containinginvolved patterns of cords or strings knitted or plaited, suggestingthe entrails of animals, which by these hunting people were consultedas being mysteriously prophetic of approaching events, especiallysuccess or failure in the chase, and impending warlike raids. [102]There is no other way of accounting for these designs, which arepeculiar to the race, unless we believe they always represent snakes. (Pl. 15. )

In England much that was characteristic of the style was lost as soonas the Saxons drove out the Celts, who carried it to Ireland, as maybe seen in the Book of Kells, and the carving of the Harp of Tara, andthe Celtic jewels in the Irish museums; but the interlacing patternssurvived throughout Anglo-Saxon art, and were marvellously ingeniousand beautiful; witness the Durham Book of St. Cuthbert. 

We have no Celtic textiles remaining to us, unless some embroidery inthe Marien-Kirche collection at Dantzic may be of that style and time. This is suggested by its altogether Indo-Chinese and very barbarouscharacter;[103] and one of the coronation mantles in Bock's"Kleinodien" is Runic in its peculiar serpent design. 

 [Illustration: Illumination from the Lindisfarne Gospels, about A. D. 700]

 [Illustration: Pl. 16. Demeter. From a Greek Vase in the British Museum. ]

"Judging from their illuminated MSS. , " it is said, "the elementsborrowed from textile art by the Celts are plaits, bows, zigzags, knots, geometrical figures in various symmetrically developedcombinations, crosses, whorls, and lattice-work; next, those taken frommetal work, such as spirals and nail-heads let into borders; thirdly, simple or composite zoomorphic forms, such as bodies of snakes, birds'heads on long necks, lizards, dogs, dragons, and the like. "[104] Theywell understood how to make a pattern by the repetition of objects ofany class. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 17. 1. Embroidery on a Greek Mantle, third century B. C. , from the Tomb of the Seven Brothers, Crimea. 2. Egyptian Painted and Embroidered Linen. The cone, the bead, the daisy, the wave, the lotus under water, are all shown on this fragment. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 18. EGYPTIAN TAPESTRY. 1. Woven and embroidered on a Sleeve. 2. Woven and embroidered. 3. Painted and embroidered. ]

Representations of human figures in embroideries probably originatedin hangings for the wall; but have been treated as decorative forms, both by the Indians and the Greeks, for wearing apparel. The peplos ofMinerva was bordered with fighting gods and giants, and the EmpressTheodora's dress in the Ravenna mosaic repeats exactly the samemotive. (See Fig. 4, and Pl. 6. )

There are two other examples of such Greek patterns. The mantle ofDemeter on a Greek vase in the British Museum, of the best period (Pl. 16), is embroidered with flying genii and victorious chariots; and theembroidered mantle lately found in a Crimean tomb, is of precisely thesame style of design, and the one illustrates the other. Theseinstances are so exceptional, that it is curious that here, as in thecase of the peplos, in each case there should happen to be aduplicate. (Plates 16 and 17, No. 1. )

In Babylonian, Assyrian, and Chaldean art we constantly find animalforms in patterns. The lion and the hare, birds and insects, are thecommonest; and there are some instances of human figures reduced to apattern in these sculptured representations of textiles. (Plate 2. )

There are curiously woven little human figures finished with theneedle on the sleeve of an Egyptian dress in the British Museum, fromSaccarah (Pl. 18), and, of course, when such a design is small, itceases to be very objectionable. On the whole, however, naturalisticdesigns for embroideries are more safely confined to floraldecorations, excepting always flat tapestries for walls, which, representing pictures, may be as naturalistic as their purpose andstyle will admit. 

Animal forms are often reduced to patterns by repetition in Indianand Persian embroidery. [105] The drawing is naturalistic, but thecolouring is fanciful. We may see any day, on Persian rugs, scarletlions pursuing and capturing blue or yellow hares. The flatness andwant of all shadows tends to the conventional. Lions, bulls, cats, beetles, and serpents abound especially in Egyptian design; insects, reptiles, and fish in Asiatic patterns, where animals are sometimesmade to walk in pairs, with their heads and tails twisted into apattern. 

Though landscapes are so rarely worked that the subject is, perhaps, hardly worthy of notice, yet such mistaken specimens of ingenuity haveoccurred. An altar frontal was exhibited at Zurich, in 1883, containing some really exquisitely worked landscapes, which were quiteout of place, both as art and as decoration, for an ecclesiasticalpurpose. This was of the beginning of the last century. [106]

While we appreciate and should take advantage of our national tendencyto naturalistic design, we must beware of looking on fixed rules asbonds which cramp our liberty, and of thinking that nature should beour only guide to an otherwise unassisted and unfettered inspiration. Without the wholesome checks of experience and educated taste, and theknowledge which teaches us what to avoid, as well as what to imitate, founded on the successes and failures of others, we fall into weakimitations of natural objects. 

Mr. Redgrave points out how unpleasant and jarring to our sense ofwhat is appropriate, and therefore how offensive to good taste andcommon sense, it is to tread on a carpet of water-lilies swimming inblue pools, or on fruits and flowers heaped up and casting shadowsprobably towards the light. [107] Woollen lions and tigers, as large aslife, basking before the fire in a wreath of roses, are alarmingrather than agreeable, and are of the nature of a practical joke inart. It is the search for novelty in naturalism that leads to suchastonishing compositions; and these, being successively rejected inthe heart of our civilization and culture, are drifted away tovulgarize our colonies, or to be sold cheap to furnish Continentalhotels, and make the English traveller blush for his homemanufactures. 

SYMBOLICAL AND CONVENTIONAL. 

Though it is true that the highest art, pictorial and sculptural, isalways struggling towards naturalism, the art of decoration is, by itsnature, constantly tending to conventionalism. Patterns, if notabsolutely geometrical or naturalistic, must be classed under thisprinciple. Let us examine what is meant by a conventional pattern. 

It may be said that the conventional includes every form--thesymbolic, the naturalistic, or even the hieroglyphic--that is selectedand consecrated to convey a certain idea. The lily of Florence, whichis something between a lily and an iris, but unlike either, is aconventional form; likewise the lily of France, which it is said wasonce a conventional frog. The rose of England, the shamrock, and thethistle have always been more naturalistic than is usual in suchheraldic designs; but the parti-coloured rose of York and Lancasterwas decidedly conventional, and heraldic. 

Conventional patterns now are those which, having been originallynaturalistic in style, but perhaps emblematic as to their motive, havebeen repeated till the meaning and form have been lost; or else, as inthe case of the lotus, the emblem is forgotten, and nothing remainsbut the recognized conventional form. 

One conventional pattern which, having commenced by being a symbol, has been repeated and varied till it has allowed the originalessential meaning to escape, is the "palm-leaf" or "cone" pattern onFrench or Paisley shawls, which, having been a sacred emblem--the treeof life--in Persia, became in Europe, when the religious myth waslost, only a shawl pattern--merely a leaf, with plant painted withinits outlines. (Plate 23, Nos. 10, 11. )

Decorative designs become conventional in spite of the intention ofthe designer. He is overruled by the spaces to be covered and thematerials to be employed. His design must produce a flat pattern; hemust repeat it again and again; he must give it a strong outline; hemust distribute it regularly at certain intervals. Repetition at onceconventionalizes the most naturalistic drawing, and the most sacredand mysterious emblem. Alternation is equally a source ofconventionalism. There is no motive that cannot be conventionalizedinto a pattern by repetition. A Gothic crown and a true lily, repeated, will make an ecclesiastical conventional pattern. Then comeall the Arabian and Moresque forms (which are mostly geometric), andalso the Gothic (which are partly geometric and partly naturalistic, especially those in German and debased Spanish and Portuguese Gothicdesign). 

 [Illustration: Pl. 19. 1. Key Pattern. 2. Broken-up Key. 3. Beads. 4. Key and sign of Land. 5. Wave and Babylonian Daisy. 6. Key and Fundata. 7. Wave and Bead. 8. Wave and Daisy. 9. Key and Sun Cross. These Key Patterns from Ceiling of a Tomb at Saccarah, in Egypt. (Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians. ")]

Then we must accept as conventional all those which may be calledkaleidoscope patterns, which are broken fragments of old motives, repeated or "radiated" so as to become partly geometrical, whollyconventional. (See Pl. 17, No. 2. )

Conventional patterns may be reduced into three kinds. 

First, the naturalistic, which have by repetition been adapted fordecorative art. 

Secondly, the symbolical--Pagan or Christian, religious or historical, including the Heraldic. 

Thirdly, those conventional forms which may never have had any innermeaning, or else, having originally had one, have lost it. 

All these exist, sometimes apart and sometimes mingled; so that somethought must be expended in seeking the motive which has brought themtogether, and finding in each the internal evidence of its descent. 

It is evident that patterns, conventionalized and brought from distantsources, sometimes meet and amalgamate. When the origin of aconventional pattern is disputed, it is worth while to examine if ithas a double parentage. Let me give, as an instance, the key pattern. It may have been, as Semper believes, originally Chinese, and derivedfrom wicker-work design. It represents also the broken or dislocated"wave, " the symbol of the River Mæander, [108] and for water generally. We find it everywhere in company with the wave, which never could havehad any connection with wicker-work, not only in China, but in Persia, India, Egypt, Arabia, Greece, Rome, and Central America. (Pl. 19. )

Can any invention of man show a more symbolical intention than thewave pattern? The airy leap drawn downwards by the force ofgravitation; controlled, and again made to return, but strong toinsist on its own curve of predilection, rushing back under the samecircle; strengthened by the downward movement to spring again from itsoriginal plane; beginning afresh its Sisyphus labour, and facing thenext effort with the same grace and agility. Undying force, andeternal flowing unrest--these are the evident intention and symbol ofthe wave pattern. Though I believe the key pattern to be amodification of the wave form, yet the locking and unlocking movementsuggests a repetition of the Tau, or key of life. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 10. ]

When we admire the friezes of garlands hung between the skulls of oxenand goats, we cannot for a moment doubt the sacrificial idea on whichthe design was founded. When the wreaths are carried by dancingchildren, we recognize the impersonation of the rejoicing of the dædalearth. 

The Greeks, however strongly they exerted themselves to throw off theshackles of conventionality in sculpture, painting, and architecture, yet yielded to the traditional force of the symbolical pattern, andaccepted most of the Oriental forms, merely remodelling them for theirown use, and adding to their significance what their culture required;at the same time giving infinite variety, as their perfect tastedictated. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 20. TREES OF LIFE. 1, 2, 3, 5. Assyrian. 4. Sicilian Silk. (Birdwood's "Indian Arts, " pp. 331, 335, 336, 337. )]

Aristophanes, in "The Frogs, " laughs at the Persian carpetpatterns--their unnatural birds and beasts and flowers--whilst heclaims for his own frogs, that they at least have the merit of beingnatural. [109] This little touch of art throws a gleam of innerlight on the struggle towards originality and truth whichcharacterized the Greek principles of beauty and fitness in literatureand art, in direct contrast to that which was always turning back tothose fossil forms which were only respectable on account of their ageand their mystery, but of which the tradition and intention werealready lost. 

Roman patterns were merely Greek adaptations with an Etruscan flavour, which was a survival of the earliest Italian art. Perhaps theindigenous element had been already modified by Phœnicianinfluence. 

In taking stock of Oriental symbolical patterns, we find that one ofthose of the widest ancestry and longest continuity is the "SacredHom. "[110] (Pl. 20-24. ) This is to be found in Babylonian, Persian, [111] Indian, Greek, and Roman art; and consequently itprevails in all European decoration (except the Gothic), where it wasreduced to unrecognizable forms. 

Sir George Birdwood says the Hom or Homa was the Sanskrit Soma, usedas an intoxicating drink by the early Brahmins, and was extracted fromthe plant of that name, an almost leafless succulent Asclepiad. Itappears to have changed its conventional form as other plants byfermentation came to the front, containing what appeared to be the"spirit of life"--the _aqua vitæ_. 

The palm, with its wonderful fruit, which is convertible intointoxicating drinks, and afterwards the vine itself, were each of themmoulded into analogous conventional fruit forms, which keep as much aspossible within the limits of the original cone shape. (Pl. 21. )

 [Illustration: Pl. 21. 1. Tree of Life and Lions. Gate of Mycenæ. 2. Persian or Sicilian Silk. Tree of Life and Leopards. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 22. 1. Split Lotus Fruit on Chinese Bowl. 2. Split Lotus resembling Tree of Life. Frieze by Benozzo Gozzoli, Ricardi Palace, Florence. 3. Petal of Flower on Glass Bowl from Southern Italy. British Museum. ]

There is a palm-tree which absolutely carries a cone in the heart ofits crown of fronds. [112] This may have helped to preserve theoriginal motive of the sacred tree of life. The cone form in classicalart was drawn from the pine cone and the artichoke; and in mediævalart these were sometimes replaced by the pomegranate, and in the lateRenaissance by the pine-apple, newly arrived from the WestIndies. [113] It is a good example of the blending of one vegetableform into another, making the sequence, of which each phase in theEast had an historical cause or a symbolical meaning, [114] but whichin Europe had gradually lost all motive, and was simply anacknowledged decorative form. [115] In architectural ornament it iscalled the honeysuckle, [116] which it had grown to resemble in thedays of Greece. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 23. Different forms of Tree of Life, from Sicilian Silks. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 24. Modern Embroidery from the Principalities, in which the cone-shaped tree grows into a vine, and the two animals at the foot have lost their shape and intention. ]

This sacred tree, the Homa of Zoroaster and of the later Persians, hasso early a beginning that we find it on Assyrian monuments. [117] Rocksays "that, perhaps, it stood for the tree of life, which grew inParadise. " It is represented as a subject of homage to men andanimals, and it invariably stands between priests and kings, or beastskneeling to it. It is figured on the small bucket for religious rites, carried in the hands, or embroidered in the upper sleeve of themonarch's tunic. It always represents a shrub, sometimes bearing aseries of umbels of seven flowers each. (Pl. 2, 20. )

Sometimes the expression of the symbol is reduced to the cone-fruit ofthe homa alone; or even to a blossom, as in the two glass bowls in theSlade collection in the British Museum, from a tomb at Chiusi, inEtruria. Here the design is a flower, of which each petal contains theessential emblem--a plant within a plant. These bowls, pronounced tobe Greek of the fourth century B. C. , have yet to me a strong Orientalcharacter. (Pl. 22, No. 3. )

I have spoken of the lotus as a naturalistic pattern. One mode ofdrawing and embroidering its flower in India, is to cut it in two;half the blossom is then carefully and almost botanically copied, thusconveying the inner meaning of the sacred flower. (Pl. 22, No. 3. )

Another conventional pattern, common to all times of art and allnations, is that called in architecture the "egg and tongue" pattern. (Pl. 13. ) This, as I have already said, is supposed to be deriveddirectly from the lotus. The Egyptians formed it from the bud andblossom; and the pattern is found in India, Greece, and Rome, changingcontinually and yet retaining its identity. Vitruvius claimed to havegiven it the last touch and finish, so that in Italy it was called theVitruvian scroll; and it is common to all decoration, even intextiles, though it is hardly suited for weaving or embroidery. Thisis one of the earliest patterns which, having ceased long ago to be areligious emblem or sign, still survives by its decorative fitness, and perpetuates the echoes of its origin. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 25. TYPICAL CROSSES. 1. Swastika. 2. From a Greek Vase, 765 B. C. 3. Indian Sectarial Mark of Sakti race. 4. Buddhist and Jainis mark. 5. Early Rhodian Pottery. 6. Egyptian prehistoric Cross. 7. Tau Cross. 8. Mark of land, Egyptian and Ninevite. 9. Ditto. 10. Clavus. 11, 12, 13. Scandinavian Sun and Moon Crosses. 14, 15, 16. Celtic. 17. Chrysoclavus. 18, 19. Stauracin patterns. 20. Scandinavian, from Norway. 21. Runic Cross. 22. Cross at Palenque, in Temple of the Sun. 23. Scotch Celtic Cross. 24. Cross from Iona. 25, 26. Runic Crosses. 27. Cross on the Dalmatic of Charlemagne. 28. From the Mantle of Henry II. , Emperor of Germany. ]

Of the conventional symbolical forms of the early Christian Church Ishall speak more fully in the chapter on ecclesiastical art, andtherefore would only point out here, while touching on symbolicaldecoration, how that phase of Christian art is a great historicalinstance of the deep ancient meanings it illustrates; showing themotive to be often in accordance with the inherited pagan symbol, andyet differing from it. Pre-eminent among these is the emblem of theCross, so early and universally used, full of mysterious secretallusions to the groping faiths of idolatrous nations, before thegreat fundamental idea of the "Word" was attached to it. This was oneof the old signs used as a pattern, and transfigured into a freshtype, of which the radiance reflected back light upon all thatpreceded it, even as Chinese ancestors are ennobled by the deedsof their descendants. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 26. 1. Pallas Athene, from a vase in Lord Northampton's Collection. 2. Ajax in a cloak embroidered with swastika, sun cross, and prehistoric water patterns. Etruscan Museum. Vatican. ]

The cross (Pl. 25), was a sign and a pattern in prehistoric art. Itwas the double of the Tau, the Egyptian emblem of life; and while theJews reject the Christian cross, they still claim to have warned offthe destroying angel by this sign in blood over the lintels of theirdoors in the first Passover. 

But the most ancient and universal form of the cross is that of theSwastika, or Fylfote. This "prehistoric cross" is said to be formed oftwo fire-sticks, belonging to the ancient worship of the sun, laidacross each other ready for friction; but losing that meaning, from anemblem they fell into a pattern, and this you will still find, utterlymeaningless, on Persian carpets of to-day. 

Sir G. Birdwood gives the Swastika as the sectarial mark of the Saktisects in India. Fergusson names it with the mound buildings, asbelonging to all Buddhist art; and examples of the Swastika are to befound on Rhodian pottery from the Necropolis of Kamiros, where we findalso the key pattern. 

In early Greek art the Swastika and Gammadion are everywhere, especially as embroidery on dress. Minerva's petticoats are sometimesworked all over with the latter. On an early Greek vase in the MuseoGregoriano, are painted Ajax and Achilles playing at dice; and themantle of Ajax is squared into an embroidered pattern that alternatelyrepresents a sun or star and a Gammadion (Pl. 26, No. 2). But it isunnecessary to multiply classical examples, which are endless. 

The Christian Cross was often formed by converting the Tau into theGamma, the sacred letter of the Greeks. It is said to have been theemblem of the corner-stone, and as a pattern, was called, down to thethirteenth century, the "Gammadion;" and though it had lost itsoriginal motive, it continued to preserve the idea of a secret andmystical meaning. 

The Gammadion, as well as the Swastika, enters largely into theilluminations of the Celtic Book of Kells and those of the LindisfarneMSS. ; also it is to be found on the Celtic shields in the BritishMuseum, together with the Swastika. Both appear in the Persian carpetsof to-day, and as patterns were, in ecclesiastical decoration, employed down to the fifteenth century, both for European and Britishtextiles. The Swastika, as well as the wave pattern, is of mysteriousand universal antiquity, and has certainly traversed four thousandyears, --how much more we dare not say. It is to be found throughoutEgyptian and Indian art--never in that of Assyria. 

Of the time of Rameses the Second we have two figures in a muralpainting, an ally and an enemy, a guest and a prisoner, both clothedin embroidered garments, _parsemés_ with the prehistoric cross. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 11. Egyptian Enemy and Ally. ]

In the chapter on ecclesiastical art I shall again refer to thisimmemorial symbolical and conventional pattern. I much regret that, inthe absence of a translation, I am prevented from availing myself ofthe accumulated learning on the subject of "The Prehistoric Cross, " byBaron Ernest de Bunsen. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 27. Imitation of a Carpet carved in stone, from Nineveh, showing the Indian Lotus and the Assyrian Daisy. (In the British Museum. )]

There was a pattern called the "crenelated" which apparently wasderived from the Assyrian battlement, and is found throughout classicart, somewhat conventionalized. [118] It is named as an embroideredpattern in the inscription recording votive offerings of dresses inthe temple of Athene at Athens. [119]

 [Illustration: Fig. 12. Crenelated Pattern. ]

We know something of the conventional and symbolical embroideries ofNineveh, which are quite unlike those of India, except in the adoptionof the lotus for decoration. [120] These are best understood byillustrations; and, therefore, I give one of the beautiful sculpturedcarpets from Nineveh, in the British Museum (Pl. 27), showing theAssyrian use of the lotus and cone, and the embroidered garment of aking from one of the sculptures in low relief (Plate 1). These arevery stately--perfectly conventional and decorative; and we feel thatthey have grown where we find them, and are not borrowed from anothercivilization. What strikes us most, is the constant repetition and thelittle variety of ornament in these patterns. The forms are stronglymarked--wheels or whorls, or daisies, often repeated. (The daisybelongs to Assyria as the lotus to Egypt. ) The flowers are simplyleafless blossoms. Splendid embroideries of sacred emblematicaldesigns are, however, occasionally found, such as those from Layard's"Monuments" (Plate 2). 

Much has been written on the early symbolism of plants and flowers. The sun-myths have enlisted all floral legendary lore, andconventional ornament was largely drawn from them. 

Many symbols are present to us when we name certain plants. The lilyis the acknowledged sign of purity, the rose of love, the honeysuckleof enduring faith, the laurel of poetry, and the palm of victory; theoak of strength, the olive of peace. Some plants have accumulated morethan one meaning. The vine has many attributes. It is an emblem of themysteries of the Christian Church. It symbolizes plenty, joy, thefamily. Ivy means friendship, conviviality, remembrance. 

The symbolism of beasts (_bestiaria_), [121] of birds (_volucraria_), and of stones (_lapidaria_) filled many volumes in the mediæval ages, and are well worthy of the study of the decorative artist. Thesymbolism of animals and birds especially, constantly attracts ourattention in the Oriental and Sicilian textiles of the early Christiantimes, and to the end of the thirteenth century. Later, in Europeantextile decoration, most animals were accepted as emblematic inChristian art, beginning with the symbols of the four Evangelists. Allthe virtues and all the vices found their animal emblemsconventionalized, and were thus woven, embroidered, and painted. [122]

Reptiles and insects are included under the head of "beasts, " andperhaps fishes also. Each was dowered with a symbolical meaning; andthus admitted into art, they were conventionalized by being stronglyoutlined, coloured flat; and by repetition without variation, wereconverted into patterns. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 28. 1, 2. Gothic Tiles. 3. Gothic Border of a Dress. 4. Gothic Vine. Westminster Abbey. ]

When the use of heraldic illustration was added to the alreadyaccepted symbolism, animal decoration became very common, and soonforgot its symbolical motives, which were succeeded by Renaissancefanciful patterns; and then the conventionalized beast and itssymbolism disappeared from European decoration, except when it wasa direct copy of an Oriental design. 

Certain symbolical forms have, however, survived. The eagle has alwaysmeant empire, and the double-headed eagle, a double royalty. [123]Ezekiel represents Babylon and Egypt, symbolically, as twoeagles. [124] But here we approach the subject of heraldry, whichbecame a science in mediæval days; and every man and woman in any wayremarkable, every chivalrous action and national event, became asubject for textile art, and was woven or worked with the needle onbanner, hanging, or dress. The altar decorations received a newstimulus as historical records, as well as religious symbols, andpride and piety were equally enlisted in these gifts to the Church. 

Byzantine patterns have a barbaric stamp, and yet have much of thegrandiose about them; but they are to the last degree conventional. Inthe early mosaics, both in Constantinople and Rome, every face andhead, every flower and animal, represents a type and not anindividual. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 13. Gothic Trees, from Bayeux tapestry. ]

Gothic foliage patterns, in England and elsewhere, are a strugglebetween the naturalistic and the conventional. The Norman style andthe Romanesque, which preceded it, and from which it was modified andelevated, show their vegetable forms thick-stemmed and few-leaved, whereas the Gothic aspired to a developed gracefulness; and theRenaissance, which succeeded it, assumed all the freedom of naturalflowers and plants, floating in the breeze, on their delicate stems. (Pl. 28. )

All the Renaissance patterns, which, as their name denotes, were bornagain, like butterflies to frolic for a day of gay enjoyment, arepurely decorative. Their generally charming, graceful forms grouptogether to cover empty spaces with every regard to the rules ofdesign and composition, but without any inner meaning. If we takethese arabesques to pieces, we generally find the parts come fromvarious sources; and having served last in pagan Rome for paganpurposes, had been slightly refashioned for Christian decorativeart, [125] before the Byzantine inartistic taste, and barbaricsplendour of metal-work patterns, had extinguished all the gay fancyof the arts of Southern Europe. 

The mediæval revival was a return to the light and fantastic, and aprotest against the solemnity of all Gothic art, which had had itsgreat day, had culminated, and died out. The patterns of theRenaissance are all guided by the principles of repetition andduplication, or that of doubling the pattern, which repeats itself toright and left, as if folded down the middle. 

The principal lines thus echoed one another; but the artist waspermitted to vary the conventionalism of the general forms of figures, flowers, fruit, or butterflies, so as to balance and yet differ inevery detail. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 29. CLOUD PATTERNS. 1, 2, 3, 7. Japanese. 4. Chinese. 5, 8, 9. Mediæval. 6. Badge of Richard II. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 30. Indo-Chinese Coverlet, supposed to have belonged to Oliver Cromwell. Hatfield House. ]

Amongst the conventional patterns which have descended to us, and arein general use without any particular symbolical meaning beingattached to them, we must instance those derived from the Cloudpattern. This is to be found in early Chinese and Indian art, but I donot recognize it in Egyptian or Greek decoration. It came throughByzantium, and took its place amongst early Christian patterns. (Pl. 29. )

 [Illustration: Pl. 31. THE FUNDATA OR NETTED PATTERN. Portion of a Phœnician Bowl from Cyprus. Egyptian. Egyptian. Egyptian. ]

The cloud pattern is also Japanese, and is supposed to have beenoriginally derived from Central Asia. It varies in shape, and is foundas an ornament on the head of the sceptre in the collection at Nara, in Japan, which is twelve or thirteen hundred years old. There is anexample of the cloud pattern in Aelfled's embroidery at Durham; and itis often found under the feet of saints in painted glass andembroideries before the fourteenth century. A curious Indian exampleexists in a coverlet belonging to the Marquis of Salisbury, said tohave been the property of Oliver Cromwell, on which the centralmedallion is filled with white horses careering amidst the cloudpattern. [126] (Pl. 30. )

The _netted_ pattern called Fundata is extremely ancient. We find itin Egyptian mural paintings, as well as in the centre of aPhœnician bowl from Cyprus, now in the Louvre. The mediæval Fundatawas a silk material, covered with what appeared to be a gold networkcovering the stuff. It is supposed to be the same as that worn byConstantine, [127] and is named in ecclesiastical inventories as lateas the fifteenth century. (Pl. 31. )

All the wheel patterns are very ancient, and appear to be simplyconventional wheels. In France they were called _roés_. There is afine instance of this wheel pattern in Auberville's "Tissus. " Thewheels sometime enclose triumphal cars and other pictorial subjects. (Pl. 34. )

The patterns which are apparently composed with the intention ofavoiding all meaning, are the Moorish. They are neither animal, vegetable, nor anything else. They show no motive in their complicateddomes, their honeycombing, and their ingenious conventional forms; butcover equally textile fabrics or stucco ceilings without suggestingany idea, religious or symbolical. 

All the splendid Italian brocades and velvet damasks were ofconventional patterns, and like their Arab and Sicilian models, andalso like their Spanish contemporaries, represented, and sought torepresent nothing on earth. It was all floreated and meanderingdesign; the motive reminding one of the pine-apple and the acanthus, or of vine stems meeting or parting, but never anything naturalisticfor a moment. When animals were introduced it was always as a patterndoubled face to face, as if folded down a straight line. 

We may say the same of the succeeding Louis Quatorze and the LouisQuinze styles, which were of the culminating period of clever andfantastic conventional decoration. 

Our modern designs have phases of imitation, and the patterns of richbrocades which our great-grandmothers wore, came into fashion againabout the third decade of this century. Now we have been trying tofind our inspirations further back, and some of our copies of thesimpler Sicilian patterns, with an occasional pair of birds, or aconventional plant, imitating the motive of the tree of life, havebeen very pretty. The only defect is the poverty which results fromthe absence of any active and informing motive. It is, however, easierto criticize than to create. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 14. Radiated Pattern. ]

I would venture here to find fault with a very common method ofconverting a natural object into a conventional pattern, by radiation. Certain modes of repetition are very objectionable. A pattern, forinstance, repeated four times round a centre, or a natural flowerrepeated exactly, but lying north, south, east, and west, are more orless inartistic, we may say vulgar. (Fig. 14. )

 [Illustration: Fig. 15. Radiated Sunflower. ]

A natural flower may be conventionalized and radiated by placing it inthe centre of the composition facing you; and the leaves arrangedsurrounding it, so as to formalize the design, though there is nothingreally unnatural in the way in which they are made to grow. Theillustration of a radiated sunflower explains my meaning. 

It has been already observed that by repetition almost any object maybe reduced to a pattern, but taste must be exercised in the selectionof what is appropriate and beautiful. Radiation is also really auseful factor in conventional art, but common sense must guide theartist here as well as taste. In radiating the forms of a flower, nature gives endless hints of beauty; but a radiating pattern of humanfigures would be ridiculous, and even the branches of a tree cannot beso treated. 

The awning of the classic hypæthral hall or court was often reproducedin Roman arabesques. Sometimes we find it in a classical tomb, paintedover the ceiling, and recalling its original use. This was revived inthe Cinque-cento Renaissance; and again in Adams' "Eighteenth CenturyDecorations, " it became an accepted pattern, called "the shell, "losing its original motive, and descending to fill up the panels oftea-caddies and surround keyholes. When thus reduced to the appearanceof a little ruff, it needs some thought to recognize it, and give itcredit for its first motive. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 16. ]

It is amusing to find how a form which it seems impossible to reduceto a pattern, will yet fall into one by a judicious arrangement oflight and shadow, and by repetition. There is a little frieze in oneof the Indian cases on the staircase in the British Museum, which isextremely pretty and effective. It consists of a repetition of littlebalconies with recesses and pillars and figures in pairs. I give it asillustrating the way conventional patterns grow. This balcony patternis of the sixth century, A. D. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 17. Indian Balcony Pattern, from steps of tope of Jamal-Zartri, Afghanistan. British Museum. ]

The ancient palmated pattern called Chrysoclavus, from the beginningof our era to the thirteenth century was partly a nail-headed design, and had become a Christian symbol. It was, probably, originally theprimitive spot pattern; afterwards promoted to being an ornament ofdiscs in colour or metal: this was Assyrian, Etruscan, andMycenæan. [128] (Pl. 70. )

Among the conventional patterns which have apparently no hiddenmeaning, but which clearly show their descent, are the Chinese andJapanese wicker and lattice-work designs. The beauty of these iswonderful. 

Semper shows that wicker (including bamboo work) was the foundation ofall Chinese civilized life, for constructing houses, bridges, utensils, and for decoration. He gives this wicker-work origin to theuniversal key pattern, which may, however, have a double source--thewave, and the wicker-work. 

We find the Key pattern in a tomb at Essiout, in Egypt, paintedperhaps about 1600 B. C. , in company with some other very oldfriends, [129] the Tuscan border, the Egg and Tongue, and the Bead, theDaisy, and the Wave. (Pl. 17, No. 2. ) We meet it everywhere in ancientand modern decoration. There are several forms of it on a largeterra-cotta vase in the British Museum from Kameiros in Rhodes, and onChinese fictiles and embroideries. It is found also on garments inIceland, whither the Greek patterns must have drifted through Norway, and, as they could go no further, there they remained. 

I have often spoken of the extraordinary survival of a pattern. Thisis easy to account for when fashion, "the disturber, " had not yetexisted. Then the ancient motive told its own tale, and its great agewas its claim to perpetual youth; but it is more remarkable where wemeet with revivals at distant periods, and apparently without anyconnecting link of ancestry or style. 

For instance, the women of Genoa wore large cotton veils, printed withthe Indian conventional tree and beast pattern, down to thirty yearsago, when the fashion changed, and winter bonnets and summer muslinveils displaced the old costume. These patterns are now being printedin England on scores of cotton curtains for beds and windows. 

GEOMETRICAL. 

Geometrical patterns may be reduced to a very few primitive elements. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 18. Varied adjustments of Square and Circle. ]

1. The Line, including straight and wavy lines. 

2. The Angular Forms, including squares, oblongs, cubes, &c. 

3. The Triangular, including zigzags, diamonds, &c. 

4. The Circular, including all spots, discs, and radiations. 

All these can be blended or mixed so as to form endless varieties. Forinstance, the square and the circle can intersect each other indifferent proportions, so as to give an entirely new effect to thepattern, each time the balance is altered or the phase of therepetition varied. The illustration will explain this. (Fig. 18. )

Right angles may intersect each other so as to produce the whole gamutof Chinese lattice-work decoration, and all the Celtic andScandinavian entwined patterns, from which so many of the embroideriesin the Italian pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries areprobably descended. 

The Moorish patterns are geometrical, and are created on the principleof avoiding in art the representation of any created thing. They showmuch ingenuity in keeping clear of any possible meaning. Most of theseconventional patterns are founded on the ogee-arch and a kind ofhoneycomb pattern, involved and inverted. Their tiles, which nearestapproach textile design, have, indeed, certain vegetable forms addedto the others, but always geometrically arranged as no vegetables evergrew. 

Geometrical patterns begin with primitive forms, and come down to thefloor-cloth designs of to-day. They can be extracted in endlessvariety from the combinations of the kaleidoscope. This style is wellsuited for pavements in mosaic--either secular or ecclesiastical. 

The Opus Alexandrinum furnishes us with most beautiful examples andadaptations for large or small spaces, so as to form the richest orthe simplest floor decorations. How worthily a church may be thusadorned may be seen on the vast area of the floor of Santa MariaMaggiore in Rome, or that of the Church of St. Mark in Venice. 

The nearest approach to the Opus Alexandrinum in textiles has been inPatchwork, of which a more artistic use may yet be made. We mightexercise ingenuity in this direction, giving really fine and effectivedesigns to our workers in patches, whose productions are, in general, simply alarming. 

The fine quilting patterns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesare almost always geometrical, and make the best background to moreresplendent embroideries overlying them, which is partly owing totheir being only forms, and conveying no idea or inherited meaning. These expressionless designs are well fitted for spaces and borders inwhich the centres are elaborated, and require enclosing or framing;likewise, they are suited for large areas, which must not be perfectlyplain, and yet not too disturbing to the eye, so as to distract itfrom the more important ornaments on the wall or ceiling. They suitcarpets in passages or on staircases much better than any other kindof design, and form the best figured backgrounds for pictures. Botheye and mind often need repose, and therefore the simpler thegeometrical pattern is, the better. Complicated and too ingeniouscombinations are painfully fatiguing. Simplicity and flatness are thegreatest merits in such forms, as in shadowless patterns for textiles, and especially for embroideries. 

If we turn to nature to assist us with new geometrical patterns, weshall find the most exquisite forms in the crystals of everynewly-fallen snowflake, and in the nodal-points on a plate of metal orglass, covered with sand, and struck by sound. We shall hardly everfind in these a repetition of exactly the same combination, and theirvariety is only equalled by their beauty. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [96] Sir G. Birdwood tells us of patterns of an Indian brocade called "Chundtara" (moon and stars), figured all over with representations of heavenly bodies. 

 [97] Pliny, "Natural History, " lib. Xxx. C. 8, § 34. 

 [98] There is a shell pattern in gold on a twelfth century fragment of a Bishop's garment at Worcester. 

 [99] See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " vol. Iii. Pp. 132, 133, 350, 553. 

 [100] Bötticher, in his "Tektonik, " will allow of but one origin for the "egg and tongue" pattern. I cannot give up the evident descent from the lotus flower and bud; but I have said before that a pattern has sometimes a double parentage, and it may be so in this case. 

 [101] The lotus is almost entirely lost as a native growth in India, and is fast disappearing in Egypt. The lotus blossom in Egypt was not only a sacred emblem, but also an _objet de luxe_. At their feasts, the honoured guests were presented with the flowers, and as they faded, slaves carried round baskets of fresh blossoms. See Wilkinson's "Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. "

 [102] See the Book of Lindisfarne, and the two Celtic bronze shields in the British Museum. These last are very curious. The long involved lines show their origin, and the shields are enriched with enamel and corals, in repetitions of the prehistoric cross. 

 [103] See "Album of Photographs of the Marien-Kirche, Dantzic, " Taf. 31. 

 [104] Woltmann and Woermann, Eng. Trans. , p. 202. 

 [105] Charlemagne's dress, in his tomb, was covered with golden elephants. This must have been Indian. His mantle was "_parsemé_" with golden bees. 

 [106] Elsewhere there is a notice of Miss Morritt's really beautifully embroidered landscapes at Rokeby; and all who saw them will remember the extremely clever and effective pictures in crewels by an accomplished American lady, Mrs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, exhibited in London a few years ago. These exceptional cases do not, however, disprove the objections against employing the most unfit and unmanageable materials for producing subjects alien to the art of embroidery. 

 [107] See Redgrave's "Manual of Design, " pp. 50-61. 

 [108] See Appendix 21, by Ch. T. Newton, to the first edition of Ruskin's "Stones of Venice. " He gives, as instances of this pattern, certain coins from Prienè, where the River Mæander is symbolized by the angular key pattern. Appendix, No. 1. 

 [109] "(Euripides _loquitur_) Not horse-cocks, nor yet goat-stags, such as they depict on Persian carpets" (Aristophanes, "The Frogs, " v. 939-944). The Persian carpets, which are the legitimate descendants of Babylonian art, are curiously fragmentary. In a modern design are to be seen birds, indicated by a head, bill, and eyes; little coffee-pots, and flowers broken off at the stalks, and small quadrupeds without any particular form; also the prehistoric cross, the Tau, and bits of broken-up wave and key patterns. All these, repeated into a pattern, remind us of scraps in a kaleidoscope, thrown together accidentally, or else taken up by chance where history and art have dropped them. 

 [110] "Soma" or "Homa" ("Sarcostemma Viminale vel Brevistigma"), from Cashmere and the Hindu Cush, still used by the Brahmins, and the juice of which was the first intoxicant of the human race. See Birdwood's "Indian Art, " vol. Ii. Pp. 336, 337. 

 [111] "The Hom, the sacred Persian tree, is constantly placed between two animals, chained to it. " See Pl. 23, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 

 [112] The Hom or Homa, the sacred tree of Assyrian and Persian sculpture and textiles, is accounted for as a pattern by Dr. Rock, who says: "From the earliest antiquity a tradition came down through middle Asia, of some holy tree, perhaps the tree of life spoken of as growing in Paradise. " It is always represented as something like a shrub, and is a conventional portrait of a palm; but Rock says it has every look of having belonged to the family of the Asclepiadeæ. For its last transformation into a vine, see Pl. 24. 

 [113] Rock's "Introduction, " p. Cxxxi. 

 [114] Sir George Birdwood says: "The intimate absorption of Hindu life in the unseen realities of man's spiritual consciousness is seldom sufficiently acknowledged by Europeans, and, indeed, cannot be fully comprehended by men whose belief in the supernatural has been destroyed by the prevailing material ideas of modern society. Every thought, wish, and deed of the Hindu belongs to the world of the unseen as well as the seen; and nothing shows this more strikingly than the traditionary works of India. Everything that is made has a direct religious use, or some religious symbolism. The materials of which different articles are fashioned, their weight, and the colours with which they are painted, are fixed by religious rule. An obscured symbolism of material and colour is to be traced also in the forms of things, even for the most domestic uses. Every detail of Indian decoration, Aryan or Turanian, has a religious meaning, and the arts of India will never be rightly understood until there are brought to their study, a familiar acquaintance with the character and subjects of the religious poetry, national legends, and mythological scriptures that have always been their inspiration, and of which they are the perfected imagery. " See Sir George Birdwood's "Indian Arts, " part i. P. 2. 

 [115] The Persian tree of life was not alien to the worship of the Zoroastrian religion of the Sassanides, and is said to have been the origin of the worship of Bacchus. It was introduced by Oriental weavers into Sicilian and Spanish stuffs. 

 [116] Sir G. Birdwood suggests that the honeysuckle pattern is derived from the Tree of Life, cone, and palm, refashioned and combined with the graceful ingenuity of Greek art, and covering a mixture of sacred traditional emblems. 

 [117] Haug, in his "Essays on the Sacred Writings of the Parsees" (pp. 132, 239), tells us that these people still hold the homa to be sacred, and from it squeeze a juice used by them in their religious ceremonies. 

 [118] See Perrot et Chipiez, "Histoire de l'Art, " vol. Ii. Pp. 260, 267, Pl. Xiv. 

 [119] See Appendix, No. 1. 

 [120] India, in return, afterwards influenced Persia, the successor of Babylon. 

 [121] In India, the elephant is a very common element in a pattern; in Egypt, the serpent; in Persia, the lion. In animal patterns, certain emblems were grouped together. The lion and the goose represent strength and prudence; the lion and eagle, strength and dominion; the lion and dove, strength and gentleness. We may see these double emblems on Sicilian textiles. 

 [122] Chinese art is crowded with symbolisms. 

 [123] The double-headed eagle was the badge of Saladin, as well as that of the Holy Roman Empire. 

 [124] Ezekiel xvii. 

 [125] In the earliest days of Christianity. 

 [126] "A cloud pattern from which issue two clasped hands is the device of Guizot Marchand or Guido Mercator, printer, in 1498. He lived at the College of Navarre. "--Dibdin's "Decameron, " ii. Pp. 33-36. 

 [127] See Gori (tom. Iii. Pp. 20, 84), as cited by Rock, Introduction, p. Liii. The same netted pattern was found in the grave of an Archbishop of York of about the end of the thirteenth century. Its name, _fundata_, is derived from _funda_, the fisherman's net; also, in later times, it was called _laqueata_. See Rock's Introduction (p. Liv. ). See also M. Ch. Clermont Ganneau's "L'Imagerie Phénicienne, " Coupe de Palestrina; and Chaldée et Assyrie, in Perrot and Chipiez, ii. P. 736. Another instance is shown here of the fundata occurring in the bronze flat bowl copied from Layard's "Monuments, " 2nd series, plate 62. The whole design of the bowl is Babylonian, consisting of a rich border of repetitions of the tree of life; each has the peculiar ornament of little knobs often seen on their head-dresses. 

 [128] See Bock's "L. Gewänder, " p. 129; Gori, "Thes. Dipt. " ii. Pp. 20, 275; Marquardt, "Handbuch Röm. Alt. " vii. Pp. 527-31 (Eng. Trans. ). Authorities differ in describing the Chrysoclavus. Sir G. Birdwood calls it a button pattern ("Indian Arts, " vol. Ii. P. 241). The "Chrysoclavus" was the name given to the palmated or triumphal pattern with which the consular robes are invariably embroidered in the Roman Consular ivories at Zurich, Halberstadt, and in the South Kensington Museum. The tenacious life of this pattern is curiously shown in the way it appears in the fifteenth century on Italian playing-cards. (See "Cartes à Jouer, " an anonymous French book in the print-room of the British Museum. ) The kings and knaves wear the Byzantine humeral, and the Chrysoclavus pattern is carved on their chairs. Till lately English playing-cards showed the same dress-pattern. I shall discuss the Latin Clavus and the Chrysoclavus amongst ecclesiastical embroideries, pp. 308, 336 (_post_). 

 [129] See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " i. P. 125. The date of these mural paintings may, however, be even as late as the time of Alexander the Great. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MATERIALS. 

1. RAW MATERIALS. 

The history of an art must, more or less, include that of its rawmaterial. 

This is too true to be disputed, but in the art of embroidery it opensout such endless avenues, through such vast regions of technicalstudy, that we must acknowledge the difficulty, or rather theimpossibility, of including in one volume even a tithe of theinformation already collected. 

I shall, therefore, only dedicate a few pages to the history of thosefibres which have always been most important in the different phasesof our civilization. 

Among books on textile materials, I must again name the "TextrinumAntiquorum, " by Yates. His premature death, and the loss that theworld of art and manufacture has sustained by the chain of hisinvaluable researches being broken, cannot be appreciated but throughthe study of the first and only volume of this already rare book, fromwhich I venture to quote largely. 

Semper's "Der Stil" is a work of reference on this subject, sovaluable that it should, by a good translation, be placed within thereach of non-German scholars. 

From Colonel Yule's "Marco Polo, " and his abundant notes, we learnmuch of Asiatic textile art in the thirteenth century, and its earlytraditions in the immutable East, and Sir G. Birdwood's books on thisIndian art are most instructive. 

Egyptian textiles are splendidly illustrated by Sir GardinerWilkinson. All these modern writers quote Pliny and the Periplus;[130]and Pliny quotes all the classic authors, from Homer to his day. Hereis a wide field for gathering information regarding the materials forembroidery in past ages. 

When we use the phrase "raw material" so glibly, with an æstheticcontempt for that which the art of man has neither manipulated norreorganized, we show our own coarse appreciation, if not ignorance, ofthe wonderful inherent beauty and microscopic delicacy of form, colour, and substance of those materials which we fashion for our ownuses. 

Few know the structure of the tender filaments of wool, flax, cotton, and silk; or that each has its peculiar form and attributes, and itsindividual capabilities for the purposes for which they appear to usto have been created, i. E. The clothing and adornment of man's dressand his home. 

I should like to draw attention to these well-attested facts. 

Seen through a microscope, the forms of these raw materials differgreatly. 

Flax is difficult to describe, as it varies according to the soil andclimate it comes from. Its fibre, however, has always a shiny outersurface, and is transparent, cylindrical, and pipe-like; apparentlywith breaks or joints like those of a cane. 

Cotton also varies so much in its own kind, that every description isdifferent and somewhat puzzling. Semper says that it approaches theribbon form, with thickened edges, and is like a half-cylinder twistedspirally; but when wetted with oil, it swells into a completecylinder. [131]

Wool and hair are hollow pipes without joints. Woollen fibres looklike cylindrical snakes with a scaly surface. This roughness giveswool a clinging power which exceeds that of any other material, exceptthe hair of some few animals. [132]

Silk threads consist of twin pipes laid parallel, and held together bythe varnish with which they are glazed. Silk is tough and elastic. 

The qualities needed for textile materials may be thus enumerated:Pliability, toughness (i. E. Tensile strength), and intrinsicdurability. 

Of course, the material must to a certain degree influence the styleof the fabric, and its selection must be according to the effectintended to be produced. [133] The fashions of the day, and the needsof the special manufacture, must greatly modify the choice ofmaterials, which fluctuate, often disappear, and sometimes reviveagain. 

Certain materials which have been, at one period, much admired, havebeen entirely lost; and indeed we may say that the only permanentlyemployed textiles are wool, flax, cotton, and silk, which apparentlynever can be superseded. With them, all domestic requirements can besatisfied, and all artistic and decorative fabrics produced, varied, and perfected; and these, from all time recorded in history, have beenenriched and glorified with gold, either inwoven or embroidered. 

The game of "animal, vegetable, or mineral" might well be played withtextiles only. Nothing has been alien to the crafts which from timeimmemorial have spun, woven, felted, netted, and embroidered. 

The materials now in general use, and which, once known, have neverbeen abandoned, I have already named, and shall discuss their historyseparately; they are wool, flax, cotton, and silk. To these I must addhemp, both wild and cultivated. 

Hemp is a kind of nettle. It was grown in Colchis, and in those coolregions which did not produce flax. Hemp is hardly grown in India, except to extract from it the narcotic, Cannabis Indica. It was anorthern production used throughout Scandinavia. Herodotus (iv. 14)says, "Hemp grows in the land of the Scythians, in a wild state, butit is now cultivated. " From its Latin name, _cannabis_, comes ourcanvas, which has always been much used as a ground for countedstitches and backing for embroidery, its stiffness being itsqualification for such purposes. [134]

Jute (a rough sort of hemp) has been long an article of commercialimportance for the manufacture of coarse-figured fabrics, dyed andwoven, sometimes embroidered. 

The fibre of the Aloe has been used in the Riviera for laces and"macrami" (knotted fringes). 

The fibres of grasses, such as the "Honduras silk grass" (Rhea orRamie), valuable for beauty, fineness, and toughness, have been workedor woven into stuffs. [135] This material is now coming into notice. 

Spartum is often named for coarse weaving;[136] also the fibres ofbarks, especially those of palm branches. [137]

Another substance of classic use, and even now employed, though ratheras a curiosity than as an article of commerce, is the silky filamentproduced by the shell-fish pinna; and also the fibres of certainsea-weeds. 

Fur and hair, especially that of camels and goats, has always beenmuch prized. [138] We have seen both African and Indian striped orprimitively decorated rugs of wool, touched here and there with scrapsof cotton or silk, or some other odd material; and amongst them, tuftsof human hair. The sentiment that motived the use of human hair hasbeen either love or hate--the votive or the triumphal. We know thatDelilah was not a stranger to this art. She wove into her web Samson'sseven locks of strength, and "fastened them with a pin" (Judges xvi. ). 

In the thirteenth century it was the custom for ladies to weave theirown hair into their gifts to favoured knights. King Ris, if he hadreceived any such token from his lady-love, returned it withinterest; for he sent her a mantle in which were inwoven the beards ofnine conquered kings, a tenth space being left for that of KingArthur, which he promised to add in course of time. [139]

Leather has been from the remotest antiquity employed for the art ofembroidery, either for the ground, as in the mantle of Boadicea, madeof skins with the fur turned inwards and the leather outside, dressed, and embroidered on the seams;[140] or else as fine inlaid and onlaidapplication, as in the "funeral tent of an Egyptian queen" in themuseum at Boulac, which is certainly the earliest specimen ofneedlework decoration that exists. [141] (Pl. 44. ) The old Indianembroideries in leather are generally applied one on another. TheNorth American Indians also embroider on leather. [142]

Feather work will be discussed under the heading of "OpusPlumarium. "[143]

On the surface of textiles many substances have been fastened down, inorder to give brilliancy to the general effect--skins of insects, beetles' wings, the claws and teeth of various animals. [144]

Asbestos linen is the only mineral substance, besides gold, silver, and tin, [145] that has been employed in embroidery. It has theremarkable quality of indestructibility by fire. Asbestos linen can becleansed by fire instead of water. [146] It is a soapy crystal, foundin veins of serpentine and cipolino in Cyprus, and other Greekislands. Pliny says it was woven for the funeral obsequies ofmonarchs, as it preserved the ashes apart, being itself unharmed bythe fires of cremation. There are several fragments existing, found intombs. One of these is in the British Museum. [147]

Marco Polo speaks of a stone fibre found at Chinchin, which answers indescription to asbestos. It was spun by mixing it with threads of flaxsoaked in oil; and when woven, was passed through the fire to removethe flax and the oil. [148]

A miraculous napkin of asbestos was long kept at Monte Casino. 

Coral, pearls, and beads of many forms have been used for theenrichment of embroideries, and for decorating textiles. The wholesurface of the original fabric has often been entirely covered withthem, or the pattern itself has been worked in nothing else. Pearlsare constantly seen worked on dress, coats-of-arms, and embroideredportraits. Seed pearls, large coarse pearls, and sometimes fine andprecious ones, were surrounded with gold thread embroidery. Coral wasso much used in Sicilian embroideries, and so little elsewhere, thatone gives the name of "Sicilian" to all such work; but occasionally wefind coral embroideries in Spain and elsewhere (Pl. 32). 

 [Illustration: Pl. 32. Portion of Dalmatic embroidered by Blanche, Queen of Charles IV. Of Bohemia (fifteenth century). The figures in pearls, on a background of beaten gold. Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder. " Vol. I. Taf. Xi. ]

Beads of glass were common in Egypt from the earliest times, strungtogether by threads so as to form breastplates rather than necklaces. Whence beads originally came we cannot tell, but it seems that thePhœnicians dropped them on all the shores of the world. Then, asnow, savages had a passion for beads, and civilized men and womenstill admire them as trimmings. In the Middle Ages they were sometimesworked into pictures. [149]

In as far as materials are essential to the art of embroidery, I mustrestrict myself to the history of silk, wool, flax, cotton, and gold. With these all the finest works have been executed for the artisticadornment of dress and hangings. All other materials have beenoccasional experiments, or else were resorted to in the absence orignorance of the above five most important factors in our domesticcivilization. The history of wool must take precedence as being thatof the original, if not the first, of textile materials. 

2. WOOL. 

The wool of sheep and the hair of goats were used very early in theworld's history for clothing, and probably also for hangings. Theearliest civilizations plaited, span, [150] wove, and felted them. 

There is no reason to suppose that goats and sheep preceded thecreation of man. No early fossils record them. Our sheep are supposedby zoologists to be descended from the Argali or Ovis Ammon ofLinnæus, inhabiting the central regions of Asia. [151]

It is possible that plaited grasses may have preceded wool. But thoughcertain prehistoric specimens are supposed to have been found inSpain, yet of this there is but imperfect proof. 

The pastoral tribes wandering over those fair regions that extend fromKhotan to Arabia, following their flocks and herds, and studying wherebest to feed, increase, and multiply them, and obtain from them thefinest texture of wool, are spoken of nowhere more than in thecollected books of the Old Testament, open to us all; and there welearn how important a place these shepherds held in the world'scivilization. "Watching their flocks by night, " they watched the starsalso, and they were astronomers; seeking the best pastures and fodder, they learned to be botanists, florists, and agriculturalists. Theybecame also philosophers, poets, prophets, and kings. [152] Job and hiscountry were enriched through the breeding of sheep. The sevendaughters of Jethro, the High-priest, tended their father's flocks. 

The Arabians were always great breeders of sheep. The Greeks andRomans, from Homer to Virgil, sang of the herdsman's life. Our LordHimself did not disdain to be called "the Good Shepherd. "[153]

The merchants who traded from the Arabian Gulf to Egypt, and acrossthence to the shores of the Mediterranean, and the Phœnicians ofSidon who brought overland their bales of raw material andmanufactured Oriental fabrics, knew well where to find the best goodsfor their customers; and we hear frequently whence came this or thatcoloured wool. Chemmis, the city of Pan, retained its celebrity in thewoollen trade down to the conquest of Egypt by the Romans. Nineveh andBabylon encouraged the manufactures and commerce in woollen tents, wall-hangings, and carpets. Nowhere were they so richlyembroidered. [154]

Solomon purchased woollens from Egypt. Damascus supplied the Tyrianswith wool for their rugs. The stuffs and textile fabrics of wool, ofthe Chinese, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, are recorded in the earliestwritings of the human race. How much their decoration depended onweaving, and how much on embroidery, we cannot tell. The products ofthe Babylonian looms are alluded to in the Book of Joshua, [155] andalso by Ezekiel. [156]

Assyrian stuffs were always celebrated for their splendid colours andvarious designs; among which were hunting scenes, battles, and specialemblematic adornments. [157]

From Miletus came the wool valued most highly by the Greeks. Spainproduced the best black, and the north of Italy the best white wool. The Narbonensian and Egyptian wools were supposed to be the mostdurable, and when they became shabby, were dipped again and servedanother generation. 

From Yates' account of the great variety of wools, remarkable fortheir fine texture, their whiteness, [158] their blackness, [159] ortheir redness, their cool or their warm tints, it is evident that theancients valued highly these different qualities. [160] The cloths thatwere of greatest account were of the finest or the warmest kinds. Thesheep of Miletus, Attica, Megaris, and Tarentum were clothed injackets, in order to preserve the fineness and whiteness of their owncoats, and to protect them from being torn by the thorny bushes intheir pastures. Columella calls them the "covered" and the "soft, " andsays they were often kept in the house. 

We find notices of the peculiarities of the various national breeds, caused by the soil on which their pasture grew, and the rivers andstreams at which they drank, and these peculiarities were, ifpossible, encouraged. There is evidence also that some improvement ofthe breeds by crossing was practised in early times. 

As in all the life of the Greeks, the religious element had muchinfluence in perfecting their flocks of sheep--only the most beautifulanimals were considered worthy of sacrifice to the gods. 

A few of the rare specimens of stuffs which have been rescued fromtombs, especially in the Crimea, and in the Fayoum, in Egypt, show awool so fine and shining that it might be taken for silk, and thebeauty of the weaving is marvellous, and much varied in style. 

A warrior's tomb in the district of Kuban contained a funeral pall, covering the sarcophagus, measuring at least three metres and a halfeach way, woven of brown wool, in twelve narrow strips sewn togetherand afterwards painted. The ground is yellowish, the design brown. Thefigures repeat mythical subjects, and alternate with patterns, andthere is a border. One strip contains a scene from the story of Peleusand Thetis. Apparently this is Attic design. The coloured dresses wornby women of rank, and hung on the statues of the gods, were sometimespainted, sometimes stamped, and often embroidered, and they werenearly all of woollen fabrics. 

One of the great advantages of wool is its power of absorbing colour, as the pigment sinks into its very fibre, instead of clinging to thesurface. It can be dyed of deeper colours than flax, cotton, or silk. 

Pliny tells us that Tanaquil combed, span, and wove her wool, and sheherself made the royal mantle which Servius Tullius used to wear, andit was covered with a wavy pattern (undulata). Thence came the customthat when a maiden became a bride, her attendants carried a distafftrimmed with combed wool, and a spindle with yarn upon it. The robesworked by Tanaquil were dedicated by Servius Tullius to the statue ofFortune in her temple at Rome, and were still hanging there in thedays of Tiberius. [161] Pliny remarks that it was a wonder that itneither fell from the image, nor was eaten by the moths, during fivehundred and sixty years. 

He gives us interesting details of the weaving of woollen cloths, andspeaks of the thick coarse wool with "great thick hair, " used forcarpets from the time of Homer. The same passage mentions felt. Hetells us of the cloths with a curly nap, used in the days of Augustus;of the "papaverata" woven with flowers resembling poppies; and we hearfrom him of the cloth of divers colours woven in Babylon, and calledthence Babylonica; and the Alexandrian webs, with many-colouredthreads (polymita)[162], comparing them with those made in Gaul; andthose woven by the Parthians. [163]

We have already said that the wool of Miletus was a proverbialfavourite with the Greeks. Eustathius speaks of the excellence of theMilesian carpets and hangings. Virgil represents the virgins of Cyrenespinning Milesian wool dyed of a deep sea-green. [164]

In the British Museum is a fragment of Egyptian woollen or worstedembroidery on white linen, discoloured by its use as mummy wrapping;but the stitches of worsted remain a perfectly clear bright crimsonand indigo blue. This shows how wool absorbs the colour and retainsit. Even when the surface is faded, it can be made to emit it again bychemical processes. 

In tombs in the Crimea have been found variously woven and adornedwoollen fabrics. There are fragments resembling in their texture afine rep--a sort of corded stuff; another material resembling awoollen crêpe, or fine "nun's gauze. " This veiled a golden wreath. Then there is a stuff like what is now called "atlas"--a kind ofwoollen satin. Some woollens are woven simply like linen; some arewide, some very narrow, sewn together in strips, woven in meanderingdesigns. One, like a piece of Gobelin tapestry, has a border of duckswith yellow wings and dark green heads and throats, [165] and thenanother with a pattern of stags' heads. This description recalls thespecimens on plate 16 and plate 39. 

From these tombs are collected stuffs of wool, woven and embroideredin gold with combinations of many colours; and, in fact, through thiscollection, now placed in the Museum at St. Petersburg, we becomeaware that 300 B. C. The Greeks had learned all the secrets of the artof weaving wool. They, however, lost it, and it is only in India thatits continuity was never broken. Indian looms still weave, of thefinest fleeces, such shawls of Babylonian design as repeat the textureof the ancient Greek garments. But were they Greek? or did thosebeautiful woven fabrics come from Persia or India?[166]

The first we know of Scandinavian wool for dress, is a fragment from aCeltic barrow in Yorkshire--a woollen plaited shroud. This fabric wasan advance upon the original northern savage costume--a sheep-skinfashioned and sewn with a fish-bone for a needle, sinews for thread, and a thorn for a pin. But we must imagine that some use was made, besides plaiting, of the spun wool, of which the early northern womenhave left us evidence, in the whorls of their spindles, fromprehistoric times. 

Wool has always appeared to be a natural material for dress. It iswarm in winter, light in summer, and is always beautiful as it hangsin lovely soft draperies, heavy enough to draw the fabric intograceful curved lines, and yet capable of yielding to each movementin little rippling folds, covering, but not concealing the forms towhich they cling. Classical draperies are explained by it. What theItalians call the "eyes of the folds, " are particularly beautiful inwoollens, and lend themselves to sculpturesque art. 

The other natural use of wool is for carpets. We have the evidence ofthe imitations, in mosaic, of carpets from the stone floors in Nineveh(now in the British Museum), that the art of weaving large and smallrugs, and the principles of composition for such purposes was at thatdate well understood. The carpet-weaving traditions of Babylon appearto have been inherited by the occupiers of the soil, as it is supposedthat the Saracens learned from Persia the art of weaving pile carpets, and imported thence craftsmen into Spain. We can trace Persian carpetpatterns in Indian floor coverings. The Greeks called them _tapetes_;and the Latins adopted the name; and hence the Italian _tapeti_, French _tapis_, and our word tapestry. 

As artistic material, to which the world owes much beauty and comfort, woollens have always played a great part in the decorations of ourhouses, as of our garments. Fabrics have been made of them of everydescription, from the cheapest and commonest to the most refined; butif woollen stuffs are to be beautiful, they must be _fine_, and workedor embroidered by hand. 

Woollens brocaded or figured are not so effective as silken hangings. Woollen velvets are without light, dull and heavy. Still, even amongstour English fabrics, there have always been varieties of texture[167]and adaptations to different effects, and some are beautiful. 

Worsted thread, so called from Worsted, in Norfolk, where thematerials for weaving and embroidering are manufactured, has alwaysbeen very important in embroidery. Worsteds after a time gave way to avery beautiful material, called "German wool, " which again has yieldedthe supremacy to "crewels"[168] (resembling the old worsteds). Thesecrewels are nearly the same in substance and in their loose texture asthe threads prepared from wool for tapestry weaving. 

We may claim, in England, the superiority in this manufacture, thoughwe are constantly receiving from France novelties which give us goodhints, and urge us to keep pace with the science of the Gobelins intheir woollen dyes. The French, in return, employ our wools, especially those of Lincolnshire, in their tapestry workshops. 

The wool and hair of goats should be a study by itself. They have fromthe earliest times been used in India for the finest and softestfabrics, such as the lovely shawls of Cashmere and the neighbouringprovinces. Cloth of Tars in the Middle Ages is supposed to be what isnow called Cashmere. 

3. FLAX. 

Boyd Dawkins tells us that "The art of spinning and the manufacture oflinen were introduced into Europe in the Neolithic age, and have beenpreserved with little variation from that period to the present day, in certain remote parts of Europe, having only been superseded inmodern times by the complicated machinery so familiar to us. Thespindle and distaff, or perforated spindle whorls, are of stone, pottery, or bone, such as are constantly found in Neolithic tombs andhabitations. Thread from the Swiss lake cities is proved to be offlax, and there is evidence of weaving in some sort of loom. "[169]

The meaning of the word Byssus has been disputed; some authoritiesasserting that it includes both flax and cotton fabrics. Without theaid of the microscope, the dispute as to whether the material of theEgyptian mummy wrappings was cotton or flax, or a mixture of the two, would never have been settled; but now that the difference of thestructure of each has been clearly ascertained, we know that cottonwas never employed in Egypt, except for certain domestic uses. Themummy wrappings are entirely linen. Cotton was forbidden for thepriests' dress in the temple, though they might wear it when not onduty. [170]

There are specimens of Egyptian painted or printed patterns on finelinen in the British Museum;[171] and it is curious to see in Egyptianmural paintings the same patterned chintzes on furniture that werecommon a hundred years ago in England. Both must have come from India, and therefore were certainly cotton fabrics. 

Herodotus says the mummy cloths were of "byssine sindon, " which may betranslated "linen cloth. "[172] Cotton he calls "tree wool. "

Yates has carefully argued the whole question, and, we think, hasproved that byssus was flax, and not cotton. [173] He quotes Philo, who certainly must have believed that it was made of flax, from thedescription he gives of its appearance and qualities, which in no wayapply to cotton or hemp. He says that "The Jewish high priests wore alinen garment of the purest byssus--which was a symbol of firmness, incorruption, and of the clearest splendour, for fine linen is verydifficult to tear. It is made of nothing mortal, and becomes brighterand more resembling light, the more it is cleansed by washing. "[174]

Here is another quotation: "Cloth of byssus symbolizes firm faith. Itsthreads surpass even ropes of broom in firmness and strength. "[175]Pliny says the flax grown in Egypt was superior to any other, and itwas exported to Arabia and India. [176] The first known existingfragment of flax linen in Europe was taken from the tomb of the SevenBrothers in the Crimea. Its date is 300 B. C. 

In Solomon's time the Jews evidently depended upon Egypt for theirfine linen. Herodotus describes the corselet of Amasis, the finenessof the linen, and the embroidered decorations of men and animals, partly gold and partly tree wool (i. E. Cotton). [177]

All the finest linen certainly came then from Egypt, and was muchfiner than any that is now made. That we call cambric, was woven theremany centuries before it was made in Cambray. [178]

Through the Phœnicians the fine linen came to Rome, as appearsfrom the following notice of embroidery on linen by Flavius Vopiscus, in his "Life of the Emperor Carinus:" "Why should I mention the linencloths brought from Tyre and Sidon, which are so thin as to betransparent, which glow with purple, or are prized on account of theirlaborious embroideries?"[179]

The history of a fine embroidered linen curtain for a Roman housemight have been this:--Grown in Egypt; carried to Nomenticum (Artois), and there woven; taken to India to be embroidered, and thence asmerchandise to Rome. 

While flax was making its way northward, the Celts must also havetaken it across Europe from their resting-place, after emigrating fromthe East. The word _linen_--_lin-white_--is a Celtic epithet, whereas_flax_ is an Anglo-Saxon word. [180]

The Atrebates wove linen in Artois, 1800 years ago. Jerome speaks oftheir "indumenta, " or shirts of fine linen; and the great weavers ofto-day are still the Flemish descendants of the Atrebates. TheirCeltic descent is witnessed in the Irish by their superiority in thecrafts of the loom. 

The fine laces of Venice, France, and Belgium are all of linen, i. E. Flaxen thread. Clearness and strength in these delicate fabrics cannotbe obtained with cotton, which, especially when it is washed, swellsand fluffs, and never has the radiant appearance and purity of flax. 

Embroidery is always a natural accompaniment of fine linen. Those thatare still preserved to us from early and Middle-Age times are nearlyall on linen, if not on silk. The woollen fragments are very few andimperfect. They have been invariably "fretted" by the moth. 

White needle embroidery is mostly worked in linen-thread, thoughcotton-thread has been used a great deal, and is very fit for thepurpose. 

4. COTTON. 

Cotton was native to India, [181] as flax was to Egypt. It not only wasgrown, woven, and printed there from the remotest antiquity, but wascultivated nowhere else. The Egyptians do not appear to have grown ittill the fourteenth century A. D. , though they had long imported it asraw material, and as plain and printed webs. [182] It was calledtree-wool. 

It was first woven in Italy in the thirteenth century, and used formaking paper; and in the sixteenth, the plant was grown in the southof Europe. From Italy it was carried into the Low Countries, and onlyreached England in the seventeenth century, [183] so lately has thegreat staple of our manufactures first belonged to us. 

The fibre of cotton has neither the strength nor the durability offlax or silk, but it is the third in the group of the most universallyqualified materials for all purposes of domestic textile art, rangingfrom carpets and sails, to fine chintzes for dress, and filmy muslins. The cloudy effect of these delicate fabrics is their own peculiarbeauty. Muslins for hangings, printed or embroidered, have alwaysbeen a luxury from India; they were called "carbasa, " and were muchesteemed in Rome as a protection against the sun. [184]

But we have much earlier notice of them, as being the curtainsdescribed in the Book of Esther, hung with silver rings to the pillarsof marble in the banqueting hall at Susa or Shushan: "blue and whitemuslin" (i. E. Carpas, [185] mistranslated "green" in the AuthorizedVersion), "fastened with cords of fine linen and purple. "

The word "carbasina" occurs in a play by Statius, evidently translatedfrom a writer of the new Greek comedy period. It may be inferred, therefore, that the Greeks used cotton 200 B. C. [186] A century before, Nearchus (one of Alexander's admirals) speaks of the cotton-trees inIndia as if they were a new discovery. Yates gives us many quotationsfrom Latin classical authors, proving the common use of cotton. ItsLatin name was _bambacinum_, from _bombax_, hence the Italian_bambagio_, _bambagino_, _bambasino_. 

The variety of cotton fabrics in India is very numerous, each havingits distinctive beauties and qualities inherited by tradition fromearly times. They are enumerated and described in Sir G. Birdwood's"Arts of India. " Almost all of them have been made to carryembroideries--the transparent muslins, [187] as well as the finecloths, and the stronger and thicker fabrics. [188]

Most old English houses contain some hangings of thickly woven cotton, probably Indian, worked in crewel or worsted, of the time of James I. , or a little earlier; and beautiful patterns wrought in silk or thread, on fine cotton linen, reminding one of the arabesques of the TajMahal, succeeded those of the Jacobean style. 

Transparent muslins were often embroidered in gold and silver, orspangled and embossed with beetles' wings; and gold, silver, and silkwere lavished on Indian cotton grounds, as well as on silken stuffs. Linen was not much embroidered in India, but often printed likechintz. 

Buckram, or plush of cotton, was certainly imported from the East toEngland, from the thirteenth century to the time of Elizabeth. Thereis at Ashridge, in Hertfordshire, a small jacket of very finecotton-plush amongst the baby linen prepared by Elizabeth for theexpected heir of Philip and Mary, and there are other small dresses ofthis material of the date of James I. A similar material calledfustian is also named by Marco Polo as a cotton fabric; it is supposedto have been made in Egypt by the Arabs. This sort of cotton-plush, variously manipulated, is repeatedly mentioned by Herr Graf'schen inhis "Catalogue of Egyptian Textiles from the Fayoum. "

Plano Carpini says the tunics of the Tartars were "bacramo, " or elseof baudichin (cloth of gold). Falstaff's "men in buckram" may be thusexplained. [189]

I have already said that cotton is inferior in its qualities to silkand flax, except in the production of transparent muslins. Itspeculiarity is its tendency to "crinkle" or crumple in wearing, therefore it does not present a smooth flat surface, except by meansof dressing, which unfits it for clinging effects but suits printedpatterns. Such stuffs as workhouse sheeting, imitating certain fabricsof the sixteenth century, and which it has been the fashion of late tocover with embroidery, do not repay, by effective beauty, the troublebestowed upon them. 

5. GOLD. 

A somewhat profane French writer, giving his ideas on the Creation, says that gold, the latest metal, was expressly created for thedemoralization of mankind. This is an ugly version of the fact that itis found on the surface of the earth's crust, and that its beauty andworth makes it a desirable possession for which men will ever contend. 

Gold adorns every work of the artistic animal--man. It is the mostbecoming setting to all other beautiful things, the most gorgeousreflection of light and colour, the richest and softest background, the most harmonious medium for high lights. In all works of decorationit represents sunshine where it is not, and doubles it where it is. The word "illumination" in books belongs to the gilded illustrationsof immortal thoughts. 

In embroideries, as grounding or as pattern, gold gives the glory:"Her clothing is of wrought gold. " The raiment of needlework iscomparatively ineffective without golden lights or background. Ascolour, it never can offend the eye, except when used to accentuateaggressively a vulgar pattern, or when it flashes and dazzles fromover-polish and too lavish expenditure. 

Silver follows gold as a splendid element in decoration, [190] but itis not of such universal application and use; and when employedtogether, the proportion of gold should preponderate. Golden tissuesbelong to the earliest civilizations. 

Sir G. Birdwood says that "The art of gold brocades is older than theCode of Manu. . . . The excellence of the art passed in the long courseof ages, from one place to another; and Babylon, Tarsus, Alexandria, Baghdad, Damascus, Antioch, Tabriz, Sicily, and Tripoli successivelybecame celebrated for their gold and silver-wrought tissues, silks, and brocades. . . . Through every disguise (and mingling of style) it isnot impossible to infer the essential identity of the brocades withthe fabrics of blue, purple, and scarlet, worked in gold, of ancientBabylonian art. "[191]

The Israelites wove gold with their coloured woollens for the use ofthe sanctuary, and probably brought the art from Egypt; though I amnot aware of any gold-woven stuffs from Egyptian tombs. [192]

Indian and Chinese stuffs were from time immemorial woven with gold. 

The historians of Alexander the Great continually name gold as amaterial in dress. [193] Arrian, Justin, and Quintus Curtius, all speakof golden tissues as part of the luxury of the East. 

We hear of Darius' dress woven with golden hawks; and of the goldenspoils of Persepolis; the dresses worn by Alexander's generals, andall his attendants clothed in purple and gold. Then, perhaps, theBabylonian tradition was brought to Europe; and ever after, purple andgold became the state apparel for courtiers as well as kings. [194]

The hangings of scarlet, purple, and gold used at the nuptials ofAlexander, and at his funeral, and his pall of the same material, pointto the fact that gold was a recognized element in splendid textileweaving, as well as in the earliest ornamental embroideries. [195]

Attalus II. , king of Pergamus, was credited with being the inventor ofgold weaving, but this must have been a mistake, as it was practisedlong before his time; but he may have devised some splendid goldentissues, which were called "Attalic, " in honour of the king'spatronage. [196] As, however, the gold flat plate or wire was probablythat woven before his time, [197] it is possible that he may haveinvented or patronized the making of thread of gold, by twining itround flax or cotton. [198]

Pliny says gold may be woven or spun like wool without any admixtureof wool or flax, [199] and he quotes as examples the golden garment ofAgrippina, and that worn by Tarquinius Priscus, mentioned by Verrius. 

It appears that the Egyptians knew the art of drawing gold wire, assome pieces have been found in their jewellery;[200] but we know notby what process it was worked, either then, or in the dark ages. 

A mechanic of Nuremberg, in the fourteenth century, invented a machinefor the purpose; and this art of drawing wire was introduced intoEngland 200 years later, in 1560. 

The pure cut gold was in use in Rome to a late date. [201] St. Cecilia, martyred 230 A. D. , was buried with her golden mantle lying at herfeet; and in 821, when Pope Pascal opened her grave, he found theevidence of her martyrdom in that splendid garment, showing that ithad been soaked in blood. [202]

There were found under the foundations of the new Basilica of St. Peter's, the bodies of Probus Anicius and his wife, Proba Faltonia, ina wrapping of gold. 

Dr. Rock gives us more examples, [203] but we will only add that of thewife of the Emperor Honorius, who in the year 400 A. D. Was buried ina golden dress, which in 1544 was removed from her grave, and beingmelted, weighed 36 lbs. [204]

The Anglo-Saxon tomb opened at Chessell Down, in the Isle of Wight, contained fragments of a garment or wrapping woven with flat gold"plate. " These remains are now in the British Museum. 

Childeric was buried at Tournai, 485 A. D. , and his dress of strips ofpure gold was discovered and melted in 1653. But gold _thread_ alsowas then very generally used in weaving gold tissues. 

Claudian describes a Christian lady, Proba, in the fourth century, preparing the consular robes for her two sons on their being raised tothe consulate:[205]--

 "The joyful mother plies her knowing hands, And works on all the trabea golden bands; Draws the thin strips to all the length of gold, _To make the metal meaner threads enfold_. "

Pure gold was woven in the dark ages in England. St. Cuthbert'smaniple at Durham is of pure gold thread. John Garland says the ladieswove golden cingulæ in the thirteenth century; and Henry I. , accordingto Hoveden, was clothed in a robe of state of woven gold and gems ofalmost "divine splendour. "[206]

A wrapping of beautiful gold brocade covered the coffin of Henry III. When his tomb was opened in 1871. [207]

The cope of St. Andrew at Aix, in Switzerland, is embroidered in avery simple pattern, with large circles containing St. Andrew'scrosses. [208] This is worked in silver wire gilt, and is Byzantine ofthe twelfth century. 

In the writings of the Middle Ages we find constant reference todifferent golden fabrics. Among them are "samit" or "examitur" (asix-thread silk stuff, preciously inwoven with gold threads);[209] and"ciclatoun, "[210] which was remarkable for the lightness of itstexture, and was woven with shining gold threads--but though light, itwas stiff enough to carry heavy embroidery. We hear also of"baudekin, " "nak, " and cloth of pall. "Camoca" is "kincob. "

There appears to be a link between embroidery in gold and thejewellers' work which in the Dark and Middle Ages was so often appliedto ecclesiastical and royal dress and hangings. This link was beatengold work, "aurobacutos, " "beaten work, " or "batony. "[211] Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick in the time of Henry VI. , went over to France, havinga "coat for my lord's body, beat with fine gold (probably heraldicdesigns). For his ship, a streamer forty yards long and eight broad, with a great bear and griffin, and 400 'pencils' with the 'raggedstaff' in silver. " This mode lasted some time; for in 1538, BarbaraMason bequeathed to a church a "vestment of green silk beaten withgold. " Probably this beaten gold was really very thick gold-leaf laidon the silk or linen ground, as we see still in some Sicilian and Arabtissues. The embroidered banners taken from Charles le Téméraire, atGrandson, are finished with broad borders of gilded inscriptions, suchas might be called beaten gold work. [212]

But besides this thick gold-leaf, there was another mode of enrichingembroideries. Laminæ of gold were cut into shapes, and finished thework by accentuating the design in Eastern embroideries; They arefound also in Greek tombs, and in the Middle Ages they varied from thelittle golden spangle to many other forms--circular rings, stars, crescents, moons, leaves, and solid pendant wedges of gold, all whichapproached the art of the goldsmith. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 19. Spangles. ]

Enamel was soon added to the enrichment of these golden spangles, plates, or discs, which were enlarged to receive a design. [213] Ofthis style of embellishment we know none so striking as the saddle inthe Museum at Munich, said to have been taken from a Turkish generalin the fifteenth century. This is Italian of the finest cinque-centostyle: blue velvet, covered with beautiful gold embroidery, andevery vacant space filled with spangles of endless forms, and ofprecious goldsmiths' and enamellers' work. The Persian stirrupsattached to it are of a totally different style of enamelling andjewellery, and speak for themselves, and for the school they camefrom. [214]

 [Illustration: Pl. 33. Window Hanging, by Gentil Bellini, from a Portrait of Mahomet II. , property of Sir H. Layard. ]

Dr. Rock describes part of a chasuble wrought by Isabella of Spain andher maids of honour, in which the flowing design is worked out insmall moulded spangles of gold and silver, set so as to overlap eachother and give the effect of scales. 

To a late period, gold and silver embroideries, enriched withspangles, have been lavished on the head-dresses and stomachers of thepeasantry throughout the north of Europe and Switzerland. [215]

Pearls and gems, either threaded like beads, or in golden settings, are to be studied in the early pictures of the German and Frenchschools; and the Anglo-Saxons excelled in such enrichments. 

Sir Henry Layard has a portrait of the fifteenth century, of theSultan Mahomet II. , by Gentil Bellini, from which has been copied theaccompanying beautiful embroidered design of a window-hanging. [216]The grace of the lines, and the delicate taste with which the gems areset in the work, are a lesson in art (pl. 33). 

India sent to Europe more art in gold thread than has ever beenproduced amongst us from our own workshops. [217]

The people of Goa, mostly Arabs, embroidered for the Portuguese thosewonderful fabrics, glittering with gold and radiant with colours, which cover the beds and hang the rooms throughout Portugal andSpain. [218] The precious metals (often forming the whole grounding)were employed without stint; the patterns being either embroidered incoloured silks and gold; or on velvets or satins, with gold alone ormixed with silver. 

The fine gold threads for embroidery, which have preserved theirbrilliancy for so many centuries, such as we find worked inCharlemagne's dalmatic, in Aelfled's maniple, and in the mitres ofThomas à Becket, are certainly Oriental. To England they came in thebales of the merchants who brought us our silk, and even our needles, from India. Later we imported and copied the different ways of givingeffect to inferior metals, and the Spaniard's gilt parchment threadreached us from their Moorish manufactories. [219]

Designs were sometimes, in the sixteenth century, worked in goldtwisted with coloured silks, sometimes only stitched down with them. The badges of the Order of the Dragon, instituted by the EmperorSigismund, were thus embroidered, and placed on the cloaks of theknights. The work was so perfect that it resembled jewels of enamelledgold. Two ancient ones are in the Museum at Munich. 

Gold or silver or base metal wire was, in the later Middle Ages anddown to our own times, much employed in the form of what is called"purl, " i. E. Coiled wire cut into short lengths, threaded on silk, andsewn down. German, Italian, and English embroideries were oftenenriched with this fabric. Sometimes the wire was twisted withcoloured silks before it was coiled. There are beautiful specimens ofthis work of the days of Queen Elizabeth. 

Still, throughout Europe the best works were carried out with the bestmaterials, and these always came from the East. But we sometimes findthat the pressure of circumstances has for a time caused theemployment of adulterated metals that have perished; and thus manyfine works of art have been spoiled. [220]

The use of bad materials has therefore been as unfortunate for art asthat of pure gold, which has tempted so many ignorant persons to burngolden embroideries and tapestries, and melt down the ore theycontain. How little of all that human skill and invention havecarefully elaborated is now preserved to us! To gold and silvertextiles their materials have been often a fatal dower. 

It has sometimes puzzled any but the most experienced embroiderers todistinguish between the stuffs woven with the golden threads on thesurface, and finely brocaded or patterned in the loom; and those othercloths, embroidered by hand, which have been so manipulated thathardly an atom of the gold can be detected at the back. This is doneby a technical mode of treating the surface, which is more easilyshown than described. The gold is really drawn into the spaces betweenthe threads of the canvas or linen grounding, but never pulledthrough. For many reasons this is an advantage, and when executedcunningly, as it was in England in the twelfth century, it is rich, beautiful, lasting, and economical. It is a peculiar mark of the "opusAnglicanum, " and it is to be seen in the mitre at Munich, where thisstitch is employed on a white satin ground;[221] also in the workingof the two pluvials at San Giovanni Laterano at Rome, and at theMuseum at Bologna, as well as that at Madrid, which are all threeEnglish of the thirteenth century, by design as well as by stitches. 

I cannot close this chapter without naming the many schools of goldembroidery in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The King ofBavaria has an establishment for gold work, and this is very finelycarried out, highly raised, and richly designed. [222] In Spain thereis also a Royal School, where stately works are executed. 

It is to be regretted that the modern designs are motiveless, and notso beautiful as the old ones, and it is very difficult to have anyancient piece of work copied exactly. Little modernisms creep inwherever the pattern has to be fitted into a new shape; for theaccomplished needlewoman is seldom an artist. 

All honour is due to certain manufacturers at Lyons who are working inthe spirit of the old masters, and have been seriously considering howbest to reproduce the beautiful soft surface of the gold thread ofwhich the secret was lost in the fifteenth century. [223]

The old Chinese flat gold was, about the sixteenth century, supersededby what was manufactured in Spain, and is no longer imported or, perhaps, even made. 

6. SILK. 

The origin and history of silk is learnedly and elaborately discussedin Yates' "Textrinum Antiquorum. " He gives us his authorities, andliteral translations for the benefit of the unlearned, who cannot readthe original texts. I have availed myself without hesitation of hisquotations, and of the carefully considered opinions he has drawn fromthem. 

It has been already said that wool and flax preceded silk in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman manufactures. There is no certain mention of silk inthe Books of the Old Testament. [224] Silk is, however, named in theCode of Manu. [225]

No shred of silk has been found in any Egyptian tomb, nor tilllately, and with one exception only, in those of the Greeks. 

Auberville says, "La soie ne fit son apparition en Europe que 300 ansavant notre ère. "[226]

Pamphile, daughter of Plates, of Cos, is said by Aristotle to havethere first woven silk (300 B. C. ). Probably raw silk was brought toCos from the interior of Asia, and Pamphile is by some supposed tohave "effilèd" the solid manufactured silks, and woven them again intogauzy webs. Yates suggests that it is possible that Pamphile obtainedcocoons and unwound them, as the passage in Aristotle may be sointerpreted. 

The specimen of early silk-weaving which we have above alluded to, wastaken out of the "Tomb of the Seven Brothers" at Kertch, in theCrimea, and is of the third century B. C. It consists of several bitsof very transparent painted silk. These fragments are an actual andyet a contemporary witness to the truth of the tradition of Pamphile'sCoan webs, which are of the same date: possibly they were herhandiwork. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 34. 1. Classical Silk. Greek. (Semper's "Der Stil, " p. 192. ) 2. Classical Silk. Roman. (Auberville, pl. 4. )]

Whether Pamphile's silk gauzes were the only fine webs of Cos, [227] isa disputed question. She has the credit of being the first to clothevictorious generals in triumphal garments, and she has beenimmortalized by her cleverness and industry. Both Aristotle and Plinyassert that she first invented the Coan webs, and that some of themwere of silk is undoubted. The question is, How came it there?whence and by what route? and what country was its original home andbirthplace?

After stating the _pros_ and _cons_ of the question, how and where didsilk first make its appearance, Sir G. Birdwood concludes that boththe worm and the cocoon were known to the Greeks and Romans, by reportand rare specimens, from the time of Alexander's return from hisIndian campaign. [228]

Of course the remains of these fabrics are extremely scarce; and, infact, only two are at present known to me besides the Kertch specimen. The first is given in Semper's "Der Stil, " and is evidently classicalGreek or Roman; but the silk material might have been effilèd from anOriental stuff (pl. 34, No. 1). The second must have been originally aRoman pattern, modified by the Persian loom in which it was woven. This may have been a Roman triumphal robe of the date of Julius Cæsar(pl. 34, No. 2). 

It is clear that Chinese silken stuffs were not generally known inSouthern Europe till the time of Julius Cæsar, who displayed aprofusion of silks in some of his splendid theatrical representations. 

How silk first arrived from the East is disputed; some say it came bythe Red Sea, and other authorities believe it was brought from China, _viâ_ Persia, by land. 

But it is not necessary that it should have entered our civilizationby only one gate. The Periplus Maris Erythræi makes frequent mentionof the trade in silks, through India, by the Indus to the coasts ofthe Erythrean Sea. They were also brought through Bactria to Barygaza, near Surat, from a city called Thina (China?). The author of thePeriplus, of course, refers to some place in the country vaguelycalled Serica. [229]

That the trade which brought it into Europe was difficult andlimited, is proved by the fact that silk continued, even as late asthe third century of our era, to be an article of luxury, of which themanufacture and use continued to be the subject of legal enactmentsand restrictions, for 600 years after Pamphile's first essay insilk-weaving in Cos. 

"The Seres" was the name given by the ancients to the nation whichproduced silk; and it was undoubtedly that accepted for the distantregion now called China, including Corea, and later, the kingdom ofKhotan. The first mention of these people as a distinct nation is byMela (iii. 7), who speaks of them as an "honest people, who bring whatthey have to sell, and return for their payments. "[230]

The prevailing idea amongst the Greeks was that silk was combed fromthe trees. Seneca says:--

 "Nor with Mæonian needle mark the web, Gathered by Eastern Seres from the trees. "

 Seneca the Tragedian, "Herc. Ætæus, " 644. [231]

This was, till lately, believed to be only a fiction, intended to hidethe truth and enhance the value of the new Coan material. But it isnow ascertained that some of the wild silk in China is carried by thesilkworm round the trees, wrapping them up, as it were, in large, untidy cocoons; so that, as usual, tradition had truth for itsfoundation. 

There was always much mysterious report about the new material. Dionysius Periegetes tells of a barbarous people called the Seres, who "renounce the care of sheep and oxen, but who comb the colouredflowers of the desert, and with them produce woven precious stuffs, ofwhich they make figured garments, resembling the flowers of the fieldin beauty, and in texture the web of the spider. "[232]

There is no doubt that as Egypt was the first to weave linen, andIndia to produce cotton textiles, so in China originated the materialof silk and its manufacture. 

M. Terrien de la Couperie, who has deciphered the Archaic books of theChinese Records, sees there excellent linguistic proofs that theChinese nation was originally a fragment of the first Babyloniancivilization. He there finds that when these Accadians arrived on thefurthest eastern coast of Asia, they met with and enslaved anaboriginal race, who already cultivated the silkworm, and wove andworked its produce, and were called by them "the Embroiderers. "[233]

This is supposed to have been an historical event contemporary withthe life of Abraham, and, therefore, 5000 years old. 

The Chinese say that Tekin or Sin, the son of Japhet, instructed hischildren in painting, sculpture, and embroidery, and in the art ofpreparing _silk_ for different woven fabrics. [234]

Whether we are justified or not in believing in so very early a date, at any rate we must remember that it is now ascertained that silk wasused in China 2600 years before our era. 

Auberville says there is a legend that the Empress Si-ling-chi[235](2600 B. C. ) had the happy inspiration to invent the unwinding of thecocoon before the insect cut the threads; and for this discovery shewas placed among the divinities. 

Before her time, they had certainly for more than 300 years used theprecious material in its mutilated condition. [236]

Some centuries later the Emperor Chan received tribute in linens andsilken stuffs. Tissues of many colours were painted or richlyembroidered. [237]

In the second century A. D. , a prince of Khotan, [238] Kiu-sa-tan-na, was desirous of obtaining from China the eggs of the silkworm, but hisrequest was refused; and it was prohibited that either eggs of thesilkworm or seed of mulberry-trees should cross the border. 

Then the King of Khotan asked for a Chinese princess in marriage, andthis favour being granted, he found means to inform the lady privatelythat in her future kingdom she would find no silk to weave or work. The dread of such an aimless life roused all her womanly instincts. Defiance of the law, love of smuggling, and the wish to please herhusband and benefit her future people, gave her courage to conceal theeggs and seeds in the folds of her dress and the meshes of herbeautiful hair, and so she carried a most precious dower into heradopted country. [239] Thus was broken the spell which for more than3000 years had confined the secret of China within the fence of itswonderful wall; and later on, A. D. 530, the eggs were brought toByzantium. [240]

From China, therefore, comes our silk. [241] We may say it is traced tothe beginning; but how far back had the archæologist to grope beforehe could find it!

I transcribe a few more quotations from Yates' translations andauthorities. [242]

In the Hippolytus of Euripides, 383, Phædra _loquitur_:--

 "Remove, ye maids, the vests whose tissue glares With purple and with gold; far be the red Of Syrian murex; this the shining thread Which furthest Seres gathers from the boughs. "

Lucan describes the transparent material which veiled Cleopatra'sform:--

 "Her snowy breast shines through Sidonian threads, First by the comb of distant Seres struck; Divided then by Egypt's skilful hand, And with embroidery transparent made. "

Pliny's account of silk and its manufacture is mostly fanciful, thoughfounded on half-known facts. 

The Latin poets of the Augustan age speak of silk attire with otherluxurious customs from the East. [243] The Roman senate, in the reignof Tiberius, decreed that only women should wear silk, on account ofits effeminacy. 

Silk was accumulated for the wardrobes of the empresses till A. D. 176, when Marcus Aurelius, "the Philosopher, " sold all the imperialornaments and the silken robes of his empress by auction in the Forumof Trajan. [244]

We learn that silk was precious and fabulously esteemed to the end ofthe second century A. D. ; but it is seldom mentioned in the thirdcentury. 

Ælius Lampridius speaks of a silken cord with which to hang himself, as an imperial extravagance on the part of Heliogabalus (and of thisonly one strand was silk); and he mentions that Alexander Severusrarely allowed himself a dress of silk (holosericum), and only gaveaway robes of partly silken substance. 

Flavius Vopiscus says that Aurelian had no dress wholly of silk(holosericum). [245] His wife begged him to allow her a shawl of purplesilk, and he replied, "Far be it from me to permit thread to bereckoned worth its weight in gold!"--for a pound of gold was thenworth a pound of silk. 

Flavius Vopiscus further states that the Emperor Carinus, however, gave away silken garments, as well as dresses of gold and silver, toGreek artificers, players, wrestlers, and musicians. [246]

Yates gives us a translation of an edict of Diocletian, giving amaximum of prices for articles in common use in the Roman empire. Itreads like a tailor's or a dress-maker's bill of to-day:--

 DENARII. To the tailor, for lining a fine vest 6 To the same, for an opening of an edging of silk 50 To the same, for an opening and an edging of a mixed tissue of silk and flax 30 For an edging of a coarser vest 4[247]

A monument at Tivoli is erected to the memory of his estimable wife, Valeria Chrysis, by "M. N. Poculus, silk manufacturer. " This wasprobably an imperial office in the fourth century. [248]

From the first to the sixth centuries, poets and historianscontinually speak of silk, [249] praising its beauty or blaming it asextravagance or luxury; but according to Yates, all the information wecollect from these sources requires to be tested as to accuracy, andis often erroneous. 

I have spoken of the first silk-weaving in Cos, 300 B. C. The firstarrival of the silkworm in Europe was in the sixth century, 900 yearslater. Cosmas Indicopleustes and another monk brought eggs from Chinain the hollow staves they carried in their hands. This was a greatevent in European commerce. The eggs were solemnly presented to theEmperor Justinian, and the monopoly of their cultivation is to befound in his law-ordaining codex. [250]

The monopoly of the silk manufactures was confined to the area of theimperial palace of Constantinople, but the cultivation of the wormgradually spread over Greece, Asia Minor, and India. 

The first allusion to the use of silk in the Christian Church is byGregory Nazianzen (A. D. 370), "Ad Hellenium pro Monarchis Carmen:""Silver and gold some bring to God, or the fine thread by Seresspun. "[251] Basil illustrates the idea of the resurrection by thebirth of the butterfly from the cocoon. [252]

Paul the Silentiary (A. D. 562) alludes to the frequent use of silk inthe priests' vestments at the Church of St. Sophia at Constantinople. 

Bede relates that the first Abbot of Wearmouth went to Rome for thefifth time in A. D. 685, and brought back with him two scarves or pallsof incomparable workmanship, and entirely of silk, with which hepurchased land of three families at the mouth of the Wear. Bede's ownremains were wrapped in silk. 

Auberville gives us, in his "Tissus, " specimens of Roman silks betweenthe first and seventh centuries, but he cannot fix their exactdate. [253]

The finest webs of Holosericum from the imperial looms were generallybestowed upon the Church, and thus consecrated, the earliestascertained specimens that have survived have been preserved; and ofthese, most have been found in the tombs of saints, bishops, and kingswho were buried in priestly as well as in royal garments. [254]

Among the silk and satin fabrics, the tissue called "Imperial" ismentioned by several early English authors. Roger de Wendover andMatthew Paris describe the apparition of King John as clad in "royalrobes of Imperial. "[255] William de Magna Villa brought from Greece, in 1170, a stuff called Imperial, "marbled" or variegated, and coveredwith lions woven in gold. 

In the Eastern Empire, this industry after a time fell into the handsof the Jews; and in 1161, Benjamin of Tudela says the city of Thebescontained about 2000 Jewish silk-weavers. 

The breeding of the worm in Europe seems to have been confined toGreece from the time of Justinian to the twelfth century; but in 1148, Roger, King of Sicily, brought as prisoners of war, from Corinth, Thebes, and Athens, many silk-weavers, and settled them at Palermo. "Then might be seen Corinthians and Thebans of both sexes, employed inweaving velvet stoles interwoven with gold, and serving like theEretrians of old among the Persians. "[256]

Hugh Falcandus[257] has left a description of the Royal manufactory atPalermo, and the Hotel de Tiraz which absorbed all the smallerSaracenic factories already started. The Hotel de Tiraz had fourgreat workshops, in which were separately carried on the weaving ofplain tissues, velvets, examits and satins, and flowered stuffs(damasks), and lastly, gold brocades and embroideries. It was from thelast that proceeded the real works of art, and the embroideries withpearls and precious stones. [258] The highest efforts of the loom wereapparently finished with the needle, [259] as in the figured textilesof Egypt. 

The continuity of Sicilian textile designs from the sixth to thesixteenth centuries (a thousand years) is very remarkable. Owing toits originally strongly stamped Oriental character, great knowledge ofthe arts of weaving, spinning, and dyeing silk is required to enableany one to assign an exact date to materials which only remodelledtheir style three times. 

Dr. Rock's rules for deciphering these three dates may, however, beeasily learned, as they are broad and simple. In his comprehensive"Introduction to the Textiles in the Kensington Museum" (p. Lxvii) hesays that the three defined periods of silk-weaving in Sicily are:First, from the time of Justinian to the Hohenstaufen (from the sixthto the twelfth century); secondly, from the accession of Frederick I. (Barbarossa), 1152, to Charles IV. , 1347 (twelfth to fourteenthcenturies); the third period is of one century only, from 1347 to1456. 

The first period especially shows African animals, such as the giraffeand the different kinds of antelopes, mixed with Arabian mottoes; andthe patterns are generally woven with gold. This is merely giltparchment, the silk being mingled with cotton. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 35. Peacock Pattern. Silk Wrapping on the body of St. Cuthbert. Durham. ]

The second period, beginning in the twelfth century, shows the arrivalof Count Roger's Persian and Greek workmen, captives from Thebes, Corinth, and Athens. The fresh designs show fragments of Greek taste, such as masks and foliage, and give one a slight foretaste of theRenaissance. [260]

These semi-classical echoes are contemporary in the Sicilian loomswith such Norman motives as a crowned sovereign riding with a hawkupon his wrist. 

This description singularly applies to the relics removed from thetomb of St. Cuthbert, at Durham, in 1827; among which are fragments ofthree wrappings, or garments of silk, so suggestive of the artistictraditions of many nationalities, and the long descent of patterns, recognizable after the lapse of centuries, that a description of them, accompanied by illustrations, can hardly fail to be interesting. Theyare all now reduced by time to a rich golden brown, though there areindications that blue, green, and red have been woven into theirfabric, and there are also on one of them traces of gilding. The first(plate 35) shows Oriental conventional peacocks, double-headed andcollared, framed within circles which slightly intersect each other, thus giving the opportunity for varying the original motive bybreaking up the rolling arabesqued pattern, and uniting the stems andflowers contained in the border. The spaces between the circles arefilled in with gryphons in pairs, of the Babylonian stamp, thicklimbed with strongly-marked muscles. There is a border or guimp, Persian in character, in which are small crosses surmountingrepetitions of the crenelated pattern found in Assyrian ornament. 

The second piece of silk contains a large rosace. Scattered about itare repetitions of the Persian leaf or tree of life, and the borderconsists of kneeling hares or fawns between a Persian arabesque and acorded line. The mixture of Egyptian and Assyrian styles is remarkablethroughout, till we come to the centre of the rosace, where we find amost incongruous man in armour on horseback with a hawk on his wrist, giving the Norman stamp of the reigning house and influence in Sicily. The central subject is exactly repeated on an embroidered twelfthcentury chasuble in the treasury of the Cathedral of Bamberg, onlythat a royal crown and robes are worn by the horseman (pl. 36). [261]

The third specimen is the most noteworthy (plate 37). There is nothingof Assyrian here, but it reminds one of Egyptian and Greek art, and atonce suggests Count Roger's Greek slaves at the Sicilian looms, butthe design is probably of a much earlier date, and the subject ispuzzling. A piece of drapery resembling an Egyptian sail with itsfringes[262] (pl. 38) is looped up on each side to the head of athyrsus, and above it hangs a large cluster of fruits. The lower partof the drapery rests upon water, and is somewhat like a boat, withducks swimming towards it, and fish disporting themselves in therippling waves. Between the circles the ducks are repeated, facing ashield enriched with rows of the crenelated pattern surmounted by avine. 

These fragments have belonged each to a very large and freely wovensilk shawl or mantle. The circles are about two feet across. There isa different arrangement of the threads in each web, giving differentfine diapers, and the last described has a raised pattern which mighthave been intended to represent water. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 36. NORMAN AND PERSIAN TYPE. A Silk Wrapping on the body of St. Cuthbert. Durham. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 37. GRÆCO-EGYPTIAN STYLE. A Silk Wrapping on the body of St. Cuthbert. Durham. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 38. Boat with coloured sail, from the tomb of Rameses III. At Thebes. (Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " iii. P. 211. ) Explanatory of the design on St. Cuthbert's silk shroud, pl. 37. ]

It is most likely that in the twelfth century, or even a littlelater, the body of St. Cuthbert was wrapped in these shawls, and soleft when at the Reformation, his shrine was destroyed, and the coffercontaining his remains buried in the same place, and piously concealedtill our own day. I shall describe the beautiful embroideries in whichthe body had been clothed in the tenth century when I come to thesubject of English work. 

The third period of silk-weaving art is unmistakably Sicilian. At theend of the thirteenth century and beginning of the fourteenth, Palermostruck out her own line. The Greek cross appears in various forms. Thedesigns are of a wonderful richness and capricious ingenuity. Theyshow alike Asiatic, African, and European animals, and every kind ofmythological creature--griffins, dragons, dogs, and harts, with largewings; swans, pheasants, and eagles, single or double-headed, oftenpecking at the sun's rays; beautifully drawn foliage and flowers, andheraldic emblems and coats-of-arms. One peculiarity of the thirdperiod is the frequent use of green patterns on "murrey"-colouredgrounds. 

All this splendour of design was commonly lavished on poor material. The silks continued to be mixed with cotton, and the gold, or ratherthe gilding, was so base that it has almost always become black on thefoundation strips of parchment or paper. [263]

The heraldic silks are mostly of the time of the Crusades, when thedistinguished pilgrims and warriors, especially the English, madeSicily their half-way house to the Holy Land, and brought from thencefabrics woven to suit their tastes. In Auberville's book we find, under the dates of many centuries, the most remarkable fragments nowknown. On portrait-tombs and in some very ancient pictures are figuredbeautiful silks woven in gold, which are recognizable at once by theirArab-Sicilian style. Of this type, the remarkable fragment of thedress of Richard II. , in the Kensington Museum, dates itself, bycarrying the cognizances of his grandfather and his mother, and theportrait of his dog Math. [264]

The last period of the Sicilian silks is especially marked by theinscriptions being mostly nonsense, and only woven in as ornament, with the forms of Arab lettering. [265]

Sir G. Birdwood says that whether the Saracens found the manufactureof silk already established in India or not, they certainly influencedthe decorative designs. He adds that kincobs are now woven atAhmedabad and Benares, identical in design with the old Sicilianbrocades; while the Saracenic Sicilian silks abound in patterns whichprove their origin in Assyrian, Sassanian, or Indian art. 

We know that the Saracens introduced colonies of Persian, and probablyIndian workmen into Spain, after the beginning of the ninth century, to assist them in their architecture and textile manufactures, and inreturn the Mogul emperors of Delhi invited many Italian and Frenchdesigners into India. 

The Taj and other buildings in Rajpootana are decorated with exquisitemosaics coeval with those of Austin of Bordeaux. Their styles of artin textiles, and in other materials, have acted and reacted upon eachother; and nothing throws more light on the affinities and thedevelopment of the modern decorative arts of Europe than the historyof the introduction, under Justinian, of the silk manufactures fromthe East into the West. [266]

From Palermo, all the stages of the manufacture of silk spreadthemselves over Italy and into Spain. According to Nicolo Tegrini, theflourishing silk-weavers of Lucca having been ejected from the city inthe early part of the fourteenth century, carried their art elsewhere, and even to Germany, France, and Britain. [267]

Italian weavers went to Lyons in 1450, and so started the silkindustry that it has steadily increased till now. It gives employmentto about 31, 000 looms and 240, 000 workpeople of both sexes. 

The Moors, when they overflowed into Iberia, carried with them alltheir Orientalisms, traditions, manufactures, and designs; thusdisobeying their prophet, who forbade the use of silk except to women. 

Senhor F. De Riano tells us that from the ninth to the eleventhcenturies, Spain was producing fine silk tissues. The MoorishCordovese writer, Ash-Shakandi, who lived in the beginning of thethirteenth century, says, "Malaga is famous for its manufactures ofsilks of all colours and patterns, some of which are so rich that asuit made of them will cost many thousands. Such are the brocades withbeautiful designs and the names of the Caliphs, Ameers, and otherwealthy people woven into them. "[268]

The same author, speaking of the manufactures of silk at Almeria, saysthat thence came the brightest colours; and Al-Makhari adds a list ofprecious silk tissues, naming the "Tiraz, " the "Iscalaton, " and therobes called each by its own special name. [269] Ash-Shakandi alsomentions the looms of Murcia, and its carpets. [270]

When the Moors were driven from Spain, the silk works of Malaga andAlmeria were ruined. But those of Valencia became famous, and flourishto this day. Talavera della Reina also produces fine ecclesiasticalfabrics, and at Toledo the ancient traditions are preserved, and theystill weave sixteenth-century designs. 

In Italy, Genoa, Florence, and Milan followed the Sicilian silkmanufactures, and each has left specimens of the craft, of which Rockhas pointed out the marked individualities. 

The rich stuffs with inscriptions inwoven in gold, in the Middle Ages, were called "literatis. "

The designs of Lucca at first imitated the Moorish Sicilian type; andintroduced as their speciality, white figures, such as angels in whitegarments, and exchanged the Oriental intricate patterns for a bolderand simpler style. 

Venice, of course, also showed at first the Oriental impress; but shesoon struck out a line of her own; and her especial invention wasshown in weaving, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, square pieces of silken tissue, representing sacred subjects. 

Florentine tissues, especially their velvet and gold brocades, wereparticularly splendid, and can be recognized by the loops of goldthread drawn to the surface and left there. Of these early Florentinegold brocades we have still beautiful examples in the palls of ourCity companies and in ancient ecclesiastical vestments. The loops ofgold have been the custom since the thirteenth century, and stillprevail in certain traditional fabrics, for instance, in the bannerswoven annually for the prizes at the horse races in Florence. TheCorsini family, who have for many generations and for hundreds ofyears competed in these races, had, in their princely palace at Rome, a room entirely hung with the silk of these gorgeous banners. 

In Hungary, Queen Gisela, in the eleventh century, established loomsfor weaving silk; and many convents throughout Europe and in Englandwove silken tissues for the service of the Church, till the greatmanufactures absorbed these partially private enterprises. [271]

Individual exertion produced copies, or motives that are taken fromEastern, Southern, or Northern inspirations; but it is only in largenational schools of arts or crafts that an absolutely recognizablestyle becomes apparent. For example, the early French silks frommonastic establishments are not remarkable for either style or texturetill the sixteenth century, when they came to the front as a nationalmanufacture, and have held the highest place in silk-weaving eversince. 

The Flemish towns of Ypres, Ghent, and Mechlin were known for theirsilken webs in the thirteenth century, and at that time innumerablesmall schools of the craft seem to have covered Europe. They areconstantly named in the lists of fine furnishings in Germany. InEngland, France, and Germany, as well as in the Low Countries, eachconvent had, besides its silk-weaving looms, its workshops forembroideries on silk, woollens, and linens, borrowing from theByzantine Empire, Sicily, and Spain, their designs and patterns. 

About this time (the thirteenth century), Marco Polo resided andtravelled in Asia. He visited the principal cities of Syria, Persia, Khotan, and Cathay, and from him we have information of the differentAsiatic textiles, generally bearing the name of the city where theywere woven. He names, for instance, the mediæval "baudas" and"baudakin" (with endless modifications in the spelling), from Baghdad. This afterwards gave the word baldachino to the awning or canopy overthe altar, which it retained even when textiles had given place tomarbles and mosaics. [272]

Satin is only found named in catalogues about the fourteenth century. But the dalmatic of Charlemagne, at Rome, is embroidered on a stoutblue satin, and has never been transferred; and at Constantinople, Baldwin II. , at his coronation in 1204, was shod and clothed invermilion satin embroidered with jewels; while all the Venetian andFrench barons present were clad in satin. [273] Semper and Bock believethat it had been a Chinese material long before it reached Europe. 

Satin was often called "blattin, " in connection with the colour of thecochineal insect (blatta), whose dye was invariably used for satin. Wecannot tell, however, which was certainly named from the other. [274]

In the poem of "The Lady of the Fountain, " translated by LadyCharlotte Guest from the Welsh ballads of the thirteenth century, silkand satin are often named. At the opening of the poem, King Arthur isdescribed seated on a throne of rushes, covered with a flame-colouredsatin cloth, and with a red satin cushion under his elbow. 

Fiery red was the orthodox colour for satin. In old German poems wefind it described as "pfellat, " always as being fiery. One kind ofpfellat was called salamander. [275] Bruges satins were the mostesteemed in the Middle Ages. Chaucer speaks of "satin riche andnewe. "[276]

Satin and velvet are the contrasting silken materials. In satin thethreads are laid along so that the shining surface ripples with everyray of sunshine, and the shadows are melted into half-lights by thereflections from every fold. It makes a dazzling garment, splendid inits radiant sheen; whereas in velvet, where each thread is placedupright and shorn smoothly, all light is absorbed and there are noreflections, and the whole effects are solemn, rich, and deep. [277]Some of the oldest velvets resemble plush in the length of their pile, and have not the dignity of velvet. 

Semper, from the different derivations that have been suggested, selects the connection of the word "velvet" (German, _Felbert_) with"welf, " the skin or fur of an animal. [278]

Among the gifts to Charlemagne (ninth century) from Haroun el Raschidwere velvets; and the earliest existing specimen we know of is namedby Bock as being in the Pergament Codex at Le Puy, in Vendôme, where, amongst other curious interleaved specimens of weaving, is a finepiece of shorn silk velvet. [279]

Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, frequently speaks of velvet asan Asiatic fabric. It is first known as a European textile in Lucca, about 1295, and we may therefore say that it was imported from theEast. [280]

In the next chapter on colour I have noticed the curious fact that theword purple was sometimes used to mean colour, and sometimes toexpress the texture of velvet, thus confounding the two; but I havealso pointed out that it had other meanings, and had become a verycomprehensive word for everything that expressed richness and warmth. 

While examining and judging embroideries, we must be careful not tobe deceived by the different dates often occurring in the groundingand the applied materials. Much embroidery was worked on fabrics thatwere already old and even worn out; and others have been transferredcenturies ago, and perhaps more than once, to fresh grounds. [281]

This sometimes causes a good deal of difficulty in dating specimens. One should begin by ascertaining whether the needlework was originallyintended to be cut out (_opus consutum_), and so laid on a ground ofanother material, and worked down and finished there. 

Of course it is always evident and easily ascertained, whether thework has been transferred at all. If so--and from each succeedingtransference--small fragments may be found showing on the cut edges. You will often see remains of two or more of these layers, remindingyou of the three Trojan cities dug up at different depths under eachother at Hissarlik. 

In judging each specimen the acumen of the expert is needed to obtaina correct opinion, and he should not only be an archæologist, but abotanist and a herald besides;[282] and, in fact, no kind of knowledgeis useless in deciphering the secrets of human art. But even when soarmed, he is often checked and puzzled by some accidental caprice ofdesign or mode of weaving, and after wasting trouble and time, has tocast it aside as defying classification. 

It is, however, as well to note these exceptions, as, when compared, they sometimes explain each other. 

What I have said regards, of course, the historical and archæologicalside of the study of textiles, and I have treated of them as beingeither the origin or the imitations of different styles of embroidery, and so inseparably connected with the art which is the subject andmotive of this book; and not only in this does the connection betweenthem exist, but in the fact that as embroideries always need a ground, silken and other textiles are an absolute necessity to theirexistence. 

For these reasons alone I have given this chapter on materials, shortand imperfect, but suggesting further research into the writings ofthe authors I have quoted, and, I hope, exciting the interest of thereader. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [130] Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. 

 [131] It is described by Yates as having the appearance of a flat ribbon, with the edges thickened like a hem. 

 [132] This rough bark is probably the reason that it absorbs colour into its substance (perhaps under the scales); and it may also account for its being capable of felting. 

 [133] It may be laid down as a fundamental rule in technical style, that the product shall preserve the peculiar characteristics of the raw material. Unfortunately, the artist is often ignorant of the qualities of the fabric for which he is designing, and the workman who has to carry it out is a mechanic, in these days, instead of a craftsman. 

 [134] Molochinus, or malva silvestris (wild hemp), Yates, pp. 292-317, is sometimes spoken of as a mallow, sometimes as a nettle. In the Vocabulary of Papias (A. D. 1050) it is said that the cloth called molocina is made from thread of mallow, and used for dress in Egypt. Garments of molochinus were brought from India, according to the Periplus (see Pliny, 146, 166, 170, 171). It was seldom used by the ancients, but both Greeks and Romans made it serve for mats and ropes. The Thracians wove of it garments and sheets. It is not named in the Scriptures. 

 [135] See Gibbs' "British Honduras. "

 [136] Spartum was a rush. Pliny says it was used for the rigging of ships. 

 [137] The bark of trees such as the Hybiscus Tiliaceus, and that of the Birch (see Yates, p. 305-6). Birch bark was embroidered, till latterly, by the Indian women in North America with porcupines' quills. Pigafetta says (writing in the sixteenth century) that in the kingdom of Congo many different kinds of stuff were manufactured from the palm-tree fibre. He instances cloths on which patterns were wrought, and likewise a material resembling "velvet on both sides. "

 [138] "Camoca" or caman in the Middle Ages is supposed to have been of camels' hair, mixed with silk. Edward the Black Prince left to his confessor his bed of red caman, with his arms embroidered on each corner. Rock (p. Xliv) gives us information about the tents and garments of camels' hair found throughout the East, wherever the camel flourishes and has a fine hairy winter coat, which it sheds in the heat. The coarser parts are used for common purposes, and the finest serve for beautiful fabrics, especially shawls. Marco Polo tells of beautiful camelots manufactured from the hair of camels; and of the Egyptian coarse and very fine fabrics woven of the same materials. 

 [139] "Le Chevalier à Deux Epées" (quoted by Dr. Rock), and Lady Wilton, "Art of Needlework, " p. 128. 

 [140] See p. 359, _post_, for Boadicea's dress. 

 [141] See Mr. Villiers Stuart's "Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen. "

 [142] The Moors in Spain excelled in leather-work and embroidery upon it; and Marco Polo describes the beautiful productions of the province of Guzerat, of leather inlaid and embroidered with gold and silver wire. Yule's "Marco Polo, " p. 383. 

 [143] See chapter on Stitches. 

 [144] See Chardin, vol. I. P. 31. 

 [145] Tin, called "laton, " was used to debase the metal threads in the Middle Ages. It is also named as a legitimate material for metal embroideries. 

 [146] For all information about asbestos, see Yates, pp. 356, 565. 

 [147] There is one at the Barberini Palace at Rome. A sheet, woven of asbestos, found in a tomb outside the Porta Maggiore, is described by Sir J. E. Smith in his "Tour on the Continent" (vol. Ii. P. 201) as being coarsely spun, but as soft and pliant as silk. "We set fire to it, and the same part being repeatedly burnt, was not at all injured. "

 [148] See Yule's "Marco Polo, " vol. I. Pp. 215, 218, and Yates, p. 361. 

 [149] There are specimens of bead-work pictures at St. Stephen's at Coire, in the Marien-Kirche at Dantzic, and elsewhere. See Rock, p. Cv. This is, in fact, mosaic in textiles, without cement. 

 [150] Witness the stone whorls for the spindles in our prehistoric barrows, and the "heaps" of the lake cities. 

 [151] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 129. 

 [152] An Egyptian Dynasty called themselves the Shepherd Kings. 

 [153] Yates gives endless quotations to show how ancient and how honourable an occupation was that of tending sheep. 

 [154] Semper, i. P. 139. The cover of the bed on which was laid the golden coffin in the tomb of Cyrus was of Babylonian tapestry of wool; the carpet beneath it was woven of the finest wrought purple. Plautus mentions Babylonian hangings and embroidered tapestries. See Birdwood's "Indian Arts, " i. P. 286. 

 [155] Joshua vii. 

 [156] Ezekiel xxvii. 22. 

 [157] Semper, "Der Stil, " i. P. 138. 

 [158] Yates, pp. 79, 91, 93, 99, 102, 445. Lanæ Albæ. 

 "The first, Apulia's; next is Parma's boast; And the third fleece Altinum has engrossed. "

 Martial, xiv. Ep. 155. 

 Martial also speaks of the matchless Tarentine togæ, a present from Parthenius:--

 "With thee the lily and the privet pale Compared, and Tibur's whitest ivory fail; The Spartan swan, the Paphian doves deplore Their hue, and pearls on the Erythrean shore. "

 Martial, viii. Ep. 28. 

 [159] The sheep of Tarentum, from the days of the Greek colonists, were famed, as they are still, for the warm brown tints on their black wool. Pliny says that this is caused by the weed _fumio_, on which they browsed. Swinburne says, in his "Travels in the Two Sicilies, " that there the wool is so tinged by the plant now called _fumolo_, which grows on the coast. 

 [160] See Blümner's "Technologie, " p. 92; also "Comptes Rendus de la Commission Impériale Archéologique" of St. Petersburg, 1881; also the Catalogue Raisonnée of Herr Graf'schen's Egyptian Collection of Textiles at Vienna. 

 [161] See Pliny's "Natural History, " viii. 74, § 191. Tanaquil is credited with the first invention of the seamless coat or cassock. 

 [162] The Gauls in Britain wove plaids or tartans. See Rock, p. Xii; Blümner, pp. 152-54; Birdwood, p. 286. 

 [163] Pliny, "Natural History, " book viii. , 73, 74. 

 [164] "Georgics, " iv. 334; Yates, p. 35. 

 [165] "Comptes Rendus de la Commission Impériale Archéologique, " St. Petersburg, 1881. Much of this Gobelin weaving has lately been found in Egypt. See "Katalog der Teodor Graf'schen Fünde in Ægypten, " von Dr. J. Karabacek. 

 [166] Semper considers that the famous Babylonian and Phrygian stuffs were all woollen, and that gold was woven or embroidered on them. See "Der Stil, " i. P. 138. 

 [167] Worcester cloth was forbidden to the Benedictines by a Chapter of that Order at Westminster Abbey in 1422, as being fine enough for soldiers, and therefore too good for monks. See Rock's Introduction, p. Lxxviii. 

 [168] Both these fabrics are represented in Egyptian and Greek fragments, and are equally well preserved. 

 [169] Boyd Dawkins, "Early Man in Britain, " pp. 268, 275. 

 [170] See Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians, " vol. Iii. P. 116; Yates, p. 23. 

 [171] It appears that the art of printing textiles was known in Egypt in the time of Pliny. See Yates, p. 272, quoting Apuleius, Met. L. Xi. ; also see Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians, " vol. Ii. P. 196, pl. Xii. 

 [172] See Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " pp. 268, 335; Herodotus, ii. 86. Herodotus and Strabo speak of Babylonian linen, cited by Yates, p. 281. 

 [173] "Textrinum Antiquorum, " pp. 267-80. A peculiarity of Egyptian linen is that it was often woven with more threads in the warp than in the woof. A specimen in the Indian Museum, South Kensington, shows in its delicate texture 140 threads in the inch to the warp, and 64 to the woof. Another piece of fine linen has 270 to the warp, and 110 to the woof. Generally there are twice or three times as many threads, but sometimes even four times the number. Wilkinson gives a probable reason for this peculiarity. See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " vol. I. Chap. Ix. Pp. 121-226. See Rock's Introduction, p. Xiv. 

 [174] De Somniis, vol. I. P. 653. Yates, p. 271. 

 [175] Philo, cited by Yates, p. 271. 

 [176] Paulinus ad Cytherium, cited by Yates, p. 273. 

 [177] Herodotus, l. Ii. C. 182, l. Iii. C. 47. Rawlinson's Trans. 

 [178] Proverbs vii. 16. 

 [179] Yates, p. 291. Denon describes a tunic found in a sarcophagus, which he examined, and says: "The weaving was extremely loose, of thread as fine as a hair, of two strands of twisted flax fibre. "--Auberville's "Ornement des Tissus, " p. 4. Some marvellously fine specimens of such cambric may be seen at the South Kensington Museum and the British Museum. 

 [180] Not that we have any remains of flax linen from their tombs. 

 [181] It was carried thence, at a prehistoric date, to Assyria and Egypt. 

 [182] There is no proof that it was grown in Egypt till the fourteenth century A. D. , when it is mentioned for the first time in a MS. Of that date of the "Codex Antwerpianus. " See Yates, Appendix E, p. 470. 

 [183] Birdwood, p. 241. 

 [184] Puggaree. Yates says that cotton has always been supposed to be the best preserver against sunstroke, p. 341. 

 [185] _Carpas_, the proper Oriental name for cotton, is found in the same sense in the Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian languages. Yates, p. 341. 

 [186] In the Æneid, the garment of Chloreus the Phrygian is thus described:--

 "His saffron chlamys, and each rustling fold Of muslin (_carpas_), was confined with glittering gold. "

 Æneid, xi. 775. 

 [187] Dakka muslins are the most esteemed. Their poetic names, "running water, " "woven air, " "evening dew, " are more descriptive than pages of prose. See Birdwood, ii. P. 259. 

 [188] Chintzes, calicoes, fine cloths, and strong tent-cloths, cotton carpets, &c. , &c. Forbes Watson classifies the calicoes as being white, bleached and unbleached, striped, &c. , printed chintzes, or pintadoes. See Birdwood, p. 260. 

 [189] For Buckram and Fustian, see Rock, pp. Lxxxv, lxxxvi. In Lady Burgeweny's (Abergavenny) will, 1434, she leaves as part of the furnishings of her bed "of gold of swan, " two pairs of sheets of Raine (Rennes), and a pair of fustian. Anne Boleyn's list of clothes contains "Bokerams, for lining and taynting, " gowns, sleeves, cloaks, and beds. Rock, lxxxvi. Renouard, in his "Romaunce Dictionary, " quotes the following: "Vestæ de Polpia e de Bisso qui est bacaram. " For the antiquity of this fabric, see Herr Graf'schen's Catalogue of Textiles from the Fayoum. 

 [190] See Yates, p. 300, citing "Herod's silver apparel. "

 [191] "Indian Arts, " ii. P. 237. 

 [192] Rock, p. Xxv. Yates (p. 3) says they cut their gold for wearing apparel into thin plates, and did not draw it into wire, as it is translated in the Vulgate (Exodus xxxix. ). The ephod made by Bezaleel was of fine linen, gold, violet, purple, and scarlet, twice dyed, with embroidered work. This tradition must have guided the artist who designed the ephod in the National Museum at Munich, in the seventeenth century, for a prince boy-bishop. 

 [193] Quintus Curtius says that many thousands, clothed in these costly materials, crowded out of Damascus to meet Alexander. 

 [194] There is a very ancient local tradition at Shŭsh, that A. D. 640, in the reign of the Kaliph Omar, the body of the prophet Daniel was found, wrapped in cloth of gold, in a stone coffin; and, by order of the victorious general, it was placed in one of glass, and moored to the bridge which spanned the branch of the Euphrates flowing between the two halves of the city, so that the waters flowed over it. See "Chaldea and Susiana, " by Loftus, and Sir G. W. Gore Ouseley's translation of a Persian version of "The Book of Victories. " Alexander is said to have been buried in a glass coffin. (See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " ii. P. 102, note †. )

 [195] Yates, pp. 367-70; Rock, p. Xxvi. 

 [196] "Aura intexere eadem Asiâ invenit Attalus Rex unde nomen Attalicis. "--Pliny, viii. C. 48, and Yates, p. 371. The reign of Attalus II. Was B. C. 159-188. 

 [197] "And they did beat the gold into plates, and cut it into wires, and work it into the blue, and the purple, and the fine linen. "--Exod. Xxxix. 

 [198] See Yates, p. 371; and Bock, xxxiii. 

 [199] Pliny, xxxiii. In the Museum at Leyden there is a shred of gold cloth found in a tomb at Tarquinia, in Etruria. This is a compactly woven covering over bright yellow silk. 

 [200] Gold wire is still worked through leather at Guzerat. See Birdwood, p. 284, Ed. 1880. Marco Polo mentions this embroidery 600 years ago. Bk. Iii. Chap. Xxvi. (Yule). The hunting cuirass of Assurbanipal (pl. 1) appears to be so worked, and of such materials. Also see Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians, " vol. Iii. P. 130. This gold for weaving was beaten into shape with hammers. 

 [201] Pope Eutichinus, in the third century, buried many martyrs in golden robes. 

 [202] "Liber Pontificalis, " t. Ii. P. 332. 

 [203] See Rock, pp. Xxvii, xxxv; and Parker's "Use of the Levitical Colours, " p. 49. 

 [204] See Yates, p. 376. 

 [205] Rock, p. Xxxv. The toga picta, or trabea, part of the official dress of her sons. 

 [206] Hoveden's "Annal. " p. 481, Ed. Savile; Rock, p. Xxx. 

 [207] See "Archæologia, " 1880, pp. 317, 322; also Pl. 74, No. 20 (_post_). 

 [208] Bock, "L. Gewänder, " taf. Ix. Vol. I. 

 [209] Rock, p. Xxxvii. 

 [210] Ciclatoun, according to Rock, p. Xxxix, is a common Persian name for such tissues in the East. This, in common with nasick, nak, and many other beautiful tissues, was wrought in gold with figures of birds and beasts. --Yule's "Marco Polo, " ed. 1875, i. P. 65. 

 Dr. Rock quotes the old ballad, --

 "In a robe right royall bowne, Of a red ciclatoune, Be her fader's syde; A coronall on her hede sett, Her clothes with byrdes of gold were bette All about for pryde. "

 [211] In St. Paul's in London there was formerly an amice adorned with the figures of two bishops and a king, hammered out of silver, and gilt. Dugdale, ed. 1818, p. 318. See also Rock, pp. Xxix-xxxii. 

 [212] Museum at Berne. 

 [213] A piece of Venetian work to be seen at the South Kensington Museum is an altar frontal, worked in coral, gold beads, seed pearls, and spangles. All jewellers' work, including enamel, was much admired and introduced into their embroideries. (See Rock's Introduction to Catalogue of the Kensington Museum, pp. Civ-cviii, ed. 1870. )

 [214] On this gorgeous piece of Italian art there are added a number of buttons (for we can give them no other name), with crosses and hearts under crystal, which seem to have belonged to another period and workmanship, or else are to be attributed to a superstitious feeling on the part of the maker, who placed these Christian signs, perhaps, surreptitiously, and for the good of his own soul. 

 [215] The Museum of National Art at Munich has a fine collection of gold and silver, spangled, and black bead head-dresses, now mostly antiquated, though in peasant dress it yet survives. 

 [216] It is embroidered in gold, with red silk and gems; and I have elsewhere said that it probably issued from the Hotel de Tiraz at Messina. 

 [217] Terry, in his "Voyage to the East Indies, " speaks of the rich carpets (p. 128): "The ground of some of these is silver or gold, about which such arabesques in flowers and figures as I have before named are most excellently disposed. "

 [218] These of late years have been the most gorgeous objects at exhibitions of old needlework, and the ambition and despair of collectors. 

 [219] Gold thread was also made of gilt paper, equally by the Moors and the Japanese. 

 [220] In Aikin's "Life of James I. , " p. 205, we have a curious account of the monopoly of gold thread, that had been granted, with others, to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The thread was so scandalously debased with copper as to corrode the hands of the artificers, and even the flesh of those who wore it. This adulterated article they sold at an exorbitant price, and if they detected any one making a cheaper or better article, they were empowered to fine or imprison them, while a clause in their patent protected themselves. The manufacturers of this base metal thread were two Frenchmen, Mompesson and Michel, and Edward Villiers, the Marquis' brother, was one of the firm. Doubtless they drove for a time a roaring trade, as gold embroideries were then universally worn, both by men and women; but the House of Commons interfered, and the monopoly was abolished. 

 [221] Mitre of white satin, with two figure subjects in flat gold--the martyrdom of St. Stephen, and that of St. Thomas of Canterbury. 

 [222] The School of Gold Embroidery at Munich produces work of a richness and precision which has, perhaps, never been excelled. The raised parts of the design are first cast in soft hollow "carton, " and the gold is worked on it and into the recesses with the help of a fine stiletto, which pioneers the needle for each stitch. This is embroidery "on the stamp, " but without padding. 

 [223] Bock, "L. Gewänder, " vol. I. P. 48. Prizes are offered at Lyons for the best mode of manufacturing gold and silver thread that will not tarnish. 

 [224] Yates says, pp. 160-162: "Whether silk was mentioned in the Old Testament cannot, perhaps, be determined. After fully considering the subject, Braunius decides against silk being known to the Hebrews in ancient times ('De Vestitu Heb. Sacerdotum, ' i. C. Viii. ). " The contrary opinion is founded on the passage, "I clothed thee with broidered work, and shod thee with badger-skins. I girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk" (_meshi_). --Ezekiel xvi. But the translation is disputed. 

 [225] "Code of Manu, " xi. 168; xii. 64. Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 204. 

 [226] Auberville, "Ornement des Tissus, " p. Ii. 

 [227] Yates (pp. 173, 174) believes that "Cos" should always be read for Cios, about which there seems to be some confusion. Chios has also been substituted for the name of "Cos, " the island. 

 There is no doubt that the Roman ladies obtained their most splendid garments from Cos--perhaps of wool as well as of silk. 

 [228] Birdwood, "Textile Arts of India, " ii. P. 269. 

 [229] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 204. 

 [230] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " note (*), p. 184. Aristotle (fourth century B. C. ), however, had already given evidence respecting the use of silk, which was adopted and repeated by Pliny, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Basil. Aristotle tells the story of Pamphile. One thousand years later Procopius (sixth century A. D. ) says the raw material was then brought from the East, and woven in the Phœnician cities of Tyre and Berytus. See Yates, pp. 163, 164. 

 [231] Ibid. , note (*), p. 184. 

 [232] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 181. 

 [233] I have mentioned this already, to prove the antiquity of the art of embroidery. Here I repeat it in reference to the first mention of silk. (See p. 38 _ante_. )

 [234] "Bibliothèque Orientale de M. Herbelot, " ed. 1778, vol. Iii. P. 19. 

 [235] Auberville, p. 2; Yates (pp. 172, 173) calls her Si-ling, wife of Hoang-ti, and quotes the "Resumé des Principaux Tractes Chinois, " traduits par Stanislas Julien, 1837, pp. 67, 68. 

 [236] Auberville, "Histoire des Tissus, " pp. 2-4; "Du Halde, " vol. Ii. Pp. 355, 356 (8vo edition, London, 1736). 

 [237] Related by Klaproth, the Russian Orientalist. 

 [238] Yates, p. 238. "History of Khotan, " translated by M. Abel Rémusat, pp. 55, 56. 

 [239] Khotan or Little Bucharia would, in common parlance, be included in Serica; and therefore silk exported thence to Europe would have been perfectly described as coming from the Seres. Yates, p. 231, 232. 

 [240] Yates, p. 231. 

 [241] While in Europe the arts of daily use and decoration were struggling for life after many interruptions and revolutions, the civilization of Japan, which is nearly contemporary with Christianity, spent itself in perfecting to the most exquisite finish the arts which had been imported from China and Corea. Japan also inherited the power and the tradition of concealment, and so Europe remained unconscious, until the last century, of the miraculous arts which a semi-barbarous people were cultivating--_not_ for commercial purposes. Auberville, "Tissus, " pp. 2-4. 

 [242] Yates, pp. 175-184. 

 [243] Yates, p. 176. The silken flags attached to the gilt standards of the Parthians inflamed the cupidity of the army of Crassus. The conflict between them took place 54 B. C. About thirty years after this date, Roman luxury had reached its zenith--

 "The insatiate Roman spreads his conquering arm O'er land and sea, where'er heaven's light extends. "

 "Petronius Arbiter, " c. Cxix. 

 After these words he says that among the richest productions of distant climes, the Seres sent their "new fleeces. "

 [244] Yates, p. 183. 

 [245] "Holosericum, " whole silk; "subsericum, " partly cotton, hemp, or flax. The longitudinal threads or warp, cotton; the cross threads, silk. Rock, "Textile Fabrics, " p. Xxxvii (ed. 1870). 

 [246] Yates, p. 195. 

 [247] Yates, p. 198. For the value of the denarius, see Waddington, "Edit. De Diocletien, " p. 3. 

 [248] Gruter, tom. Iii. P. 645; Yates, p. 205. 

 [249] Yates, p. 246. The words "silk" and "satin" are spoken of by Yates as having two derivations--the one imported to us through Greece and Italy, the other from Eastern Asia, through Slavonia, by the north of Europe. 

 [250] Yates, p. 231; who remarks, p. 203, that the laws of Justinian are not directed against the use of silk as a luxury, but rather as appropriating it as an imperial monopoly and source of revenue. 

 [251] Tom. Ii. P. 106 (ed. 1630). See Yates, p. 213. 

 [252] Yates, p. 214. 

 [253] Auberville, Plate 4. Amongst these are what he calls "Consular silks. " These are, or may be, included in the palmated class, as they are evidently woven for triumphal occasions. One of the most remarkable has every mark of Oriental design. It represents a picture in a circle, repeated over and over again, of a warrior in his quadriga. Black or coloured slaves drive the horses, either running beside them or standing upon them; and other slaves carry beasts on their shoulders, and are stooping to give them drink at a trough. The space between the circles is filled in with the tree of life, growing out of its two horns. The colours are purple and gold. He places this between the first and seventh centuries (see pl. 34). 

 [254] There are, however, a few that have not had the security of the tomb, and yet have survived, such as the chasuble and maniple at Bayeux, of the seventh century, and Charlemagne's dalmatic. 

 [255] Roger de Wendover, "Chronica, " t. Iv. P. 127, ed. Coxe. Quoted by Rock from Ralph, Dean of St. Paul's. See Rock, Introduction, p. Lv. 

 [256] Roger de Wendover, "Chronica, " t. Iv. , ed. Coxe; also Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " pp. 243, 244. 

 [257] In the twelfth century. Semper, i. P. 38. 

 [258] See illustration from the portrait of Sultan Mahomet II. , by Gentil Bellini. _Ante_, p. 146, Plate 33. 

 [259] See Semper, p. 157. 

 [260] The Sicilian type of design in silk-weaving was carried into Germany about the end of the second period. We are informed by Auberville that there existed at that time a manufacture of ecclesiastical stuffs at Leipzig, from which he gives us fine examples. 

 [261] See Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " vol. Ii. Taf. Xxxiii. The pattern is twelfth century "metal work, " embroidered in gold. 

 [262] See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " iii. , pl. Xvi. ; v. , pl. Xxxiv. In general, a scarf floats from the prow or from the oars. 

 [263] The Crusaders carried away splendid booty from the towns they took and ransacked. As it was the great gathering-place of all Eastern and Western nations, Jerusalem was a mart for rich merchandise from Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Phœnicia, till the times of the Latin kings. Antioch, as well as Jerusalem, yielded the richest plunder. Matthew Paris (a contemporary historian), speaking of what was taken at Antioch, 1098, says, "At the division of costly vessels, crosses, weavings, and silken stuffs, every beggar in the crusading army was enriched. " Alexandria, as early as the middle of the sixth century, A. D. , had been the depôt for the silken stuffs of Libya and Morocco. Here is a wide area opened to us for suggestions as to the origin and traditions of patterns in silk textile art. See Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " vol. I. Pp. 29, 30. 

 [264] Rock, Introduction, p. Ccxlviii, and p. 268, No. 8710. 

 [265] The weaving of inscriptions in textiles is not a Saracenic invention. Pliny says it was a custom among the Parthians. See Rock's "Textile Fabrics, " p. Lxi. 

 "In allusion to lettered garments, Ausonius thus celebrates Sabina, of whom we otherwise know nothing:--

 "'They who both webs and verses weave, The first to thee, oh chaste Minerva, leave; The latter to the Muses they devote. To me, Sabina, it appears a sin To separate two things so near akin; So I have writ these verses on my coat. '"

 See Lady Wilton on "Needlework, " p. 53. 

 [266] Birdwood, "Indian Arts, " p. 274. 

 [267] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 244; Tegrini, "Vita Castruccii, " in Muratore, "Ital. Script. , " t. Xi. P. 1320. 

 [268] Riano, "Cat. Of Loan Exhibition of Spanish Art in South Kensington Museum, " 1882, p. 46. 

 [269] In Hoveden's account of the fleet of Richard I. Coasting the shores of Spain, he speaks of the delicate and valuable textures of the silks of Almeria. Rog. Hoveden, Ann. , ed. Savile, p. 382. Rock, p. Xx. 

 [270] Bock, pp. 39, 40, quotes from Anastasius and the Abbot of Fontenelle, proving that silken rugs were manufactured in Spain by the Moors. 

 [271] Auberville, "Histoire des Tissus, " p. 14. 

 [272] Yule's "Marco Polo, " p. 224. "Baudakin" from Baghdad, "damask" from Damascus. "Baudakin" was woven with beasts, birds, and flowers in gold. 

 [273] "Récit de Robert Clari. " He was one of the companions of Ville d'Hardouin, and a witness to the coronation of Baldwin II. See Auberville's "Histoire des Tissus, " p. 21. 

 [274] Satin is called by Marco Polo "zettani, " and he says it came from Syria. The French called it "zatony;" the Spaniards named it "aceytuni, " which is probably derived from "zaituniah, " the product of Zaiton. Yates (p. 246) gives the derivations of the words satin and silk; the one imported to us through Greece and Italy, the other from Eastern Asia, through Slavonia and Northern Europe. 

 [275] Ibid. In the Wigalois, a story is told of a cavern in Asia full of everlasting flames, where costly fellat was made by the Salamanders, which was fireproof and indestructible. 

 [276] "Man of Lawe's Tale: Canterbury Pilgrims. "

 [277] "Ohitos terciopelos" (three-piled-velvet eyes) is a pretty Spanish phrase, describing the soft, dark, shadowy eyes of the Spanish girls. 

 [278] The Italian word _velluto_ means "shaggy. "

 [279] Bock, i. Pp. 99-101. 

 [280] Buckram was sometimes a silken plush, but generally was woven with cotton. This was also Asiatic, and named by travellers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. I have already mentioned it as a textile in the chapter on cotton. When woven of silk it belongs to the class of velvets. 

 [281] Elsewhere I have spoken of the embroideries of the early Christian times found in the Fayoum, in Egypt. These afford notable examples of the ancient method in putting in patches on a worn or frayed garment. They invariably embroidered them, and so added a grace to the old and honoured vestment, and justified the classical appellation, "Healer of clothes" for a darner. The comparatively modern additions of the restorer, are in ancient as in later specimens, often a puzzle to the archæologist. 

 [282] The specimens in the South Kensington Museum, where Dr. Rock gives their approximate dates, are most useful to the student of this subject. 

CHAPTER V. 

COLOUR. 

 "My soul, what gracious glorious powers To hue and radiance God has given!"

 Cautley, "Emblems, " p. 21. 

It is my intention to confine myself to the discussion of colour, inas far as it belongs to the dyes of textiles and the materials forembroidery. I will adhere as closely as I can to this part of what isa great and most interesting subject--one which the science of to-dayhas opened out, and by the test of experiment, cleared of erroneoustheories; revealing to us all its beauty and fitness for the use anddelight of man. 

As through all ages the eye has been gradually educated to appreciate_harmony_ in colour, so _dissonance_--that is, what errs againstharmony--hurts us, without apparently a sufficient reason; and we haveto seek the causes of our sensations in the scientific works andlectures of Professor Tyndall and others. 

There is no doubt that the appreciation of colour has belonged indifferent degrees to the eye of every animal, but especially to thatof man, ever since light first painted the flowers of the field. Theeye is created to see colour, as well as form. But we know that men, being accustomed to acquiesce in the powers with which they findthemselves gifted by nature, enjoy and use them, long before theybegin to study, classify, and name them. 

When we recollect that the circulation of the blood was not knownwithin the last three hundred years, and that Albert Dürer paintedthe skeleton Death on the bridge of Lucerne, with one bone in theupper and one in the lower arm, we shall be surprised to find that theancients had named the colours they saw, with some degree ofdescriptive and scientific precision. The word "purple, " for instance, covered a multitude of tints, which had not as yet beendifferentiated, either in common parlance or in poetry, [283] though asarticles of commerce the purple tints had been early distinguished. 

What names have we now, in this present advanced day, for definingtastes or smells? We say that something smells like a violet, or arose, or a sea breeze, or a frosted cabbage. We say a smell is nice ornasty, that a taste is delicious or nauseous; but beyond calling itsweet or sour, we have no descriptive words for either smells ortastes, whereas the nations who traded in the materials for dyesexchanged their nomenclatures, which we can recognize from thedescriptive remarks of different authors. 

Colour, as an art, was born in those lands which cluster round theeastern shores of the Mediterranean--the northern coasts of Syria andArabia, and the isles of Greece. All art grew in that area, and allits adjuncts and materials there came to perfection, though oftenimported from more southern and eastern sources. [284]

E. Curtius says that the science of colour came into Europe with thePhœnicians and accompanied the worship of Astarte. This, of course, applies to artistic textiles, as the Greeks had already acquired theart of dyeing for plain weaving. Numa, in his regulations fornecessary weaving, refers also to colour. The Italians thereforemust at that time have made some advance in the art, especially theEtruscans. [285]

The infinity of variation in colour is difficult to imagine. Thechemists of the Gobelins have fixed and catalogued 4480 tones. Besides, we must not forget that it is now all but ascertained thatthe same colour is probably appreciated differently by nearly everyeye. [286]

How the eye accepts colours and conveys them to the mind is still aquestion in dispute, though the theories of Tyndall, Helmholz, Hering, Charpentier, and others, aided by experiments, are drawing ascertainedfacts into a circle, which will ere long be complete, and themysteries of colour may be ascertained. 

Probably the effects of colour on educated minds are as various as thetints and shades of tones of the many substances which receivethem, --reflected from all surrounding objects, blazing in light, orsoftened by shadow, --fresh and glowing, or permanently faded--shiningwith modern varnish, or sobered by the dust of ages. 

It is the art of the colourist, whether he paints pictures, or dyestextiles, or embroiders them, to reduce the tints of the prism to anendurable and delightful lowness of tone, while preserving as far aspossible all their light and purity. 

Prismatic colours are so radiantly glorious, that when we see therainbow in the sky it is each time a joyful surprise. The most stolidnatures are moved by it; we have even seen our dog staring at it. 

When, in experiments on light, the shafts of colour are thrown on thewall, they are greeted with shouts of admiration; but these gloriesare veiled to us by the fact that the eye cannot dissect the prismaticray without the assistance of the instrument that has revealed it. This is a merciful arrangement; for we are not fitted to live in aprismatic display, any more than in a continuity of lightning flashes. We should go mad or blind if exposed to either. 

Science has shown us the perfect beauty of colour without form, thesoothing pleasures of its harmonies, and the delightful surprises ofits contrasts. From the glimpses we have of its nature and laws, wemay hope for fresh inspiration for the art of the colourist. 

Though it is true that each eye, even when educated, retains its ownspecial appreciation of the colours that gratify its seeing nerve, yetthere are certain standards which give almost universal pleasure. [287]

The blind and the colour-blind must remain exceptions for all time;and there are many gradations in colour-blindness, till we come to thenormal class of seeing eyes; and passing them by, reach to those fewmen, gifted beyond all others with that fund of sensitive eye-nerveand mental power, which enables them to create new thoughts incolour. [288] Titian and his school arose from the inherited scienceand tradition, and carefully prepared pigments of his immediatepredecessors, acting on an exceptional eye and mind, imbued with thesplendours of the early mornings and the sunsets in the glowingatmosphere of Venice. 

Colour has long been supposed to convey certain impressions to themind. The absence of all colour, which we call "black, " symbolizes indress, grief, pride, or dignity; according as it drapes the mourner, the Spanish grandee, or the priest. [289] Yellow being the colour ofthe sun and of corn and gold, represents riches, generosity, andlight. Red stands between the dark and the lively colours, andrepresents warmth and animation, dignity, splendour, life, love, andjoy. 

The expression of blue is that of purity. It recalls the distant sky, the calm ocean, and has an immortal and celestial character. Itascends to the highest and descends to the lowest tones of_chiaro-oscuro_. Nothing so nearly approaches pure white as the palestblue; nothing is so nearly black as the darkest. 

Green has been assigned by nature the place of the universalbackground. It is the complementary colour of red, softening andassimilating it by reflected shadows, and setting off the glory ofevery flower and fruit. The expression of green is gaiety and modesty, light and tenderness, shadow and repose, to both the eye and themind. [290]

It must be allowed that it is by the earliest associations of theindividual, or by those derived from the family, the tribe or thenation, that colours are connected with such attributes welded by artand time into traditional meanings, which they absolutelypossess, [291] and from which fashion cannot disconnect them; such, for instance, is the royalty of purple. 

The word purple is so indiscriminately used as a poetic epithet, rather than as a distinctive appellation, that much confusion has beencaused by it. Historically, among the Persians, Greeks, and Romans itappears to have been simply the royal colour, varying from the purestblue, through every shade of violet, down to the deepest crimson. Sometimes, poetically, "purple" seems to have described only asurface. The breezy or stormy sea was purple; the sky was purple; thehyacinthine locks of Narcissus, the rosy lips of Venus were purple. Asa textile, velvet was purple, even when it was white. [292]

The epithets "purple" and "wine-coloured" are often bestowed on theMediterranean Sea, and are justified by its occasional hue:--

 "As from the clouds, deep-bosom'd, swell'd with showers, A sudden storm the purple ocean sweeps, Drives the wild waves, and tosses all the deeps. "

 Pope's Homer, "Iliad, " b. Xi. V. 383. 

Professor Tyndall suggests that the soft green of the sea, shadowed byclouds, assumes a subjective purple hue. Homer must have observed thisbefore he became blind. 

Pliny gives us much information about this colour; he enumerates thedifferent sea-shores and coasts, Egyptian, Asiatic, and European, whence came the shell-fish (the murex and pelagia) that produced theso-called Tyrian purple dyes. [293]

He says that Romulus wore the purple, and that the dyed garments, allpurple, were sacred to the gods in those days. After saying that itwas still a colour of distinction, he continues: "Let us be preparedto excuse the frantic passion for purple, though we are impelled toinquire why such a high value is placed on the produce of this fish, seeing that in the dye the smell of it is offensive, and the colour, of a greenish hue, resembles the sea when tempestuous. " He describespurples[294] as being differently coloured according as to whetherthese "conchylia" inhabited the sea mud, the reefs, or the pebblyshores, the last being the most valuable. [295] This purple, said tohave been imported from the coasts of Tyre, was till lately sold inRome for its weight in gold; it gave the burning rosy red dye of theCardinal's robes, and was called "Porpora encarnadina, " purpleincarnadine. It is full of light and freshness, and never fades; infact, it has all the qualities ascribed to it by Pliny. It intensifiesin the light. [296]

After purple, scarlet was the colour most esteemed by the ancients. The Israelites must have carried with them the dyes which coloured thehangings, woven or embroidered, belonging to the sanctuary in thewilderness, of which the outer covering of rams' skins was dyedscarlet, and was probably of the nature of red morocco. [297]

There was the mineral dye, (cinnabar or red sulphate of mercury), andthe insect dye; the first was probably used in mural painting. It istranslated in our Bible as vermilion, in the account given by Jeremiahof a "house, ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. "[298] AlsoEzekiel gives us another instance of house-painting in vermilion. [299]Homer, who as a rule does not describe colouring, says the Greek shipswere painted red. 

It is probable that cinnabar was tempered, by admixture of white orother colours, for the monochrome painting of the Egyptians andGreeks. It was called by the Greeks miltos, by the Romans minium. 

The dye of the red portions of the funeral tent of Queen Isi-em-Kheb, Shishak's mother-in-law, is found by analysis to be composed ofhematite (peroxyde of iron) tempered with lime. This is a beautifulpink red. [300]

The mineral red now called vermilion must have borrowed its name fromthe insect dye which the Greeks and Romans called "kermes. " In theMiddle Ages the dye from the kermes was still called "vermiculata, " ofwhich the word vermilion is a literal translation. 

We should be fortunate if we could find how the Greeks and Romansprepared the cinnabar for mural painting, of which we find remnants inruins and tombs--a lovely and pure red, with a tender bloom on it likea fragment of the rainbow, and not the slightest shade of yellow. 

One of the most beautiful specimens of this scarlet that I amacquainted with, is a small drinking-cup (a "rhyton") at the BritishMuseum, in the form of a sphinx, with a white face, gilded hair, and alittle cap of pure cinnabar, which is so soft in tone that it suggeststhe texture of scarlet velvet. 

Cochineal, which was first brought from America in the sixteenthcentury, has now replaced almost every other scarlet dye for textiles. 

Crimson is once mentioned in Chronicles as karmel, [301] which may meanthe dye of the kermes insect;[302] and from this the word crimson islegitimately derived. Whether the scarlet coupled with it is avegetable, mineral, or insect colour, we have no means ofascertaining. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as whiteas snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool. "[303]

From what Pliny says, it appears that some green dyes were producedfrom a green clay; others from metals. Copper furnished the mostbeautiful shades. 

Blue has always been extracted from indigo. Pliny tells us that thePhœnicians brought it from Barbarike, in the Indies, to Egypt; andhe quotes the "Periplus" on this subject. He gives an amusing reportthat indigo is a froth collected round the stems of certain reeds; buthe was aware of its characteristic property, that of emitting abeautiful purple vapour when submitted to great heat; and he says itsmells like the sea. The Egyptians likewise extracted blues fromcopper. 

Yellow was anciently, in Egypt, sometimes a vegetable and sometimes amineral dye. Browns and blacks were prepared from several substances, especially pine wood and the contents of tombs burned into a kind ofcharcoal. 

We find that lime, chalk, white lead, and other mineral substanceswere employed by the ancients for the different approaches to dazzlingwhiteness. That of the lily, the emblem of purity, can only beemulated in textile or pictorial art by opaque substances reduced asmuch as possible by bleaching to the last expression of the colour ofthe raw material. Nothing that is transparent can be really white, ascolours are seen through it, as well as the reflected lights on thetwo surfaces. 

In painting, we can produce the effect of whiteness in different ways, leading by the gradation of tender colours and shadows up to a highlight. But in textile art, which is essentially flat, it is necessaryto pursue a different method, and that of isolation is the most simpleand effective, and was well understood in Egypt, Greece, and India. The white pattern, or flower, is surrounded with a fine dark line(black is the best), which effectually separates it from all thesurrounding colours, and gives it the effect of light, even when thewhiteness retains enough of the natural colour of the raw material totone it down very perceptibly. The eye accepts it as white, andignores the tint that pervades it, and is hardly to be expelled fromsilk or wool. Linen and cotton are the whitest of materials, afterpassing through the hands of the chemist or the bleacher. 

It is amusing to observe that Pliny regarded colours, whethervegetable or mineral, rather as useful for the pharmacopeia of hisday, than as dyes or artistic pigments. He speaks contemptuously ofthe art of his time, and yet he gives some curious hints that are wellworth collecting for experiment. His fragmentary information, thoughoften inaccurate, is most valuable to those who are seeking once moreto find lasting colours, and despair of discovering mordants that willfix the aniline tints. From him we learn more of the Egyptiancolouring materials than of any others, as he named their sources, European, Asiatic, or African; and there is no doubt of the perfectionof their mural pigments and textile dyes, which have remainedunimpaired to the present time. 

Renouf says that "painting, as it is now understood, was totallyunknown to the Egyptians; but they understood harmony of colour, [304]and formulated in it certain principles for decorative uses. They madethe primary colours predominate over the secondary by quantity andposition. They introduced fillets of white or yellow in theirembroideries, as well as in their paintings, between reds and greens, to isolate them; and they balanced masses of yellow with a dueproportion of black. " They never blended their colours, and had nosense of the harmony of prismatic gradations, or the melting of onetint into another; each was worked up to a hard and fast edge line. Ifin one part of a building, one set of colours predominated, theyplaced a greater proportion of other colours elsewhere, within therange of sight, so as to readjust the balance. Those they employedwere mostly earthy mineral colours (used alike for frescoes and forpainting cotton cloths, though vegetable dyes were needed for woollensand linens). These were: for _white_, pure chalk; for _black_, bone-black mixed with gum; for _yellow_, yellow ochre; for _green_, amixture of yellow ochre and powdered blue glass; for _blue_, this sameblue glass mixed with white chalk; for _red_, an earthy pigmentcontaining iron and aluminium. [305] They understood the chemistry ofbleaching, and the use of mordants in dyeing. [306]

The statistical records of China of the time of Hias (2205 B. C. ), according to Semper, mention colours as being of five tints, and allthe produce of the Chinese Empire. [307]

In the unchanging art of India, the ancient colours are used now. Therefore, when we give the following list, we must suppose that itembraces all that have been known from the beginning. 

Indian dyes are mostly vegetable. For _yellow_, akalbir, the root ofthe Datiscus Canabinus; also yellow is dyed with asbarg, the flower ofthe Cabul larkspur (_Delphinium sp. _). 

_Orange. _ Soneri dyed with narsingar, the honey-scented flower ofnyclanthes (_Arbor Tristis_). 

_Scarlet_ is first dyed with cochineal (formerly with kermes), whichgives a crimson colour; next with narsingar, which turns it vermilion. 

_Purple_ is dyed first with cochineal (formerly kermes), afterwardswith indigo. 

_Lilac. _ Ditto, only paler. 

_Blue. _ All shades of indigo. 

_Green. _ With indigo first, and next the various yellow dyes. 

_Brown. _ Sandal-wood, called "sandali;" almond colour (Badami). 

_Grey. _ Sulphate of iron and gold. 

_Black. _ Deepest shade of indigo. [308]

Speaking of Indian coloured textiles, Sir G. Birdwood says: "Allviolent contrasts are avoided. The richest colours are used, but areso arranged as to produce the effect of a neutral bloom, which tonesdown every detail almost to the softness and transparency of theatmosphere. " He says that in their apparel both the colouring and theornaments are adapted to the effect which the fabrics will producewhen worn and in motion. "It is only through generations of patientpractice that men attain to the mystery of such subtleties. "

An outline, in black or some dark colour that harmonizes with theground, or else worked in gold, is common in Indian work, not only forthe purpose of isolating the colours of the design, but also to give auniform tone to the whole surface of the texture. Their traditionalarrangements of tints were thoroughly satisfying to the eye. Butdegenerated by European commerce, the artistic sense of beauty itselfis disappearing throughout our Indian Empire. 

Persian carpets (the fine old ones of the fourteenth to theseventeenth centuries) give us lessons in the art of isolatingcolours. In these, a flower will lie upon a surface which contains twoor more other tints, and as the design passes over them, the outlinecolour is changed, so as to isolate the flower equally on thedifferent grounds. This is done with such art that the eye ignores thetransition till it is called to remark it. For instance, as a white, or no-coloured pattern, wanders over a green and red ground, theoutline changes suddenly from green to red, and again to green as itleaves the opposite colour on the ground pattern. 

Mr. Floyer speaks of the brilliancy and lasting qualities of the dyeswhich the Persians, by slow and tedious processes, extract fromplants; from the "runaschk" (madder), a fine red; from the "zarili"(the golden), which is a yellow flower from Khorasan, and also fromthe leaves of the vine, a bright yellow. [309] They import indigo fromShastra (or from India), by the Khurum river. He says these dyes areperfectly fast, leaving no trace on a wetted rubber, whereas theEuropean dyes they sometimes use come off freely. 

Pliny says the Gauls had invented dyes counterfeiting the purple ofTyre; also scarlet, violet, and green, all of these were dipped in thejuices of herbs. [310]

Vitruvius says the Romans extracted dyes from flowers and fruits, buthe neither specifies nor describes them. 

The ancient Highland tartans were dyed with bark of alder for black, bark of willow for flesh colour. A lichen growing on stones suppliedtheir violets and crimson. [311] The lichen on the birch-tree gives agood brown; heather gives red, purple, and green. [312]

Thus we see that pure colours for dyeing textiles have been extractedfrom vegetable substances--herbs, wood, seeds, flowers and fruits, mosses and sea-weeds;[313] mineral substances--earths, sands, ores, metals, rusts, and stones; animal substances--both of land, water, andair; beasts, fishes, shells, birds, and insects. 

It is evident, from the derivation of the word, that there werechromatic scales in colour before the phrase was ever applied tomusic. 

The Greeks and Romans are supposed to have understood chromatic scalesof tints--animal, vegetable, and mineral--and except with theintention of producing startling effects, they did not mix them. Theyfelt that each was harmonious as a whole, and, unlike the Egyptians, they studied harmony. They arranged their scales according to thematerials from which they were extracted, and kept those fromdifferent chemical sources apart, as being discordant. [314] One scalewas that of the iodine colours, of and from the sea. Marine productsare mostly iridescent. To comprehend this, think of the harmoniousinterchange of delicate tints, called by the ancients "purple, " on astring of pearls. Shells and shell-fish, sea-weeds and fish, furnishedthese dyes. They were called "conchiliata. "

The chemistry of the arts of bleaching was not unknown to theancients; but they reserved and regulated it for certain purposes, preferring to retain at least a part of the original colouring, asshades of grounding which served, as a surface glaze does in painting, to connect and harmonize the superinduced tints. 

Experiments with the object of reviving this mode of producingharmonious combinations, have been made lately at the Wilton CarpetWorks, by dyeing shades of colour on unbleached goat's and camel'shair, and sheep's wool; and the tones produced are beautifully softand rich. 

M. Edouard Charton ascribes the great change in the modern scales ofcolours to the discovery by the French, in the Gobelins, of a purescarlet dye, the use of which made it necessary to raise the tone ofall other colours. He says that scarlet was formerly represented bythe dye called kermes, which indeed was not scarlet, but altered fromcrimson to something approaching it by the addition of narsingar, ofwhich the bright yellow gave the scarlet effect. 

M. Chevreul, director of the dyeing department of the Gobelins, hassucceeded in composing the chromatic prism, to which I have alreadyalluded, containing 4420 different tones. We may take it for granted, that from these may be selected any possible scale of tints requiredfor decorative work. This vast area for choice of our material willimpose on the artist of the future fresh responsibilities. 

In the typical Oriental colouring, the whole arrangement wastraditional, and it was irreligious to depart from what had been fixedby statute many centuries before, and only perfected by the experienceof many generations of men; and this veneration for traditional customhas hitherto been prevalent in European art to a certain point. Butthe old conservative perfection of unadulterated colour has alreadybeen done away with. The freedom of experimental art is chartered, andmercantile interests now, as ever, govern the supply of materials. 

Our normal bad taste and carelessness has been cast back on the landswhich were the cradle of art, and we receive, to our surprise, gaudy, vulgar, and discordant combinations from the East, whence we drew ourfirst inspirations. For the future we shall have to study ancientspecimens, and correct our errors by the help of their teaching to theeye and mind. 

Gas colours are at present our worst snares. They are in general verybeautiful; but they are so evanescent, and fade into such unexpectedand contradictory tones, that we cannot reckon upon them. Whenembroidering with the coloured materials of the day, we are inconstant dread of what disastrous effect may be produced by the firstshaft of sunshine that may fall from our moderately illuminated sky, through the uncurtained window. 

The trade in colours can hardly be an honest one, till the means offixing each tint permanently is ascertained. [315] At any rate, something should be done towards grouping them, with respect to theirenduring qualities, so that when they fade, if fade they must, theymay do so harmoniously, and in sympathy with each other; and whilethey are in their first glow they should be selected, as much aspossible, from what Pliny calls natural colours, [316] which recall theexquisite effects of nature, searched out and displayed by every sunnygleam, reflected on each other in lovely tones, and subdued and veiledby passing shadows. It is said that Mr. Wardle, of Leek, is nowseeking for dyes of pure unadulterated colours, and mordants to fixthem. He deserves all success. 

The reason I have entered, in even so cursory a manner, into thehistory of colours is my desire to point out the great value placed, long ago, on the careful preparation of those used in ancient textileart; and to show how our forefathers sought them out in many landsand waters; how they noted their varieties; how they classed andprized them for their endurance as well as for their pristine beauty;how they paid their weight in gold or silver for certain culminatingtints; and how they, therefore, produced works which became matters ofhistory and landmarks in civilization. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [283] "Seeing, they saw not, neither did they understand. "

 [284] See Pliny's "Natural History, " which gives much information on the subject. 

 [285] E. Curtius, "Greek History;" Engl. Trans. , i. P. 438; Blümner's "Technologie, " p. 216. 

 [286] Charpentier "differentiates in every normal eye a sensibility for light, a sensibility for colour, and a sensibility for form (a visual sensibility). "--See "Modern Theories of Colour, " _The Lancet_, August 19th, 1882, p. 276. We can perceive, by studying works of art, how variously these gifts are distributed, or, at any rate, how differently they are received and acted upon by individual minds. 

 [287] The effect of colour on the brain is a subject only just now beginning to attract attention. Experiments on the insane have been made in Italy, especially, I believe, at Venice; and it is said to be ascertained that red and green are irritants, whereas windows glazed with blue glass alternating with white have sensibly calmed the nerves of the patients. 

 [288] Let us compare the beautiful creations of the Venetian school with the demoralizing brightness of aniline colours, or the opaque, earthy tints which some call beautiful, mistaking their dulness for softness and sobriety of colouring. But they, too, have their uses. 

 [289] Black and red are, in ecclesiastical work, the emblems of mourning. 

 [290] The Bardic rules in early Britain enjoined three simple colours: sky blue, the emblem of peace, for the bard and poet; green, for the master of natural history and woodcraft; spotless white (the symbol of holiness), for the priest and Druid. 

 [291] The blind man said that red was like the sound of a trumpet, which shows what a soul-stirring colour it was in his mind's eye. 

 [292] "Purpura" is supposed to mean crimson velvet. It came, like "cramoisi, " to be a name for a tissue. Fr. Michell quotes velvet of Vermeil-cramoisi, "violet and blue cramoisi, and pourpre of divers colours, " but he says he never met with "pourpre blanche. " Yule, ed. 1875, i. P. 67. Plano Carpini (p. 755) says the courtiers of Karakorum were clad in "white purpura;" and that on the first day of the great festival in honour of the inauguration of Kuyuk Khan, all the Mogul nobles were clad in pourpre blanche, the second day in ruby purple, and the third in blue purple: on the fourth day they appeared in Baudichin (cloth of gold). (Yule, "Marco Polo, " vol. I. P. 376. ) White purple is also named in the inventories of Sta. Maria Maggiore at Rome, and those of Notre Dame in Paris. "Histoire du Tissu Ancien, à l'Exposition de l'Union Générale des Arts Décoratifs. "

 [293] François Le Normant, in his "Grande Grèce, " tells of the dye of the purple of Tarentum from the murex, found in the Mare Piccolo. He says that Tarentine muslins, woven from the filaments of the pinna dipped in the dye of the murex, rivalled those of Cos. Le Normant laments the total neglect of the murex in these days (could its trade be revived?) Plutarch says that Alexander the Great, having made himself master of Susa (Shushan), found, amongst other riches of marvellous value, "purple of Hermione" worth forty thousand talents (Quintus Curtius says fifty thousand), which, though it had been stored 190 years, retained all its freshness and beauty. See Plutarch's "Lives, " edited by J. And W. Langhorne, vol. Ii. P. 739; Blümner, i. P. 224-240. The reason assigned for their dye being so perfect was that the Susanians knew how to comb the wool to be dipped, and prepare it with honey. According to Aristotle the dress of Alcisthenes, the Sybarite, was dyed with this purple from Shushan (Ciampini, Vet. Mon. ). 

 [294] Semper gives us an account of iodine colours. Some, he says, were extracted from sea-weeds, green and yellow; the purples, when finest, from the shell-fish. The Phœnician coasts gave the best purples; those of the Atlantic the best blacks and browns. And thus he completes the scale of iodine colours. See Semper, "Der Stil, " i. P. 206. 

 [295] Heaps of the shells of this "murex trunculus" have been found at Pompeii, near the dyers' works. Hardouin says that in his time they were found at Otranto, and similar remains have been noticed at Sidon. Sir James Lacaita informs me that the living shells are still found along the shores of the Adriatic, as well as on the wash near Argos. No doubt the Phœnicians traded first in the produce of the Sidonian and Tyrian coasts, though they afterwards went farther afield in collecting their dyes. Auberville says that the purple of the Romans was a deep violet (double dyed, purpuræ dibaphæ), and that this colour was Asiatic. The Phœnicians traded in it, and sold it for its weight in silver. Instead of fading in the sunshine, its colour intensified. The enduring nature of this colour is proved by the purple fragments from a Greek tomb in the Crimea of about 300 B. C. , described in chapter on stitches, p. 217. See "Histoire du Tissu Ancien, à l'Exposition de l'Union Générale des Arts Décoratifs. "

 [296] Though really red of the purest colour, it doubtless received its name of Tyrian purple as being one of the materials of the amethystine double dye. The web or fleece was first dipped in the dye of Purpura, and then in that of the Buccinum, or they reversed the process to give a different tint. This is Pliny's account of the process of dyeing, which is very simple, and gives no details. Semper says that the ancients called black and white the two extremes of purple--white the thinnest, and black the thickest or most solid layer of colour. Both were thus considered as colour. (Semper, i. Pp. 205-7. ) As long as there is light, black always appears to be either blue, or brown, or green, till with darkness all colour disappears. 

 [297] Exod. Xxv. Semper (i. P. 103) suggests that these rams' skins were dyed with the periploca secamone--a plant still used for this purpose in Egypt. 

 [298] Jeremiah xxii. 14. 

 [299] Ezekiel xxiii. 14: "The images of the Chaldeans. " "The men portrayed in vermilion on the wall. "

 [300] Villiers Stuart, "Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen. " See Appendix. 

 [301] 2 Chron. Ii. 7. 

 [302] The Arabs received the kermis from Armenia, and the name was originally "Quer-més, " "oak-apple. " Sardis was famed for its kermes dye. See Birdwood, "Indian Arts, " p. 238, ed. 1880, and Yule's "Marco Polo, " i. P. 67. 

 [303] Isa. Ii. 18. 

 [304] Renouf's Hibbert Lectures, p. 67-69. It may be called balance, rather than harmony. 

 [305] Wilkinson, "Manners of the Ancient Egyptians, " vol. Iii. Pp. 301-3. 

 [306] Blümner, p. 220. See Pliny, "Natural History, " xxxv. 42. 

 [307] Semper, i. P. 248. 

 [308] See Birdwood's "Indian Arts, " p. 272. In the Code of Manu, black garments are sacred to the Indian Saturn, yellow to Venus, and red to Mars. See Birdwood, p. 235. 

 [309] See Floyer's "Unexplored Baluchistan, " pp. 278, 373, 406. The Persians produce their deep yellow from the skin of the pomegranate, by boiling it in alum. Major Murdoch Smith describes the Persian processes for dyeing patterns red and black in textiles. The Italian women dye their own dresses in the pomegranate yellow; also in turmeric yellow, and other vegetable dyes. 

 [310] Pliny, "Natural History, " xxii. 3. Unfortunately, Pliny seldom condescends to give us the recipes for dyeing processes. 

 [311] Logan's "Scottish Garb. "

 [312] See Elton's "Origins of English History. "

 [313] The Cretan tincture was extracted from a plant which Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny respectively name. The last calls it the _Phycos thalassion_. This was not a sea-weed, but a lichen--probably the same from which the orchid purple of modern art is prepared. See Birdwood, "Indian Arts, " i. P. 238. 

 [314] The same scale of colour varies as much on the different textiles employed, as it does from the colours extracted from other chemicals. Silk, wool, cotton, flax, give very different results. The colouring matter may be identical, yet you cannot place them side by side without being aware that they may be repellant, instead of harmonious in tone. The scale is sometimes removed to another pitch, and they will no more harmonize than instruments that have not been attuned to the same diapason. See Redgrave's Report on Textile Fabrics. 

 [315] With the changes in colouring materials has arisen the necessity for discovering new mordants. The gas colour of madder is exactly the same chemically as that extracted from the vegetable, but the old mordant does not fix it, and it changes very soon to a dull blackish-purple hue. 

 [316] Pliny, "Natural History, " ix. 12. The most unnatural, and the most disagreeable dyes, are the magentas. Sir G. Birdwood tells us that the Maharajah of Cashmere has adopted a most efficient plan for the suppression of magenta dyes within his dominions--first, a duty of 45 per cent. On entering the country, and at a certain distance within the frontier, they are confiscated and destroyed. 

CHAPTER VI. 

_Part 1. _

STITCHES. 

Stitches in needlework correspond to the touches of the pencil orbrush in drawing or painting, or to the strokes of the chisel insculpture. The needle is the one implement of the craft by whichendless forms of surface-work are executed. With a thread through itsone eye, it blindly follows each effort of its pointed foot, urged bythe intelligent or mechanical hand grouping the stitches, which, beinglong or short, single or mixed, slanting, upright, or crossed, areselected as the best fitted for the design and purpose in hand. Theword "stitches" does not, however, in this chapter represent merelythe plural of one particular process of needle insertion, but theproduce and effect of each different kind of stitch by grouping andrepetition, according to its most ancient nomenclature. That which isastonishing is the endless variety of surface, of design, of hints andsuggestions, of startling effects, and of lovely combinations, resulting from the direction of the needle and manipulation of thematerials, and differing from each other according to the power or thecaprice of the worker. But the machine is always the same--thethreaded needle strikes the same interval, forming the "stitch. "

This venerable implement, _the needle_, has, through the ages, variedbut little in form. The attenuated body, the sharp foot, the roundedhead, and the eye to hold the thread, are the same in principle, whether it is found in the cave-man's grave, formed of a fish's boneor shaped from that of a larger animal; hammered of the finest bronze, as from Egypt, or of gold, like those found in Scandinavia. A bronzeneedle was lately discovered in the tomb of a woman of the Vikings inScotland, and its value is shown by its being placed in a silver case. Steel needles were first made in England in 1545, by a native ofIndia. His successor, Christopher Greening, established a workshop in1560 at Long Crendon, in Bucks, which existed there as a needlefactory till quite lately. The rustic poetic drama, entitled "GammerGurton's Needle, " performed at Ch. Coll. , Cambridge, in 1566, was aregular comedy, of which a lost needle was the hero. In those days thevillage needle was evidently still a rare and precious possession. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 20. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Bronze needles from Egyptian tombs now in British Museum. 6. Cave-man's needle from the Pinhole, Churchfield, Ereswell Crag. 7. Bone needle from La Madeleine, Dordogne. ]

The art of embroidery consists of a design, which includes thepattern, and the handicraft or stitches--the "motive" and the"needlework. "

In painting, as in sculpture, the first idea, as well as the lasttouch, must come from the same head and hand. But in needlework it isnot so. The pattern is the result of tradition. It is almost alwayssimply a variation of old forms, altered and renewed by surroundingcircumstances and sudden or gradual periods of change. 

However much the design may alter, rising often to the highest pointof decorative art, and as often falling back to the lowest and mostmeaningless repetitions and imitations, the _stitches_ themselves varybut little. The same are to be found in Egyptian and Greek specimens, and the classical names are those used by mediæval writers, and havecome down to us, "floating like bubbles on the waves of time. "

Sir George Birdwood[317] thinks that every kind of stitch is found intraditional Indian work. I confess that I have not been able hithertoto trace any of the "mosaic" stitches to India, nor do we ever seethem in Chinese or Japanese embroidery, which shows every othervariety. They are, however, occasionally found in Egyptian work. 

The following is a list of stitches, under the nomenclature ofclassical, Roman and mediæval authors:--

 Opus Phrygionium or Phrygium. Passing or metal thread work. Opus Pulvinarium. Shrine or cushion work. Opus Plumarium. Plumage or feather work. Opus Consutum. Cut work. Opus Araneum or Filatorium. Net or lace work. Opus Pectineum. Tapestry or combed work. 

Here are two English lists of stitches; their quaintness must be myexcuse for copying them. The first is from Taylor, the water-poet's"Praise of the Needle" (sixteenth century):--

 "Tent work, raised work, laid work, prest work, Net work, most curious pearl or rare Italian cut work, Fine fern stitch, finny stitch, new stitch, and chain stitch, Brave bred stitch, fisher stitch, Irish stitch, and queen's stitch, The Spanish stitch, rosemary stitch, and maw stitch, The smarting whip stitch, back stitch, and the cross stitch. -- All these are good, and these we must allow, And these are everywhere in practice now. "

The second list is from Rees' "Cyclopædia" (Stitches), 1819:--

 "Spanish stitch, Tent stitch on the finger, Tent stitch in the tent or frame, Irish stitch, Fore stitch, Gold stitch, Twist stitch, Fern stitch, Broad stitch, Rosemary stitch, Chip stitch, Raised work, Geneva work, Cut work, Laid work, Back stitch, Queen's stitch, Satin stitch, Finny stitch, Chain stitch, Fisher's stitch, Bow stitch, Cross stitch, Needlework purl, Virgin's device, Open cut work, Stitch work, Through stitch, Rock work, Net work, and Lent work. 

 "All which are swete manners of work wroughte by the needle with silke of all natures, purls, wyres, and weft or foreign bread ('braid'), etc. , etc. "

_Part 2. _

PLAIN WORK AND WHITE WORK. 

We are told that the primal man and woman sewed in Paradise. 

To "sew, " in contradistinction to the word to "embroider, " is derivedfrom the Sanskrit _su_, _suchi_, and thence imported into Latin, _suo_. [318] To prove how highly esteemed needlework was among theRomans, I may mention that the equivalent of the phrase "to hit theright nail on the head" was _rem acu tangere_, "to touch the questionwith the point of the needle. "

"Plain work" is that which is necessary. As soon as textiles areneeded for covering and clothing, the means are invented for drawingthe cut edges together, and for preventing the fraying where thematerial is lacerated by the shaping process. Hence the "seam, " the"hem, " and all the forms of stitches that bind and plait. Thesenecessary stitches constitute plain needlework, and are closelyfollowed by decorative stitches, which in gradation cover the spacebetween plain needlework and embroidery. 

Semper has given us his archæological theories for the origin ofneedlework and its stitches. 

These are his arguments, if not always his words. He says: "The seamis one of the first human successful efforts to conquerdifficulties. "[319]

A string, a ribbon, a band, may serve to keep together several loosethings; but by means of the seam, small things actually become largeones. For example: a full-grown man can, by its help, cover himselfwith a garment made of the skins of many small animals. When Eve sewedfig-leaves together, she made of these small pieces a garment ofpatchwork. 

Acting on the principle of making a virtue of necessity, accepting andadorning the severe facts of life, seams came to be an importantvehicle of ornament. The Gauls and Britons embroidered the seams oftheir fur garments. "We may judge of the antiquity of the seam by itsuniversal and mythological meaning. The seam, the tie, the knot, theplait, and the mesh are the earliest symbols of fate unitingevents. "[320]

We find but little mention of plain work in mediæval writings. Whenlinen was worked for some honourable purpose, such as a gift to afriend or a royal personage, it was generally embroidered or stitchedin some fancy fashion. Queen Elizabeth presented Edward VI. , on hissecond birthday, with a smock made by herself. Fine linen was aboutthis time constantly edged with bone laces. 

Mrs. Floyer has written so well, and given us so much practicalinformation on plain needlework, that I feel it unnecessary to enterat any length into the principles of plain sewing, as my theme isneedlework as decorative art. 

Mrs. Floyer has, as it were, unpicked and unravelled every stitch inplain work, till she has discovered and laid bare its intention, itsconstruction, and effect. She, has also given us rules made clear tothe dullest understanding, instructing us how to teach the young andignorant. She shows us the quickest and most perfect way of workingdifferent materials for different purposes, and tells us how to selectthem. I will, therefore, refer my readers to her most useful andinstructive books, [321] and pass on at once from the craft of plainneedlework, to stitches as the art of embroidery. 

The link between plain and decorative work deserves attention. Thislink is "white embroidery. " I imagine it was not a very ancient formof the art, and was practised first in mediæval days; when we begin tohave constant notices of it. The first white laces appear to havefollowed close upon the first white embroideries. 

There is a tomb of the fourteenth century in the Church of the AraCœli at Rome, where the effigy of a knight lies on his bed, drapedwith a sheet and a coverlet, both embroidered. These are evidently oflinen worked in white. [322] I give a drawing of them in illustration(pl. 39). 

From that date we find continually mention of such work by nuns andladies. [323] In England it was especially called "nuns' work" (plate42). There is a great survival of this stitchery in Italy amongst thepeasantry. They have always adorned their smocks and aprons, and theirlinen head-coverings, and the borders of sheets for great occasions, with patterns in "flat stitches, " "cut stitches, " and "drawn work. "The Greek peasants do the same. In Germany will be found much curiouswhite embroidery, of designs which show their antiquity; and fromSpain we get "Spanish work" in black, on white linen, which is nearlyallied to the stitches of white work. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 39. Embroidery imitated in marble on the tomb of a knight, in the Church of the Ara Cœli, Rome. ]

Lord Arundel of Wardour possesses a linen cover for a tabernacle (orelse it is a processional cloak) which is of the purestHispano-Moorish design, and unrivalled in beauty. It isembroidered in Spanish stitches in white thread, on the finest linen, and is intersected with fine lace insertion (pl. 40). It is said tohave been found in the time of Elizabeth with some other articles in adry well; among them a little satin shoe, of which the shape provesits date to be of the end of Henry VIII. 's reign. Russian embroidery, consisting of geometrical patterns in red, blue, and black thread, isof this class. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 40. Processional Cloak, time of Henry VIII. , belonging to Lord Arundel of Wardour. ]

In England alone, the peasantry do no white work for home use, and wemust suppose it has never been a domestic occupation. Indeed, the loveof the needle is by no means an English national tendency, in thelower classes. Nothing but the plainest work is taught in our schools. Anything approaching to decorative art, with us, has been theaccomplishment of educated women, and not the employment of leisuremoments in the houses of the poor. 

Semper, in "Der Stil, "[324] gives rules for white embroidery, and thereasons from which he deduces them are good. He says, that allowing itas a maxim that each textile has its own uses and its own beauties, weshould place nothing on linen which would militate against itsinherent qualities and merits; and that, as the great beauty of flaxis its smoothness and purity, all projections and roughnesses shouldbe avoided which would catch dust or throw a shadow. Carrying out thisidea, it would appear that satin, and not lace stitches are therefore, the most suitable for this kind of decoration. The accepted rule forselecting the stitch for each piece of work is this: on stout groundsthe thread should be round and rich, whereas delicate materials carrybest the most refined and shining thread work; and in embroidering thesmooth surface of linen fabrics, the flattest stitches are the mostappropriate. 

_Part 3. _

OPUS PHRYGIUM (_or gold work_). 

Gold embroideries were by the Romans attributed to the Phrygians. Allgold work was vaguely supposed to be theirs, as all other embroiderywas included in the craft of the Plumarii in Rome. 

It has been disputed whether needlework in gold preceded the weavingof flat gold or thread into stuffs, or whether it was anafter-thought, and an enrichment of such textiles. I imagine that theembroidery was the first, and that the after-thought was the art ofweaving gold. Babylonian embroideries appear to be of gold wire, as wesee them in the Ninevite marbles. 

An instance of the way golden embroideries were displayed among theGreeks is that of the Athenian peplos, which, as I have already said(p. 32), was worked by embroideresses under the superintendence of twoArrhephoræ of noble birth. It was either scarlet or saffron colour, and blazed with golden representations of the battles of the giants, or local myths and events in the history of Athens. [325]

The art of the Phrygians, who gave their name in Rome to all goldenthread-work, has come down to us through the classic "auriphrygium"and the "orphreys" of the Middle Ages. Semper thinks that the flatgold embroidery was the first invented. [326]

The Phrygians had attained to the utmost perfection in tissue ornamentwhen the Romans conquered them, and finding their art congenial to thegrowing luxury of Rome, they imported and domesticated it; both thepeople and their work retaining their national designation. Pliny, ignorant of the claims of the Chinese, gave to the Phrygians thecredit of being the inventors of all embroidery. [327] The garmentsthey thus decorated were called "phrygionæ, " and the work itself "opusPhrygium. " The term "auriphrygium, " at first given to work in goldonly, was in time applied to all embroidery that admitted gold intoits composition; and hence the English mediæval term, "orphreys. "

All the gold stitches now called "passing" came from Phrygia; Semperattributes all the "mosaic stitches" to the Phrygians, calling them"opus Phrygionium. "[328] Gold stitches are splendidly exemplified inthe embroidered mantle of St. Stephen, of the ninth century. The onlysomewhat earlier piece of mediæval gold embroidery with which I amacquainted is the dalmatic of Charlemagne in the Vatican, richlyembroidered in fine gold thread; and the mantle of the Emperor HenryII. In the Museum at Munich, worked by his Empress Kunigunda, whoappears to have been somewhat parsimonious in her use of the preciousmaterial. 

Almost all ecclesiastical and royal ancient embroideries wereilluminated with golden grounds--golden outlines or golden flatembroideries. Later still, raised gold thread work has imitated giltcarvings or goldsmiths' jewellery; and we feel that it was at onceremoved from its place as embroidery, and became an elaborateimitation of what should belong to another craft. [329] Suchdeviations from the proper office and motive of needlework are sodangerously near to bad style and bad taste, that they always andinevitably have fallen into disrepute. 

_Part 4. _

OPUS PULVINARIUM (_or cushion work_). 

This "opus pulvinarium" is not only to be found in Oriental work, butit has also survived in a very few fragments from Egypt. [330] One ofthese, in the British Museum, is worked on canvas, in wool and flax;another in a white shining thread, resembling asbestos, on linen orfine canvas. They are regular "canvas" or "cross" stitches, andtherefore, under mediæval nomenclature, would be classed as "opuspulvinarium. " This name must include all stitches in gold, silk, andwool, whether Phrygian, Egyptian, or Babylonian in their origin, excepting the flat and lace stitches (plate 41). 

 [Illustration: Pl. 41. MOSAIC STITCHES. 1. Italian Pattern, sixteenth century. From Frida Lipperheide's Musterbuch. 2. Scandinavian. Bock, i. Taf. Xi. 3. Egyptian. From Auberville's "Tissus, " p. 1. ]

Semper's term, "mosaic" stitches, is a good one, as it covers all thatare relegated into patterns in small square spaces, counted by thethreads of the textile on which they are laid. [331] He believes thatthe mosaic patterns and cross stitches in needlework preceded thetesselated pavements, and formed their first motive, though the stitchnow refers itself back to the mosaic, at least in name. 

It is remarkable that in Chaldea and Assyria there still exist someruined walls, which are adorned with pilasters, panels, and otherarchitectural forms, covered with some sort of encaustic, imitatingtextile patterns. [332] The effect is produced by means of a kind ofmosaic work of small nails or wedges of baked clay, with china orglazed coloured heads. These are inlaid into the unbaked clay orearth, of which the walls are constructed, and while binding ittogether, give the effect of the surface being hung with a materialwhich has a pattern worked all over in cross stitch. 

The Chinese, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians long continued to showin their buildings the tradition of this style of decoration. In Egyptthere has been found some unfinished mural painting where the plasterhas been previously prepared by dividing it into small rectangularspaces, apparently on the principle of the canvas ground for crossstitches. 

The name "mosaic" stitch does not interfere with, or militate againstthe classical appellation of _opus pulvinarium_, which means "shrinework" or "cushion stitches. " These appear to have been from the firstconsidered as the best suited for adorning cushions, chairs, footstools, and the beds on which men reclined at their feasts, asthey are firmly-set stitches which will stand friction. 

Most of the work now done in Syria, Turkey, Greece, and thePrincipalities, shows different forms of the mosaic stitches; so alsodoes the national Russian work, which is Byzantine. All these designsare conventional and mostly geometrical. 

This work, in the East, is generally the same on both sides. We mayinfer that the spoil anticipated by Sisera's mother, "the garmentsembroidered on both sides, fit for the necks of those who divide thespoil, " was of this kind. 

Thus we see that the "opus pulvinarium" has a very respectableancestry; and though it had somewhat degenerated in the early part ofour century, and had languished and almost died out under the name ofBerlin wool work, yet it has done good service through the days ofmediæval art down to the present time, both in England and throughoutEurope (pl. 42); and it will probably revive and continue to begenerally used. 

Though the least available for historical or pictorial work, and notby any means the best for flower-pieces (as the squareness of thestitches refuses to lend itself to flowing lines or gradations ofcolour, unless the stitches are extremely fine, and the work, inconsequence, very laborious), yet it finds its especial fitness in allgeometrical designs. It is also particularly well suited to heraldicsubjects. 

A remarkable example of the use of cross stitches exists in theborders of the Syon cope, in which the coats-of-arms are so executed. This is of the thirteenth century; and besides these cushion stitches, it exhibits all those which are grouped in the style called opusAnglicum or Anglicanum. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 42. Italian "Nun's Work, " from a pyx cloth, sixteenth century. ]

Many charming designs for this kind of stitch may be found in the oldGerman pattern-books of the Renaissance (Spitzen Musterbücher), andalso in those Venetian "Corone di Vertuose Donne" lately reprinted bythe Venetian publisher Organia. These are worthy of a place in everylibrary of art. 

It would seem best to place the chain stitch named "tambour" in thisclass, as it naturally assimilates with the plaited and crossstitches. It is so called from the drum-shaped frame of the lastcentury in which it was usually worked. 

_Part 5. _

OPUS PLUMARIUM (_or plumage work_). 

The "Opus Plumarium" is one of the most ancient groups, and includesall flat stitches, of which the distinguishing mark is, that they_pass_ each other, overlap, and blend together. "Stem, " "twist, ""Japanese stitch, " and "long and short" or "embroidery stitch, " belongto this class, to which I propose to restore its original title ofplumage work. 

The origin of the name is much disputed, but it is supposed to havepointed to a decoration of plumage work, and we find that feathershave been an element in artistic design from the earliest times. Therewere patterns in Egyptian painting which certainly had feathers fortheir motive (fig. 21, p. 208). 

Semper, finding that birds'-skins were a recognized article for tradein China, 2205 B. C. , [333] believes that they were used as onlaidapplication for architectural decoration; and this is possible, for westill obtain from thence specimens of work in different materialspartly onlaid in whole feathers, whereas sometimes the longer threadsof the feathers are woven by the needle into the ground web. In HerMajesty's collection there are some specimens from Burmah--creaturesresembling sphinxes or deformed cherubim, executed in feathers, applied on silk and outlined in gold. We have likewise from Burmah, inthe Indian Museum, two peacocks[334] similarly worked; the legs andbeaks are solidly raised in gold thread; and the outlines also areraised in gold, giving the appearance of enamelling. The _cloisonné_effect of brilliant colours, contrasted and enhanced by the separationof the gold outlines, can be seen to perfection in specimens of thebeautiful Pekin jewellers' work, where the feathers are inlaid in goldornaments for the head and in the handles of fans. Nothing but gemscan be more resplendent. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 21. Feather patterns, Egyptian. ]

These survivals help us to understand the casual mention we find inclassical authors, of the works of the Plumarii, which appellation wasgiven at last to all embroiderers who were not Phrygians. [335]

We have other glimpses of Oriental feather-work in different parts ofIndia. [336]

The use of feathers is common in the islands of the Pacific. It isnative to the Sandwich islanders; and M. Jules Remy describes theHawaiian royal mantle, which was being constructed of yellow birds'feathers through seven consecutive reigns, and was valued in Hawaii at5, 000, 000 francs. A mantle of this description is the property of LadyBrassey. 

In Africa, ancient Egyptian art furnishes us with traditional featherpatterns and head-dresses; and Pigafetta tells us of costumes ofbirds' skins, worn in the kingdom of Congo in the sixteenth centuryfor their warmth; sea-birds' feathers being highly esteemed. [337]

In America, where birds are most splendid, the art of the featherworker was carried to the greatest perfection. It was found there bythe Spaniards, and recorded in all their writings for its beauty ofdesign and execution, and for its great value, equal to that of goldand precious stones. 

Though now looked down upon, as being a semi-barbarous style ofdecoration, because it exists no longer except in semi-barbarouscountries, we must consider feather work as a relic of a past highercivilization which has died out, rather than simply as the effort ofthe savage to deck himself in the brightest colours attainable. 

Feather-work is a lost art, but the name of "opus plumarium" remains, and proves that it was still recognized as such in the days of Romanluxury. The name survived when the practice was all but forgotten inEurope, [338] and the art itself disused, probably, because the birdsof our continent rarely have any lovely plumage to tempt the eye. 

But the glory of feather-work was found again in Mexico and Peru, andthe surrounding nations, in the sixteenth century--praised, exalted, demoralized, and crushed out by the cruelties of conquest. TheSpaniards at first brought home beautiful garments and hangings, representing gods and heroes, all worked in feathers. [339] Under theirrule the natives produced pictures agreeable to the taste of theirmasters. Pope Sixtus V. Accepted a head of St. Francis, which had beenexecuted by one of the ablest of the "amantecas" (the name for anartist in feathers). Sixtus was struck with surprise and admiration atthe beauty and artistic cleverness of the work, and, until he hadtouched and examined it closely, would not believe that plumage wasthe only material used. 

There are beautiful hangings and bed furniture at Moritzburg, nearDresden, said to have belonged to Montezuma. They were given toAugustus the Strong, King of Poland, by a king of Spain. 

In the seventeenth century, and later, feather work was still an artin Mexico, the convents continuing to preserve its traditions. Bustamente says that this industry was still in operation in thebeginning of our century. The Mexican Museum preserves specimens ofthe last three hundred years, from the time of the conquest of Mexico. 

There is in the Cluny Museum, in Paris, a beautiful triptych, evidently of the sixteenth century. It is worked in feathers, withdelicate outlines in fine gold thread. Nothing can exceed thetenderness and harmony of the colouring in shades of blue, and warmand cool brown tints. This is probably a survival of that lost art ofMexico which was carried on in their convents, and may have been acopy of a treasured relic of European art. 

Among the few noteworthy specimens that have survived, is the mitre ofSt. Carlo Borromeo at Milan, described by M. F. Denis as being bothartistic and beautiful. He tells us in his Appendix that even now, atissue of feathers is woven in France, as soft and flexible as a silkdamask; and rivalling the Mexican scarlet feather fabric, which theSpaniards admired so greatly. He also speaks of the inlaid featherwork, invented by M. Le Normant of Rouen, in the last century, andafterwards continued in Paris by his English pupil, Mr. Levet, whosold two of his works to the then Duke of Leeds, in 1735. The first isa vase of flowers, the second a peacock, designed by M. Oudry (peintredu Roi). Both of these, framed as screens, are now at Hornby Castle. 

Unfortunately feathers are, by their nature, most attractive to thatgreatest destroyer, next to Attila--the moth. Ghirlandajo calledmosaic in marble and glass, "painting for eternity;" we may callfeather work, "painting for a day. "

From the essays of M. Ferdinand Denis, [340] much may be learned of the_arte plumaria_ of the Mexicans and their neighbours of Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, and Yucatan, and the land of the Zapotecas, &c. , where it was also cultivated. He says that their civilization is somysterious that we have as yet no means of judging whence came theirart. 

Fergusson suggests the similarity between Central Asian and CentralAmerican art, both in architectural forms and plastic and sculpturedremains. He thinks that its tradition was transmitted from Asia toAmerica in the third and fourth centuries of our era. If so, it was anunlucky moment for the recipients, as the art of Asia, as well as thatof Europe, was then at its lowest and most debased phase; perhaps, however, the more fit for the fertilization of that of a perfectlybarbarous people. There is something fascinating in the suggestions onthis subject in Mr. Donelly's "Atlantis;" but when conjecture is onlyfounded on tradition, and without proof, we must not take it intoserious consideration. 

Having proved the universal use of feathers, it is not difficult toappreciate the causes which suggested everywhere the transfer of thisdecorative art to another craft, employing less perishable materials. Embroidery probably followed it closely and absorbed it throughoutAsia and in Egypt; and the survivals now are only an accidentalspecimen, a tradition, and a name. [341]

The name "Plumarii, " for the embroideries, is thus fully accountedfor, and we need seek no further elucidation. It was commonly used inclassical Roman times. "Opus plumarium" seems to have become thelegitimate term for all needlework. The Plumarii were theembroiderers, whether their work was in wool, or thread, or in silk(at a later period), [342] with or without admixture of gold or silver(as the Argentarii were the jewellers). 

The article on the word "plumarius" in Hoffman's Lexicon, [343] afterdescribing two kinds of Plumarii, Phrygians and Babylonians, proceedsto say, "These latter, who wove garments and hangings of variouscolours, were called 'Plumarii;' but though this name was at firstconfined to craftsmen who wove patterns in the shape of feathers, incourse of time the name was extended to those artists who, with theneedle or by painting, embellished robes. "[344]

The "opus plumarium" included, as I before said, all flat stitches;and I repeat that "feather application" was certainly its firstmotive; and next came the stitches that conveyed the same desiredeffect, though a new material was employed, fitted for the needle, which, having served its apprenticeship in "plain work, " now came tothe front as a decorative agent. 

Painting with the needle began with an attempt to model with it; thelay of stitches being so arranged as to give the whole effect oflight and shadow, so as to delineate the forms without changing theshades of the material used. I give on the opposite page some Japanesebirds, which will explain what I mean. The stitches are sointelligently placed as absolutely to give the forms of the birdsimitated. They represent plumage, and a more artistic representationcannot be imagined. (Pl. 43. )

The same stitch which we find prevailing in China and Japan as plumagework, is employed in embroidering flowers. Here satin, stem, andplumage stitches are blended together, and excellent decorativeeffects are produced; but the texture of flowers is not to beimitated, as is that of the plumage of birds. "Satin" stitch is a morerestricted form of plumage stitch; and "stem" is another variety ofthese flat stitches, very useful in its place. I therefore haveassigned the name of "plumage stitch" to that hitherto called"embroidery" or "long and short" stitches; and I give the term"plumage work" to include all the "flat" stitches. 

Practically, it is allowed that these flat stitches, especially theplumage stitch, give most scope for freedom in needlework, as they arelaid on at once, and according to the inspiration of the worker, andmay cover the outline and efface it. The stitches are not counted, andhave more of the nature of touch than any others, as their length, thickness, and closeness may be varied at will. The artist's designthus admits of interpretation according to the taste and feeling ofthe needlewoman. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 43. Japanese Opus Plumarium. ]

_Part 6. _

OPUS CONSUTUM (_or cut work_). 

This is "Patchwork, " or "Appliqué" ("inlaid" and "onlaid"). Vasaricalls it "Di commesso, " and says that Botticelli invented it for theuse of Church banners, as being much more effective than any otherstyle of work, or even than painting, as the outlines remained firm(non si stinguano), and were not affected by the weather (as inpainted cloths) and were visible on both sides of the banner. Botticelli drew with his own hand the baldachino of Or San Michele, and the embroideries on a frieze carried in procession by the monks ofSanta Maria Novella; he died 1515. Perhaps he may have revived the artof application in his own day. 

There are, however, much earlier examples of patchwork, of which thefirst and most remarkable is the Egyptian funeral tent of QueenIsi-em-Kheb, mother-in-law of Shishak, who besieged and took Jerusalemthree or four years after the death of Solomon, B. C. 980. It may bedescribed as a mosaic, or patchwork of prodigious size, made ofthousands of pieces of gazelles' skins, dyed, and neatly sewn togetherwith threads of colour to match, resembling the stitching of a glove, the outer edges bound with a cord of twisted pink leather, sewn onwith stout pink thread (pl. 44). The colours are described as beingwonderfully preserved, when it is remembered that they are nearly asold as the Trojan War; though perhaps their preservation is lesssurprising than that the flowers wreathed about several royal mummiesof the same period should have shown their colours and forms when thecases were first opened, so as to be recognized as blue larkspur, yellow mimosa, and a red Abyssinian flower, massed closely together onthe foundation of a strong leaf cut in zigzags. Among the flowers laya dead wasp, whose worthless little form and identity were asperfectly preserved as those of the mighty monarch on whose bosom ithad completed its short existence. The tent itself consists of acentre or flat top, divided down the middle, and covered over onehalf with pink and yellow rosettes on a blue ground; on the other halfare six large vultures, each surrounded with a hieroglyphic text whichis really an epitaph. The side flaps are adorned first with somenarrow bands of colour; then with a fringe pattern; then with a row ofbroad panels, red, green, and yellow, with a device or picture andinscription in the two other colours; on this border there arekneeling gazelles, each with a pink Abyssinian lotus blossom hangingto its collar. The rest of the side flaps and the whole of the frontand back flaps are composed of large squares, alternately pink andgreen. This, for its antiquity, its style, its stitchery, materials, and colours, is a most interesting work of early art, and an exampleof the perfection to which it had attained. It is remarkable how muchvariety of effect has been produced with only four colours, by theartistic manner of placing and contrasting them. To our more advancedtaste, however, the whole effect of the contrasting colours isinharmonious and gaudy, though certainly striking and typical. [345]

Another piece of Egyptian application, from the Museum at Turin, is apretty leaf pattern cut out in red stuff, laid on a white ground, andworked down with a darker outline of the same colour. [346]

 [Illustration: Fig. 22. Piece of appliqué in red stuff and red outlines from Egypt. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 44. Funeral Tent of Isi-em-Kheb. From Villiers Stuart's "Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen. "]

We have an instance of ancient "application" of about 600 yearslater, Greek in its beauty of design and execution. Alas! we can onlyascertain, from tattered fragments taken out of a tomb in the Crimea, that it was parsemé with figures on horseback or in chariots. Theborder is very beautiful. Compare the fragments of which we haveobtained a copy with the mantle of Demeter, from a Greek vase, and youwill perceive how the styles correspond (Pl. 16, Fig. 23). The groundmaterial is of the finest woven wool, of a deep violet or purplecolour, enriched with application of another fine woollen fabric of amost brilliant green, worked down, outlined and embroidered in white, black, and gold-coloured wool, apparently in stem stitches. [347] Theaccompanying illustration gives the effect and general design of theouter border only, in which the applied leaf is worked down in red, gold, and white. 

It is much to be regretted that the centre of the mantle is sotattered and discoloured that it is impossible to do more thanascertain that the design that is embroidered on it consists offigures on horseback or in chariots, in spirited attitudes. The secondand broader border is to be found (pl. 17). 

 [Illustration: Fig. 23. Narrow border of a Greek mantle. ]

"Opus consutum" cannot in any sense perhaps be the name of a stitch orstitches. But it applies to a peculiar style of embroidery employingcertain stitches. It is the term given to all work cut out of plain orembroidered materials, and applied by "working down" to anothermaterial as grounding. It includes all raised and stuffed applicationin silk, woollen, and metal thread work. It has been given to all workin which the scissors are active agents, whether in cutting out theoutlines or in incising the pattern, as in much of the linen andmuslin embroideries of our day, now called "Madeira work, " of which agreat deal was made in the first part of the century by English ladieswho designed and collected patterns from each other, and gave theproduce of their industry as gifts to their friends for collars, cuffs, and trimmings. [348]

"Cut work" is named by Chaucer, and is constantly to be found ininventories from his time to the beginning of the last century. AtCoire, in the Grisons, is a very beautiful chasuble, of which theorphrey is of the school of the elder Holbein or Lucas Cranach, applied and raised so as to form a high relief. The figures arecovered with satin and embroidered. The chasuble itself is of fineSaracenic silk, woven with golden inscriptions in broad stripes. Thecolours are brown, crimson, and gold. 

 [Illustration: Wall Pilasters Appliqué Cut work, Italian XVI. Cent^ry Property of Countess Somers]

In the later Middle Ages, a good deal of this work was executed inGermany for wall hangings; figures were cut out in differentmaterials, and embroidered down and finished by putting in the detailsin various stitches. As art they are generally a failure, being moregaudy than beautiful. This, however, is not necessarily the case, forthere is at the Hotel Cluny a complete suite of hangings of the timeof Francis the First, partly applied and partly embroidered, whichare beautiful in design and colouring, especially the fruit andtrophies in the borders. 

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries cut work was much employedin Italy for large flowered arabesque designs, commonly in velvet orsilk, making columnar wall hangings, which are often very effective;giving the rooms an architectural decoration, without interfering withthe arrangement of works of art, pictures, statues and cabinets, placed in front of them. Besides, it was supposed that the utmosteffect of richness was thus accomplished with the least labour, andvery large spaces and very high walls covered, without losing anythingof beauty by distance, as must be the case when the work's highestmerit is in the delicacy of the stitches and the details of form. (Pl. 45. )

The Earl of Beauchamp has inherited a most beautiful suite of hangingsof "appliqué work;" silks of many kinds are laid on a white brocadeground with every possible variety of stitch, forming richly andgracefully designed patterns; and showing to what cut work can aspire. 

A great deal of "opus consutum" has been done in the School of ArtNeedlework, in the way of restoration of old embroideries. Here may beseen copies of different models of many periods; amongst other Britishspecimens, part of a bed at Drumlanrig, in which James I. Slept. Inthis work the application is cut out, raised and stuffed, and"couched" with cords, and the whole thing is as stiff, strong, conventional, and enduring as if it were a piece of upholstery thatwas carpentered yesterday, instead of being needlework of at least 250years ago. 

One of the most remarkable large works of this style that exists wasshown in 1881, at the South Kensington Museum, during the SpanishExhibition. [349] It was of the kind called "on the stamp. " This was alandscape seen between columns wreathed with flowers and creepers. Inthe foreground couched a stag, the size of life--a wonderfulreproduction of the hide of the creature in stitches. The relief is sohigh that the columns appear to be circular by the shadows they throw;and the stag is stuffed so as to be raised about six inches. The workis superb, and causes pleasure as well as wonder; and yet, in spite ofthe beauty of the design, and the richness of the materials--gold, silver, silk, and wool profusely used--it is a divergence from thelegitimate art of embroidery, and is simply the attempt of theneedlewoman to combine again the arts of sculpture and painting withthe help of so inadequate an implement as the needle. Therefore, except as being a marvellous and beautiful curiosity, it is a failure;it is not art. [350]

Practically, cut work is the best mode of arriving at splendid effectsby uniting rich and varied tissues. [351] The Italian curiosity vendorsknow this well, and often cut up the remnants and rags of rich stuffs, old faded silks, and scraps of gold and silver tissues, and with themcopy fine old designs, and sell them as authentic specimens of suchand such a date. 

I was once requested to give an opinion as to the date of a curtainborder bought in Italy, and on consideration I gave the followingverdict: "The design is of the sixteenth century; the applied velvetand gold cord, of the seventeenth century; the brocaded silk ground, eighteenth century; the thread with which the whole wasworked--machine-made silk thread (English)--middle of nineteenthcentury. " The whole effect was excellent, and very antique. 

This art of "application" is the distinctive part of the "opusconsutum, " and it is the best and most economical method forrestoration of old embroideries, of which the grounding material isgenerally worn out long before the stitches laid upon it. Muchbeautiful work has thus been rescued from annihilation, and restoredto use from its long imprisonment in the boxes and drawers of thegarret and store-room. But it is cruel to transfer historical ortypical works, and so puzzle the artist and the historian. 

It is so troublesome to embroider on velvet or plush, or gold tissues, that application is the easiest and most effective mode of dealingwith these fabrics. [352] The outlines laid down in cord have the besteffect, while binding the edges and securing them from fraying, and itis almost certain that the eye receives most pleasure, in flat art, from a defined outline, which satisfies it; where there are no castshadows, it lifts the work from the background, and separating thecolours, it enhances their beauty. It would appear, however, as arule, that either black or gold metal should invariably be employed, because they do not interfere with any colour they approach. White isdistracting and aggressive. The Greeks sometimes used gold colourinstead of gold, as we see in the mantle from the Crimea alreadyreferred to; but this is not nearly so agreeable to the eye as puregold. 

A great deal of modern "opus consutum, " or application cut work, hasbeen done in Constantinople of late years. The designs in general, arenot artistic; nor are the colouring and materials very commendable. The onlaid material is, in general, sewn down with chain stitches, andcut out afterwards. 

_Part 7. _

LACE. --OPUS FILATORIUM OR ARANEUM. 

Mrs. Palliser says that from the earliest times the art of lace-makinghas been so mixed up with that of needlework, that it is impossible toenter upon the one without naming the other. This is, in fact, whatshe has done, showing the intimate connection between the two in hercharming work on lace, where much information about embroideries ingeneral, may be found in the introduction. [353]

M. Blanc also considers that there is but a slight transition betweenembroidery and guipure, which he says was the first lace. [354] As allthe earliest specimens and designs for guipure were Venetian, the artwas, therefore, probably an Italian invention, though an Orientalorigin has sometimes been attributed to it. The objection to this lasttheory is that we find no ancient specimens, and no moderncontinuation of such work in the East. 

The word "guipure" is a stumbling-block. It has been applied to manyforms in the varying art of lace-making; which same variableness hascaused its nomenclature to assume the terms belonging to other textilearts where they approach or touch each other, (as in netting, fringes, or embroideries). The nearest approach to laces before the thirteenthcentury was more in the nature of what we now call guimp. [355]

Embroidery differs from lace, in that it is worked on already woventissues; whereas lace is manufactured at once, both ground anddesign. [356] But the link between the two is not missing. 

In the twelfth century they worked "opus filatorium, " which consistedof embroidery with the needle on linen, of which half the threads hadbeen drawn out, and the remainder were worked into a net by knottingthem into groups, then dividing, and knotting them again. [357] Thereis a piece of work described in an old catalogue quoted by Rock. "St. Paul's, London, had a cushion covered with knotted thread: Pulvinarcopertum de albo filo nodato. " Here lace and embroidery touch eachother. [358] Sir Gardiner Wilkinson notices some early Egyptian work inthe Louvre as "a piece of white network pattern, each mesh containingan irregular cubic figure. " This sounds much like lace-work. 

It may be fairly asserted that the term "embroidery" embraces thecraft of lace-making, as almost all ancient and much modern lace issimple embroidery, and formed entirely by the needle. 

Some kinds of lace, however, are made by plaiting and twisting thethreads attached to bobbins round pins which are previously arrangedin the holes of a pattern, pricked on parchment or glazed paper. [359]The original motive and idea of lace is a net. The patterns called bythe ancients "de fundata, " are netted designs meshed. You will seethem constantly in Egyptian and Greek art, both in wall painting andtextile decoration. Homer speaks of golden cauls, and so doesIsaiah, [360] as adorning women's heads. They also mention nets offlax. 

The capitals of the brazen columns adorned with "nets of chequer work"in Solomon's Temple are very curious. [361] And the author of "Lettersfrom Italy, 1776, " tells of the garment of a statue at Portici, edgedwith a border resembling fine netting. Egyptian robes of state appearto have been sometimes trimmed with an edging of a texture betweenlace and fringe. [362]

Lace has been made of many materials in many ways. We may instance"passementerie, " made with bobbins (bone lace), with or without pins, or with the needle only, by hand. The materials have been gold, silver, silk, thread (these two last white or coloured), the fibres ofplants, and human hair. [363] A lace called "yak" is made of wool orhair. 

Bone laces in gold and silver, or the two mixed and interchanged, arecontinually mentioned in the inventories of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Bed hangings, chair and cushion covers, andtable cloths were constantly trimmed with gold and silver bone lace, and fringes of the same. [364] Laces in coloured silks were made inSpain and the Balearic Isles late in the last century. [365]

In 1542, a sumptuary law was passed in Venice, forbidding the metallaces embroidered in silk to be wider than "due dita, " i. E. About twoinches. This paternal interference in the details of life is trulyVenetian. It was intended to "protect the nobles and citizens frominjuring themselves and setting a bad example. "

Perhaps this strict rule was relaxed in favour of crowned heads androyal personages; for there is at Ashridge, among the relics of QueenElizabeth's enforced visit, a toilet-cover of red and gold stripedsilk, with a trimming of lace, four inches broad, of Venice gold andsilver lace embroidered in coloured silk. Specimens of these laces arerare, owing to the intrinsic value of the metal. We must suppose theorigin of these golden trimmings to belong to a very early period. Apiece of gold wire lace guimp was lately found in a tomb near Wareham, and is supposed, with reason, to be Scandinavian. [366]

M. Blanc describes lace as a "treillage" or network, and says it ismade in three ways. You may complete the ground first, and then workthe pattern with the needle. This he calls lace "pure et simple;" andhe considers that it differs from guipure in that the latter consistsof flowers and arabesques worked separately, and then connected withbars, lines, or meshes. This guipure is the second mode oflace-making. [367] The third is by machinery; but this has the inherentdefect of all machine-made fabrics, to a practised eye; i. E. A certainrigidity and coldness in the exactly repeated forms, in which thehuman touch is wanting. It is curious how in art, even a "pentimento"is valuable, recalling the hand that erred as well as created; theattention that strayed, or reconsidered the design. [368]

M. Blanc, speaking of the beauty of point d'Alençon, praises itespecially as being entirely needlework. He names the different modesof lace-making, and judges their merits. Of needle-made lace he says:"And the value of this lace not only arises from its representing aconsiderable amount of labour, but also because nothing can replace inhuman estimation the fabrics produced by a man's, and still less by awoman's handicraft. However the hand may have been restrained by thenecessity of faithfully following, on green parchment, the designsimagined and traced by another person, there is always, even incopying an outline, an individuality, an imperceptible deviation tothe right or to the left, above or below the tracing, which impresseson the design the accent of strength or weakness, of indecision ordetermination. "[369] I would add, of intelligence or stupidity; ofknowledge or ignorance. 

This is not the first time, and will certainly not be the last, that Ishall have sought to impress on the needlewoman the fact that herindividuality cannot fail to be strongly marked in her work; and Iwould urge her to carry out the suggestions that her experience andher taste afford her, while seeking to render faithfully the originalmotive of the designer. In lace-making, as in all art, the interestand the life, as it were, is imparted to each specimen by theattention and thought bestowed upon it. 

Mrs. Palliser shows us, by her beautiful illustrations, how muchvariety may be given to designs for lace-making, which have changedwith each period of contemporary art, and are markedly distinctive oftheir nationalities. 

Mr. A. Cole's lectures on lace, his volume of photographs, and M. Seguin's valuable work, are full of information. 

M. Urbani de Gheltof's "Technical History of Venetian Laces, "translated into English by Lady Layard, is a beautiful little book anda worthy imitation of the ancient lace-books of the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries. [370]

The subject has been so thoroughly discussed by adepts in connectionwith its revival as a local industry in its original cradle, that Iwill confine myself to a few observations on its history and its placein decorative art. 

Fringes, Knotting, Netting, Knitting, Crochet, Tatting, andLace-making, are all parts of the same branch of ornamentalneedlework. They are all "trimmings, " in the sense of being decorativeedges to more solid materials. They are not available as coverings forwarmth or decency; but they serve to give the grace of mystery to theobject they drape or veil. They soften the outlines and the coloursbeneath them, while they permit them to peep through their meshes. They are hardly to be included in what is called high art, having moreaffinity with grace, refinement and coquetry, than with æstheticculture or noble thought. 

This tendency in lace work may be the reason that the masculine minddoes not, in general, appreciate these lovely textures, but ratherdespises them (even when the designs are beautiful and ingenious), asbeing flimsy and deficient in honest intention; whereas women havealways greatly prized them for their delicacy and refinement, andtheir great value, on account of the time, trouble, and eyesightexpended upon them. Their knowledge of stitches also enables them toappreciate their variety, and the taste shown in their selection andarrangement for carrying out each design. 

Lace stitches are almost innumerable. [371] Upwards of a hundred arenamed, and their variations are endless. But a volume would notsuffice us for entering into the details of the craft; many of itsstitches have been imported into embroideries in gold, silk, andcrewels; and such adaptations are always allowable, provided theeffect is good. 

We have every reason to believe that the claims of Venice as the firstand original school of lace-making have been satisfactorilyproved. [372] Genoa, Florence, Milan, especially the last, [373]followed suit. Germany, France, [374] and Spain soon started theirschools; but Lady Layard believes that Spain received all herinspiration and the greater part of her laces from Venice, whichlikewise sent teachers to France and to Brussels--or rather, we maysay, had many first-class workwomen decoyed from her manufactories toassist in starting rival industries in other countries. [375]

The first pattern-books were printed in Venice in the sixteenthcentury; and these "Corone di belle e virtuose donne, " as they aresometimes entitled, [376] were imitated in France and Germany. 

Venice was proud of her industry, and of the noble ladies who fosteredit. It is recorded in the "Virtù in Giocco of Giovanna Palazzi" thatGiovanna Dandolo, or "la Dandola, " (wife of the Doge Malapiero, ) wasthe first patroness of Venice laces. She also fostered the art ofprinting in Venice, and is spoken of as a "principessa di gran'spirito, ne di private fortune, " and her memory is cherished inconnection with these proofs of her patriotism. We hear also thatMorosin or Marosin, wife of the Doge Marin Grimani, patronizedVenetian lace-making. Her forewoman, or _maestra_, was a certainCattina Gardin, and through her the art was settled at Burano, whereit has been so lately revived. 

At the Cathedral of Burano, is kept in the sacristy, perhaps thefinest existing piece of artistic lace of the sixteenth century. Itcontains many groups of figures from the history of our Lord, beautiful both in design and execution, worked in "Punti Fogliami, "and filled in with exquisite tracery. This was the border of anantipendium. 

Mrs. Palliser laments the extinction of the art in Venice, and saysthat but one woman of the old craft had survived; but her elegy waspremature, as that old woman, by name Cencia Scarpariola, has lived tosee hundreds of girls at Burano reviving all the old traditions, having learnt from her the secrets of the "mestiere, " or "mystery. "Under the patronage of the Princess Margherita, now Queen of Italy, and with the active help and superintendence of Countess AdrianaMarcello and Princess Giovanelli, most beautiful laces are now made inevery old point, French and Flemish, as well as Venetian. Pezzi, merli, and merletti are executed in the different styles which includeall lace-making, and of which we here give a list from M. De Gheltof'sbook:--

 Net lace. Cut lace. Open lace. Flowered lace. Knotted lace. Darning or square netting. Venice point. Burano point. Drawn lace. [377] Embroidered linen. [378]

The price of these laces is very high, but not beyond their value whenwe consider the vast amount of skilled labour bestowed on them. We areoften told that old lace is cheaper than new, as an absurd fact, because the antiquity of lace is supposed to add to its value. Yes, but principally as an object of archæological interest; whereas thatwhich is being made now is supporting by its daily wage theneedlewoman and her family, and perhaps providing for her old age;and as the strain on the eye is very heavy, many lace-workers early inlife lose their sight, at least for all the purposes of theircraft. [379] For these reasons we cannot say that the prices requiredfor such luxurious trimmings are unreasonable. Zanon da Udine gives usan idea of how costly they were in old times. He says that GiuseppeBerardi, a lace merchant in Venice, made a profit of 75, 000 francs ona commission for a set of lace bed-hangings for the wedding of JosephII. , Emperor of Germany, which proves the high prices paid for the newlaces of their day. 

Blond laces, which take their turn occasionally as fashionabletrimmings, veils, and Spanish mantillas, are so called from theiroriginal Venetian name, "merletti biondi, " pale laces. De Gheltofderives this appellation from the celebrated collar of Louis Quatorze, and fancies it was made of the fair hair of the workers; but this isonly vague conjecture. The term was applied in the seventeenth centuryto laces in silk, gold, and silver--never to thread laces. I confess Ido not find the reason for the name, but accept De Gheltof'sinformation that it was given by the authority of the magistrates ofMercanzia in 1759. 

This is but a very slight sketch of the history of lace. Venice beingits birthplace, and likewise the busy scene of its rehabilitation, Ihave lingered over its school, and left but little space for thediscussion of those of Spain, Flanders, Belgium, and France. But thesehave been thoroughly investigated, and their individual merits arewell appreciated, both as antique and modern dress decoration. 

I have already said that the lace schools in France were instituted byColbert, who placed one at Auxerre, under the especial care of hisbrother, the bishop of that city. Louis Quatorze made it one of hissplendid caprices, and not only set the example, but forced thefashion into this luxurious and extravagant channel. 

In Spain, lace was made to look its best by being worn stretched overthe great hoops of the "Guard-Infante;" and the fashion spread allover Europe. The white laces, resembling carved ivory or those in goldand silver, which remind one of solid jewellers' work, when spreadover the surface of these fortified outworks, guarding from allapproach the persons of the Infantas of Spain, assume in the portraitsby Velasquez, a dignity which is in keeping with their value. Thesplendid designs show brilliantly on a background of scarlet, rosecolour, or black silk; and that which, hanging loosely, looks onlytawdry and ragged, had a magnificent effect when thus displayed. 

For ecclesiastical purposes, these grand solid laces seem mostappropriate, being effective in large spaces, and easily seen at adistance, hanging over the edge of the altar, as a border to the linencloths, or finishing the white alb of the officiating priest. 

One cannot but agree with M. Blanc, who points out that each piece oflace had its intention, and that a fashionable ball-dress trimmed withthe edging of an antique altar-cloth in loops, is in false taste, tosay no worse of the misappropriation. 

Though we have had no schools of lace in England (unless we can callour imitative industries schools), we have samplers of the time ofQueen Elizabeth, and down to the middle of the last century, showingthat drawn lace and cut lace were regularly taught, probably as anaccomplishment, by Italians. The laces of Devonshire and the Isle ofWight (called Honiton) form a group totally distinct from those ofNorthamptonshire, Bedfordshire, and Oxfordshire, which last are verysimple cushion bobbin-laces. 

From the sixteenth century English ladies have, for their amusement, made cut laces. Still, we must confess we have no national style oflace, and the only enduring ones have been those of France andBelgium, which have always kept the lead since their establishment, though fluctuating in design with the varying fashions of each epoch. Perhaps the reason of their longevity is that they have followedalways the taste of their day. That of our time being decidedlyarchæological, ancient patterns are now the most successful. 

There is a kind of embroidery darned-work, called "Limerick lace, "which is said to be only made in Ireland, and being partlymachine-made, is not pure lace, and therefore little esteemed. Veryfine thread laces have been produced at Irish work schools; but nocommercial result has followed. Clever imitations of Venice point havecome from Ireland lately, called "raised crochet. " This is a novelty, and it is extremely fine and beautiful work. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 46. Egyptian "Gobelins, " Woven and Embroidered. ]

The Exhibition of Irish Lace in London (June, 1883), shows howwidespread have been the efforts of Irish ladies to employ thepeculiar genius of the sister island for delicate work with theneedle, which has always been shown in their beautiful embroideries onmuslin and cambric. It appears that every kind of lace, except, perhaps, Brussels point, has been made in Ireland within the last 180years; but as in each case the effort was always that of oneindividual woman, the school fell away when she died. 

The names of these ladies are now worthily recorded in the officialcatalogue of the exhibition, with photographs of the specimensproduced under their superintendence and care. Perhaps a permanentindustry may crown, however late, their exertions to help the women ofIreland. 

_Part 8. _

TAPESTRY--OPUS PECTINEUM. 

It is necessary to define precisely what is meant by the word"tapestry. "[380] The term has been applied to all hangings, and socaused confusion between those that are embroidered with a design, ona plain or brocaded woven material, and those which are inwoven withthe design from the first. [381] This latter was called in classicallanguage, "opus pectineum, " because it was woven with the help of acomb (the "slay"), [382] to push the threads tight between each row ofstitches; and the individual stitches were put in with a sort of aneedle, or by the fingers only, and laid on the warp. It was thuspractised by the Egyptians, by the Persians, Indians, and Peruvians;and in Egypt was often finished by embroidery. (Pl. 46. ) In Egyptiantombs we have evidence of their tapestry, from the mural paintingsrepresenting men and women weaving pictures in upright looms. Thecomb which served to push the threads together after the stitches werelaid in is sometimes found in the weaver's tomb. 

We have, in the British Museum, pieces of "opus pectineum" fromSaccarah, in Egypt; and also fragments from a Peruvian tomb, ofbarbarous design, but the weaving is equal to the Egyptian; and bothresemble the Gobelins weaving of to-day. Whence came the craft of thePeruvians?

Tapestry is woven in two ways, by a high or by a low-warp loom(_haute-lisse_ or _basse-lisse_), vertical or horizontal. The "slay"is the implement which is peculiar to the craft. I shall not enterinto any description of the mode of working the looms, as this hasbeen thoroughly well done by masters of the art. [383] But I would callattention to the Frontispiece, copied from a Greek vase, wherePenelope is portrayed sitting by her _haute-lisse_ frame. I also referthe reader to the illustration from the Rheims tapestries, in which amediæval artist shows the Blessed Virgin weaving at one that ishorizontal or "basse-lisse. " (Pl. 47. )

 [Illustration: Pl. 47. Portion of a Tapestry Hanging. Cathedral. Rheims. The Virgin weaves and embroiders at a _basse-lisse_ frame. ]

For the best information I have been able to obtain regarding tapestryweaving, I must acknowledge my indebtedness to M. Albert Castel's"Bibliothèque des Merveilles. "[384] He has given great care to theconsideration of this subject, and has collected good evidences toprove his conclusions, which I willingly accept _en bloc_. Of coursehe has chiefly dealt with the French branch of the art, and with theFlemish, from which it immediately descends. He begins, however, byquoting Pliny, to prove the antiquity of weaving, and gives a verse ofMartial's to this effect: "Thou owest this work to the land ofMemphis, where the slay of the Nile has vanquished the needle ofBabylon. "[385]

Homer makes Helen weave the story of the siege of Troy; this may havebeen partly embroidered; and there are some pieces of woven tapestryintroduced most ingeniously into the web of a linen shirt or garment, of which the sleeve is in the Egyptian department of the BritishMuseum, proving that figures were pictured by weaving quite as earlyas the date of Troy, and unmistakably finished with the needle (Plate18); at any rate, as early as the days of Homer. Arachne's web wasinterwoven with figures. She and Minerva rivalled each other iningenious design and perfect execution. The description of thebeautiful hangings they wove, the glorious colours with theirtenderly graduated tints, and the graceful borders, appear to bealmost prophetic of the highest efforts of the looms of theGobelins. [386][387] Arachne's name is derived from the Hebrew wordfor weaving, "Arag. "

It appears that the town now called Arras, but anciently Nomenticum, was always a centre of the trade of the weavers;[388] for FlaviusVopiscus, writing in A. D. 282, says that thence came the Byrri--wovencloaks with hoods, which were much in vogue amongst all classes in thelater Roman Empire. The craft of weaving, which flourished in theFlemish and other adjacent countries, seems to have become native tothat soil, and to have clung to it, surviving many historicalcataclysms. [389]

Though in the fifth century the inhabitants of that country weretransported wholesale to Germany by the Vandals, and among them thoseof the town of Arras, yet, thanks to the monasteries, there was asurvival and a revival; the craftsmen grouping themselves round thereligious houses. Specimens as models were brought from the East. Aster, Bishop of Amasis (a town in Asiatic Turkey), describes theseOriental hangings in one of his homilies. He says that animals andscenes from the Bible were woven on white grounds. [390]

Sidonius Apollinaris, Bishop of Clermont Ferrand, [391] says that someforeign tapestries are "pictured" with the summits of Ctesiphon andNephates, "wild beasts running rapidly across void canvas, and also bya miracle of art, the Parthian of wild aspect with his head turnedbackwards. " This might be a description of a Chinese composition, andprobably it is so. [392]

Woven tapestry is also called "Arras, "[393] because that town in theNetherlands was the home and school of the art of picture weaving inthe Middle Ages. It has been hitherto excluded from the domain ofneedlework, because of the different use of the needle employed init. It has always been woven on a loom, and is, in fact, embroiderycombined with the weaving; for the shuttle, or slay, or comb completeseach row of stitches. It belongs as much to our art as does tambourwork, which is done with a hook instead of a needle. Tapestry weavingis the intelligent craft of a practised hand guided by artistic skill. The forms of the painted design must be copied by a person who candraw; and the colours require as much care in selection, as inpainting with oils or water-colours. Such a thing as a purelymechanical exact copy is impossible in any art; and the difficultiesare increased a hundredfold when it is a translation into anothermaterial, and another form of art. Besides, in this case, the copiesare worked from the back, and the picture is reversed. The question isthis: Can it be claimed as belonging to the same craft as embroidery?I answer in the affirmative, and I claim it. 

"When the Saracens began to weave tapestry we cannot tell; but theworkers in woven pictures were called Sarassins, and their craft, the'opus Saracenicum. '"[394] The French and Flemish artisans whocontinued to weave in the old upright frames (_haute-lisse_) were, whether Christians or not, called "Sarassins. " Probably they camethrough Spain, possibly from Sicily to Flanders and to France, or elsefrom Byzantium. Viollet-le-Duc says that the "Saracinois" was a termapplied to the makers of velvety carpets (_tapis veloutés_). [395] Thisis possible. [396] Woven carpets of Oriental type were spreadingthemselves as articles of luxury through Europe early in the MiddleAges; and the Persian style of design was much the same then, when thefirst models were brought to Spain, and thence to Arras, as it is nowin the carpets we buy just woven in Persia. [397] The oldest specimensknown here have been exhibited in the Indian Museum, and may be of thethirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The perishable nature of thematerial makes us dependent on the sculptured records of all artisticdesign for our knowledge of carpets and hangings of more than athousand years ago; and we must confess that we find nothing reallyresembling a Persian pattern in any classical tomb or sculpture of theDark Ages. [398]

I have allowed myself to touch upon carpet weaving, as it is germaneto tapestry; though it is a branch that soon loses itself and leavesartistic work in the distance. Except the first design, it has becomepurely mechanical. 

After what has been quoted from Ovid's "Metamorphoses, " and bearing inmind the pictured webs described by Homer, and likewise the evidenceof the frescoes in Egypt, and the woman weaving on the Greek fictilevase found at Chiusi, we may be justified in concluding that, like allother arts, that of tapestry existed in very early days, died out, andhad to begin afresh, and gradually return to life, during the MiddleAges. 

Bishop Gaudry, about 925, possessing a piece of tapestry with aninscription in Greek letters surrounded by lions "parsemé, " was muchput about till he obtained something to match it, to hang on theopposite side of his choir at Auxerre. [399] And it is known that themonks of St. Florent, at Saumur, wove tapestries about 985, andcontinued to do so for two centuries. St. Angelme of Norway, [400]Bishop of Auxerre, who died in 840, caused many tapestries to beexecuted for his church. At Poitiers this manufactory was so famous inthe eleventh century, that foreign kings, princes, and prelates soughtto obtain them, "even for Italy. " The rules of their order of themonks of the Abbey of Cluny, dated 1009, were followed by those of St. Wast and of the Abbey of Fleury, and others in France, who all wovewool and silk for tapestries. Le Père Labbé, from whom much of thisinformation is drawn and acknowledged by M. Charton (my authority), says that in 876, at Ponthièvre, in presence of the Emperor Charlesthe Bold, the hall of the council-chamber was hung with picturedtapestries, and the seats were covered with them. [401]

 [Illustration: Pl. 48. Order of the Golden Fleece. Tapestry at Berne, taken from Charles the Bold at the Battle of Grandson, 1476. ]

Sufficient has been said to show that during the dark ages hangingswere woven in France, Germany, and Belgium, [402] and that England wasnot behind the rest of the civilized world in this craft. I think, also, that we have indicated its Oriental origin. [403]

Arras continued to lead as the great tapestry factory till the end ofthe fifteenth century, when the commercial failure of the city began, at the death of Charles le Téméraire, Duke of Burgundy. [404] Plate 48shows a portion of his tent hangings woven with the order of thegolden fleece taken at the battle of Grandson--now in the museum atBerne. Till then Arras had supplied most of the splendid decorations ofwhich we find such marvellous lists. Every possible subject--religious, romantic, historical, and allegorical--was pressed into the service, and pictured hangings were supposed to instruct, amuse, and edify thebeholders. The dark ages were illuminated, and their barbaritysoftened, by these constant appeals to men's highest instincts, and tothe memories of their noblest antecedents and aspirations, whichclothed their walls, and so became a part of their daily lives. Thegreat Flemish and French workshops became the illustrators of thehistory of the world, as it was then read or being enacted. It is arecord of faiths, religious and political; and of national and familylives and their changes. The Exhibition at Brussels in 1880 showed, byits "Catalogue Raisonné, " how much could be extracted from its storiedtapestries of both archæological and artistic information. [405]

Though the art continued to be the servant of refined luxury in thefifteenth century, Arras itself had done its work, [406] and wassuperseded as the greatest weaver of artistic tapestry by a neighbourand rival. Brussels, which had been gradually asserting itself as aweaving community, from that date absorbed most of the trade of Arras, and thence forwards, till Henri IV. Established the works of theSavonnerie, Brussels led European taste, and employed the bestartists. Brussels employed Leonardo da Vinci and Mantegna, Giovanni daUdine, Raphael, and later, Rubens and the great Dutch painters, todesign cartoons for tapestry works. Raphael's pupil, Michael Coxsius, of Mechlin, superintended the copying of his master's cartoons. Shortly afterwards, Antwerp, Oudenarde, Lille, Tournai, Valenciennes, Beauvais, Aubusson, and Bruges all had their schools;[407] and theadept can trace their differences and peculiarities, and name theirbirthplace, without referring to their trade-mark, or to that of themanufacturer, which is usually to be found in the outer border. Poitiers, Troyes, Beauvais, Rheims, and St. Quentin likewise had theirschools, and became famous. 

Want of space prevents my entering more fully into this subject of thenorthern tapestries, and I must refer my readers to the authorities Ihave quoted from so largely. 

ITALIAN TAPESTRY. 

The word Arrazzi shows us whence the Italians drew their art. Doubtless there were looms in the Italian cities, and especially underecclesiastical patronage, through the dark ages. Rome was incommunication with the Atrebates in the third century, by whom she wassupplied with the Byrri, or hooded cloaks then worn; and as it hadbeen a centre for weaving commerce, it is probable that Rome receivedfrom Arras the craftsmen as well as the produce of their looms. At theRenaissance we find factories for pictured webs in Florence, Rome, Milan, Mantua, and elsewhere. The best artists of the Italianschools--Mantegna, Leonardo, Raphael and his scholars, &c. , &c. --gavetheir finest designs to be executed in Italy, before they were sold toArras, Brussels, France, or England, and they are accumulated in thetreasure-room of every palace in Italy. But the finest collections arethose of the Vatican, and of the Pitti in Florence. A splendid volumemight be edited of these grand artistic works; such a record would beinvaluable. Vasari[408] and Passevant give us occasional glimpses oflocal factories for tapestry, but, as we have before said, thissubject has still to be investigated. 

FRENCH TAPESTRY. 

In France, as elsewhere, tapestry was probably woven in private loomsand in the religious houses from early days. M. Jubinal believes thatit was made at Poitiers, Troyes, Beauvais, Rheims, and St. Quentin asearly as 1025. [409] Froissart describes the entry of Isabel ofBavaria as a bride into Paris, when the houses were covered withhangings and tapestries representing historical scenes. [410] The ClunyMuseum possesses a most curious mediæval suite of hangings from theChateau de Boussac, of the early part of the fifteenth century. Theytell the story of the "Dame au Lion, " and are brilliantly coloured andcharmingly quaint and gay in design. Hangings designed by Primaticciowere woven at Fontainebleau, where Francis I. Started the manufacturein 1539. However, the first national school of tapestry weaving wasthat at Chaillot, under the experienced teaching of workmen fromArras; afterwards transferred to the town of Gobelins, 1603, by HenriQuatre. [411] Louis Quatorze and his minister Colbert splendidlyprotected this manufacture by law, privilege, and employment; so didLouis Quinze. Before the Revolution, other considerable tapestry workswere flourishing at Aubusson in Auvergne, at Felletin in the upperMarches, and at Beauvais. These two last were especially famed forvelvety tapestries (_veloutés_). 

As usual, the French have surpassed all other nations in this textileart. The pictorial tapestries of the Gobelins have carried the beautyof wall hangings to the utmost perfection. Nothing can be more festivethan a brilliantly lighted hall, glowing with these woven pictures orarabesques, framed in gilded carvings or stuccoes. Still we mustacknowledge that, in choice of worthy subjects, the Flemish ideal, which had been left far behind, was the highest. The weavers of thetime of Louis Quatorze aspired only to teach the glories of France, not the moralities of society and civilization, in their historicalcompositions, which were then superseded by classical mythology, orelse by scenes from rustic life, of the Watteau School. La Fontaine'sfables gave some of the prettiest and gayest designs, and weregenerally the centres of splendid arabesques. The drawing andexecution were perfect. 

It is to be feared that in the future, great works of textiledecoration will be few and far between. It is only when the State, orthe monarch that represents the dignity of the State, protects andfosters these artistic factories, that they can continue to thrive. Without such powerful encouragement, fashion, commercial depression, or a war will stop for a time the orders without which funds fail, discouragement sets in, and ruin quickly follows; and the best workmanwhen unemployed, or forced for some years to wield the sword, loseshis practised skill never to be restored. In France, whatever has beenthe form of government, the old traditions of protection for theGobelins have been acted up to and maintained. The consequence is thatscience and art still contribute their efforts in the machinery, thecolouring, and the designing of hangings of which the materials[412]and the execution are unrivalled. Probably there will never again be aTuileries or a Versailles to adorn, but an Hôtel de Ville, especiallyif it is occasionally destroyed, may give from time to timeopportunity for such decorations. 

ENGLISH TAPESTRY. 

When we consider the antiquity and the excellence of the art oftapestry on the Continent, we cannot pretend that there can be thesame general interest in that of our English looms. But to ourselvesit naturally assumes the greatest importance; and I have tried totrace the efforts of our ancestors in this direction, by noting everycertain sign of English production, in what must have been animitation of Flemish or Oriental weaving. The few facts here collectedmay be of service to the future writer of the history of Englishtapestries. 

Comnenus, Prince of Arras, fled before the Romans from Nomenticum toEngland; and he and his Atrebates settled themselves betweenSilchester and Sarum, and the Belgæ and Parisi did the same. TheRomans found them here when they invaded England. Wherever the Belgictribes spread themselves, the art of weaving was established. Comnenusprobably brought over, and left to his descendants, the inheritance ofthis craft. 

Dr. Rock thinks that pictured tapestry was woven at an early period inthe Middle Ages by the monks in England. The earliest proof of thisthat we possess, is the notice by Matthew Paris (thirteenth century)describing the three reredos for St. Alban's Abbey; the first, a largeone, depicting the finding of the body of the Protomartyr; the others, "The Prodigal Son" and "The Man who fell among Thieves. " All thesewere executed by the orders of Abbot Geoffrey. [413]

While in London in 1316, Simon, Abbot of Ramsay, bought for the use ofhis monks, looms, shuttles, and a slay. "Pro weblomes emptes xx^d. Etpro staves ad eadem vj^d. Item pro iiij Shittles, pro eadem operevj^d. Item j sloy pro textoribus viii^d. "[414]

In Edward II. 's time there were hangings woven in England which appearto have been absolutely tapestries. They were much valued abroad, andwere called "Salles d'Angleterre. " Charles V. Of France (1364)possessed among his articles of costly furniture, "Une salled'Angleterre vermeille brodée d'azur, et est la bordure a vignettes, et le dedans de Lyons, d'Aigles, et de Lyopars. "[415]

Our trade with Arras must have improved our tapestries. We are told ofEdward III. Selling his wools to that town, and being therefore calledby Philip de Valois, his "Marchant de Laine. " Horace Walpole refers toan act, "De Mysterâ Tapiciarorum, " of the time of Edward III. , 1327, "regarding certain malpractices of the craft, " which proves itsexistence in England at that period. [416]

Mr. French, in his catalogue of the Exhibition in London, 1851, quotesthe tapestries of St. Mary's Hall at Coventry, to prove that there wasa manufactory in England, _temp. _ Henry VI. There were certainlyindividual looms, though we doubt whether it had yet become a nationalindustry, as we have so few specimens remaining. The St. Mary'stapestries contain portraits of Henry VI. , Cardinal Beaufort, &c. , andare probably contemporary works. The subject is the marriage of HenryVI. 

There is also a piece of tapestry at Bude, in Cornwall, the propertyof Mr. Maskell, which came from a royal sale. Here the marriage ofHenry VII. Is depicted, and the style resembles that of the Coventryhangings. The costumes are certainly English, and the originalpictures must have been English, though they might have been wroughtat Arras, reminding one of the groups of figures and the dresses onthe Dunstable Pall (see Plate 78). 

Dr. Rock also quotes the reredos belonging to the Vintners' Company, representing St. Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar. He thinksthis is executed by the monks of St. Alban's, and attributes to thoseof Canterbury the fine tapestries of the legends of the Virgin at Aix, in Provence, of which we have the history. They were originally givento Canterbury Cathedral by Prior Godstone, and were called Arras work. There is no doubt that there were looms and artists in the conventsand monasteries before there was any recognized school of such work inEngland. Probably till the Reformation such hangings were being wovenall over Europe, and only then ceased in Germany and England. Onecannot but regret that the weight of the evil which preponderated overthe good in the Houses of the Church, should have caused so much thatwas beautiful in art to be crushed by their ruin. 

Chaucer speaks of "tapestry of verd. "[417] This green tapestry seemsto have been intended to give a bowery effect to the room it hung; andone can imagine that it pleased the taste of the poet of the "Flowerand the Leaf. " It seems to have been much the fashion in England andelsewhere about that period, and generally represented landscapes andwoody foregrounds only; but sometimes figures and animals wereportrayed, and always in the same tints of bluish-green. 

Dr. Rock gives us an extract from the wardrobe accounts of Edward II. , containing the following items: "To a mercer of London for a greenhanging of wool, woven with figures of kings and earls upon it; forthe king's service upon solemn feast days in London;" therefore the"tapestry of verd" was not a novelty even in the time of Chaucer. [418]

Oudenarde was famous for these "hallings" or "salles. " All thespecimens mentioned in the catalogue of tapestries exhibited atBrussels in 1880, are said to be from thence. But we see no reason whyit should not have been an English style of weaving also. The firstestablishment of a permanent manufactory in England, did not, however, take place until the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. , whenRobert Sheldon "allowed" his manor-house at Barcheston, inWarwickshire, to "one Hicks, " whom he signalizes in his will as "theauthor and beginner of all tapestry of Arras in England. " This will isdated 1576. [419]

 [Illustration: SUMMER English Tapestry, Temp. Henry VIII. At Hatfield]

There are four pieces of tapestry representing the Seasons, removedfrom an old family house and placed by Lord Salisbury at HatfieldHouse, where they hang in the great corridor. These were probablywoven in Barcheston. (Plate 49. ) The style is English Renaissance, andthe design full of intention; in fact, they have the seal of the timeof Henry VIII. Only one characteristic reminds one of Flemish art, and that is the mode of drawing the plants and flowers, which mighthave been taken out of an old German herbal. The landscapes andpeasantry are unmistakably English. The pictures are worked withstrong black outlines which emphasize every detail and give the effectof a highly coloured outlined engraving; reminding one of thechildren's books by Marcus Ward or by Walter Crane. [420]

The tapestries called the "Spanish Armada hangings" were probablywoven here late in Elizabeth's reign. In her time we find incatalogues of household goods, descriptions of splendid hangings, furnishings of palaces and private houses. The MS. Inventory of theEarl of Leicester's belongings, in the library at Longleat, astonishesus with the abundance of suites of hangings of tapestry that itenumerates, as well as those embroidered by hand, and others ofstamped and painted leather. 

It was in the reign of James I. That the manufacture was set up atMortlake, in Surrey. Aubrey, in his "History of Surrey, i. P. 82, "however, dates the institution in the subsequent reign; but Lloyd[421]is not only positive for the former date, but affirms it was "of themotion of King James himself, " who gave £2000 towards the undertaking;and we have further proofs extant that he spent largely, andencouraged it in every way. He gave to Sir Francis Crane, who erectedthe house at Mortlake, "the making of three Baronets" towards hisproject for manufacture of tapestry. [422]

Another curious item which we quote, shows that the funds for theenterprise were not easily forthcoming. It is a warrant "to SirFrancis Crane: £2000 to be employed in buying £1000 per ann. Ofpensions or other gifts made of the king, and not yet payable, forease of His Majesty's charge of £1000 a year towards the maintenanceof Sir Francis Crane's tapestry manufacture. "[423]

Apparently this little arrangement did not succeed, for there is anacknowledgment by Charles I. , in the first year of his reign, [424]that he is in debt to Sir F. Crane: "For three suits of gold tapestrywe stand indebted to Sir Francis Crane £6000. Also Sir F. Crane isallowed £1000 annually for the better maintenance of said works forten years to come. " The king also granted the estate of Stoke Bruere, near Stamford, in Northamptonshire, as part payment of £16, 400 due tohim on the tapestry works at Mortlake. [425] The great value of thesetapestries is shown by the prices named in the Domestic Papers of theState Paper Office, and in private inventories; they were woven insilk, wool, and gold, which last item accounts both for their priceand for their disappearance. 

William, Archbishop of York and Lord Keeper, gave £2500 for fourpieces of Arras representing the four Seasons. [426] Their value, however, fell during the civil wars, for the tapestries of the fiveSenses from the Palace of Oatlands, which were from the Mortlakelooms, were sold in 1649 for £270. The beautiful tapestries atHoughton were woven at Mortlake: these are all silk, and contain wholelength portraits of James I. And Charles I. , and their Queens, withheads of the royal children in the borders. A similar hanging is atKnowle, wrought in silk, containing portraits of Vandyke and SirFrancis Crane. [427]

Francis Cleyne was a decorator and painter employed in the works atMortlake by Charles I. , who, while he was still Prince of Wales, brought him over to England from Rostock, in Mecklenburg (his nativeplace), while the Prince was in Spain wooing the Infanta. Cleyne wasgreat in grotesques, and also undertook in historical designs. [428]

Three of the Raphael cartoons were sent to be copied at Mortlake. [429]The purchase of these cartoons by the king, showed how high was thestandard to which he tried to raise the art in England. The "Triumphof Cæsar, " by Mantegna, was obtained for the same purpose in 1653; andcertain Dutch prisoners were forwarded to the manufactory to beemployed on the work. [430] It was entrusted to the care of Sir GilbertPickering, who was either an artist or the superintendent of theworks. 

After the death of Sir Francis, his brother, Sir Richard Crane, soldthe premises to Charles I. During the civil wars, the property wasseized upon and confiscated as having belonged to the Crown. Itoccupied the site of what is now Queen's Head Court. The old houseopposite was built by the king for the residence of Cleyne the artist. Gibson, the dwarf, and portrait painter, who had been page to a ladyat Mortlake, was one of his pupils. [431]

The value of the king's collection of tapestries was well understoodduring the Protectorate. The tapestry house remained in the occupationof John Holliburie, the "master-workman. " After the Restoration, Charles II. Appointed Verrio as designer, intending to revive themanufactory. This was not, however, carried out; but the work stilllingered on, and must have been in some repute, for Evelyn names someof these hangings as a fit present among those offered by a gallant tohis mistress. [432]

Arras is said to have been woven at Stamford, but we have no data ofits establishment or its suppression. Burleigh House contains much ofit; and there is a suite of hangings at Belton House, near Grantham, of which there are duplicates at Wroxton House, in Oxfordshire, allhaving the same traditional origin at Stamford. Possibly Sir Francisand Sir Richard Crane may have received orders at their house atStoke Bruere, which lay near enough to Stamford to account for themagnates of the town and neighbourhood obtaining furnishings of theirtapestries, and, perhaps, vying with each other in decorating theirapartments with them. [433]

In Northumberland House there was a fine suite of tapestry, woven inLambeth, 1758. [434] This is the only sample of that loom of which weever find any mention. There were also works at Fulham, wherefurniture tapestry in the style of Beauvais was made. This manufactorywas closed in 1755. [435] It may be hoped that the revival of tapestryweaving at Windsor in our own day may be a success, but without theroyal and noble encouragement it receives, it would probably very soonfall into disuse. 

Unless it is supported by the State, such an exceptionally expensivemachinery cannot possibly be kept at work. It requires thesuperintendence of the best artists, and the weavers themselves mustneeds have the highest technical education to enable them to copyreally fine designs. These artistic requirements, besides the extremetediousness of the work, make it the most expensive of all luxuriousdecorations--even more costly than embroideries by the hand, coveringthe same spaces. However, the two styles of hangings never can enterinto competition, except in a financial point of view. Tapestries arethe best fitted for wall coverings, and embroideries for curtains ofall kinds--for beds, for windows, and for portières. 

The old hangings are now again having their day, and we are strivingto save and restore all that remain to us. We must continue to guardthese treasures from the moths, their worst enemies; and scienceshould be invoked to assist us in the preservation of these preciousworks of art, of which the value is now again understood andappreciated, and which increases with every decade that is added totheir antiquity. 

Tapestry, as art, has its own peculiar beauties, and one of them isthe softening, yet brilliant effect of the alternate lights andshadows of the ridge-like surface; the separation of each stitch andthread also casting minute shadows in the opposite direction, andgiving an iridescent effect. It is a mistake to struggle against thisinherent quality, instead of seeking to utilize it. The coarser andsimpler tapestries of our ancestors are really more beautiful andeffective in large spaces--flat in the arrangement of colours, andsharply outlined--than the imitations of paintings of the last twocenturies, in which every detail of form and colour is sought to beexpressed. [436]

M. Blanc says that tapestries were intended to cover the bare walls, but not to make us forget their existence. The wall being intended forcomfort and defence, the mind is solaced with the idea it conveys. Itis a mistake, therefore, to substitute a surface picture, so real thatit at once does away with this impression of security, while acertain conventional art should amuse the mind with shadowyrepresentations and suggestions. 

It is, perhaps, fortunate that the possibilities of tapestry weavingare restricted, and thus its very imperfections become the sources ofits best qualities as decoration and comfort. One element of textileweaving, the use of gold, both in the backgrounds and in thedraperies, takes it at once out of the region of naturalism, whilegiving it light and splendour. 

The designer for tapestry need not be a great genius. Harmony, repose, grace, and tender colouring are the qualities most valuable to such anartist. Battle-pieces, and other exciting and awful subjects, are onlybearable in apartments that are used for state occasions, or forhanging corridors and anterooms. They are painful to live with. 

All tapestries are liable to suffer by the double nature of theirmaterials--their woollen surface and linen threads which are affectedby both damp and heat crinkling the forms and puckering the faces, andbringing out unexpected expressions and deformities. For this reasonthe design should be as flat and as simple in its outline and shadingas is consistent with beauty. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [317] Birdwood, "Indian Arts, " p. 283. 

 [318] "The word in Sanskrit for a needle is _suchi_, from _such_, to sew or pierce. This is the same word as the Latin _suo_, to sew; so probably the common word used by the Aryans in their primeval habitations was _su_, and they clearly knew how to sew at that remote period. Eve sewed fig-leaves together. Adam sewed also. The Hebrew word is _tafar_, and clearly meant _sewing_, not _pinning_ together with thorns. Sewing is the first recorded art of our forefathers. "--Letter from Mr. Robert Cust. 

 [319] Semper, "Der Stil, " Textile Kunst, i. Pp. 77-90. 

 [320] Semper, Textile Kunst, "Der Stil, " i. P. 77. The German word "naht, " here literally translated, would be, uniting, weaving, bringing together. 

 [321] "Handbook of Plain Needlework, " by Mrs. Floyer. See also her "Plain Hints for Examiners, " &c. 

 [322] Dr. Rock, "Introduction, " pp. Cix, cx, calls it "thread embroidery, " and names some specimens in the South Kensington Museum. He says it was sometimes done in darning stitches for ecclesiastical purposes, for instance, for coverings for the pyx. It is mentioned in the Exeter inventory of the fourteenth century. There is notice of white knotted thread-work belonging to St. Paul's, London, in 1295, by Dugdale (p. 316). 

 [323] St. Catherine of Sienna's winding-sheet is described as being cut work (punto tagliato) on linen. This sounds like embroidery of the type now sold as "Madeira work, " the pattern being cut out and the edges overcast. 

 [324] Semper, "Der Stil, " i. Pp. 132, 203. 

 [325] See Semper, "Der Stil, " i. P. 289. 

 [326] Ibid. He cites Athenæus, iv. 64. 

 [327] Phrygia in general, and especially Babylon, were famed for their embroideries. "Colores diversos picturæ intexere Babylon maxime celebravit et nomen imposuit. "--Pliny, lib. Viii. 74. See D'Auberville, "Ornement des Tissus, " p. 7. 

 [328] "Der Stil, " i. P. 196. "Opus Phrygium, " in the Middle Ages, included all gold work in flat stitches. The cloak worked by Queen Gisela in the ninth century, for her husband, St. Stephen, King of Hungary, the imperial mantle at Bamberg, of the date of 1024, and the robes of Bishop William de Blois (thirteenth century), in the library at Worcester Cathedral, are all "opus Phrygium, " and resemble each other in style. 

 [329] In the Museum at Munich are two remarkable examples of these imitations. There is an embroidered badge of the Order of the Dragon, worked in gold and woven over with coloured silks, so as to present the appearance of enamel (sixteenth century). The second is a dress for a herald of the Order of St. Hubertus, which is richly embroidered in gold and silver, and the badge and collar are imitated in the most extraordinary manner, and laid on entirely in gold needlework. This is of the seventeenth century. 

 [330] In Salt's collection from Saccarah (British Museum); also at Turin, in the Egyptian Museum; and in the collections in the Louvre, figured by Auberville in the "Ornamentation des Tissus. "

 [331] Hence the French name, _pointes comptées_. 

 [332] See Semper, ii. P. 213, for wood-work at Panticapæum, Kertch, in the Crimea, which evidently has descended in style from panelled needlework hangings. Chaldean wall decoration at Khorsabad and Warka, near Nimroud, recalls the effect of "opus pulvinarium" according to Loftus. See Semper, i. P. 327. 

 [333] "Der Stil, " i. Pp. 196, 248. This is known from the archaic books of imperial commerce. 

 [334] Peacocks' feathers, either woven or onlaid, are those most commonly used in China and Japan. "Ka Moolelo Hawaii, " by M. Jules Remy, Paris, 1861. See Ferdinand Denis, "Arte Plumaria, " p. 66. 

 [335] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 373, translates from Publius Syrus the word _plumata_, "feathered. " The word "embroidered" would have here improved the sense, even though it is a peacock that is described. 

 "Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train, As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather'd gold. "

 He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of Cleopatra's palace: "Part shines with feathered gold; part sheds a blaze of scarlet. "--Yates, p. 373. 

 [336] Sir G. Birdwood, with all his enthusiasm for Indian art and its forms, yet cannot resist a touch of humour when he describes a state umbrella, of which the handle and ribs are pure gold, tipped with rubies and diamonds, the silken covering bordered with thirty-two fringed loops of pearls, and "also appropriately decorated with the feathers of the peacock, heron, parrot, and goose. "--Birdwood, "Indian Arts, " ii. P. 182. 

 [337] "History of the Kingdom of Congo, " c. Viii. P. 55, by Filippo Pigafetta (translated by Mrs. M. Hutchinson). 

 [338] In the Tyrol certain embroideries are called "Federstickerei. "

 [339] For the feather hangings at Moritzburg, see Appendix 2. 

 [340] "Arte Plumaria, " by M. Ferdinand Denis. Paris, 1875. 

 [341] The Plumarii mentioned by Pliny were craftsmen in the art of _acu pingere_, or painting with the needle. Though Seneca speaks of the "opus plumarium" as if it were absolutely feather-work, yet it may have been at that time undergoing its transition into embroidery, suggested by feathers, and imitating them in gold, silver, wool, or thread. When Lucan describes the extraordinary change introduced into Roman habits and luxury by Cleopatra's splendours, his use of the words, "pars auro plumata nitet, " probably means their imitation or mixture with gold embroidery, and would, therefore, come under the head of "opus Phrygium. "

 [342] It is said that the work, named "Plumarium, " was made by the needle; and the Greeks, from the variety of the threads, called it "Polymitum. " "Plumarium dicitur opus acu factum quod Græci a licionum varietate multiplici polymitarium appellant. "--Robert Stephan. "Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ, " s. V. Plumarius. 

 [343] Blümner, i. P. 209. "The Plumarii were a class of persons mentioned by Vitruvius, and found likewise in inscriptions. It cannot be decided with certainty what was their occupation; their name would lead us to suppose that it has something to do with feathers. "--Becker's "Gallus, " ii. P. 288. But see Marquardt, "Handbuch d. Röm. Altert. " vii. Pt. 2, p. 523. 

 [344] "Plumarium qui acu aliquod depingit super culcitris plumeis. "--R. Steph. , "Thesaur. Lat. "

 [345] See "The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen, " by Villiers Stuart. 

 [346] See Auberville's "Tissus, " Plate i. 

 [347] "Compte Rendu de la Commission Archéologique, St. Petersburg, 1881. " Pl. Iii. Pp. 112, 119. 

 [348] In the British Museum is the lining of a shield which shows the arms of Redvers, third Earl of Albemarle (who died 1260), applied in different coloured silks. 

 [349] Lent by the Archæological Museum at Madrid. 

 [350] Rees' Cyclopædia speaks of embroideries "on the stamp or stump, " as being so named "when the figures are high and prominent, supported by cotton, wool, or hair;" also in "low and plain embroideries, without enrichment between. " He speaks of work "cut and laid on the cloth, laid down with gold, enriched with tinsel and spangles. " Rees' Cyclopædia, "Embroidery, " 1819. 

 [351] "Opus consutum. " The way in which this applied work is used in India, for the special adornment of horse-cloths, saddles, and girths, is very interesting. 

 [352] The chapter on "application, " in the Handbook of Embroidery of the Royal School of Art Needlework, will be useful to those who need instruction in the most practical, and therefore the quickest way of doing cut work. 

 [353] Mrs. Palliser's "History of Lace. " The origin of needle-made lace-work is attributed by M. De Gheltof to the necessity for disposing of the frayed edges of worn-out garments. This I think somewhat fanciful. _Fringes_ may have been so suggested. 

 [354] See M. Blanc's "Art in Ornament and Dress" (p. 200). 

 [355] Mrs. Bayman (late Superintendent in the School of Art Needlework) writes thus: "I see no reason to doubt that the word guipure is derived from 'guipa' or 'guiper, ' a ribbon-weaver's term for spinning one thread round another; and that guipure was originally more like what we now call 'guimp, ' or like 'point de Raguse, ' first being made of thread, of more or less thickness and commoner material, wound round with a finer flax, silk, or metal; then they cut shapes, bold scrolls, and leaves out of cartisane, vellum, or parchment, winding and covering them over with the more precious thread. These figures were then connected by brides, only as close as was required to hold them together, and leaving large open spaces, thus forming the large scroll patterns seen in so many old pictures. " No doubt the heavy "Fogliami" and "Rose point" laces developed themselves from these still older kinds of point. As the cord and card lace disappeared, the name slid on to all laces with large, bold patterns and open brides, though the special method which first created it had been effaced. Latterly, embroidered netting or laces have been called "guipure d'art. " Littré gives the derivation of the word; he says it is from the Gothic _Vaipa_, or German _Weban_ or _Weben_ (_g_ and _p_ replacing the _w_ and _b_). 

 [356] The word lace came from France, where it was called _lacis_ or _lassis_, derived from the Latin _laqueus_ (a noose). These words originally applied to narrow ribbons--their use being to lace or tie. 

 [357] The Venetians early made much lace for furniture or ecclesiastical linen adornment, of what they called "maglia quadrata, " which was usually squared netting, afterwards filled in with patterns in darned needlework. This somewhat primitive style of lace trimming was popular on account of its simplicity, and descended to the peasantry for their domestic decorations in Spain, Germany, France, and Italy. There are specimens of this work believed to be of the thirteenth century. At the time of the Renaissance the simple geometrical designs developed into animals, fruits, flowers, and human figures. 

 [358] See Rock, p. Cix, cx. He says that a sort of embroidery was called network, and certain drawn work he calls "opus filatorium. " See Catalogue of Textiles in the South Kensington Museum, by D. Rock, p. Cxxvii. 

 [359] Reminding us of the description of a net--"holes tied together by a string. " As a contrast in descriptive style, we would quote Dr. Johnson on network: "Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections. "--Johnson's Dictionary. 

 [360] Isaiah iii. 18, xix. 9. 

 [361] The nets of chequer work which hung round the capitals, with the wreaths of chain work, were designed by Hiram of Tyre, at Solomon's desire (1 Kings vii. 17). 

 [362] A fringe lace is made on the Riviera, of the fibres of the aloe, and is called "macramè, " which is an Arabic word. Mrs. Palliser's "History of Lace, " p. 64. 

 [363] A collar of fine white human hair was made in point lace stitches at Venice, and worn at his coronation by Louis Quatorze. It cost 250 pieces of gold. "Scritti di V. Zanon da Udine" (1829). Cited by Urbani de Gheltof, "Merletti di Venezia, " pp. 22, 23. 

 [364] See, for example, the inventory of the household goods of the great Earl of Leicester at Longleat; also the lists of the possessions of Ippolito and Angela Sforza (sixteenth century). 

 [365] Coloured thread and silk laces are still made in Venice. 

 [366] In the British Museum. 

 [367] M. Blanc's use of the word "guipure" is different from that found in the notices of the art by other authorities. 

 [368] The first lace-making machine was contemporary, or nearly so, with the stocking-making frame. About the year 1768 it was altered, and adapted for making open-work patterns. In 1808, the Heathcot machine was started for bobbin net. In 1813, John Leaver improved on this idea, with machine-woven patterns. The Jacquard apparatus achieved the flat patterns, and the new "Dentellière" has perfected the art. Lace-making by machinery employed by the latest official returns in 1871, 29, 370 women in England, and 24, 000 in France. See Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edition, p. 183-5. 

 [369] M. Charles Blanc, "Art in Ornament and Dress, " p. 211. 

 [370] The information contained in these volumes is most valuable, for the lace-worker as well as the collector. 

 [371] Lady Layard suggests that the cut lace work, which was the earliest made in Venice ("punto tagliato, " "point coupé"), simply consists of button-hole stitch with purl ornaments. These are varied with geometrical stitches and needle-weaving in those solid laces called "punti tagliati Fogliami, " and "Rose point de Venise, " of the finest kinds. 

 [372] Urbani de Gheltof, in his book, "Merletti di Venezia, " p. 9, says that Venetian laces and fringes were furnished thence for the coronation of Richard III. (1483). I fancy that gold guimps or braid, rather than netted laces, must be here intended, as we have no other notice of lace so early. See _Ibid. _ pp. 10-20. 

 [373] Henry VIII. Had a pair of hose of purple silk, edged and trimmed with a lace of purple silk and gold, of Milanese manufacture. Harl. MSS. , 1519. 

 [374] The manufacture of point d'Alençon was created under the special orders of Louis Quatorze, by Colbert, in 1673. Now more than 200, 000 women, besides the machinists, are employed in lace-making in France. Colbert imported the teachers from Venice. 

 [375] Yriarte says that Alençon, Argenton, Sedan, Mercourt, Honiton, Bedford, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Mechlin, Bruges, Brussels, all followed in imitation of Venice. Yriarte's "Venise, " p. 250. 

 [376] Titian drew the designs for one of these books for "punti tagliati. " The laces made in the Greek islands probably owe their origin to Venice, showing the same "punti in aria. "

 [377] I have already spoken of "lacis" as either darned netting or drawn work. Of this there is an English specimen at Prague, said by tradition to be the gift of Queen Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II. It originally trimmed or bordered an ecclesiastical garment. 

 [378] For further information, we refer the reader to M. Urbani de Gheltof's book on Venice laces already cited (Organia, Venice, 1876), and Lady Layard's translation (1882). 

 [379] I am assured on the best authority that this is unknown as yet at Burano; but the workers, as well as the revived industry, are very young. The modern school of Burano has only been established eleven years. It is certainly delightful to see the 320 happy faces, singing, chattering, and smiling over their graceful occupation; and the beauty of the Buranese women, which is celebrated, has not suffered from their occupation. There is a charming little article of the _Revista di Torino_, 1883, which describes the improvement in the social condition of Burano, morally and physically, and the way it is recognized by the inhabitants. Instead of signs of miserable poverty, the promoters of the lace school are greeted by the women leaning from the windows with, "Siestu benedetta!" ("Be thou blessed!"). 

 [380] The word "tapestry" comes from the Greek _tapes_, which is used equally for hangings or carpets. The Italians call carpets "tapeti" to this day. It is believed to have been originally an Egyptian word for such fabrics. 

 [381] For instance, the embroidered hangings of the eighth century at Gerona, in Spain, have been more than once quoted as proofs of tapestries having been manufactured there at that period. 

 [382] The "slay" means the "strike. " The word had the same meaning originally: to slay a man was to strike him. 

 [383] See De Champeaux, South Kensington Museum Art Handbook, 1878. 

 [384] "Bibliothèque des Merveilles" (sur les Tapisseries), publié sous la direction de M. Edouard Charton, à Paris, 1876. 

 [385] Martial, xiv. 150. 

 [386] Minerva accepts the challenge of the Mæonian Arachne, who will not yield to her in the praises of being first in weaving wool. The girls desert the vineyards round the little town of Hypæpa, to look at her admirable workmanship. She boasts that hers is finer than that of Pallas, and, desiring a vain victory, rushes upon her own destruction. ". . . They stretch out two webs on the loom, with a fine warp. The web is tied to the beam; the slay separates the warp; the woof is inserted in the middle with sharp shuttles, while the fingers hurry along, and being drawn with the warp, the teeth (notched in the moving slay) strike it. Both hasten on their labour, and girding up their garments to their bosoms, they move their skilful arms, their eagerness beguiling their fatigue. There are being woven both the purples, which are subjected to the Tyrian brazen (dyeing) vessel with fine shades of minute difference; as in the rainbow with its mighty rays reflected by the shower, where, though a thousand colours are shining, yet the very transition eludes the eyes that look upon it; to such a degree is that which is adjacent the same, and yet the extremes are different. The pliant gold is mingled with the threads, and ancient subjects are represented on the webs. " Then follows the list of the subjects. The web of Pallas had a large central design, and a smaller one on each corner, surrounded with a border of olive leaves. Arachne's contained nineteen pictures, of two or more figures each, and was surrounded by a border of flowers, interwoven with the twining ivy. Ovid's "Metamorphoses, " book vi. 

 Through the kindness of my friend, Lord Houghton, I am enabled to give the sequel of the story--Arachne's transformation into the Spider, as-- A PARAPHRASE AND A PARABLE. 

 Lo! how Minerva, recklessly defied, Struck down the maiden of artistic pride, Who, all distraught with terror and despair, Suspended her lithe body in mid-air; Deeming, if thus she innocently died, The sacred vengeance would be pacified. Not so: implacable the goddess cried-- "Live on! hang on! and from this hour begin Out of thy loathsome self new threads to spin; No splendid tapestries for royal rooms, But sordid webs to clothe the caves and tombs. Nor blame the Poet's Metamorphoses: Man's Life has Transformations hard as these; Thou shall become, as Ages hand thee down, The drear day-worker of the crowded town, Who, envying the rough tiller of the soil, Plies her monotonous unhealthy toil, Passing through joyless day to sleepless night With mind enfeebled and decaying sight, Till some good genius, [437] kindred though apart, Resolves to raise thee from the vulgar mart, And once more links thee to the World of Art. "

 [387] Appendix 3. 

 [388] Guicciardini ascribes the invention of woven tapestry to Arras, giving no dates; so we do not know whether he attributes it to the Belgic Atrebates or to their successors, the Franks. In either case the craft was probably imported from the East. 

 [389] The Atrebates were the inhabitants of that Belgic region till the fifth century; now it is the province of Artois, probably a corruption of the name "Atrebates. " Taylor, "Words and Places" (1865), pp. 229-385. 

 [390] Castel, "Des Tapisseries, " p. 30. 

 [391] Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. Ix. , 13. Cited in Yule's "Marco Polo, " p. 68. 

 [392] Castel, "Des Tapisseries, " p. 31. 

 [393] The commentators of Vasari, MM. Lechanché and Jenron, believe that this art was coeval in the Low Countries with Roman civilization and Christianity; but it would appear that the weavers had fled to Britain to escape from the Romans. Ibid. P. 52. Traces of the name Arras have been found by Bochart and Frahn in Ar-ras, the Arabian name for the river Araxes and the people who inhabit its shores; but this may be accidental, and is at best an uncertain derivation. 

 [394] Rock, Introduction, p. Cxii. This "Saracenic work" is really so like what is called by the Germans "Gobelins" when found in Egyptian tombs that one can hardly doubt whence the Moors brought their art. There are several Egyptian specimens in the British Museum. See also the catalogue of Herr Graf'schen's collection of Egyptian textiles, from the first to the eighth century. "Katalog der Teodor Graf'schen Fünde in Ægypten, von Dr. Karabacek. Wien, 1883. "

 [395] Viollet-le-Duc, "Dictionnaire du Mobilier Français, Tapis, " p. Cxii; also M. Jubinal, "Tapisserie Historique. " It is difficult absolutely to assign to any known specimens a date anterior to the fifteenth century; although M. De Champeaux thinks that the "Sarazinois" were mostly or entirely carpet-weavers about the eleventh century. He says there is documentary authority to prove that these were woven with flowers and animals. There is a very deep-piled velvety carpet at Gorhambury (the Earl of Verulam's place). Here Queen Elizabeth's arms and cypher appear on a Persian or Moresque ground pattern surrounded with a wreath of oak leaves. It may have been a gift from Spain, --left after one of her visits to her Chancellor. 

 [396] "Tapisseries des Gobelins, " A. L. Lacordaire, p. 10 (1853). He considers that the Sarazinois were embroiderers as well as weavers--and this theory is supported by extracts from an inventory of Charles VI. 's hangings of 1421. 

 Every detail of the art and its materials was carefully regulated by the French statutes of 1625-27, containing many laws for the perfecting of the manufacture of new as well as the restoration of old tapestries--and fines were imposed for not using materials as nearly as possible matching the original ones; and likewise for any other dereliction from the rules of the craft. Ibid. Pp. 9, 10, 14. 

 [397] At the Poldi Bezzoli Museum in Milan there are some very fine carpets; one especially, a Persian, is supposed to be of the fifteenth century. This is very finely woven of pure, tender colours, and the whole composition, flowers and animals (most beautifully drawn lions, &c. ), is delicately outlined in black on a white ground. The colouring is rich and harmonious, and has the iridescent effect of mother of pearl. 

 [398] In the San Clemente frescoes at Rome there are hangings which show a semi-Asiatic style. 

 [399] "Mémoires Historiques et Ecclesiastiques d'Auxerre, " par M. L'Abbé Lebœuf, i. Pp. 178, 231. 

 [400] There are very interesting Norwegian tapestries of the sixteenth century, which show distinctly an Eastern origin. 

 [401] Jubinal, "Tapisseries, " pp. 25, 26; Viollet-le-Duc, "Dic. De Mobilier Français, " p. 269. 

 [402] There is much splendid tapestry--German, and especially Bavarian, --to be seen at Munich; and, indeed, the more one seeks, the more one finds that private looms were constantly at work in the Middle Ages for votive offerings. There is a tapestry altar-piece at Coire, in the Grisons, of the Crucifixion, which is evidently of the fourteenth century. The colours are still brilliant, and the whole background is beautifully composed of growing flowers. No sky is seen. There is at Munich an altar frontal of tapestry, Gothic of the fifteenth century, exquisitely beautiful. The weaver has introduced a little portrait of herself at her loom, under the folds of the virgin's cloak at her feet. 

 [403] M. Albert Castel ("Tapisserie, " p. 53) believes that the taking of Constantinople, when Earl Baldwin was elected to the throne of Byzantium, had a great effect on Flemish art, which then received a strong impulse from Oriental designs and traditions. See M. Jubinal's very interesting account of the tapisserie de Nancy which lined the tents of Charles the Bold at the siege of Nancy (p. 439). These tapestries are an allegory against gluttony. "Tapisseries Hist. , " pp. 1-5. 

 [404] Charles the Bold has left us records of his taste in tent hangings of Arras at Berne, as well as at Nancy. These are the plunder from his camp equipage after the battle of Grandson. The whole suite, of many pieces, represents battles and sieges, and sacred subjects also, such as the adoration of the Magi. They are finely drawn and splendidly executed with gold lights, and are of the most perfect style of the fifteenth century. The National Museum at Munich contains most valuable specimens of very early and very fine tapestries; amongst others, a Virgin, which was certainly designed in the school of Dürer, and is of the greatest perfection of its art, both as to colour and drawing and the general effect, which has a soft, dreamy beauty, only to be seen in fine woollen tapestries, and differing from pictorial design and intention. 

 [405] See Rock, cxii: Among the remarkable suites of tapestry of which we find historical mention are the following: In 1334, John de Croisette, a "Tapissier Sarazinois, demeurant à Arras vendit au Duc de Touraine un tapis Sarazinois à or: de l'histoire de Charlemagne" (Voisin, p. 6). Of the many recorded as belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, one piece, "Haulte lice sanz or: de l'histoire du Duc de Normandie, comment il conquit Engleterre. "--"Les Ducs de Bourgogne, " par le Comte de Laborde, ii. P. 270, No. 4277. 

 [406] M. De Champeaux, the author of the "Handbook of Art Tapestry" belonging to the series of the Kensington Museum, 1878, says that the history of Arras has yet to be written. He, however, gives a great deal of interesting information, especially about the French tapestries, on which subject we fancy there is little more to tell. Their art does not come from such a distant time as that of the Belgian manufactures. After Louis IX. Had decimated the inhabitants, and dispersed the remainder, Arras yet made a gallant struggle to revive her industry and compete with the rising prosperity of Brussels; but France had decreed against her. 

 [407] "Encyclopædia Britannica" ("Art Tapestry"), pp. 17, 97. 

 [408] Vasari vividly describes the design for a tapestry for the King of Portugal--the history of Adam--on which Leonardo da Vinci, then aged twenty, was engaged. He lingers tenderly over the picture of the flowery field and the careful study of the bay-trees. Vasari, tom. Vii. P. 15; ed. Firenze, 1851. 

 [409] See M. Jubinal's "Tapisseries Historiées, " p. 26; Viollet-le-Duc, "Mobilier Français, " i. P. 269. 

 [410] Froissart's "Chronicles, " iv. , chap. 23; Johnes ed. 1815. 

 [411] M. De Champeaux, "Handbook of Art Tapestry, " p. 24; also Rock, "Textiles, " p. 122. M. Lacordaire, "Tapisserie des Gobelins, " p. 15, tells us that under Louis XIII. The statutes of 1625-27 contain many regulations for the perfection of the materials employed in weaving new as well as in restoring old tapestries. Fines were imposed for not matching the colours carefully. 

 [412] English wool is still used for the finest tapestries at the Gobelins. The wool from Kent is considered the best. 

 [413] "Vitæ St. Alban. Abbatum, " p. 40; Rock, p. Cxi. That the walls were covered with tapestry in the thirteenth century is supposed to be proved by the description of Hrothgar's house in the Romance of Beowulf. We are told that the hangings were rich with gold, and a wondrous sight to behold. "History of Domestic Manners, &c. , in England during the Middle Ages, " by Thomas Wright, p. 2. 

 [414] Matthew Paris, in Dugdale Monast. , ed. 1819, ii. P. 185. 

 [415] Quoted by Michel from MSS. In the Imperial Library, Paris. 

 [416] This was a writ to the Aldermen and Sheriffs of the City of London, principally levelled against the dealings of "certain Frenchmen which were against the well-being of the trade of the Tapissiarii . . . By petition of Parliament at Westminster. " Calend. Rot. Pat. Edward III. , p. 148, "De Mysterâ Tapiciarorum, " Lond. M. 41. 

 [417] Called "verdures" in French inventories. 

 [418] Rock's Introduction, p. Lxxix. 

 [419] "The art of weaving tapestry was brought to England by William Sheldon, Esq. , about the end of the reign of Henry VIII. "--See Dugdale's "Warwickshire" ("Stemmata:" Sheldon), 2nd edition, folio, vol. I. P. 584; also Lloyd's "State Worthies, " p. 953, quoted by Manning and Bray, "Hist. Of Surrey, " vol. Iii. P. 82. But we have an earlier notice of a spirited attempt to make fine tapestries at Kilkenny. Piers, Earl of Ormonde, married the daughter of Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, "a person of great wisdom and courage. " They brought from Flanders and the neighbouring provinces artificers and manufacturers, whom they employed at Kilkenny in working tapestries, diaper, Turkey carpets, cushions, &c. Piers died 1539. Carte's Introduction to the "Life of James, Duke of Ormonde, " vol. I. P. 93 (Oxford, 1851). 

 [420] William Sheldon at his own expense brought workmen from Flanders, and employed them in weaving maps of the different counties of England. Of these, three large maps, the earliest specimens, were purchased by the Earl of Orford (Horace Walpole), by whom they were given to Earl Harcourt. He had them repaired and cleaned, and made as fresh as when out of the loom, and eventually gave them to Gough, the antiquary, who bequeathed them to the University of Oxford. The Armada tapestry, which is stated to have been designed by Henry Cornelius Vroom, the Dutch marine painter, and woven by Francis Spiering, appears to have been, in 1602, in the possession of Lord Howard, Lord High Admiral and the hero of the Armada. Fuller particulars are given in Walpole's "Anecdotes, " i. P. 246, under the name of Vroom, Sandart being the principal authority. Part of them were in the House of Lords till 1834, when they perished in the fire. These had been engraved in 1739 by John Pine, but it appears that at that time there were in the royal wardrobe other pieces, now lost. 

 [421] Lloyd's "Worthies. "

 [422] Calendar of State Papers, cx. No. 26, James I. , 1619-23. 

 [423] Calendar of State Papers, vol. Clxxxi. No. 48. 

 [424] Rymer, "Fœdera, " vol. Viii. P. 66, ed. 1743. 

 [425] Brydges, "Northamptonshire, " i. P. 323, under the head of "Stoke Bruere, " pt. 1, p. 48. 

 [426] Manning and Bray's "History of Surrey, " vol. Iii. P. 302. 

 [427] Horace Walpole, "Anecdotes of Painting in England, " vol. Ii. P. 22. 

 [428] Macpherson, "Annals of Commerce. "

 [429] There is in Brydges' "Northamptonshire, " under the head of "Stoke Bruere" (the estate which King James gave to Sir F. Crane as part payment of the deficit of £16, 400 in his tapestry business), mention of the cartoons of "Raphael of Urbin, . . . Had from Genoa, " and their cost, £300, besides the transport. M. Blanc says, with great justness, that Raphael, when he prepared these cartoons for tapestry, made designs for weaving, and _did not paint pictures_. If they had been intended for oil pictures, they would have been very differently treated. 

 [430] Calendar State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 28th, 1653. 

 [431] Horace Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting, " vol. Iii. P. 64. 

 [432] See Evelyn's very scarce tract, entitled "Mundus Muliebris, " printed 1690, p. 8. 

 [433] Lord Tyrconnell, Lord Exeter, and Lord Guildford had married three of the Brownlow heiresses of Belton, who had a winter residence at Stamford. 

 [434] Designed by Francesco Zuccharelli. Rock, Introduction, p. Cxiv. 

 [435] It has been at different periods the crowning glory of the craft of the weaver to place different patterns or pictures on the two sides of the web. This would almost appear to be impossible, but that it has been done in late years, according to Rock, who tells us that he saw a banner so woven, with the Austrian eagle on one side and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on the other. He says that the same manufacturer was then being employed in producing ecclesiastical garments with the colours and patterns so varied. 

 [436] In old tapestries three tints only were employed for the complexions of men, women, and children--the man's reddish, the woman's yellow, and the child's whiter than either. It is an agreeable economy of colours, simple and effective, and avoids the pictorial imitation that one deprecates. See M. Charles Blanc's "Grammaire des Arts Décoratifs: Tapisserie, " p. 112. 

 [437] The poet here refers to H. R. H. The Princess Christian. 

CHAPTER VII. 

HANGINGS. 

 ". . . Her bedchamber was hang'd With tapestry of silk and silver. . . . "

 "Cymbeline, " Act II. , Scene IV. 

The most important works that have been executed in embroidery, havebeen hangings or carpets. We may look upon these as belonging to thehistory of the past. Never again will such works be undertaken. Their_raison d'être_, as well as the means for their production, haveceased to exist. We have very ancient historical evidence of the useof hangings (or tapestries), either as curtains to exclude pryingeyes, or as coverings to what was sacred or else unseemly, or asornamental backgrounds in public and private buildings. 

There is no doubt that in pillared spaces the enclosures andsubdivisions were completed by hangings from pillar to pillar, fromthe earliest times of Asiatic civilization. In Assyria, and afterwardsin Greece and Rome, the open courts and rooms were shaded from the sunand rain by umbrella-like erections with hangings stretched over them. From the Coliseum's vast area to that of the smallest atrium in thePompeian house, the covering principle was the same. 

Palace-halls and temples alike were furnished in this way, and thecold splendour of the polished marbles was enhanced by contrast withthe shadowing folds of soft textures richly embroidered in brightcolours and gold. The statues, the gold and silver vessels, theshrines heaped with votive offerings, were all brought into higherrelief and effect by the screens, the curtains, and the veils whichclassical perfect taste would plan so as to carry out the decorator'sintention. Babylonians, Persians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, andJews, each adorned their sacred places in similar fashions. [438]Clemens Alexandrinus says that behind the hangings of the Egyptiantemples were hidden their "foolish images. "[439]

The word "hangings" was applied to all large curtains and tapestries, tent coverings, screens dividing empty spaces, or pendant betweenpillars; also sails, [440] banners, and decorations for processionalpurposes covering walls or hanging from windows; all these have beenembroidered or woven with pictures and patterns. Carpets, from havingoriginally the same name, "tapete, " are to be added to this list, and, in fact, their uses are often interchanged. Kosroes' famous hangingswere used as a carpet, and Persian and Babylonian carpets have beenhung on the walls. A Babylonian hanging must have resembled, in itsstyle (of which we have descriptions), the Persian carpet of to-day. 

Semper gives excellent reasons for his theory that, next to dress, hangings (the clothing of architecture) were the earliest phase ofart. [441] He looks upon the most ancient paintings on architecture asabsolutely representing textile coverings. Some of the earliestBabylonian decorations show men supporting draperies, which hebelieves to be the tradition of the time when the tallest slaves heldup the hangings to their own height; and above them, in tiers, weremen, dwarfs, and even children fastened on brackets, carrying thehangings up to the roofs. This was an Assyrian custom, and was adoptedby the Romans as a mode of disposing of their prisoners of war. Woltmann and Woermann appear to lean to the suggestion that permanentimitations of hangings were carried out in painted or encaustic tilescovering the masonry of Chaldean buildings at Nimroud and Khorsabad. The pale ones associated with low reliefs, and really resembling them, as they were partly raised, and the reliefs in alabaster and stone, which were partly coloured, were in harmony, and yet in contrast, withthe brilliant tiles of Babylon. [442]

We know exactly what were the purple, scarlet, and white hangings ofthe Sanctuary in the wilderness, designed by Bezaleel, and that theveil of the Temple was blue, purple, crimson or scarlet, and white, i. E. Worked on white linen; and we know from Josephus, that "the veilof the Temple, which was rent in twain" sixteen centuries later, wasthat dedicated by Herod, and was Babylonian work, representing heavenand earth[443] (see p. 23 _ante_). Its colouring was scarlet, white, and blue. Scarlet and white hangings seem indeed to have been anOriental fashion; and fashion then was not ephemeral, but lastedhundreds of years. The embroidered curtains of the Tabernacle arerepeated in the hangings of Alexander's wedding tent, after 1500years; and a thousand years later still they reappear in the seventhcentury, when Pope Sergius gave curtains to the high altar(baldachino) in the basilica of St. Peter's at Rome of this samescarlet and white embroidery. 

In early Oriental art, the enormous expenditure of work is appallingto think of. Abulfeda describes the palace of the Caliph Moctader, onthe banks of the Tigris, as being adorned with 38, 000 pieces oftapestry, and of these 12, 000 were of silk worked in gold. What awealth of women had to be wasted in creating such a wealth ofembroideries![444]

There is a Bedouin romance which describes the tent of Antar, andshows the taste for large works. Five thousand horsemen could skirmishunder its embroidered shade; and Akbar's largest tent held 10, 000persons. 

Nadir Shah's gorgeous tent, which was of the end of the seventeenthand the beginning of the eighteenth century, was of scarlet cloth onthe outside, lined with violet satin embroidered with gold andprecious stones. The peacock throne was placed within it, and was keptthere during the remainder of Nadir Shah's reign. 

Sir John Chardin says that "The Khan of Persia caused a tent to bemade which cost two millions: they called it the house of gold;" andit was resplendent with embroideries. [445] These are comparativelymodern works, and sound commonplace and vulgar compared to those ofGreece and Egypt. 

The Greeks imitated the tents and temporary buildings of the Easternmonarchs. This phase of Oriental luxury was imported by Alexander theGreat, and we have the description of two of his gorgeous creations atAlexandria, where he outrivalled the ancient traditional glories ofAssyria and Persia. His own tent was supported by fifty goldenpillars, carrying a roof of woven gold, embroidered in shimmeringcolours, and divided from the surrounding court, filled with guardsand retainers, by scarlet and white curtains of splendid material anddesign. 

But more gorgeous is the account of the tent in which he entertainedninety-one of his companions-in-arms on the occasion of his marriage. This tent was supported by columns twenty cubits high, plated withsilver and gold, and inlaid with precious stones. The walls of thecourt were formed by curtains adorned with figures worked in gold, andwere hung from beams plated with the precious metals, to match thecolumns. The outer court was half a mile in circumference. [446]

Yet Alexander's wedding-tent was exceeded in splendour by that erectedby Ptolemy Philadelphus for his great pomp at Alexandria, described byKallixenos, as cited by Athenæus. [447] This tent, crowned with goldeneagles, was supported by pillars fifty cubits high. They upheld anarchitrave with cross-beams covered with linen, on which were paintedcoffers, to imitate the structure of a solid roof. From the centre wassuspended a veil of scarlet bordered with white. The pillars in thefour angles represented palm-trees of gold, and the intermediatecolumns were fashioned as thursi, and were probably wreathed withgolden vines and bunches of grapes made of amethysts, as we know of aPersian tent so adorned, and the whole idea of the erection wasevidently fresh from the East. [448] A frieze eight cubits high wascomposed of niches containing groups of tragic, comic, and Satyricfigures "in their natural garb;" and nymphs and golden tripods fromDelphi. The tent was separated from the outer peristyle by scarlethangings, covered with choice skins of wild beasts. Upon these werehung the celebrated Sikyonian pictures, the heritage of the Ptolemaicdynasty, alternating with portraits and rich hangings, on which wereembroidered the likenesses of kings, and likewise mythologicalsubjects. Between these and the frieze hung gold and silver shields. Opposite the entrance, vessels of the most costly materials andworkmanship, valued at 10, 000 talents of silver, were ranged, so as tostrike the eye of all who entered there. Golden couches supported bySphinxes were placed along the sides of the tent, furnished with softpurple woollen mattresses, and coverings gaily and exquisitelyembroidered. The floor was strewn with fresh blossoms, except where amost costly Persian carpet covered the centre. In the doorways andagainst the pillars stood a hundred precious statues by the greatestartists. 

This description dazzles the imagination! To be an upholsterer (avestiarius) in those days was to be an engineer, architect, andartist! Semper, from whose translation we are quoting, remarks thatthe luxurious "motive" of such an erection naturally arose from thedesire to make use of the mass of artistic materials acquired byconquest, and the effort to reduce them to certain architecturalprinciples already accepted. [449]

That Alexander did not purposely destroy the Persian embroideries isevident from the fact that Lucullus speaks of them 200 years later. 

Rome accepted and adopted all the Oriental uses of hangings, in theTemple and the house for temporary festive occasions. 

By both Greeks and Romans hangings were used in triumphal processions, covering immense moving cars or draping the temporary buildings whichlined the avenues of their progress. Also the funeral pyres whichGreece and Rome copied from Assyria were hung with splendid materialsand embroideries. Without describing one of these awful erections, itis impossible to give any idea of how much artistic treasure wasthrown into the flames which consumed the remains of a great man. Thefuneral pyre dedicated by Alexander to his friend Hephæstion recallsthat erected by Sardanapalus in one of the courts of his own palace, on which he perished, surrounded by his wives and his treasures. Hephæstion's catafalque was built of inflammable materials, 250 feethigh, raised in many stories, and hung with pictorial tapestries, painted and embroidered. Each story was adorned with images of ivoryand gold. In the upper story were enormous hollow figures of Sirens, filled with singers, who chanted the funeral odes. [450] It is to behoped that they were released before the conflagration. 

The records of such extravagant funeral ceremonies teach us how muchof human thought, how much of art and beauty which had helped tocivilize the world, were torn from the places they were intelligentlydesigned to decorate, heaped up by the conquerors, and as ruthlesslyspent and destroyed for the boast of a day. [451]

Christian Rome adopted the traditions of Pagan decoration, andintroduced them in her worship, processions, and shows. A greatreligious procession like that of the "Corpus Domini" in our owntimes, has reminded us of a Roman triumph. The baldachini and thebanners; the torches; the streets, festooned with draperies; even thePagan emblems, which have been converted into Christian symbolism--allthese were the echoes of classical days; but they are fastdisappearing. Two thousand years will have worn out and effaced thesecustoms, and our children will not see them. 

I have not space to linger over the many descriptions of Oriental, Grecian, and Roman work to be gathered from classical authors, butfrom them this lesson is to be learned that the first principle whichguided those great decorators was the individuality andappropriateness of each design to the purpose for which it wasintended and the place it was to fill. But even their peculiarexcellences did not save them from the universal law of destruction. When the hangings were worn, or became for any reason distasteful, they were replaced by others, often by gifts or spoils from friendlyallies or conquered kings. The quantity of gold laid upon these greatreligious or national works was the cause of their destruction as soonas they were withdrawn and superseded by something of a newer fashion. The intrinsic value in precious metals of such works is proved byPliny's statement that Nero gave four millions of sesterces for coversof couches in a banqueting-hall. [452] The hangings or carpets taken bythe Caliph Omar from Kosroes' white palace (A. D. 651) must have beensome of the finest and most valuable embroideries ever known. Theyformed a tapestry carpet or hanging, representing all the flowers ofspring, worked in coloured silks, gold, and precious stones. Kosroesentreated Omar to keep it intact for himself, but he was so virtuousthat he cut it up into little bits and divided it amongst hisgenerals. Gibbon describes this wonderful piece of work. [453] We haveheard much of a marvellous carpet, given lately by the Guicowar ofBaroda to the tomb of Mahomet at Medina, which, from its description, recalls the style of Kosroes' hangings; and their history gives us anotable instance of how works of art in the time of war and conquestcome to be considered only for the value of their materials. War, theenemy of culture, all but effaces whole phases of art when a countryis overrun and plundered. But there is almost always a residuum, whichhas influence whenever there is a revival, beginning with the smallerarts of luxury in more peaceful and prosperous days. [454]

To return to the classical veils and hangings. You may see them onBabylonian bas-reliefs, on Greek fictile vases, or painted in frescoeson the walls of Egyptian tombs and temples; in the houses in Pompeiiand Herculaneum, and in the remains of Roman villas and tombseverywhere. From all of these we may learn something. 

The obvious intention of hangings in household decoration is to coverbare walls, so as to adorn at once that which was rough or common, without delay or trouble. They were also used as curtains to shut outthe cold or the heat, and to give privacy to rooms without doors orwindows. Hangings on bare walls have always been meant to hangstraight down, undisturbed by folds, whereas curtains and portièreswould probably have to be looped up or continually drawn aside. Thedesigns to be worked upon them should necessarily be regulated bytheir shape and use. 

Semper considers that a square is an expressionless form, and that itshould be avoided. [455] If you wish to give dignity to a room, itshanging decorations should be divided into panels of greater heightthan breadth, so as to elevate the spaces they cover. Horizontalstripes bring down the ceiling, and even in furniture, look ill exceptas borders. Nothing can be more ugly or inartistic than the curtainsone finds in old illuminations, covered with bands of the same patternthroughout the surface, but even this is less unpleasant on the wallsthan lines crossing each other at right angles. The Romans looked onchequers as barbarous national characteristics, and left them to theGauls and Britons. Chequers should be avoided unless they express ameaning, as in Scotch tartans. Semper observes that the stripedstuffs, especially those of Oriental fabrics, were never intended tobe spread out flat, but to be draped in folds and loops, and the linesonly seen broken up. He continues:--"One rule, which cannot beneglected with impunity, is this: that whether the hanging or screenis supposed to stand or to hang, there must be an above and a below toevery pattern, and it must, moreover, be upright. " All foliagedesigns, and those containing animals, must start from below, and growupwards. Another of his laws is that the heaviest colours should beplaced below, and the palest and brightest above. This may bedisputed. It must be first determined where contrast is needed. Ifthe darkest part of the pattern is below, it may be necessary to giveit the lightest background, on the principle of balancing quantitiesin colour. The dado, or lowest border, will often give the necessaryweight to the design. Semper goes on to say, "A surface may be made toappear to stand, or to hang down, according to its decoration. Forinstance, a triangle will hang or stand, according as its apex pointsdownwards or upwards. But in draped curtains all symmetry of design islost, and the rich forms and fulness of folds rather tend to destroythe effect of elaborate patterns, and to take their place. "

Another important difference between standing and hanging tapestriesis their finish or edge, the upper one being an upright continuousborder, and the lower one a fringe. In both cases it is a continuationof the main threads of the material, and these belong exclusively tothe hanging tapestries and curtains. The fringe is so essential a partof hanging decoration, that we must pause and give it our bestconsideration. In Babylonian art it is most important. The extremesolidity of the knotted fringes in their dress and hangings showeither the thickness of the woven substance, or that the fringes weremade by enriching the warp and adding to it. They are almost always, on the Assyrian sculptures, simply knotted fringes; but the littleportable Chaldean temple on the bronze gates from Balawat (nearNimroud), in the British Museum, shows fringes of bells or fruit likethose of the Jewish tabernacle in the wilderness (fig. 2). On Egyptianlinen we sometimes see, woven or worked, a reticulated pattern whichimitates a fringe. 

The carpets of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians were evidentlyused sometimes as hangings, though many of their designs would nothave served both purposes equally well. That the Babylonian weavers, however, understood that a carpet lying on the ground should becovered with an even pattern, and be finished with a border all round, is evident from the exquisitely chiselled designs, imitating carpets, on two portions of pavements in the British Museum (pl. 27); and wemay compare these with the different treatment of designs for theveils of the temples, both in Babylon and Egypt, on which wererepresented the signs of the zodiac and all the heavenly bodies, andother symbolical and unconventional forms. The Atrium of the Greek andPompeian houses, which was modelled on the same idea, was separatedfrom the Court by curtains, hung on rods or nails. On festiveoccasions these may have been garlanded with natural flowers. If so, we may be sure that the little wreaths worked on them, as we learnfrom frescoes, would combine with the gala day's decorations, andwould be designed with that view. The Greek artist would never haveapproved of natural flowers or trees, embroidered as if growing out ofa dado, simulating a garden worked in wool. This would have beenconsidered a bad attempt at pictorial art. 

M. Louis de Ronchaud, in his "Tapisseries des Anciens, " speaks of thehangings which he supposes to have decked the recess that containedthe chryselephantine statue of Athenè Parthenos in her temple atAthens. He says these votive hangings dressed the pillars thatsurrounded the Hecatompedon, and formed a tent over the head of thegoddess. M. De Ronchaud believes that among the subjects of theDelphic embroideries, described by Euripides in the tragedy of Ion, may be recognized some derived from the designs on saffron-colouredhangings, spoken of by the poet as "the wings of the peplos. "[456]

The downfall of decorative art, domestic as well as national, keptpace with the downfall of the Roman Empire. During the Dark Ages, ofsuch art there seems to have been very little; and of that the bestwas Celtic or Anglo-Saxon. But the darkness shrouds from our view theartistic life of the world, and the dawn was very long in breaking. Wemust therefore return to the subject of hangings, after a gap ofnearly a thousand years, when the first stirrings of the Europeanrevival came, in the twelfth century. [457] Symonds says: "The arts andthe inventions, the knowledge and the books, which suddenly becamevital at the time of the Renaissance, had long lain neglected on theshores of that Dead Sea which we call 'The Middle Ages. '"[458]

There can be no doubt that, during the Dark Ages, hangings woven andembroidered continued to be the custom throughout Europe. Our ownAnglo-Saxon records prove that such furnishings were employed tomitigate the cold bareness of our northern homes from the earliesttimes. Sir G. Dasent informs me that in Icelandic Sagas, as early asthe eleventh century, there are frequent notices of hangings both inchurches and in the halls of houses; such, for instance, as the Sagaof Charlemagne, i. E. Scenes out of Charlemagne's life, worked onhangings 20 ells long. In Scaldic poetry, a periphrasis for a "lady"is "the ground of hangings, " or "the bridge of hangings, " all pointingto embroidery. 

From illuminated MSS. Engraved in Strutt's "Antiquities of theEnglish, " and contemporary European work of the tenth to thethirteenth centuries, we find that the favourite style of embroidery, when not representing historical or sacred subjects, was a _parsemé_pattern. Armorial bearings were generally reserved for cushions, chair-backs, and the baldachinos of altars, beds, and thrones. [459]Richer and more flowing designs were later introduced. 

In the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, splendidtapestries of Arras, and hangings even of cloth of gold, were commonas palatial decorations. Sometimes we have a glimpse of less ambitioushangings; for instance, in the London house of Sir Andrew Larkynge, Knight, in the fifteenth century, the hall was hung with sage-greenpanels, bordered with gold "darned work, " and the "parler" withsage-green, bordered with crimson. 

French embroidered hangings were very fine in the sixteenth century. Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of Henri IV. , was a great patroness ofsuch works. Miss Freer tells us that--

"When Jeanne and Antoine took possession of the Castle of Pau, theyfound their new abode rich in works of art and splendid decorations. The refined taste of Marguerite d'Angoulême was visible everywhere. Jeanne's presence-chamber was adorned with hangings of crimson satin, embroidered by the hand of Marguerite herself. The embroideryrepresented a passage from the history of the Queen's own life. "

"During the hours which the Queen allowed herself for relaxation, sheworked tapestry, and discoursed with some one of the learned men whomshe protected. "

"The Queen daily attended the afternoon sermon, preached by herchaplains in rotation. Often, however, weary with the excess of hermental labours, and lulled by the drowsy intonation of some of theseministers, the Queen slept during part of the discourse. Jeanne alwaysfelt severe reproach of conscience when she had thus involuntarilyyielded to fatigue; and finding the inclination grow upon her, shedemanded permission from the Synod to work tapestry during the sermon. This request was granted; and from thenceforth, Queen Jeanne, bendingdecorously over her tapestry-frame, and busy with her needle, gave dueattention to the rambling addresses of her preachers. "

"Comme elle (Jeanne d'Albret) estoit grandement adonnée aux devises, elle fit de sa main de belles et grandes tapisseries, entre lesquellesil y a une tente de douze ou quinze pièces excellente qui s'appelle_les Prisons brisées_, par lesquelles elle donnoit à connôistrequ'elle avoit brisé les liens et secoué le joug de la captivité duPape. Au milieu de chaque pièce, il y a une histoire du Vieu Testamentqui resent la liberté, comme la délivrance de Suzanne, la sortie dupeuple de la captivité d'Egypte, l'élargissement de Joseph. Et à tousles coins il y a des chaisnes rompues, des menottes brisées, desstrapades et des gibbets en pièces, et par-dessus en grosses lettresce sont ces paroles de la deuxième aux Corinthiens, ch. Iii. : _Ubispiritus, ibi libertas. _"[460]

Cluny boasts a most curious suite of hangings from the Chateau deBoussac, of the early part of the fifteenth century, which arecharming, quaint, and gay, and historically and archæologicallyinteresting. They tell the story of the "Dame au Lion. "

Modern French tapestries, from the manufactories of the Savonnerie, the Gobelins, and elsewhere, are decorative to the highest degree. Nothing can be more festive than these works of the time of LouisXIII. , XIV. , and XV. , framed in white and gold, carved wood, orstucco, reflected in mirrors, and lighted by crystal or glasschandeliers and girandoles. Such hangings have nothing in common withthose of early times; they are not temporary coverings of bare spaces, but panels in decorated walls, where they form an integral part of thearchitectural composition and design. They do not merely serve to givewarmth, comfort, and colour to desolate halls, as did those ancienttapestries belonging to the furniture of the great man who sent themon before him from palace to palace, carrying them away with hisbaggage lest some one else should do so in his absence. These wereprobably merely attached by loops and nails, as one sees in countryvillas or castles in Italy to this day. 

We find that the Italians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesoften hung their walls with upright strips of work, in the guise ofpilasters. The walls were thus divided into panelled spaces, whichseparated pictures, statues, and cabinets, of which the style did notagree in juxtaposition. These pilasters were generally of "opusconsutum, " or "appliqué" in its different forms. Above, next to thecornice, and below, next to the dado, or even touching the floor, theywere connected by borders of similar work. The spaces between weremostly filled in with rich brocades or velvets of one colour, so as tomake the best backgrounds for the artistic treasures grouped againstthem. Sometimes fine tapestries filled the intervening spaces, andsometimes splendid embroideries. There is a beautiful example of thissort of decoration at Holland House, where the dining-room is adornedwith pilasters worked on velvet in gold and coloured silks, withtapestries between them. This is Florentine work, of the sixteenth orbeginning of the seventeenth century. 

Hangings entirely in needlework, to cover large spaces, are rare, buta few are to be found all over Europe in museums, palaces, and privatehouses, which are interesting as objects of art. The genealogical treeof the Counts of Kyburg, designed in the sixteenth century, andcarried to France as plunder, and now restored to its home nearZurich, is a remarkable instance of a piece of needlework thatdeserved the value placed on it. Many splendid pieces of embroideredtapestries are at the Cluny Museum. The beatitudes of St. Catherine, from the castle at Tarrascon, and the hangings worked in appliqué andflat stitches with portraits of Henri IV. , Jeanne d'Albret, &c. , aremonuments of industry, and design; and are very beautiful. 

There, is a large room at Castle Ashby hung with tapestry in crossstitches, worked by the ladies of the family, and finished 150 yearsago. The industry shown here is indubitable, but the designs arebarbarously bad and funny. In the Palazzo Giustini at Florence thereis a suite of hangings worked also in cross stitches of the sameperiod, of which the design is very clever and graceful, and theeffect beautiful and artistic. An irregular bank of brown earth iscrowded with grasses and small flowers about a foot above the dado, and from this grow rose-bushes, covered with blossoms of differentshades, held back to a treillage of delicate "cane colours. " Theleafage is brown, against a sky that is not blue, but which ratherreminds one of blue than of grey. It is conventionally treated, andthe effect is singularly rich and harmonious. Had it been a littlemore naturalistic, it would have looked too much like a paintedpicture; but as it is, the decoration is charming, and so universallyadmired that we cannot but wonder it has never been imitated. In theBorghese Palace at Rome there is a ball-room hung with white satinembroidered with wreaths of flowers, and a similar one in the CaetaniPalace, on crimson satin. These are about 150 years old, and are sofar above being mere objects of fashion, that they must be placed bytheir beauty of design and execution amongst objects of art, and sowill probably survive more centuries of change, holding their own, andincreasing in value and esteem. 

For hangings in church decoration, the reader is referred to thechapters on ecclesiastical art and on tapestry. 

Having discussed the origin and reason for hangings, and having triedto draw from what has been accepted as beautiful and perfect in taste, some guidance in hanging our modern rooms, supposing always that thespaces are fitted for really fine decorations, I yet would add a fewmore words on this subject. There are in general some previousconditions which will help us to choose the style and design of suchfurnishings. In the first place, we should study what is appropriateto the persons who will first inhabit the rooms. The bride's apartmentmay be white and gold, garlanded with roses, and gay with groups ofCupids; but such prettinesses would not be suitable to the home of amourning Queen. Tender or subdued colouring equally sets off groups ofyoung and lovely faces, and the bent form robed in black. Embroideriesare always agreeable on such backgrounds, and it is as a vehicle forneedlework that I now allude to the design of the artist in hangings. We are somewhat restricted, or we ought to be, when there aretreasures of art already in the house, by the desire to exhibit themto the best advantage. The hangings should be of a colour which suitsall pictures, and if the walls are either embroidered or tapestriedwith woven designs, they should be very much subdued, both in form andcolour, so as not to prevent the eye from perceiving at once theprecious objects hung against them. A fine brocade or velvet of onecolour suits pictures best; but if our object is to show off ourcabinets, which are generally black, and our statues, which are mostlywhite, then richly embroidered backgrounds in brilliant colours arethe best, compensating the eye in variety and splendour. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [438] The "women who wove the hangings for the grove" were probably priestesses of the worship of Astarte (2 Kings xxiii. 7). 

 [439] He says that within the sacred shrine was revealed their god--a beast rolling on a purple couch--veiled with gold embroidered hangings; and he describes the magnificent temples, gleaming with gold, silver, and electrum. Quoted from Clemens Alexandrinus, in Renouf's "Hibbert Lectures, " p. 2. 

 [440] "Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail. "--Ezekiel xxvii. 7. Egyptian sails were woven and painted; sometimes they were blazoned with embroidered patterns. The Phœnix was set there to indicate the traveller's return. See Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " vol. Iii. , ed. 1837, p. 211. 

 [441] See Semper, "Der Stil, " vol. I. P. 273. 

 [442] The figure-painting of the nations we have spoken of, successful so far as it concerns its special purpose of exhibiting a clear and comprehensive chronicle of events, is at the same time no more, so far as it concerns its artistic effect, than a piece of tapestry or embroidery done into stone, and can only be estimated . . . As a piece of coloured wall decoration. Woltmann and Woermann, "History of Painting, " Eng. Trans. , pp. 23-30. See also Perrot and Chipiez, "Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, " for tile decorations at Nimroud; vol. Ii. P. 704. 

 [443] Compare this record with Solomon's veil for the Temple, of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen (2 Chron. Iii. 14), and the hangings designed by Bezaleel, of scarlet, blue, purple, and embroidered with gold (Exod. Xxxix. 2, 3, 5; see also Josephus, "Wars of the Jews, " Whiston's trans. , p. 895). 

 [444] As cited from Abulfeda by Gibbon, chap. Lii. Ix. P. 37, ed. 1797. When one is moved to pity, thinking of the enforced labour of thousands of captive women, fallen, perhaps, from high estate, and only valued for the toil of their hands, it comforts one to believe that they would hardly have produced beautiful works without enjoying some happiness in the creation of that beauty. 

 [445] Yule's "Marco Polo, " vol. I. P. 394, note 7. 

 [446] See Semper, "Der Stil, " i. Pp. 310, 311; Chares, ap. Athen. Xii. 54, p. 538. 

 [447] Semper's "Der Stil, " i. P. 311; Athen. V. 25, p. 196. 

 [448] Phylarchus, ap. Athen. Xii. 55, describes a Persian tent in which were golden palm-trees, and vines fruited with precious stones, under which the Persian kings held their state. On an Assyrian sculpture at the British Museum is seen Assurbanipal on a couch, the queen opposite to him, under an arbour of jewelled vines; unless it represents a rural entertainment, which is unlikely. 

 [449] The art of the "tapezziere, " "tapissier, " "tapestry-hanger, " is not a recognized one with us, though it is in Italy and France, where the hangings for special occasions in churches and houses are stored away, treasured for hundreds of years, cleaned and mended, and hung and placed to the best advantage by men educated for the purpose. In poor churches which possess no fine materials for decoration, one has often wondered at and admired the picturesque effects extracted from yards of muslin, gold tinsel, and box wreaths, artistically combined. Our house carpenter is the only representative we have of the vestiarius, and he is but a feeble descendant from the ancestors of his craft, who were expected to study and evolve the adornments of the building for its completion, the materials of decoration for special occasions, and lastly, the mechanical means for hanging and stretching the draperies. These were sometimes movable frames or posts--"scabella" (whence "escabeau, " échafaudage, scaffolding). 

 [450] Semper, "Der Stil, " i. Pp. 314, 315. 

 [451] Never again will such great works be executed with the needle. In civilized countries, sovereign splendours are at a discount. The East occasionally produces something fine, because there they still have harems and slaves; but even these ancient institutions are losing their stability and in the interest of humanity, if not in that of needlework, we may soon hope there will be neither the one nor the other. We must allow, however, that the purple and gold embroideries now being executed for the King of Bavaria in his school at Munich are royally splendid, and, by their execution, worthy of past days. 

 [452] Pliny, viii. 44, 196. 

 [453] Gibbon's "Roman History, " ix. C. 51, p. 370, ed. 1797; also see Crichton's "History of Arabia, " i. P. 383. 

 [454] The utter dispersal of accumulated family and household treasures has had a sad illustration in the loads of Turkish and Slav embroideries which have flooded the markets of Europe since the Russo-Turkish war. Work, treasured for generations, sold for a piece of bread, robbed from the deserted home or the bazaar, stolen from the dying or the dead. These are so suggestive of the horrors of war, and touch us so nearly in connection with the rights and wrongs of the Eastern question, that they cause us more pain than pleasure when we study these beautiful specimens of well-blended colours and designs, that show their Aryan (Persian or Indian) origin. Lady Layard's residence in Constantinople was, perhaps, the "happy accident" which will have preserved the secrets and practice of this work for future generations, by her active and generous institution of a working organization for the poor exiled and starving women, and for the sale of their work in England. 

 [455] Semper, "Der Stil, " i. P. 30, § 10. 

 [456] This subject has been ably treated in the Introduction to "La Tapisserie, " by Eug. Müntz; Paris, 1885. 

 [457] I refer to the chapter on "English Embroideries" for the _parsemé_ patterns of our mediæval hangings, and to the section on tapestry in the chapter on "Stitches. "

 [458] "Renaissance in Italy, " J. A. Symonds, p. 4. 

 [459] But to this rule there are notable exceptions, of which Charles the Bold's hangings for his tent (now at Berne) furnish a brilliant example. Here the Order of the Golden Fleece is repeated on a field of flowers, exquisitely designed. 

 [460] "Life of Jeanne d'Albret, " by Miss Freer, pp. 68, 123, 330. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

FURNITURE. 

 "Jane, I hate æsthetic carpets; High-art curtains make me swear. Pray cease hunting for the latest Queen Anne chair. I care nothing for improvements, On the simple style of Snell, Which will suit both you and me ex- tremely well. "

 ROBERT CUST, "Parody of the Last Ode of the First Book of Horace. "

 "First, as you know, my house within the city Is richly furnish'd with plate and gold; Basons and ewers, to lave her dainty hands; My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry; In ivory coffers I have stuff'd my crowns; In cyprus chests my arras, counterpoints, Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss'd with pearl, Costly apparel, tents and canopies, Valance of Venice gold, in needlework; Pewter and brass, and all things that belong To house, or housekeeping. "

 SHAKESPEARE, "Taming of the Shrew, " Act II. , Scene I. 

The last chapter on hangings, their history and uses, and thepreceding account of tapestries, naturally lead to the considerationof the furniture which may accompany them. 

Homer's description of Penelope's bridal couch is very curious. Thecentral idea is the bedpost, fashioned out of the stem of anolive-tree growing in the court, and inlaid by Ulysses himself withgold, silver, and ivory, and bands of dyed purple ox-hide. The stonewalls and roof were built over to cover it in, as it stood yet rootedin the ground. [461]

The illustration is a very quaint delineation of a Chaldeanfour-roomed house, where the rooted tree with its stem and branches issuggestive of the state of the domestic art of the architect and theupholsterer in those Archaic days. [462]

 [Illustration: Fig. 24. Assyrian delineation of Chaldean House. ]

Furniture has been the excuse and the vehicle for embroideries, fromthe footstool and the cushion to the window curtain and thebed-hangings. [463]

Such curtains are the most permanently important features in theeconomy, or rather the luxury of the house. Let us begin with thedecorations of the state bedroom. 

Now the shape of the bed must regulate the design. If there is only acanopy--like that over a throne--one may have fine work for the headof the bed inside the canopy, and a rich border round its valance;this should contrast with the walls; and the curtains should marry thetwo together, by the embroidered borders belonging to the fashion ofthe bed, and accompanying the window curtains; while the plain surfaceshould match with the wall hangings. Another method is to have the bedand curtains hung with plain materials, to contrast with embroideredor tapestried hangings on the walls. 

This style of bed canopy absolutely belongs to the decoration of thewall to which it is attached. But when we have to deal with a largefour-post bed--"a room within a room, " as poor Prince Lee Boosaid--the bed may, in its own decoration, be totally independent ofthe wall hangings; and care must be taken that we do not injure theeffect of both by too much contrast or too much similarity. Every roomhas its own individuality, and the first beginning of its decorationmust be the key-note to guide the rest of the furnishing andadornment. I am anxious to point out that the bed and its belongingsare a most important element in the beauty and dignity of style of theroom and the house that contains it. It is a splendid opportunity fordisplaying the embroideries of the women of the family, and forexercising their taste. "The chamber of Dais, " as it was called in oldtimes, was always carefully adorned for the welcome of the honouredguest. The bed-hangings, and even the linen, were embroidered, [464]and the greatest care and the most artistic work were lavished on thecoverlet in firm stitches and twisted threads, while on the curtainsthe frailest materials and most delicate stitches were freelybestowed, as they were safe from friction. We may employ floss-silkand satin-stitch for such works with safety. 

As a rule we should avoid too great a variety of design in thedecoration of a bedroom, and at the same time beware of its becomingmonotonous. 

I should say that a change in the design, though not in the style, ofthe different parts of the bed is admissible, and gives opportunitiesfor rich and graceful work. For instance, a parsemé pattern may bevaried judiciously on the curtains, the valance, and the heading;provided there is a connecting link (say a cypher) found throughout. If the back of the Baldachino is embroidered, it admits of totallydifferent treatment, and the valance must include a border accordingto its outline. 

The ingenuity and magnificence of the Elizabethan bedroom furnishingsare proved by the inventories to be found in old houses. Thosedescribing the property of the Earl of Leicester, in the Library atLongleat, are so characteristic of a time when each room containedartistic furniture, that I cannot help making here some extracts, andpointing out that embroidery was usually employed to individualizeeach decoration. 

"At Killingworth (Kenilworth) Lord Leicester's Bedsteads. " "A fayre, rich, standing Square Bedstead of carved walnut-tree wood: paintedwith silver hearts, ragged staves and roses. The furniture and testecrimson velvet embroidered with silver roses, and lined throughoutwith Buckram. " There was apparently a second set of curtains insideof striped white satin, trimmed and fringed with silver, and thevelvet curtains were also fringed with silver with long "buttons andloops. "

Another bedstead is described, with the pillars painted red, andvarnished. The teste and curtains of red silk edged with gold andsilver bone lace, and embroidered "in a border of hops, roses, andpomegranates. "

Another "Bedstead painted red and gold, and varnished; with crimsonvelvet, gold and silver in breadths, embroidered over with red, gold, and silver, --lined with Milion (Milan) fustian, " &c. , &c. Thecatalogue of the tapestries and embroidered hangings include fifteensuites at Kenilworth only; and three other houses are equally wellprovided. The ground of one of these suites of five pieces ofembroidery, of animals and flowers, is described as being "Stannelcloth lined with cannevois" (canvas). Each room has chairs, cushions, carpets (which appear to have covered the floor and the tables), and"Cabinutts" (cabinets) covered with embroideries. 

In a Florentine Palace (the Alessandri), there is a stateapartment, [465] where the bed, the walls, the curtains, and thefurniture are entirely decorated with the same splendid materials, i. E. Gold brocaded with crimson velvet. The eye longs for some reposeamidst the gorgeous reiterated forms and colours. If the bed andcurtains had been either plain crimson velvet or embroidery, it wouldhave been much more beautiful. This sort of example is a lesson and awarning, which is valuable even under less splendid conditions. 

Amongst our fine Indian embroideries, those of Lucknow, Gulbargah, Aurungabad, and Hyderabad are well fitted for beds and furniture. These we can study in the Indian Museum, and it seems a pity not toprofit by, and encourage the resources of our own Empire. 

Carpets and rugs were sometimes embroidered as well as woven inpatterns. They were anciently spread on thrones, couches and sofas, atentertainments;[466] and used for covering the catafalques at funeralceremonies, or for laying over tombs, as is still the custom in theEast. We who restrict their use to domestic purposes, are beginning tounderstand that these decorations look best when the patterns aregeometrical, and that natural objects, such as rabbits and roses, evenwhen conventionalized, are unpleasant to tread upon. 

The sofa and chairs are so often the vehicles for embroidery that wemust give them a separate share of our attention. The square shapes ofthe chair-backs repeated several times give us an opportunity forbalancing colours and introducing forms of decoration which may bemade to contrast with everything else in the room, and so enhance thegeneral effect. Say that the carpet is red, and the furniture andhangings are of tender broken tints, it will be a pleasure to the eyeif the cushions on the sofa and the chairs and seats are panelled witha deeper or lighter colour than the carpet, but always reposing theeye by contrasting plain surfaces with richness of design. Then thefootstool or cushion should break away entirely from the carpet onwhich it lies, that the poor thing may be spared the kick itinvariably receives, when the master of the house has tripped over itsinvisible presence. 

For furniture, the cushion stitches, i. E. Canvas and cross stitches, are certainly the best. They are the most enduring, as they bearfriction without fraying; and are therefore, in this case, preferableto satin stitches, which are liable to be spoilt by contact, and givethe lady of the house, who is probably the artist, a pang each time anhonoured guest occupies the comfortable chair embroidered in flosssilk, unaware that it is an æsthetic investment, and that a percentageof its beauty is disappearing every time it is brought into collisionwith broadcloth. [467] This brings us to the subject of the coverscalled "housses" by French upholsterers, and which may come under thehead of small decorations, or rather, of petty disfigurements. Thethings which went by the horrid name of "antimacassars" have, however, given way to "chair-backs, " and crochet has been displaced by linenveils worked in crewels. This is a step in the right direction. Nowell-regulated eye could do otherwise than suffer from the glaringwhite patterns of crochet-work, mounted aggressively on the back ofevery chair in the room, as a buffer between it and the human head andshoulders. The suggestion was disagreeable, and the present chair-backstill recalls it. To reconcile us to its use, it must be sparinglyused, and artistically disposed. The "antimacassar" is a remainingsign of the overlap of dress and manners. Our great-grandmothersembroidered the chairs, and valued them exceedingly, and never wouldhave contemplated that they should be soiled by a male or female headlying back upon them. True, they wore powder and pomatum then--butthey never leant back; such a solace, and solecism in manners, wasreserved for the privacy of the bedroom and the arm-chair covered withcotton piqué or washing chintz. Under the new manners, and since theintroduction of the graceful lounge, the antimacassar doubtless hassaved many ancestral works, but nowadays we wear neither powder norpomatum. On the contrary, we dye, dry, and frizzle our hair till itmight serve as a brush to remove any dust it encountered, and itspoils nothing. 

The table-cover is a source of endless variety;[468] on the whole Ishould recommend here plain surfaces and deep borders. The articlesthrown on the table are best set off by plain grounds. The colour ofthe table-cover may be a test of artistic taste, and may make or marthe whole effect of the furnishings of the room, especially if it isnewly acquired, in order to enliven the fading glories of ancestraltaste. 

The Screen. --This evidently began its existence as a curtain hung on amovable frame for the purpose of dividing large chambers for separateuses. [469] The Chinese seem to have been the first to stretch thecurtain tight over the frame, making it a fixture, and often an actualpartition, painted with pictures by brush or needle. 

To our modern home, the screen in a large room, gives a sense ofsnugness, and is an actual necessity for keeping off the draughtsdrifting in through ill-fitting window-frames and doors; and at thesame time serving æsthetically as a background to high chairs andtables heaped with objects of art, and tall vases of flowers. Thehigh screen groups and unites the pictures of active and still lifearound it; and meanwhile the little fire-screens are performing themerciful service of saving the complexions of our daughters from beingsacrificed to Moloch in front of our scorching coal fires. I need notrecommend these as fit surfaces for embroidery--they offer themselvesto it; and the School of Art Needlework is a living witness to howmuch they are appreciated and how largely employed. On the screen, decorative ambition is permitted to rise to pictorial art. Nothing infurniture is prettier than the screen covered with refined needlepainting, either arabesqued or naturalistic. You may vary the designsto any extent, either as large pictures covering many folds, or insmall pictures repeated or varied on each. Here design toindividualize the living-room comes into play, and is most conspicuousfor good or for evil effect. 

Amongst the occasional furnishings of the home, we would instanceembroidered curtains to veil pictures, which are perhaps too sacred toexpose to the general eye. We know how often in churches andsacristies on the Continent, one, or even two veils have to bewithdrawn before the holy and precious picture is displayed. We haveseen these little curtains beautifully worked so as to form by theirdesign a picture in the space they cover. Crimson silk is perhapsworked in gold and colours for a gilt frame, and white and silverwithin ebony or walnut settings. I would recommend this style of workto the consideration of our decorators. It is interesting to find inan old catalogue at Hampton Court, how pictures of sacred subjectswere thus decently veiled, in the profaner moments of courtgaieties. [470]

Embroidered book coverings were often very beautiful, either assimply clothing the boards, or when finished with metal-work corners, backs, and clasps. 

I quote the following lines, said to have been written by Tasso on acase for a book, embroidered for him by Leonora d'Este:--

 "Questo prezioso dono, Ch' ornar coll' ago ad Eleanora piacque, Lo vidde Aracne, e tacque. Or se la mano, che la piaga fè al core, Si bello fè d' amore il dolce laberinto, Come uscirne potro, se non estinto?"

In the catalogue of Charles V. 's library, the materials used forbindings are thus named: Soie veluyau, satin damas, taffetas, camelot, cendal, and drap d'or; and many were embroidered. 

Tact, discretion, and knowledge are required when we undertake toadorn the home to be lived in; and while employing the art ofembroidery to embellish it, we must never forget that harmony, and theabsence of anything startling, tends to the grandiose as well as thecomfortable. Bright bits of colouring should be reserved for pictorialart, or for small objects, such as cushions and stools. If for thegeneral tint blue be chosen, let it be either pure pale colour, likethe æther, or a soft one, pale or dark, such as indigo; but thestartling aniline blues should be avoided as being offensive to thenerves of the eye. If red be the foundation colour, let it be Venetianred, part scarlet, part crimson; or pure crimson (Tyrian purple), orpure scarlet (cochineal). Never employ scarlet with a yellow tinge; itmay not affect yourself, but it is blinding to many eyes. Avoidbrickdust, which is simply a dirty mixture of earthy colours. Of greenthere are few shades that are not beautiful, soothing, and more orless fitted for a background to needlework. Olive-green, sea-green, pea-green, emerald-green, and sage-green, --Nature teaches us howthese harmonize together and with all other colours. Only arsenicalgreen is impracticable and repulsive. Yellow, pale as a primrose, glowing as gold, or tender as butter, is always beautiful; but onetint we would exclude from our list, called "buff, " which never canassimilate with any other colour, and is often the refuge of theweak-minded man that cannot face the responsibility of choosing anatmosphere in which he will have to spend many hours of his existence, when the walls, the ceiling, and the hangings will inevitably obtain asubtle, but real influence on his nerves; which, in the case of buff, will be that of a yellow fog, while pale primrose will have the effectof early sunrise, and pure gold that of sunset. 

A rule to be respected is that decoration should be reposing insteadof exciting. The unexpected, which is an element in the enjoyment ofwhat is new, should be such as to become the more agreeable the longerwe are accustomed to it. Mr. Morris's golden rule is this: "Havenothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe tobe beautiful. "[471] In decorative art, and therefore in embroidery, the first object to consider is beauty--beauty in conception, proportion, drawing, and colour. I would not have it thought that I amplacing our secondary art too high, and giving it too much importance, when I apply to it the first essential rules of art; but one of thesefurnishes my excuse. It is that "the simplest and smallest creationshould be as faultless as the greatest and grandest. " Now beautycannot be obtained, even in little works, without proportion in size, harmony and balance in colour, and correctness in form, and theserequire the careful study of first principles. 

Proportion in size is most important, both as regards ourselves andour surroundings--objectively and subjectively. When our masters, theGreeks, wished to express force and majesty, they sculptured theirgods of unearthly size, larger than their heroes, who yet exceeded instature their human models. The statue of the god placed in the templewas the largest object seen, and the delicacy and refinement of thedetails in dress, throne, and base only enhanced the effect ofmajestic proportion. 

In the temple men were to be reminded of their own nothingness. In thegymnasium, and on the racecourse, and at the public games, thesurrounding pictures and statues were all intended to excite ambitionby showing men the heroic size to be attained by the awards of fame. But at home, in the house, man is already supreme, and needs noincentive to assert himself, and no tall standard by which he may bemeasured. The Lares and Penates themselves were very small objects tolook at, whatever may have been the thoughts they suggested. Nothingis so alarming or unpleasant as gigantic figures worked in tapestry orembroidery. 

And if even the guardian gods of the house were kept in due subjectionas to size, why not all decorations, and especially those representingthe flowers of the field? Certainly in worked decorations flowersshould be no larger than in nature--perhaps on the whole they are bestrather smaller. Botanical monstrosities on the wall dwarf the flowersin a bow-pot near them, and nature has her own lovely proportions, which should be studied and respected. These remarks, of course, applyexclusively to domestic decoration, which is the special object of ourart, and for the guidance of which the suggestions contained in thischapter are intended. 

I would strongly advocate the return to the old system for theproduction of large embroideries. If ladies would design, or havedesigned for them, curtains or tapestries, and let the work-frame bethe permanent occupier of the morning sitting-room, they might atleast commence works that members of the family or friends mightcontinue and complete at their leisure; and should they at any timehang fire, a needlewoman or clever professional worker might be calledin to help to finish it. Thus ladies might assist the art ofneedlework by their own original ideas, and give individual beauty totheir homes, and an impetus to the occupation which helps to supportso many of our struggling sisters. The frame or métier is always apretty object in the drawing-room or boudoir. The French understandthis well; and make it one of their most useful "properties" in theirscenic representations of refined home life. 

I will conclude this chapter with two quotations. The first is part ofSir Digby Wyatt's advice in a Cambridge Lecture. "You can never hope(he says) to have the means of supplying yourself with what isbeautiful unless you take pains to add to the production of thatbeauty. The colour which the decorative painter" (and the embroidereralso) "may cast around you is neither more nor less than an atmospherein which your eye will be either strengthened or debilitated. If youaccustom your eye only or mainly to contemplate what is satisfactoryin colour and form to the highest tastes, it will gradually becomeallured to such delicacy of organization as to reject unintentionallyall that is repugnant to perfect taste. "

Mr. Morris, in a lecture to the "Birmingham Society of Arts and Schoolof Design, " says of ugly furnishings: "Herein the rich people havedefrauded themselves as well as the poor. You will see a refined andhighly educated man nowadays, who has been to Italy and Egypt andwhere not, who can talk learnedly enough (and fantastically enoughsometimes) about art and literature of past days, sitting down withoutsigns of discomfort in a house that, with all its surroundings, isjust brutally vulgar and hideous. All his education has done for himno more than that. "

"You cannot civilize man unless you give him a share in art. " But theman must be civilized by education to accept that share of art thathis life offers to him. It must be admitted that though a man may beeducated enough to enable him to theorize, he may yet be too poor tofurnish with taste. If he is able to act up to his theories, and tosurround himself with what is refined, and fail to do so, and iscontented not to stir in this matter, he is not truly educated. 

"Now that which breeds art is art. Any piece of work that is well doneis so much help to the cause. " "The cause is the Democracy of Art, theennobling of daily and common work. "

FOOTNOTES:

 [461] Odyssey, xxiii. , l. 190. 

 [462] Layard's "Monuments, " 1st series, pl. 77; see "Histoire de l'Art, " ii. , Perrot and Chipiez. 

 [463] A bed may be absolutely without any hangings or tester, and yet carry embroidery, as in the curious funeral couch of a sepulchral monument in painted terra-cotta in the Campana Museum of the Louvre. Here the mattress is worked to resemble ticking, striped, and the cushions have embroidered ends; and are made in the form of bolsters. There is a similar sepulchral monument in the British Museum. Both of them were found at Cervetri, and are quaint examples of early Etruscan art. See Dennis' "Etruria, " 2nd ed. , p. 227. 

 [464] The thread embroideries in counted stitches were worked in an endless variety of beautiful designs, of which the collection in Franz and Frida Lipperheide's "Musterbücher für Weibliche Handarbeit" is most interesting and exhaustive; including Italian and German "Lienenstickerei, " Berlin, 1883. 

 [465] Of the seventeenth century. 

 [466] The carpets used by the Romans were called Triclinaria Babylonica, for the use of the triclinium, and Polymata cubicularia, for the cubiculum. These were dyed crimson, scarlet, and purple. See Horace's Satires, ii. 6; also Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, " s. V. Tapes. , p. 102-106, Triclinium. 

 [467] "Marco Polo, " p. 92, ed. Yule, speaking of the ladies of Caramania in the thirteenth century, says they produced exquisite needlework on silk stuffs of divers colours, with figures of birds, beasts, trees, and flowers. They worked hangings for the noblemen's use, as well as cushions, pillows, quilts, and all sorts of things. 

 [468] Lampridius ("Antonin. Heliogab. " cap. Xxvi. See Bock, p. 129) says, in the life of Heliogabalus, that table-covers were embroidered for the emperor, representing the dishes which were to be placed upon them at the festal table of this epicure. 

 [469] See the screen on the Assyrian bas-relief in the British Museum, placed round the back of the throne on which the king is seated. This is apparently a frame on which hangings are fixed. 

 [470] See inventory Of Henry VIII. 's goods, &c. , I. Ed. VI. (Bib. ) Harl. 1419, quoted by Felix Summerley in his "Handbook of Hampton Court. "

 [471] I would add, "except that which is consecrated by time or sentiment. "

CHAPTER IX. 

DRESS. 

 "Whatever clothing she displays, From Tyre or Cos, that clothing praise; If gold show forth the artist's skill, Call her than gold more precious still; Or if she choose a coarse attire, E'en coarseness, worn by her, admire. "

 OVID, "Ars Amat. " ii. 297, 300 (Yates, p. 180). 

Having glanced at the decoration of the house, I must now proceed tosay a few words on Dress. Semper, Labarte, and Sir Digby Wyatt alltake it for granted that the Art of Dress preceded all other arts. 

Every ancient record shows how early decoration of dress by needleworkbegan, and how far it had gone; and when we read of festalhospitalities and marriage gifts, embroidered garments are invariablynamed. Solomon in all his glory, though he praised the lily, yet shonein splendid apparel. The Greeks refined the gold, and painted thelily. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 50. Italian Knight dressed for conquest, by Gentile da Fabriano. Academia at Florence. ]

As soon as dress became an art, and not merely an acknowledgednecessity for warmth and decency, I see no reason to deny that thesame decorative genius that embroidered the garment might at the sametime have imagined the carving of the chair and the inlaying of thesword and bow; but as regards the precedence of the arts, we can onlyguess at what is probable. Beauty in dress is certainly a universalinstinctive passion. Perhaps the birds (which Mr. Darwin and otherscredit with preening their plumage, conscious that their spots arethe brightest, and their feathers the glossiest, and that they aretherefore adored by the hens, and the envy of the shabbier cocks)suggested to men the same method for securing the preference of theother sex, who in return willingly helped to adorn the idols of theirhearts and homes. (Plate 50. ) This natural state of things stillprevails in Central Africa, where Schweinfürth describes a kingdancing before his 100 wives costumed in the tails of lions andpeacocks, and crowned with the proboscis of an elephant. It appears, however, that, unlike Cleopatra, "custom had staled his infinitevariety, " and the 100 ladies looked on the splendid display with blankindifference. 

This is only a barbarous illustration of the fact that in the earliestcivilizations magnificent garments were worn by men to dazzle and awethe beholders by the splendour which represented wealth and conquest. How glorious a man could appear apparelled to represent majesty anddominion, may be learned by studying Canon Rock's book on thecoronation dresses of the Emperors of Germany--a book great in everysense of the word. The portrait of Charles V. Robed and crowned is adazzling example of the arts of dress, embroidery, and jeweller'swork. These garments have for ages been treasured at Vienna, Aix-la-Chapelle, and in the Vatican at Rome. 

The coronation garments of the Emperors of Russia are said to begorgeously beautiful. 

It seems hardly necessary to assert that embroidery has always beenespecially applicable to dress. Each garment, being individualized bythe design depicted on it, was fitted for individual uses andoccasions. The conqueror's palmated mantle, the coronation robe, thebridal garment, the costume of the peasant for festival days, and theofficiating vestments of the priests for special services of prayerand praise--these were loyally or piously worked; they descended fromgeneration to generation as family treasures or as historicalmemorials, and sometimes as holy relics, [472] till they and the callfor them, were swept away at once by social changes; yet some stillremain and hold their place. Priestly garments, together with Churchdecorations, never laid aside in the Roman and Greek Churches, arebeing partially revived in our own; and for secular adornment theembroiderer is often called upon to work a garland, to enwreathe theform of a pretty woman, to lie on her shoulders and encircle herwaist. 

The greatest loss to the art is that men as a rule have ceased toindividualize themselves, or their position or office by dress, [473]and have left entirely to the women the pleasure and duty of makingthemselves as lovely and conspicuous as their circumstances willpermit. The same linen and broadcloth are cut in the same shapes, ofwhich the only merit is that they are said to be comfortable, andwhose highest aim is to be spotless and unwrinkled; these show thealtered conditions of the highly civilized man, and woman too, for hehas long left behind him the idea of dazzling the female eye or heartby the attraction of colour. This applies only to European costume athome or in the colonies. The East still retains its pleasure ingorgeous combinations, in which man enfolds his person, and shows howbeautiful he can make himself when thus clothed, in accordance withthe classical axioms, as to how much of the human form should berevealed, and how much concealed. 

The principle on which the ancients embroidered their garments waslike that of the Indians, the large surfaces plain, or covered withquiet diapers or spots, the rich ornaments being reserved for theborders, the girdles and the scarves. Their garments hung loose fromthe shoulders or girdle; whether long or short they clung to thefigure or fluttered in the wind. The long flowing robes to the feetveiled the form completely, and were only thrown off for the battle orthe chase, or in the struggles for victory in the races and games. Dress, in the supreme reign of beauty, was intended to flow around, orto conceal, but never to _disguise_, the human frame it enclosed. 

Homer thus describes Juno's toilet before calling on Jupiter:--

 "Around her next a heavenly mantle flow'd, That rich with Pallas' labour'd colours glow'd; Large clasps of gold the foldings gather'd round; A golden zone her swelling bosom bound. "

 Iliad, xiv. V. 207. 

The Greeks certainly wore delicate and tasteful embroidery on theirgarments, frequently finished with splendid borders, while the largespace between was dotted with stars or some simple pattern. We learnthis from the paintings on Greek fictile vases. In the British Museumthere is a little bronze statuette of Minerva (with twinkling diamondeyes). She has a broad band of embroidered silver foliage from herthroat to her feet. 

As the beauty of Greek forms acted and reacted on the beauty of their"Art of Dress, " so we may be certain that all deformity of dress hasbeen produced by deformity of race in mind or body, and that climateis an important factor in both. The cold of the farthest north hasproduced people short, fat, and hairy; which natural gifts have beensupplemented by their warm clothes or coverings, in the same way thata "cosy" covers a teapot. Flowing garments there would be utterly outof place, petticoats are unknown, and the Lapp hangs out nothing thatcan be the vehicle for carrying an icicle. Their dresses, or cases, are planned to keep out the cold, and to place another atmospherebetween the heart of the breathing mass, and the cruel, cutting, outerwind. Hence, the materials used are not only woven hair, but the furryskins themselves. In the south, under the sunshine, dress is for thegreater part of the year only needed for decency and beauty. Theflowing and delicate cottons and silks and fine woollens, are shapedto cover and adorn the beautiful forms, which for entire isolationtake refuge in the never-failing mantle. The mantle was the greatopportunity for the embroiderer's craft. Alkisthenes, the Sybarite, had a garment of such magnificence that when it was exhibited in theTemple of Juno at Lacinium, where all Italy was congregated, itattracted such universal admiration that it was sold to theCarthaginians by Dionysius the Elder for 120 talents. The ground waspurple, wrought all over with animals, except the centre, where wereseen Jupiter, Juno, Apollo, Minerva, Venus, and Themis. On one borderwas the figure of Alkisthenes himself, on the other was depicted theemblematic figure of his native city, Sybaris. The size of thegarment was Homeric--it was fifteen cubits, or twenty-two feet inbreadth. [474]

That the ladies of Greece in the fourth century carried down thehistorical and Homeric traditions of the embroidery frame, and made itpart of their daily lives, while the Persian women of rank left suchwork to their slaves, is evident from the pretty legend told ofAlexander the Great, who desiring to beguile the weariness of hisprisoners, the wife and family of Darius, sent them some of hisgarments to embroider. When it was reported to him that theseprincesses were much mortified, believing it was a suggestion of theirfallen fortunes, Alexander hastened to reassure them--saying that hisown mother and sisters occupied themselves in embroidering dresses. 

The Persians and Babylonians seem to have preferred subjects for theirembroidered dresses somewhat in the style of the mantle ofAlkisthenes, which was probably Oriental, and suggests the Babylonianmantle in Jericho, "which tempted Achan to sin. " The Egyptian frescoeson the other hand, sometimes give us women and goddesses dressed insmall flowery patterns that remind one of Indian chintzes. These wereprobably woven, painted, and embroidered, and filled in with threadsof gold. The Romans varied their fashions, but they preferred for atime striped borders on their garments, [475] and called them"molores, " "dilores, " "trilores, " up to seven. The Greeks but seldomdeparted from the rule of plain or quietly patterned surfaces withrich borders in their delineations of dress, though there are examplesof large designs covering the whole garment. 

The embroidered dresses of early Christian times are to be judged ofby mosaics and frescoes--mostly Italian. Those of the dark ages weretill lately only names and guesses. But a hiatus in our knowledge hasbeen filled up lately by the store of entombed textiles discovered inthe Fayoum in Egypt, and now at Vienna, in Herr Graf'schen'sCollection. Here we have a variety of shapes, designs, and stitches, and every kind of subject, sacred and profane, Christian and Pagan, and the missing links between Indian and Byzantine fabrics arerevealed. They cover nearly 400 years, from the third to the seventhcentury, and many of them may be looked upon as apart from anyecclesiastical or even Christian suggestions. I have spoken of them inthe chapter on Woollen Materials. [476]

After the seventh century, we again come into the dawning light ofhistory--and find here and there an illustrative fragment, nearlyalways ecclesiastical, taken from the graves of priests and monarchs. Charlemagne's mantle and robe embroidered with elephants and withbees, preserved at Aix-la-Chapelle--his dalmatic in the Vatican--theDurham embroideries, are rare and precious examples of that earlyperiod. 

Semper describes the difference between "the covering" and the"binding. " This seems to be little considered in modern costume, butit is so essential that I would impress it on my readers. He says that"the covering seeks to isolate, to enclose, to shelter, to spreadaround, over a certain space, and is a collective unit, " whereasbinding implies ligature, and represents a "united plurality, "--forexample, a bundle of sticks, the _fasces_ of the lictors, &c. "Bindingis linear, in dress it is either horizontal or spiral. " What can theunited plurality be that justifies the binding often bestowed on thefigure in fashionable costumes? more fitted for binding together thebones of the dead, than for permitting the agility of the muscles ofthe living. Semper continues, --"Anything that goes against thisimportant axiom is wrong. "[477]

I think we must all agree that the objects of dress are decency, isolation, warmth, grace, and beauty. As long as fashion takes theplace of taste, and extravagant _chic_ supersedes grace and beauty, wemust not hope that fine designs to individualize dress will be calledfor. The French machine-made embroideries are so beautiful, andcomparatively cheap, that we cannot compete with them. The bestartists design them, and the only fault to be found is this, that asthey are made by thousands of yards, and can only be varied byinterchange of colours, they become common the day they are produced. It has been said that "fashion is made for a class, but taste formankind. "[478] Fashion is the enemy of taste, though she makes use ofher services. The gown, of which the fashion is in every senseimported from France, will probably never again be the vehicle forhome embroideries. But there are other articles of personal adornmentwhich will always be available for the fancies of decorativetaste--the fan, the purse or satchel, the apron, the fichu, the pointof the shoe, and the muff--all these are objects on which thought andingenuity may well be expended, and which will remain as records ofpersonal feeling when the workers and givers of such gracefulmementoes are far away. Carriage-rugs and foot-muffs, and embroideredletter-cases, and book-covers, must be placed somewhere betweenfurniture and personal ornament. In all these the "_imprévu_, " or"unexpected, " is what is valuable, including all that is original andquaint. 

Embroidery will, however, probably continue occasionally to beemployed in the adornment of dress--and will leave of each phase andperiod of art some fine examples on which the archæologist of thefuture may pause and reason. 

There are in most old houses some specimens of old secular work--fewearlier than the date of Henry VIII. Gothic dress is very rare, exceptthe ecclesiastical. But from the fifteenth century till now, thereremains enough to exercise our curiosity, our artistic tastes, and ourpower of selection and comparison; and hints for beauty and grace mayoften be found and adapted to the style of our own day. 

Planché's "Dictionary of Dress, " and Ferrario's "Costumi antichi emoderni di tutti i Popoli, " are great works on dress and costume, andboth are splendidly illustrated and worthy of study. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [472] Elsewhere I have spoken of dress being continually offered to the images of the pagan gods in the temples. Herodotus (ii. P. 159) tells us that Pharaoh Necho offered to the Apollo of Branchidæ the dress he happened to have worn at both his great successes (the victory of Magdalus and the taking of Cadytis). In the procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus the colossal statue of Bacchus and his nurse Nysa were draped, the former in a shawl, the latter in a tunic variegated with gold. See Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum, " p. 369. Old clothes were sent as votive offerings to temples, and inscriptions recording lists of such decorations are still extant. See Appendix 1. The Greeks honoured the menders and darners, and called them "healers of clothes. " Blümner, p. 202. 

 [473] Men in former days preferred to show by their dress their station and the company they belonged to. Guilds had their ceremonial dresses, and their "liveries, " and their cognizances, and considered it an honour to wear them. See Rock, "Church of our Fathers, " ii. P. 115. 

 [474] Aristotle, De Mirab. Auscult. , xcvi. 

 [475] Asterius, Bishop of Amasis, in the fourth century, describes both hangings and dress embroidered with lions, panthers, huntsmen, woods, and rocks; while the Church adopted pictorial representations of Christian subjects. Sidonius alludes to furniture of like character. See Yule, "Marco Polo, " p. 68. 

 [476] "Katalog der Theodor Graf'schen Fünde in Ægypten, " von Dr. J. Karabacek, Wien, 1883. 

 [477] Semper, "Der Stil, " p. 28. 

 [478] Unfortunately this axiom may be reversed. Taste only belongs to a small class, and mankind follows it, whether good or bad, if it only be the fashion. 

CHAPTER X. 

ECCLESIASTICAL EMBROIDERY. 

 "And now as I turn these volumes over, And see what lies between cover and cover, What treasures of art these pages hold, All ablaze with crimson and gold. . . . Yes, I might almost say to the Lord, Here is a copy of Thy Word Written out with much toil and pain; Take it, O Lord, and let it be As something I have done for Thee! How sweet the air is! how fair the scene! I wish I had as lovely a green To paint my landscapes and my leaves! How the swallows twitter under the eaves! There, now, there is one in her nest; I can just catch a glimpse of her head and breast, And will sketch her thus, in her quiet nook, For the margin of my Gospel-book. "

 LONGFELLOW, "The Golden Legend" ("The Scriptorium"), p. 176. 

 "Upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about with divers colours. . . . The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework. "--Psalm xlv. 10, 14, 15. 

If the Bride is the type of the Church, how truly has she been, foreighteen centuries, throughout Christendom, adorned with gold, andarrayed in raiment of needlework. 

By ecclesiastical embroideries, we mean, of course, Christian work forChristian churches. The first pictured decorations of our era, inearly frescoes, mosaics, and illuminated MSS. , and the first specimensthat have come down to us of needlework and textiles, testify by their_naïveté_ to their date. [479]

The prosperity of the Church's hierarchy was founded on the ruins ofthe Empire, over which Attila had boasted that where his horse trod nograss grew; and truly the cultivated art of those splendid days hadlapsed at once to a poverty of design and barrenness of ideas whichwould soon have dwindled into mere primitive forms, had not a freshOriental impulse arrived from Syria, Egypt, and Byzantium, --and thenthe arts were born anew. [480] The continuity was broken; yet, beingdevoted to the service of the Church, the new arts were by it mouldedand fostered. Little lamps twinkled here and there in monastic houses. Hangings for the churches, coverings for the altars, robes for thepriests, occupied the artist and the embroiderer. 

The forms, the colours, the uses, were adapting themselves to becomethe symbols of orthodoxies and heresies, and thus became a part of thehistory of the Church. The links are many between them and the historyof the State; and here ecclesiastical embroideries come in aslandmarks. 

Royal and princely garments, which had served for state occasions, were constantly dedicated as votive offerings, and converted intovestments for the officiating priest, and so were recorded andpreserved. [481]

Royal and noble ladies employed their leisure hours in work for theadornment of the Minster or the home church or chapel. Gifts of thebest were exchanged between convents, or forwarded to the holy fatherat Rome, and were often enriched with jewels. The images of the Virginand saints received from wealthy penitents many costly garments, [482]besides money and lands. 

This dedicatory needlework has preserved to us the records ofclassical, Byzantine, and Arab-Gothic design, which otherwise musthave been lost. 

The Church records and illuminated MSS. Give us most trustworthyinformation of the way in which the altars, the priests, and even thekings were arrayed; and the catalogues of royal wardrobes are alsovery instructive, as we find how often princely gauds became, as giftsto the Church, commemorative of historical events, such as a victoryor an accession, a marriage or a coronation. 

Woltmann and Woermann say that the efforts of the Christians in thetime of Constantine tended to delay the extinction of classical designin Rome. Of the fourth century they give as examples the mosaics of"S^ta. Pudenziana, " where we can still find antique beauty ofdesign. We may also mention the church of "St. Agnese fuori le mura, "which once contained the sarcophagi of Constantine and his motherHelena, and of which the decorations in the ceilings are entirelyclassical, though the motives had been transferred to Christiansymbolism. [483]

The total disappearance of Greek art did not occur till the eighthcentury, when the new blood infused from foreign sources began toassert itself. [484]

Rome had succeeded to Greece as being the centre of Christian art, which assumed the phase commonly called the Romanesque. This was aconglomerate of Oriental, Byzantine, and Græco-Roman, varied indifferent countries. Then there were the Scandinavian, and Runic, andCeltic styles drifting from the North; the Lombardic, of CentralItaly; the Ostro-Gothic, of Ravenna; the Byzantine, of Venice, allacting and reacting upon each other. 

All these rough and inchoate attempts at the beautiful, prepared theworld for the acceptance of the Arabic influence, which is said tohave been imported at the end of the eleventh century by theCrusaders, to whose pious enterprise some attribute the whole of thesplendid Gothic art of the three succeeding centuries. But the markingcharacteristic of the Arabic arch is wanting; the ogee shape is seldomto be found in Christian architecture;[485] and the pointed arch sonaturally results from the intersection of the round arches, that wecannot but look upon these causes as co-incident. 

I have elsewhere remarked how often in art different causes co-operateto form a style. The father and mother are of different nationalities, and the result shows the characteristics of its double parentage. Thelearned antiquaries, who draw their arguments mainly from the form ofthe arch, must settle whence and how Gothic art in stone came intoEurope. It was doubtless the effect or result of more than one cause. 

But in as far as it influenced textile art, we have come to the periodwhen it must be studied in Sicily, the half-way house andresting-place of the Crusaders on their highroad to the Holy Land. 

Sicily, which had succeeded to Constantinople as being the greatmanufacturing mart during the Middle Ages, was, in the hands of theMoors, the origin and source of all European Gothic textile art. Yeteven at Palermo and Messina they were controlled by the traditions ofthe schools of Greece, ancient and modern, and by Babylonian, Indian, and African forms and symbolisms. 

Byzantium furnished many of their designs, which were sometimes ofvery remote date, though pressed into the service of the new style andthe Church. 

These and all the streams of ecclesiastical decoration throughoutEurope flowed towards Rome, and were re-issued with the fiat and sealof the Central Church, which also afterwards presided over the art ofthe Renaissance. [486]

By studying what remains to us of fragments and records we know allthe materials which clothed the primitive and mediæval Church, and wefind that there was but little originality in textile decoration or inthe forms of dress, which either resembled those of the priests in theJewish synagogue or those of the heathen temples; and were adaptedfrom traditional patterns. 

The constant repetition of the cross and the signs of the Passion, with the emblems of saints and martyrs, were interwoven with theancient classical forms, mixed up with the old symbolisms partiallyaltered to suit their new service of Christian art. Of course suchchanges were inevitable, while the old motives were being translatedto the new uses. 

The corselet of Amasis (the Egyptian corselet, p. 20, _ante_) closelyresembles the Jewish ephod, which probably was borrowed fromEgypt. [487]

In Rock's "Church of Our Fathers, " vol. I. P. 409, we find mention ofthe consular trabea, profusely worked in gold, as being the origin ofthe cope. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 51. St. Mark. Anglo-Saxon Book of the Four Gospels in the Cathedral Library at York. ]

It has been suggested and disputed that the stole was an adaptation ofthe latus clavus; indeed, if we compare the examples given byBock[488] we can hardly doubt that the consular trabea and the latusclavus either served as the models for the Christian Bishop's dress, or were derived from the same traditional sources. Such is theintimate chain of design from century to century, from age to age;from Egypt to the Holy Land, and thence to Rome. 

Bock gives his authorities for saying that the clavus was sometimes anapplied border, sometimes a loose stripe hanging down in front, as maybe seen in two consular diptychs given in plate 70. Much has beenwritten on this latus clavus, its origin and meaning, and I shallreturn to it in reference to the chrysoclavus pattern, p. 337, _post_, and I refer the reader, who may wish to enter more fully into thequestions raised by conflicting opinions regarding the clavus, toMarquardt's "Handbuch Röm. Alterthümer, " vii. P. 2, pp. 528-533, wheregreat learning and ingenuity have been expended, without arriving atany satisfactory conclusions. [489]

This keeping to the old lines and outward appearance as much aspossible was mainly due to a regard for safety during thepersecutions, and also to the Christian spirit of adoption andconversion, rather than that of antagonism, which influenced all theirearly manifestations. 

This unchanging character of art was also partly owing to the absolutesterility of the ashes of Roman Imperialism. 

It is true that through the Dark Ages individual genius occasionallyflashed and left a mark here and there; but such phenomena are sorare, that when they occur we hesitate before we assign them to thatage. 

The Anglo-Saxon art of illumination shows these inspired moments; Iwould point to their drawings in the books in the Bodleian at Oxford, and the "Book of the Four Gospels" (of the tenth century) in theMinster Library at York, which are original and graceful, and have areflection from the classical traditions. To an artistic eye they arebeautiful. (Plate 51. )

The conscientious colouring of the Anglo-Saxon MSS. Is liturgical. Mr. Clapton Rolfe[490] says that the Levitical traditions in the earliersystem of decoration in the Christian Church had a far stronger holdon the popular mind than we are willing now to admit; and that thefive Levitical colours, gold, blue, purple, red, and white, wereretained in the Christian ritual. Whenever we come across figures ofAnglo-Saxon bishops, the liturgical vesture entirely agrees with theBiblical description. 

Embroideries before the twelfth century generally preserve asemi-Roman, semi-Oriental character, which is nearly related to theart which is called Lombardic. This differs from what we know ofScandinavian and Celtic design through illuminated books, [491] carvingon stone crosses throughout the north of Europe, Great Britain, andIreland, and the remains we possess of their metal work. I am notaware of any ecclesiastical embroideries which show a Celticorigin, [492] unless the intertwined patterns on Italian dresses inpaintings of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may be supposedto be derived from that source. (See p. 91, _ante_. )

 [Illustration: Fig. 25. ]

In accounting for the instances of evident Oriental influence onChristian art, which came through Byzantium, we must not restrictourselves to searching out the Arabian traditions, but we mustremember also how much Babylon and Persia, as well as India, had givento the Empire of the East, and these influences were in full force atthe time that Christian art was being organized. 

We know, for example, that the great veil of the temple at Jerusalem, given by Herod, was Babylonian. 

The materials--linen, silk, and woollen--on which ecclesiasticalembroideries were worked at Rome and Constantinople were accepted allover the Christian world. The fabrics were plain, striped, andfigured; and came from Persia and India, Greece, Alexandria, andEgypt. Even Chinese and Thibetian stuffs are often named. Cloths ofgold and silver also came from the East, as in the days of Attalus. All these furnished the grounds on which needlework was lavishlyspent. 

The great veils which divided the pagan and Jewish temples were atfirst adopted in the Christian churches, but they graduallydisappeared from common use, in spite of occasional survivals andrevivals during the Dark Ages. 

Records exist of the hangings of the ancient basilica of St. Peter atRome, spread between the pillars supporting the baldachino over thehigh altar and those of the choir; and at the Ostro-Gothic imperialcourt of Ravenna, in the fifth century, Maximianus ordered a set ofsimilar splendid curtains (tetravela) to be worked for the altar. Anastasius Bibliothecarius (ninth century), in his biographies of thepopes, mentions curtains and embroidered altar-pieces worked in thesixth and seventh centuries. [493]

Sergius (A. D. 687) ordered four white and four scarlet curtains, andPope John (701) hung white ones between the pillars on either side ofthe altar at St. Paul's. St. Zacharias[494] gave similar hangings tothe churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. Stephen IV. Placed immensesilver curtains at the entrance of the basilica of St. Peter's, and in768 gave to it sixty-five curtains of figured Syrian stuffs. [495] Thesame hangings prevailed at intervals in England, France, and Germany, till the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the new Gothic styleof high, pointed arches altered the decorative customs. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 52. Fragments of Silk to be seen at Coire in Switzerland, also in the South Kensington Museum. ]

From Anastasius's mode of speaking of ecclesiastical garments, itappears that they were named in the treasury catalogues after theanimals represented on them--"the peacock garment, " "the elephantcasula, " "the lion cope. " Evidently these were Oriental gold brocades, Indian or Persian, or else reproductions of their designs, and fromAuberville's and Bock's books of engravings we can judge how theyrepeated and varied their motives. One woven subject, which evidentlystarted its textile career as one of the labours of Hercules, wasgradually transferred to Samson, or to Daniel in the lions' den. (Plate 4, Auberville's "L'Ornement des Tissus. ") (Plate 52. )[496]

However, in Russia and throughout the Greek Church the ancientByzantine use of hangings still remains in force. 

The art of embroidery has always given its best efforts to thesechurch draperies. 

Rome was so laden with splendid embroideries by her eastern conquests, that probably the Christian decorators would have availed themselvesof some of the accumulated stores; but we have no record of suchadaptations, unless the splendid curtains and the silver hangings ofPope Stephen IV. Were taken out of some imperial treasure-house. 

The contrast between early ecclesiastical art and that whichimmediately preceded it in the palaces of the Cæsars (at Rome, Tivoli, and wherever we find their ruined glories) is most remarkable. 

The lovely and the lively had been suddenly abandoned for the heavyearnest solemnity and inartistic drawing of the frescoes of theunderground church of St. Clemente in Rome, and that of the earlyChristian mosaics. 

It is as if the arts which had lent, nay, given themselves to theglorification of idols, had suddenly died out, leaving behind themneither an artist, nor a skilled artisan, scarcely a tradition. 

The new Christian ideas had to be painfully recorded on sacredbuildings and their furnishings for more than a thousand years; withall the patient acquiescence of untaught ignorance, and the strugglinguncertainty of genius pursuing a distant glimmering light, apparentlyunconscious of all that had preceded it in Egyptian and classic art. The great political and religious revolutions in Europe had crushedand buried the arts under the ruins of the Empire over which Timehimself seemed to have broken his hour-glass, so little was there toshow any memory of their past, or hope for their future. The alternateprogress and destruction of the arts in European civilization strikethe student, in vivid contrast with the immutability of those of theEast, especially in India and China, where the old forms were stillbeing maintained by the swaddling bands of codified custom[497] thathad restricted their development, but prolonged their existence, andso they had survived, while Greece conquered and robbed the East andEgypt, and Rome crushed Greece and was in her turn despoiled by theGoths and Huns. [498]

Christian art had to begin at the very beginning, and collect its owntraditions, and organize its own forms. These gradually accumulated, availing themselves of accepted symbols, and adding to them hiddenmeanings. The Reformation checked this development in the north ofEurope, but after 300 years we are now witnessing its revival, whichis not merely owing to a religious impulse, but also to thearchæological tendency of our day and to the historical interest weattach to the ceremonials of the East. 

As the Reformation in Germany was less sweeping and iconoclastic thanour own, we find there many more remains of ecclesiastical artcollected in the churches to which they have always belonged, or inmuseums into which they have drifted;[499] and the Germans have thusbeen enabled to do more than even the French, in training thedifferent schools of work throughout the Continent. 

They have proved the Oriental character of the fabrics employedthrough the Dark and Middle Ages, i. E. For about 1400 years, whetherthey were Syrian, Indo-Chinese, Indian, Alexandrian, Greek, Sicilian, or Spanish, or whether they had come from Asia by the north or thesouth of Europe. The same traditional forms governed them all. But anadept is able generally to class and name each specimen by thetexture of the webs, by the way gold or gilt thread is inwoven inthem, whether the metal is pure or alloyed, round or flat; also by themode of twisting and dyeing the wool, flax, or silk, and its qualityand colouring matter. 

Among the earliest historical church embroiderers the foremost figureis that of the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, claimed inWales and in the Welsh ballad of "The Dream of Maxen Wledig" as beinga Welsh princess married to the Emperor Constans. She is said to haveembroidered an image of the Virgin, which Muratori speaks of asexisting in the Church of Vercelli in the seventeenth century. Bocksays it is still there, and he quotes an ancient inventory of thetreasures of Phillip the Good, of Burgundy, which names a "Riche etancienne table d'autel de brodeure que on dit que la premièreEmperriez Christienne Fist. "[500] The Empress Helena died in thefourth century. [501]

Then after a long interval comes "Berthe aux grands pieds" the motherof Charlemagne, who in the eighth century was famed for herneedlework, which is celebrated in a poem by Adhelm in the eighthcentury, quoted by Mrs. Palliser, [502] "a ouvrir si com je vous dirain'avoit meillior ouvriere de Tours jusqu'a Cambrai, " and hergrand-daughter Gisela followed in her footsteps. Nearly contemporary, is Aelfled's Durham embroidery, [503] described in the chapter onEnglish work. 

Christian art before the twelfth century is very often rich, usuallypicturesque, from its fulness of intention; sometimes beautiful, whenit recalls some echo from the East, or some tradition of Greekart;[504] but the embroideries of those centuries are almost alwaysquaint; this is invariably the archaic phase of all early art. Born inthe catacombs of Rome--roused by impulses from the north, by educationin the south, and everywhere encouraged by the fostering hand of theChurch, and the patronage of papal and of royal and imperialhouses, --it evolved its forms, and emancipated itself at last from itspoor and sordid condition; and the Gothic phase of each nationattained to its own peculiar growth and characteristics; and amongthem the foremost in the world's estimation was the English school ofembroidery, to which the next chapter is devoted. 

There has been much controversy as to the date of the dalmatic ofCharlemagne in the Vatican treasury. Like every good early piece ofGothic work in Italy, it is allotted to the days of Pope BonifaceVIII. (thirteenth century). But when we examine this splendid relic wecannot doubt that it is of a much earlier time, as there is nothingGothic to be found in it. It is full of the lingering traces of Greekart (not Byzantine). It reminds us most of the mosaics of SantaPudenziana, which are always quoted to prove that Greek art stillsurvived in Rome in the eighth century. [505] The dalmatic has beenmuch restored, but, I believe, most carefully kept to the old lines. It is worked on a thick, dark-blue, or purple, satiny silk, which hadentirely fallen into little stripes, but has been skilfully mended, and the embroidery has never been transferred. On the front is ourLord in glory, saints below, and angels above, with a border ofchildren playing, which is truly Greek. The motive of this is the "Ibiet Ubi. " On the back is the Transfiguration, and on the humerals arethe sacraments of bread and wine. The whole, as art, is beautiful; andit is historically most interesting. Lord Lindsay tells us that in thedalmatic of Charlemagne, (called that of Leo III. ) Cola di Rienzirobed himself over his armour, and ascended to the Palace of the Popesafter the manner of the Cæsars, with sounding trumpets before him, andfollowed by his horsemen--his crown on his head and his truncheon inhis hand--"Terribile e fantastico. "[506]

This dalmatic must be ranked first and highest among ecclesiasticalembroideries. (Plates 53, 54, 55. )

Some of the details are curious. The whole of the blue satin ground isworked with crosses "parsemé. " Parts of the design are so adorned withlarger and smaller Greek crosses--and others with the starry cross. Onthe shoulder is once embroidered the mystic swastika. [507]

 [Illustration: Charlemagne's Dalmatic The Vatican, Rome]

 [Illustration: Charlemagne's Dalmatic The Vatican, Rome]

 [Illustration: Pl. 55. Details of Charlemagne's Dalmatic. Vatican Treasury. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 56. Cope called "of St. Silvester. " Treasury of St. John Lateran, Rome. English Embroidery, thirteenth century. ]

Rock says, "Those who have seen, in the sacristy of St. Peter's atRome, that beautiful light-blue dalmatic said to have been worn byCharlemagne when he sang the gospel at High Mass, at the altar vestedas a deacon, the day he was crowned Emperor in that church by PopeLeo III. , will remember how plentifully it is sprinkled with crossesbetween its exquisite embroideries, so as to make the vestment a real'stauracin. '"[508]

 [Illustration: Pl. 57. Portion of the Cope at St. John Lateran, showing its condition. ]

 [Illustration: Pluvial, English, XIII. Century Museum at Bologna]

 [Illustration: Pl. 59. The Daroca Cope. Museum at Madrid. Opus Anglicanum, fourteenth century. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 60. Portion of the Cope of Boniface VIII. , twelfth century. From Anagni. Now in the Vatican Collection. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 61. Altar Frontal from Anagni, Italy. ]

Signor Galletti, Professor of Embroidery to the Pope, says it isundoubtedly of the eighth century. It has been suggested that thedesign is of the date of the Exarchate. It is, however, something ofinfinitely finer style; it is noble, simple Greek. 

Charlemagne's dalmatic is embroidered mostly in gold--the draperies inbasket-work and laid stitches; the faces in white silk split-stitch, flat, with finely-drawn outlines in black silk. The hair, the shadowypart of the draperies, and the clouds are worked in fine gold andsilver thread with dark outlines. The hands, feet, and draperies havea fine bas-relief effect. (Plate 53, 54, 55). 

The "pluvial of St. Silvester, " in the church of St. John Lateran atRome, is probably, from its Gothic style, of the time of BonifaceVIII. (thirteenth century). [509] It never served St. Silvester, exceptas being perhaps dedicated to him. On seeing it, one is convinced thatit is English. It has one peculiarity of English Gothic design in thecanopies being supported by twisted pillars of vine-stems, in thiscase intersected by green shoots, and carrying leaves. The angels, thetwo cherubim clothed in peacocks' feathers, the fine split-stitch, thegold grounding, and the drawing are also distinctly English. 

I give an outline of the pluvial from photographs, [510] and a finishedwoodcut of the centre to show the style and condition of the work. Thedesign is most beautiful, and we can only regret the loss of theborder, which has been entirely cut off. This shows how elaborate isthe design, yet how artistically arranged as a whole composition. (Plate 56, 57. )

It is difficult to settle the precedence between this splendid pieceof church decoration and the rival pluvial of Bologna in the MuseoCivico, said to have come from the church of San Giacomo. It resemblesin style and execution that of St. Silvester, but its architecturalarrangement contains six circles of subjects, worked like the other insilk and gold, with gold groundings; and both are embroidered onlinen. On careful examination of this splendid work of art, I havecome to the conclusion that it is English. (Plate 58. )

The Daroca cope (lately belonging to the Archæological Museum atMadrid) is undoubtedly English. We can claim it by its peculiarshrine-work, and the twined columns on the orphreys; by the cherubim, by the peacock-feathered angels, and by the form of the panelsenclosing the different subjects, from the "Life of Our Lord. " (Plate59. )

The cope of Boniface VIII. In the Vatican came from the church of hisnative place, Anagni (plate 60), where are still very curious oldembroideries (see Hon. And Rev. I. Clifford's list of embroideries inAppendix 5). Some appear extremely ancient, but there is no sign bywhich they may be dated. Some are probably of the thirteenth century, and are very coarse Italian work, though finely designed (plate 61). There are doubtless many interesting specimens still to be found inthe sacristies of Italian churches. But they have generally beentransferred to museums. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 62. 1. From Tomb in Worcester Cathedral, of Bishop Walter de Cantilupe, consecrated 1236. 2. Embroidered Cope at Aix in Switzerland. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 63. Mitre of Thomas à Becket at Sens, showing the Scandinavian Fylfot Cross (thirteenth century). Jewelled Cross on Rose-coloured Cope at Rheims (twelfth century). ]

In the tomb of Walter de Cantilupe (eighteenth century) at Worcester, were found the remains of a dress which is decidedly of an earlierdate--evidently of Oriental material, but Anglo-Saxon work--so exactlyresembling in style that at Aix given by Bock, [511] that wecan hardly doubt that they proceeded from the same workshop, or atleast are of coeval design. Both are worked with a dark red outline ona red silk ground. The faces and hands are in white silk--all the restbetween the outlines is gold thread, flat stitch. Bock places its dateas antecedent to the tenth century, and indeed there is no reason todoubt that this is correct, though the Worcester fragment was takenout of a tomb of two centuries later. As these garments were stored inthe church treasuries; and as antiquity (without an historicalinterest) was then of no value, these old clothes, holy by their useand office, yet by their shabbiness unfit for public show, may havebeen reverently disposed of in clothing the bodies of departedpriests, who probably had worn those very vestments, when officiatingat the altar near which they were laid to rest. When the date of thewearer of the garment is ascertained, the dress cannot be of a laterperiod, but it may have belonged to a much earlier one. Thearchitectural part of these two embroideries, i. E. The canopy work, resembles that of the Bayeux tapestry. Both appear to be English. (Plate 62. )

 [Illustration: Pl. 64. From Tomb of Bishop William of Blois, died 1236. Worcester Cathedral Library. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 65. A portion of the Mantle embroidered by Gisela for her husband, St. Stephen of Hungary. From Bock's "Kleinodien. "]

In the eleventh century, and for some part of the twelfth, needleworkdesign in England, France, and Germany first assumed a phase, whichmay be called the metal-work style. It is to be found on the robes andmitres of St. Thomas of Canterbury (Thomas à Becket) at Sens[512]--onthe famous rose-red cope of satin embroidered with gold and pearls atRheims (which we should incline to believe is English)[513] (plate63). The fragment of the cope of William of Blois, found in his tomb, is in this style. (He died in 1236. ) The fragments of this curiousgarment, worked in gold on a purple silk material, evidently Oriental, are also preserved under glass in the Cathedral Library at Worcester(plate 64). 

Amongst the finest instances of ecclesiastical needlework, and, indeed, we may say, of ecclesiastical art of the twelfth century, isthe coronation robe of St. Stephen of Hungary, decorated by his queen, Gisela, [514] which is preserved in the Imperial Treasury at Ofen(plate 65). 

Of this authentic historical work we have the whole story. Theoriginal design, [515] drawn on linen, carefully coloured, is to beseen at the Benedictine convent abbey of Martinsburg, near Raab inHungary. The care with which the work was carried out shows the valuethen placed on such undertakings considered as art, and it has beenjustified by its survival of 800 years; time having spared it owing toits perfect materials and manipulation, till it received cruelinjuries by being carried off and thrown into the bog of Orsava duringthe revolution under Kossuth. It was, however, recovered and restored, and was worn by the present emperor at the splendid and picturesqueceremonial of his coronation at Pesth. The design reminds us of themosaics in the apse of Santa Maria Maggiore and other churches atRome, and it is extremely beautiful. It consists of an arrangement ofmedallions and inscriptions, with "metal-work" ornaments in bandsalternated with smaller medallions. Yet the figures are not so finelydrawn as those of the Durham relics of the beginning of the tenthcentury. The drawing of the figures of the Gisela mantle resemblesthose on the garments of Walter de Cantilupe (plate 62), which, fromtheir design and stitches, seem to be of this period. Thearchitectural parts are very like in design to those of the Bayeuxtapestry, though they are infinitely better, and they have Lombardiccharacteristics. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 66. Portion of the Coronation Mantle of Henry II. Of Germany, embroidered by the Empress Kunigunda. From Bock's "Kleinodien. "]

It appears that Queen Gisela had personally embroidered thismany-figured, richly-embroidered representation of the "Ibi etUbi"--The Saviour in His glory as Victor over death and hell, seatedon the bow of heaven, surrounded by choirs of angels and saints, andprophets of the Old Testament; below on thrones, are the twelveApostles. The figures are worked in Oriental gold thread on Byzantinecrimson silk. 

In contrast to the Ubi, the heavenly hereafter, the queen, in thelowest broad hem (border) has represented the Present, the then "Ibi, "by the leaders of the Hungarian magnates and the half-figures of theroyal givers in large gold-embroidered medallions. 

The next finest specimen of eleventh century needlework was the giftof Henry II. , Emperor of Germany, and his wife Kunigunda, to thecathedral of Bamberg, where it still exists[516] (plate 66). 

This, again, consists of medallions great and small, of which theborders, gracefully intertwined, form a large composition[517]covering the whole surface of the imperial pallium it once adorned. But in the fifteenth century it was transferred from its originalpurple silk ground to one of dark-blue damask, and altered to the formof a chasuble, as we see it now. The general design resembles that ofthe mantle of Gisela. 

Bock calls the style of these works Romanesque; and he thinks thatthey show a Saracenic influence. They appear, however, as I saidbefore, to be rather Lombardic than anything else. The reader isreferred to Dr. Bock's preface for further lists of Continental worksand workers. 

Abbé Martin considers that in the thirteenth century the opening outof Gothic art was extended to the laity, and was really the sign of agreat social revolution. Gothic art had till then only served theChurch, and had been by circumstances closed to the people, who wereyet unfitted, by their want of education, for artistic life. [518]

Art was till then almost exclusively produced by the monastic orders, into which all talent had drifted. But about this time it fell intothe hands of architects and other originators of design, who presentlybanded themselves together into brotherhoods and guilds. [519]

Embroidery till the thirteenth century had been entirely in the handsof cloistered women, and the ladies who practised it learned theircraft with the rest of their education in convents, and their work wassimply ecclesiastical and dedicatory. At that period social burgherlife in the towns had first begun to develope its love of luxury, [520]and to follow the fashions of other countries, and the changes offorms in dress and furnishing which came from foreign parts, thoughfrequently checked by sumptuary laws. This social movement precededeverywhere political and religious revolutions. Embroidery then becamecustomary in lay dress, and lost its religious character, or ratherits religious monopoly. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 67. The Syon Cope, South Kensington Museum (thirteenth century). ]

We find that about this time throughout the Church the forms ofecclesiastical garments were considerably modified, and made morecomfortable for the officiating priest; and the old traditional trabeawas cut down to the mediæval chasuble. 

English needlework of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had its ownpeculiar style of metal-work pattern, resembling the hinges andspreading central ornament branching across the wood-work on ourchurch doors. [521]

When we meet with this kind of design on foreign church vestments, wefeel inclined always to claim the merit of them for the Englishschool. The foreign metal-work patterns are much lighter and moregeometrical, and have not the firmness and at the same time the fancythat we find in our own of the twelfth century; and they remind usrather of the goldsmiths' than of the blacksmiths' craft. The Englishembroidery of this style has the character of "appliqué, " i. E. Onematerial laid upon another and fastened down. 

There are differences of opinion as to the accepted characteristics ofthe "opus Anglicanum, " which in the twelfth century began to becelebrated. [522] Some say that it was principally remarkable for itsadmixture of jewellers' work in the borders, or the imitation of it ingold thread. Some give the attempt to reproduce the effect ofbas-reliefs in the embroidered groups of figures; others, again, pointout the peculiarities of the "laid stitches" in gold, which sopermeated the linen grounding, as to give the look of a material wovenwith gold thread. We may fairly say that _all_ these, which were theningenious novelties, combined to give this opus Anglicanum its value, as well for its beauty as for its ingenuity. [523]

The Syon cope, (now one of the treasures of art in the KensingtonMuseum), is a perfect example of this work; and is also, according toBock, "one of the most beautiful among the liturgical vestments of theolden period anywhere to be found in Christendom. " Dr. Rock's study ofthis piece of thirteenth century work in his "Catalogue of theEmbroideries in the South Kensington Museum" is most interesting, asexemplifying all the characteristics of the Gothic art of the period, in its historical, æsthetic, heraldic, liturgical, emblematical, andtextile aspects. I have ventured to transcribe the whole of thisnotice in the Appendix. [524] I will only add here that the one errorinto which I think he has fallen, is in naming the stitches. The"diapers" are not opus plumarium, but opus pulvinarium, of the classof "laid stitches. " This was ascertained by examining the back of thematerial under the ancient lining by a most competent judge[525] in mypresence, and so a long-disputed point is set at rest (plate 67). 

Ciampini says that in the twelfth century, the arts went hand in hand, each lending something to the design of the others. This, however, has always been the case. [526] (Whether they greatly profited by suchexchanges is another question. ) I cannot but agree with Semper'soften-reiterated theory, that textile art was a leading influence andconstant suggestion to _all_ art from the beginning. And the way thatecclesiastical decoration was so led in the twelfth century is veryapparent. In the new art of stained mosaic glass in church windows wesee the reflex of the flat illuminations and embroideries of thatperiod; and while these were being influenced by metal-work, paintingwas being transferred again to textile art, pictures being woven aswell as embroidered, [527] while textiles were seeking to emulatereliefs in a forced and unnatural manner, more ingenious thanartistic. 

While England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was exciting theadmiration of all European artists by the imitation of bas-reliefs inneedlework, by the arrangement of the light and shadows in the "lay"of the stitches, and by a little help from the pressure of hot irons, to accentuate its apparent indentations, a similar inroad into thesister art of sculpture, or, perhaps, we should say a similaradaptation from the sister art, was going on in Switzerland andGermany, especially in Bavaria. 

There was a clever and artistic mode of stuffing and raising of theimportant parts of the embroidered design, such as the figures, thecoats-of-arms, or the emblems of the Passion, &c. , in sacred subjectsin imitation of high-relief. There are some beautiful specimens thathave been evidently designed in the School of Cranach. I will onlymention the orphrey, of which the subject is the "Tree of Jesse, "exhibited at Zurich, 1883, the chasuble at Coire in the Grisons, andthe little triptych in the museum of the Wasser-Kirche in Zurich. Thislast is exquisitely pretty. The finest, however, is the altar-piecebelonging to Prince Borghese at Rome, which is certainly German in itsdesign. [528]

Beautiful as these few examples are, they yet show the mistake ofmixing different forms of art. The designs are reduced to a compromisebetween painting, sculpture, and needlework, which excites interestand perhaps amusement rather than admiration. 

Glass painting, of which we have no notice till the tenth century, shares many of the rules which hitherto had applied only toembroideries. It was intended to give colour and interest to thoseparts of a building which otherwise were cold and lifeless. _Flatness_in the composition, and the avoidance of pictorial effects (especiallyany perspectives) show that it was intended for conventionaldecoration, rather than as a rival to mural painting. There is nodoubt that it generally superseded textile hangings, because itsupplied the want of colour for the large traceried windows justcoming into architectural design, toning down the crudeness of themasses of light, and tinting the walls and pavements on which it wascast. 

When coloured glass came into general use, embroidered hangings mostlydisappeared. Whatever may have been the cause, there is no doubt ofthe coincidence. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 68. An embroidered Panel, designed by Pollaiolo, and worked by Paulo da Verona. In the Church of St. Giovanni at Florence (fifteenth century). ]

The applied embroideries of the north of Germany were evidentlyinspired by the newly-discovered art of glass-painting, andresemble its designs, both in the compositions of figures and heraldicsubjects. Of this we may remember examples in the ScandinavianExhibition at South Kensington in 1881. [529]

All the most beautiful and picturesque needlework that we possess ofthe true ecclesiastical Gothic type, and which belongs to the perfectflowering of the art, is of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, just before the spirit of the Renaissance crept northward over Europe, preceding the Reformation and its iconoclastic effacements. Thisremark especially applies to England. [530] The art of representingScriptural subjects in flat stitches, as medallions accompanied bybeautiful foliage, and heraldic designs, is illustrated to us by thepalls belonging to several London companies--and by those belonging tochurches, especially that of the church at Dunstable, in which courtladies, knights, and saints form a most artistic border--the costumesbeing of the date of Henry VII. (see p. 378, _post_). 

The perfection of the embroideries of Flanders of that period hasnever been exceeded, and it continues still to produce the mostsplendidly executed compositions in gold and silken needlework, ofevery variety of stitches. The Flemish work and its peculiar mode oflaying golden grounds with flat-laid thread stitched down in patternswas carried into Italy, where great artists did not disdain to designfor textiles. I give, as an instance, Vasari's account of theembroidered set of vestments designed by Antonio Pollaiolo for thechurch of San Giovanni at Florence. These were carried out by Paolo daVerona, and took twenty-six years for their completion; and they wereonly one set of vestments, "embroidered by the most subtle master ofthe art, Paolo da Verona, a man most eminent in his calling, and ofincomparable ingenuity (_ingenio_). The figures are no less admirablyexecuted with the needle than drawn by Pollaiolo with the pencil, --andthus we are largely indebted to one master for his design, and to theother for his patience" (plate 68). 

Towards the end of the fifteenth century the Gothic styles werereplaced by the Renaissance, but the technical part of the art ofembroidery for the churches lost none of its value. All the talent ofthe artist and the ingenuity of the craft continued to be lavished onaltar decoration and priestly garments, in Flanders, Spain, France, and Italy. But the solemnity of these works was certainly impaired bytheir being emancipated from the traditional ecclesiastical forms andtheir accompanying symbolism, to which the old designers had sofaithfully adhered. Ecclesiastical decorative art became, so to speak, unorthodox. 

As a proof of this secular, I might almost say irreverent spirit, Iquote Bock's accusation against Queen Mary of Hungary, who in herembroideries, preserved at Aix-la-Chapelle, is said to haverepresented herself as the Queen of Heaven, surrounded by her adorerson their knees. 

There is no doubt, however, that needlework aspired in the fourteenthand fifteenth centuries to the highest place in art, and wasenthusiastically cultivated by women of rank and position, of artistictaste, who still gave themselves to the productions of beautifuldecorations, though they no longer confined themselves toecclesiastical motives. 

 [Illustration: Spanish Altar Frontal, Gold Embroidery XVII. Cen^y]

Gabrielle of Bourbon and Isabella, sister of Louis XI. , spent theirlives in preparing and overlooking fine works in their own apartments, and assembled around them noble damsels for this purpose. Anne ofBrittany, who lived in an artistic atmosphere, had her own workshop ofembroidery. Pictorial design now asserted its dominion overneedlework, which accepted it, just as it had been influenced in theeleventh and twelfth centuries by metal-work motives, and, beforethen, by the art of mosaic. 

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Spanish plâteresqueembroideries (adopted and modified in Flanders and in France), consisting of heavy gold and silver arabesques of mutilated vegetableforms, superseded the graceful Renaissance of the classicaltaste. [531] These Spanish embroideries forced their way by theirgorgeousness, in spite of their want of real beauty. They varied theireffects with pearls, corals, and precious stones[532] (plate 69). 

Spain, though she was much despoiled during the Peninsular War by herFrench invaders, yet still possesses some of the finest ecclesiasticalwork in the sacristies of Seville, Granada, Burgos, Toledo, Segovia, and Barcelona. Don Juan F. Riano[533] says that Toledo is a perfectmuseum of the work of the sixteenth century. 

Sicilian and Neapolitan ecclesiastical needlework showed the Spanishtaste of their masters, but not its perfection. The use of pearls, coral, and beads[534] prevailed, and we may in general affix its dateand its origin to each specimen by the silver largely used in the twokingdoms of Sicily and rarely elsewhere; also by the extremebrilliancy or rather the gaudiness of its colouring. 

English ecclesiastical work came suddenly to an end at theReformation. What was not destroyed is to be found in the possessionof the old Roman Catholic families who have religiously collected theresidue, preserved by concealment or by being overlooked; and in thewardrobes of Continental sacristies. [535]

But the church decorations of France, Germany, Flanders, Spain, andItaly have meantime, for the last 300 years, gone through all thevariations of lay styles, emanating from anything but ecclesiasticalmotives. First, the Renaissance's semi-pagan (so-called) arabesques;then the Spanish plâteresque, which was a revolt against their ownbastard Moorish-Gothic; next, the "Louis Quatorze, " followed by the"Louis Quinze" and the "Louis Seize, " light, frivolous, and elegant, essentially social, and not serious. [536] Then a return to theclassical of the Empire; and finally, since the beginning of thiscentury, to a conglomerate, lawless imitation of forms and styles, utterly meaningless and uninteresting, as well as wanting inecclesiastical dignity and decorum. We are glad to believe that we areourselves striving to reconstruct some sort of style that shall beable to express poetical and religious ideas, especially in our churchdecorations. At any rate, it must be of some use to understand thehidden springs which once raised ecclesiastical embroideries, andespecially those of England, so high as objects of beauty, worthy toadorn the house of God, and to be for centuries valued as monuments ofpious industry and thoughtful art. 

One of these hidden springs and ancient underlying motives was thesymbolism which gave a religious intention to the smallest design forthe humblest use, provided that its purpose was the service of theChurch. 

Sacred symbolism is a subject to which I have alluded more than once;and it has played such an important part in the construction andgrowth of ecclesiastical art, that I cannot but give a short notice tothe subject under this aspect. 

Symbolism in art is what metaphor is in speech. It is therepresentation to the eye of an object which suggests something elsebesides itself. 

Dr. Rock tells us that the symbolism of Scripture texts was given tothe world in a book by St. Melito, Bishop of Sardis, A. D. 170. Itstitle is "The Key. "[537] In the fourth century were produced two greatworks on Scriptural symbols, that of St. Basil in his homilies on thesix days of the creation, and that by St. Ambrose; both entitledHexameron. 

We meet this subject at every turn in the succeeding centuries, till in the twelfth we find it formulated and divided intobranches--Bestiaria, Volucraria, and Lapidaria--and each type hadfrequently more than one meaning. Thus a lion represented power, sovereignty, dominion; also the "House of Judah;" a hare the emblemof man's soul; a peacock that of wisdom (many-eyed). The rubyrepresents love. The pearl, innocence. The twelve stones in abreastplate, the twelve tribes of Israel. [538] Trees and flowers hadalso their symbolical meanings, though we are not aware of theirbeing recorded in any mediæval book. We know that the vine is thetree of life; the stem of Jesse, the sacramental emblem; that thelily stands for purity, the woodbine for chastity, and the rose forreligious ecstasy. The crowned lily was always the special emblem ofthe Virgin. 

These symbols had many of them a distant source, and had been, as Ihave already indicated, emblematic of other inner meanings in theexpression of pagan faiths. The tree of life was Babylonian; the horn, Persian; the fire-sticks of the prehistoric cross, Egyptian or Indian;and the composite animals representing many qualities, Ninevite(probably Accadian). [539]

All these were utilized, so that their already accepted uses should behelps and adjuncts, instead of impediments to the appreciation ofdivine truths; in the same way that "all that was lovely and of goodrepute" in the belief and morals of the ancient peoples, reassertedand purified, was claimed by the new teachers as types and antitypes. The symbolism of colours has been always considered very important inliturgical decoration, [540] and their meanings are discussed in thechapter on colour. 

The mystical colours, as has been already stated, are five--red, blue, purple, white, and gold. These the Christian Church inherited from theLevitical law, and continued faithful to them till the modern Romanuse introduced green and black. The Church of England before theReformation never allowed any but the original five mystic colours. 

The symbolism of ecclesiastical embroideries, as well as that of allChristian art, being intended to illustrate the truths of Christianityby the teaching of the eye, the great symbol of our faith, the_Cross_, naturally drew to itself all its prehistoric forms as beingthe prophetic types of the "true cross. "

The earliest form of the prehistoric cross, [Illustration], is supposedto refer to the worship of the sun, and is said to be formed of twofire-sticks (for producing fire by friction) laid across each other. This is almost universal in prehistoric, archaic, classical, andChristian art to the thirteenth century. The next most ancient form isa broken cross, thus, [Illustration], said to be the double of the Tau, or Egyptian sign of life, and claimed by the Rabbins as having been thesign in blood, which stopped the hand of the angel of death, over thedoors of the Israelites at the first Passover. This afterwards wascalled the "Gammadion, " from its likeness to a doubled Greek gamma, and it was also said to symbolize the "corner-stone. "[541] The thirdcommonest form, apparently a modification of that of the fire-sticks, [Illustration], is to be found throughout Celtic and Scandinavian art, and was called in England "the fylfote" (from its likeness to the armsof the Isle of Man), and likewise "the Gammadion, " though it showsanother source than the Greek letter. 

From these three forms already in use, added to that of theCrucifixion, endless varieties were composed to suit theecclesiastical taste and requirements of different national styles ofsymbolical decoration. I refer my readers to plate 26 in the chapteron patterns for a few of these from different sources. They areextremely suggestive. I have there entered more fully into thesubject, regarding it as a fertile pattern motive in textile art. [542]

The cross "bearing twelve fruits for the saving of the nations"[543]is so like some of the representations of the Persian or Indian Treeof Life, that the transmission and adoption of the symbolic form isevident. The cross (plate 63) is a good mediæval example, and is takenfrom the celebrated rose-coloured cope at Rheims, embroidered withgold and pearls on a rose-coloured satin ground. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 70. IVORY CONSULAR DIPTYCH. 1. In the Wasser-Kirche Museum, Zurich. Sixth century. 2. Of an earlier period, and finer workmanship, at Halberstadt. No date given. ]

The Roës is an ecclesiastical pattern of wide use and of very longdescent, often named in ancient Church inventories. It is sometimescalled the "Wheel and Plate. " Its origin is probably Oriental, but itcertainly was adopted by the Romans as the motive of their triumphalgarments, the _togæ pictæ_, worn in the processional return of aconqueror, whether he were a general or a sovereign. The first motivewas a surface covered with circles, closely touching each other, andcontaining figures which had a reference to their purpose. InChristian times the heads of saints were sometimes inserted, especially in that form of the Roës called the chrysoclavus, from theintersticial ornament between the circles. 

I have written (p. 308-9) about the Trabea, which on the Romanconsular ivory diptychs of several centuries is so invariablyembroidered with this same clavus pattern (plate 70) that we mustconclude that it had a meaning and a tradition. 

The very ancient superstition that driving in a nail is a fortunaterite, may have been connected with the pattern called the clavus; andthe chrysoclavus, from being merely a nail pattern, became consecratedin Christian art as representing the heads of the nails of theCrucifixion, and hence its early Christian name. [544] It wasoriginally filled in with a radiated ornament like the sun; (probablythe first motive of this pattern, which seems to be the same as theEgyptian sun-cross, ) and its peculiar decoration remained inpossession of the descriptive name "palmated, " though it is difficultto discover in it any likeness to the palm branch or tree, unless itis supposed to resemble it as seen from above. 

The toga triumphalis was also called the toga picta, because itsprecious purple fabric was covered with gorgeous embroideries. Afterit had been worn at the triumph or festival, by the victoriousgeneral, the distinguished noble, or the Emperor, it was laid by anddedicated in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Thus these palmatedtriumphal patterns, and their traditional decorations, having by theirdedication to the gods assumed a religious character, were woven forChristian ecclesiastical use during the dark ages, and were repeatedin Sicily and Spain down to the beginning of the fifteenthcentury. [545]

I have elsewhere spoken of the "cloud pattern, " which is very ancient, Chinese, Indian, and mediæval. Its use has always been for celestialsubjects in embroidery, either isolating or supporting spiritualfigures. This was appropriated by ecclesiastical art, and we find itnowhere else in Europe. 

This sketch of the history of ecclesiastical needlework, (necessarilyincomplete from want of space), is founded on the works of Semper, Bock, Rock, and the comparison of many specimens in collections andexhibitions in London and elsewhere. Auberville absolutely placesbefore us the materials as well as the patterns of the weaving of theChristian era, as well as fragments of Egyptian textiles, in hisbeautiful book on Tissues. 

For forms and patterns we cannot do better than study Bock'sliturgical chapters and their illustrations, as well as Dr. Rock's"Church of our Fathers. "

The stitchery of Christian art has been discussed in the chapter onstitches, and I repeat that there is nothing new in the treatment ofsolid embroideries, (lace stitches having been the only innovation ofthe last 400 years), though many of the ancient stitches have losttheir distinctiveness, and fallen into a pitiful style by gradualdescent which reached its lowest point in the early part of thiscentury, as is shown by the robes embroidered for the coronation ofCharles X. In the museum of the Louvre. 

In the commencement of this our nineteenth century, there was a totalcessation of embroidery, which had, for nearly 2000 years held its ownas an art, apart from all others; perhaps a secondary one--yet mixedup with every refinement and luxury of civilization. 

Its revival in England, especially, is owing to many causes. Asecclesiastical decoration I have already attributed it to thearchæological tendencies of our day, as well as to the æstheticsentiment which protests, after so long a period of abstention, against the puritanical bareness and coldness of our national forms ofworship. The obliteration of embroidery from the list of the arts wasmore complete in England than elsewhere; as the church of Rome stillcontinued to be adorned with beautiful work on altar-cloths andfrontals, and priest's dresses, which, though too much regulated indesign by the lay tastes and fashions of the time, have combined tokeep up a traditional school of needlework throughout the Continent. 

Exhibitions abroad and at home have shown us what a latent power inart embroidery still preserves, and architects have employed thewomen's needles to give colour and beauty to the decaying churches, which have been restored to their original architectural effects bycareful copies of what remained in wood, stone, and glass. 

The number of new churches has also given rise to the production, inmore than one semi-conventual establishment, of beautiful andeffective works, such as the altar-cloth at Durham, and those atCanterbury and Worcester. Such works have revived the impulse ofartistic and ecclesiastical taste, and in many small churches we haveseen beautifully embroidered altar decorations. [546]

There are, however, many amateurs who are perhaps mistresses of thecraft of needlework, and who are yet not educated sufficiently todesign a really thoughtful and beautiful work of art, and to these afew remarks may be addressed, which may help the struggling aspirants, and show them how they fail, and where to seek for assistance. 

I shall begin by pleading for more careful design, and less parsimonyin expenditure upon the usual church adornments. It is once more areceived dogma in ecclesiastical art, one in which all religiousopinions agree, that the building in the parish which is set apart forthe first public duty, that of worship, should show as much beauty asthe means and taste of the community can command. 

Perhaps the little church has just been restored, or completelyrebuilt from the foundations; the consecration is imminent. The whitestone, carved or plain, shines fresh and cold, and the whole spacelooks poor and bare. 

The rich woman of the neighbourhood sees and feels that colour iswanting (for the windows must wait till their use as pious memorialsfills them with glowing tints). The central point of the wholeedifice, the altar, calls for the first key-note in colour to bestruck, and a splendid altar-cloth is the fitting instrument. 

She consults the architect, who probably is also an artist, and thedesign is agreed upon, and hurriedly drawn and carried out; for thereis not a moment to lose if it is to be ready for the opening day. Itmay be beautiful, and it sometimes is so, but the mere want of timefor due consideration often results in the commonplace ornamentation, which neither satisfies the eye nor the mind. It is often only a merebit of colour and a mediæval pattern, and has no apparent motive ormeaning to give it value. 

One sometimes finds that a conventional form has been selected, ofwhich the emblematic intention it originally expressed has beenforgotten or overlooked. Therefore, while to the unlearned it conveysno meaning, it is read as absolute nonsense by the ecclesiasticalarchæologist, simply because it is worked in a language ofundeciphered hieroglyphics--unknown to the worker--meaningless, reminding us of the Græco-Egyptian inscriptions, of which the picturedwords seem to have been copied at random for their prettiness, or theArabian lettering on some of the ancient Sicilian textiles, which isnonsense. The sense and the emblematic meaning are forgotten, and theconventional form--an empty shell--is alone retained, conveying noidea, and reduced to the low purpose of being a pretty pattern, vagueand unintelligent. 

I have so often said that a pattern always originally possessed, andshould always retain a meaning, that I fear to become tiresome; but Irepeat it here, as in ecclesiastical design it is more important thanelsewhere; the meanings are deeper, and convey more essentially solemntraditions and allusions. If the motive of the designer is evident, and is conscientiously worked out, its value receives an enduringquality, and its present interest is enhanced. 

Embroidery is not less eloquent than her sister-arts in the teachingof divine lessons, and appealing through the beauty of form andcolour to the poetical instincts of the congregation, of which theleast educated members almost unconsciously feel the influence; andbesides, the people are always alive to the charms of symbolism, whenit is placed within their reach. As a proof of this, among our ownpeasantry and mechanics, I would point to their universal enjoyment ofthe "Pilgrim's Progress. "

In the symbolism of art, the thoughts which are individual to theartist can only be expressed by known forms and colours, even as thepoet must employ the words and the metres already accepted by theliterature of his language. 

Hurry is fatal to art. But another and very serious cause of itsdeterioration is its costliness. 

In the dark and mediæval ages, time was of no account. Skilled labour, such as was needed for carving, illuminations, and embroideries, wasfreely given as the duty of a life, for one particular object, thegood of a man's soul. The cloistered men and women worked for nowages; neither to benefit themselves nor their descendants; hardly forfame, --that was given to the convent which had the credit ofpatronizing and producing art, [547] while the very name of the artistwas forgotten. 

It was from pure love of the art as a craft, and the belief that itwas a good work in which they were engaged, and from their abundantleisure, that they were enabled to evolve the lovely creations whichdelight and astonish us when shown in the sacristies and treasuries offoreign religious houses and churches, where they have been cherishedfor centuries. Like the silkworm they spent themselves; and by theirindustrious lives were surrounded in their living graves by theelaborated essence of their own natures, a joy and consolation tothemselves, and a legacy to all time. To them, also, art appeared asthe consoler. 

But to return to the grievances of to-day--cheapness and hurry, economy of pence and hours--these often are the bane of the work whichwe give to the Church, sometimes as a memorial, sometimes as athank-offering. The colours are bad, because cheap dyes fade, and noneothers can be had without much trouble, and we have only time toselect among those that are for sale. The work is poor because it mustbe done quickly, and we cannot afford to delay and pay for the extrahours necessary to make the stitches worthy and capable of lasting. Possibly we cannot give the time ourselves, nor can find any oneeffectually to organize and overlook the work. 

Though the design, the motive, the colours and materials, as well asthe stitches, need to be each carefully studied, yet we perhaps acceptan ancient drawing intended for a different place and use; and thus wefail to produce any effect, with uncongenial surroundings. Sometimeswe feel obliged to take the design forced upon us by a shopwoman asignorant as ourselves, with the submissive hope "that it will do. "

Now to a truly artistic mind it would appear that each little church, however simple and devoid of ornament, requires its own specialcolours and design, besides the individual motive of the giver; andpeople forget that the whole effect in any such compositions must becomprehensive, and that one careless mistake spoils all. 

The High Church, in its love of ritualistic vestments, has sometimesbeen prejudicial to the general adoption of properly studied altardecorations; as there is a common suspicion that a clergyman'spersonal wish for ornament, akin to a woman's addiction to fineclothes, governs all his attempts to adorn the altar; whereas thereshould be, and there often is, a real artistic feeling for the fitnessof things, in the furnishings of the most beautiful building set asideby the community for the glory of God. But it is not necessary forbeautiful effects that there should be any coloured vestments. Whenthe clergy are duly robed in the orthodox surplice and scarves, thereis, perhaps, something funereal in the white linens and black Genevasilk, but yet the traditional white and black have their own valueagainst a background of altar-cloth and reredos splendidly coloured. 

Now that, in spite of prejudice, church decoration is so much thecustom of our day, it is worth our while to consider seriously howbest to carry it out, and search into the principles which may applyto all ecclesiastical embroideries, whether they are to be dedicatedin the Minster, the village Church, or the home Chapel. 

We must begin by remembering that in these days, if we cannot do thework ourselves, it must be highly paid for. The skilled artisan who isno artist, receives enough to feed his family, according to the higherwages of the time. The woman's slow stitchery has to support probablyas many claims, and yet it is always grudged as being too costly. Thesculptor or the painter who succeeds in obtaining employment, ishighly paid, but the designer for metal-work or embroideries occupiesan unrecognized place in art, and barely earns enough to live by. Theilluminator has ceased to exist; he would starve--probably has beenstarved out long ago. 

The decorative designer, having, therefore, no status, has noeducation; and it is almost impossible to find in England an artist toaccept orders for thoughtful ecclesiastical designs. Hundreds of boysand girls are taught "freehand drawing, " and having copied some castsand lithographs and drawn some flower-pieces, without any particularaim, find a precarious living by designing frightful wall-papers forthe million. These poor creatures, from whose lives all ambition andoriginality have been effaced, are our decorative artists. 

Still a beautiful original design can sometimes be obtained, and ifthat is beyond our reach, we may courageously copy from ancientmodels, selecting judiciously what is most suitable for our purpose. 

The ecclesiastical artist should be well informed in the modes ofworking a design. The stitch if selected without experience may marthe effect of the whole composition, as some stitches of themselvesconvey the meaning of shadow, and others that of light. 

In ecclesiastical work which is intended to be effective in thedistance, as well as perfect in detail, it is worth while to weigh theclaims of the architectural low-relief motive, i. E. A flat raisedsurface, with an edge sufficiently accentuated to catch a light on oneside, and cast a sharp shadow on the other. All flat _raised_ stitchesconduce also to this effect, especially if edged with a cord, and itis much more striking than in stuffed work (on the stamp), which hasnot the incisive effect that is given by the tool to the sharp edge ofstone or wood carvings. 

If we can afford to give to our church without stint, let us seek forthe most beautiful textiles, such as are again woven in imitation ofthe old fabrics; gratefully acknowledging all that Pugin, Ruskin, andthe foreign manufacturers, especially those at Lyons, have done in therevival of woven designs. Let us avoid those materials which areeasily spoiled by sunshine, dust, and smoke, and all those that frayeasily. Woollens are not long lived. Crewels, beautiful as they are, are not salient in their effect. Silks, satins and velvet, and goldbrocades, [548] or groundings worked in with gold thread, are the onlymaterials worthy of bearing fine embroidery, fit to receive them, andcapable of keeping them for centuries. Plushes and worsted velvets areunworthy, indeed they are worthless. 

The gold we employ must be either pure "passing, " or else the Chineseor Japanese gold threads which differ in colour, but have each theirown value, and never tarnish, even in the coal smoke of London. Puresilver, too, is beautiful, and if it is really pure, can be keptbright with bread crumbs. 

In composing the altar decoration for the cathedral or the villagechurch, we ought to take into consideration what is suitable for thesurrounding architecture. In great spaces, the majestic altar-cloth orfrontal, shining with gold and silver, and glowing with silkenembroideries, recalls the splendid altar "palli" encrusted with gemsin St. Mark's, St. Peter's, and other ancient churches; and is inperfect keeping with the high and gorgeous reredos, the rich screen, the fretted roof and clustered ornaments of a great cathedral choir. Such glories are unattainable in the modest village church. 

But though we may subdue the brilliancy of our decoration, we shouldtry to make it yet a work of art. The design may have as muchintention, the work be as refined and individual, and the gold aspure, as in larger works. The precious metals may be confined to smallspaces in the parts we desire to accentuate, such as the cross in thecentre, or the edges of the orphreys, or they may be entirely replacedwith fine silk work. 

The altar-cloth we desire to present, may be simply a gift, so that wemay choose any design that will agree with the date of the building. We may prefer any subsequent style, but not one anterior to that ofthe architecture. It would be a mistake to imitate Anglo-Saxonornaments in a church of the flamboyant style. 

Perhaps the altar-cloth we are discussing may be intended as a sort ofvotive offering, a memorial of a baptism, a wedding, or a funeral. 

For the first, white silk worked in gold and silver, or gold-colouredsilk, or parsemé with conventional spring flowers would beappropriate. For a marriage, crimson, rose-colour, blue and gold, or amixture of all these, to produce a festive and gorgeous effect. For afuneral, purple or violet silk or velvet, with palms and the crown ofthorns in gold or silver. [549] These would serve at the festivals ofthe Church: the purple for Good Friday, [550] the crimson for Saints'days, the white for Christmas and Easter Sunday. 

The reredos, or the screen curtain behind the altar, should be madeavailable for enhancing its effect, as well as for enlarging the areaof textile coloured decoration. 

As this is intended for a background, it should be either subdued orelse contrasting, in juxtaposition with that which it is intended tosupplement. Woollen embroideries or tapestries are the most usuallyselected for this purpose. The softness of fine crewels is well shownnear the more glowing tints of silk, velvet, and gold of the altarfrontal. If this is white, or light coloured, the reredos hangingshould be of dark or richly worked material; if the frontal is dark, the contrast should be preserved by hangings of tender shades. 

The pulpit and reading-desk, with their small cushions and veils, andbeautiful worked covers for the books, give opportunities forrepetition of colour which is often required for picturesque effect. 

I should recommend the young ecclesiastical designer to study theprinciples which guided the authors of some of the fine Gothicexamples remaining to us, such as the great Stoneyhurst cope, and thepalls of the different London companies, as well as the very few finealtar-cloths still existing. All these have their brilliant andeffective treatment; they are intended to be glorious, and eitherrepresent massive jewellers' work or tissues of wrought gold. 

Anciently, the ornaments for the different church services, which wetimidly reduce to floral decorations (often, however, very beautifullyplanned and executed), gave the opportunity for displaying costlyembroidered hangings. 

The paschal of the choir of Durham, for example, was a marvellousconstruction of wood and gilding, metal-work, and (probably) hangings. It was as wide as the "lateral" of the choir, and as high as thebuilding, so that the central and seventh candlestick (that from whichthe new fire for the year was kindled) was so near the roof that therewas a "fine convenience through the said roof of the church for thehelp of lighting it. " I quote from a rare book printed by G. S. Rossfor Mrs. Waghorn, 1733. 

This little book is full of interesting matter regarding DurhamCathedral, though the author is most concerned in relating thevandalisms committed by the dean's wife, Mrs. Whittinghame, whoevidently had "no culture, " and a strong turn for appropriating oddsand ends, such as tombstones, embroidered silk, and other curiositieswhich she deemed valueless except for her own purposes, --such a womanis a real archæological misfortune!

The corporax used in celebrating the mass by St. Cuthbert in theseventh century (he died and was buried at Holy Isle in 657) wassupposed to be endowed with miraculous powers and was carried intobattle on many occasions as a banner. 

This banner was of crimson velvet on both sides, wrought with flowersin green silk and gold, and fringed with red silk and gold. Thecorporax cloth was inserted in the centre, and covered with a squareof white velvet, having on it a cross of red velvet, "mostartificially worked and fringed, with little silver bells in thefringe. " This was carried into battle, till Dame Whittinghame "didmost injuriously destroy the same in her fire. "

One feels as if this woman were spiteful, as well as stupid. But forher punishment, her memory is kept quite the contrary to green by Mrs. Waghorn's careful record of her iniquities; which has at the same timefortunately preserved to us the description of the banner of St. Cuthbert, and gives also an idea of "the good and sumptuous furnitureof changeable suits, " and of "the divers vestments wrought and setround about with pearls, both stoles and flannels, &c. "

Looking at it from a distance, it appears that the "fair white linen"for the communion service always requires the softening of the edgesby fringes, by cut work embroidery, or by thick lace edgings. If awhite ground for embroidery is required, nothing is more beautifulthan linen, especially if it is not over-bleached. White, in art, should be represented by the nearest approach to no colour; but it ismore agreeable to the eye by its being tempered with a suggestion ofthe natural tint, of which all textile substances possess something(excepting cotton) before they have passed through the hands of thefuller or the chemist. 

Corporals and veils for the pyx used to be of white linen, embroideredwith white silk or linen thread; the silk gives a beautiful, varied, shining brightness. 

I think a few words should be said about the fringe. [551] Its motiveand _raison d'être_ is the disposal of the threads of the warp when itis cut out of the frame; these being tied and knotted symmetrically, become an artistic decoration instead of an untidy tangle of threadsand thrums. Edging the material and finishing it with its own looseends is a very ancient custom; and we can see from the sculptures ofNineveh that they were great in that city in the art of fringe-making, and the Israelites, when they made their hangings for the sanctuary, trimmed them with fringes. It stands to reason that an added fringeshould be arranged with reference to the origin of the decoration, andthe moment we think of it, the eye is annoyed by seeing a deep fringeof one or two colours traversing the whole widths of the frontal andsuper-frontal, quite irrelevantly, and without any reference to themasses of colours, woven or embroidered, above them; and theconsequence of this carelessness is, that it makes it look as if thispart of the decoration, came from another source, independent of thecomposition which it ought to supplement. The fringe should belong tothe whole design, and be carefully fitted to the spaces occupied bythe colours above it, each of its compartments or divisions beingfilled in with those tints which are most conspicuous in the generaldesign and would show effectively in the warp. It is not necessary toaccount for all the colours, as the threads employed to form the woofwould naturally disappear at the sides of the web. The sections of thefringe should be skilfully arranged so as to reappear at equaldistances, or at least they should be so balanced as to produce thateffect. If this is impossible, the fringe should be all of one shade, matching exactly the ground of the textile. It may be relieved byclustered knobs, or hanging beads or cups of different colours andgold. The celebrated pluvial at Aix-la-Chapelle has a fringe of goldbells hanging to a gold cord, which amalgamates with the pattern. [552]The veils of the Sanctuary in the wilderness were fringed withattached ornaments, bells, blossoms, knops, flowers, and fruit, whichsounds extremely pretty. 

To resume, let me once more urge that in church work neither time nortrouble be spared; nor yet money grudged, if possible. The designshould be full of intention, the stitching perfect, and the materialsmost carefully chosen for tints, for endurance and smoothness. Remember that no inferior substitute will serve to give presenteffect, nor will it last into the future. 

Design, as I have elsewhere said, is all the better for being to acertain degree circumscribed, relegated, and regulated by the laws oftraditional usage, as well as those of good taste, and this appliesespecially to ecclesiastical design. 

These laws serve as the frame which encloses the motive thought, andmakes it a complete whole, that can admit of no amplifications. 

New symbols should not be adopted except for the expression of newfacts or altered circumstances, and these can but seldom enter intoliturgical art. 

There is so much already formulated and admitted, and the area inwhich we may gather our materials is so large, that we need not seekfor more than we find under our hand, ready for use. 

Besides the symbolism of dogma, we have all the heraldry of theSaints; and can repeat and vary the emblems of those to whom thechurch we are working for is dedicated. The keys of St. Peter, thesword of St. Paul, the lilies of the Virgin, the cross of St. Andrew, the eagle of St. John, --I need hardly enumerate all these legitimatesources of decoration. Then there is the lay heraldry which belongs tothe history of each church, and which memorializes the reign of themonarch when it was begun, finished, or restored, and the pious workand care of the founder and benefactor, the architect, and sometimesthat of the sculptor. 

Now as our forefathers accepted all this material for ecclesiasticaldesign, remodelling it to their own uses in different centuries, so wecannot ourselves do better than imitate them, and profit by theirexperience; never missing an opportunity of studying ancientembroideries; and while we admire in them all that is admirable, andappreciate their historical and archæological value, we may yetextract greater benefit for ourselves, by criticizing what isimperfect, as well as what is possibly a descent and failure from ahigher type. 

We must make a judicious selection of what to imitate and what toavoid. 

As a general rule, I should warn the young artist against theimitation of "naïveté" and so-called "quaintness;" especially in ourdesigns for Church embroidery as it is hardly a noble quality in art, though we look on it with a tender pity, half-way between admirationand contempt, when we find it inevitably in mediæval work; strugglingto overcome the expression of something difficult, and expressing adifficulty only partly overcome. We find ourselves putting our mindsinto the attitude of the artist who conceived those figures with armsconventionally growing out of the encasing garment; conventionallyholding a book, and giving a blessing with a conventional twist, notentirely ungraceful, nor devoid of a certain dignity, rather felt thanperceived. Yet we contemplate them with a smile of conscioussuperiority, appreciating our own refined sense of their merits andinfantine progress towards something good, that time--a longtime--would, and did evolve. But those efforts at last culminated in aChristian art, such as is seen in the splendid forms and adornments instone, gold, silver, glass, and embroideries of the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries. Such splendours as the windows of Bourges, theSainte-Chapelle at Paris, or those of the Cathedral of Toledo, orKing's College Chapel at Cambridge. Such sculptures and traceries asthose of the Puits de Moise at Dijon, and the Chapter House atSouthwell in Nottinghamshire. Such embroideries as the Syon cope, andthe Borghese triptych. These are types worthy of all praise, and theyare full of instruction to the student of ecclesiastical art. 

The Kensington Museum offers us endless help and suggestions in itsvery interesting collection of liturgical vestments of every date andschool; and its textiles, illustrated by the inventory of theirlearned collector, Dr. Rock, are most instructive. [553]

In the library of that museum are to be found many of the learnedworks on these subjects by French and German _savants_. Theexhibitions in the English counties are never without a case or a roomfull of embroideries, collected from the treasure-chests of theneighbouring churches and country houses, and especially from those ofthe ancient Roman Catholic families. The colleges of Oscott andStoneyhurst have collected, by purchase or by gift, many fine relicsof the craft, which are most liberally granted for exhibition. 

For those who can go further afield there is instruction in almostevery Continental town. Rome, Florence, Milan, Toledo, Sens, Rheims, Aix-la-Chapelle, Berne, Vienna, Halberstadt, Berlin, and Munich--eachand all have stores of beautiful liturgical objects carefullypreserved; of many dates, and many styles, and showing endlessvarieties of design, which can be employed on new works by carefulselection and adaptation. Most of these belong to the eleventh andsucceeding centuries; any earlier examples are fragmentary, and havegenerally been taken from the tombs of kings and bishops. 

It seems to savour of desecration, this opening of shrines anddisturbing the ashes of the illustrious dead, if only for thesatisfaction of archæological curiosity. But except where it hashitherto been protected by the sanctity of the tomb, there is solittle that remains to us, --so few textiles have survived the frictionof use, or even that of the air, through as many as a thousand yearsor more, that we may plead the hunger for truth, and the eager desirefor proofs of identity and verification of historical legends, whichare to be extracted from the shape of a garment, from the pattern onthe border, or the lettering on the web of which it is composed;whence we reverently cut a fragment, and preserve it under glass. 

 "If studious, copie fair what time hath blurr'd, Redeem truth from his jawes. "[554]

Before closing this chapter, I would wish to observe that I haveentered into the subject of church decoration in no ritualisticspirit; I do not treat it theologically, but as art; and if thesedecorations are to be carried out at all, I feel that I am rendering aservice to those whose duty or pleasure it is to provide them, bypointing out where they may find the principles which have been thespring and life of mediæval art, and the survivals which are now thebest exponents of those principles to guide us in the works of ourday. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [479] Figure-drawing in early Christian art was for nearly a thousand years primitively barbarous, with occasional exceptions. The rapid decline in Europe, through the art of the Catacombs and St. Clemente at Rome, and the frescoes and mosaics of Ravenna, down to the Bayeux tapestries, is very remarkable. In those inartistic compositions during the early Middle Ages, the figures were drawn facing the spectator, the head and feet in profile, differing in nothing from the Egyptian and Assyrian modes of representation. We can hardly account for this return to childish ways, from which Greece and Rome had so long been emancipated, except by supposing that they came from the imitations of Oriental textiles, which still retained very ancient forms; for instance, the motive of the sculptured lions over the gate of Mycenæ. We cannot say that Greek art in Rome was quite extinct till the eighth century. About that time there was a remarkable revival in England. 

 [480] Till very lately we have been entirely dependent on the frescoes in the Catacombs and in the underground Church of St. Clemente at Rome, and on monumental art and illuminations, for our knowledge of the textiles of the earliest days of Christianity. But Herr Graf'schen's discoveries in Egypt will, when published, add greatly to our information on this subject. 

 [481] The book by Parker on the "Liturgical Use" says that only the five liturgical colours were permitted in the use of the Church of England. Before the Reformation the Norman and English liturgical colours were different. (Rock, "Church of our Fathers, " ii. P. 268. ) Perhaps nothing was originally worked departing from this rule, but votive offerings are inventoried as being of all colours, having been accepted and used as decoration and for vestments. 

 [482] I have already spoken of the custom of clothing the images of the gods as a classical tradition. The Greeks draped their statues in precious garments, often the spoils of subjugated nations, offerings from the conquerors, or obsequious tribute from the conquered. Newton (Appendix 1) tells us of inscriptions containing inventories of old clothes offered in the Greek Temples. Ezekiel (xvi. ) speaks of silk and linen embroideries given for covering the idols. The images of the saints in Roman Catholic churches are, we know, constantly draped in splendid embroideries, and hung with jewels. 

 [483] There is here an overlap of several centuries. 

 [484] Charlemagne's dalmatic, described hereafter, of which the pedigree is well ascertained, justifies Woltmann and Woermann's theory; as this eighth-century embroidery shows, by its design, that Greek art was still a living power. 

 [485] Of which we have yet examples on the Continent, here and there; for instance, in the Cathedral at Coire in the Grisons, and in the Romanesque church at Clermont in Auvergne (not the cathedral). I do not include in this statement of the rare occurrence of the ogee, the European countries which were subject to Moorish rule, i. E. Spain and Portugal. 

 [486] This, slightly modified, continued to prevail till the time of Louis XIV. , when France took the lead, and gave a style to the world which entirely broke away from all mediæval tradition. 

 [487] Rock's "Church of our Fathers, " i. P. 409. Compare Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians, " i. P. 332 (see fig. 1); and Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " taf. I. , i. P. 130, fig. 6. Bock does not give his authority for the pattern on the ephod. 

 [488] Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. Taf. I. , iii. , vi. 

 [489] Yates' "Textrinum Antiquorum, " pp. 203, 376, § 103. He quotes from Claudian the description of a trabea, said to have been woven by the goddess Roma herself, for the consul Stilicho. I give this as showing how forms and patterns become sacred by their being attributed to the inspiration of the gods. The name of Stilicho marks his tomb in Sant' Ambrogio's Church at Milan, on which is a curious moulding, carved with alternate roses and mystic crosses. 

 [490] Clapton Rolfe, "Ancient Use of Liturgical Colours. "

 [491] See the Book of Kells, Library, Dublin; also St. Cuthbert's Durham Book, British Museum, and the Celtic MSS. In the Lambeth Palace Library. 

 [492] Celtic and Scandinavian designs are characterized by meandering, interlaced, and knotted lines, which are described and discussed in the chapter on patterns. The forms of the Celtic stone crosses are very beautiful. See "L'Atlas de l'Archéologie du Nord, par la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord" (Copenhagen, 1857), where the metal remains are shown by careful engravings; also George Stephen's "Old Northern Runic Monuments. "

 [493] See Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. P. 126, quoting Anastasius Bibliothecarius, pp. 153, 156, 189. 

 [494] Ibid. P. 189. 

 [495] The information here collected proves that these sovereign gifts to the great basilicas were by no means of costly materials, especially as compared with the preceding splendours of Rome, or the still more astounding luxury of Alexandria through the Greek conquests of the Eastern nations. To these rules of economical decoration, however, we find occasionally exceptions. We gather also from later lists that the embroideries of the Papal See were culled, in the thirteenth century, from France, Spain, Germany, and England. 

 [496] See also Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " vol. I. Pp. 9, 18, 56, 86, plate 2. At a later period the lion motive is supposed to have represented a Christian in the arena, and it certainly in time was symbolical of man struggling with the dominion of sin. However, Bock considers the design to have been originally classical Greek, and it survived to the seventh and eighth centuries, and was reproduced as late as the sixteenth. 

 [497] The Code of Manu in India, which 2500 years ago regulated all the crafts and ruled their decorations, is still in full force, and Chinese art was crystallized in the reigns of the first emperors of the Hia dynasty, 2197 B. C. 

 [498] We cannot but respect the memory of Attila, who checked the spoliation of Rome by his troops. 

 [499] The collections of needlework in Germany are very rich. The treasury of the cathedral at Halberstadt, the Markt-Kirche of Brunswick, the sacristy of the Marien-Kirche of Dantzic, and that of the Kaland Brethren at Strahlsund are especially quoted by Bock. At Quedlinburg are the tapestries of its famous abbess; at the Pilgrim Church of Marie at Zell are fine remains of stuffs and embroideries by the ladies of the imperial house of Hapsburg, of the thirteenth century; at the Abbey of Göss (near Lieben, Steiermark) is to be seen the remarkable needlework of the Abbess Kunigunda, and in the cathedral treasury of Heidelberg the antipendium of the fourteenth century, made for the church at Tirna. The museums of Berlin, Munich, and Vienna are very rich in textiles. 

 [500] See Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " p. 133. 

 [501] Helen Lwyddawc. See "Mabinogion, " by Lady C. Guest, pp. 279-284. This beautiful story is told in the language of the romance period, and yet has a certain Celtic colouring in it, which shows its origin. The ballad opens with a description of Helen watching a game of chess, clothed in white and gold, seated on a chair of gold, when Maxentius finds her in her father's palace. 

 [502] See Mrs. Palliser's "Lace, " p. 4. 

 [503] See chapter on English embroidery, _post_. 

 [504] Early decorations of ecclesiastical dress are so thoroughly illustrated by the ancient frescoes and mosaics in Italy, that we can form an idea of the embroidered vestments of each period by studying them, and the early illuminated books that are scattered over Europe. Dr. Bock gives authentic illustrations as well as information about the finest Continental specimens. 

 [505] For the mosaics of Santa Pudenziana, see Woltmann and Woermann, i. P. 167, "History of Painting. " Translated by Sidney Colvin. 

 [506] Appendix 4. Lord Lindsay's "History of Ecclesiastical Art, " i. P. 136. These gorgeous vestments are engraved by Sulpiz Boisserée in his "Kaiser Dalmatika in der St. Peterskirche, " and far better by Dr. Rock, in his splendid work on the "Coronation Robes of the German Emperors. "

 [507] It is singular that we find the starry cross and the swastika filling alternate square spaces on the mantle of Achilles--playing at dice with Ajax--on a celebrated Greek vase in the Etruscan Museum at the Vatican. I have referred to this design elsewhere. (Plate 26. )

 [508] Rock's "Introduction, " p. Liii. 

 [509] This date is assigned to it by Monsignor Clifford. 

 [510] Kindly supplied to me by the Father Superior of San Clemente in Rome. 

 [511] In the cathedral of Aix, Switzerland. Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. Taf. Ii. 

 [512] One of these mitres has, it is said, been brought to England. 

 [513] Bock, "Liturgische Gewänder, " ii. Taf. Xii. This is dyed in Tyrian purple (rosy red), and is simply the cross, representing the tree with twelve leaves, "for the healing of the nations. "

 [514] Bock, "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. Taf. Iii. Pp. 157-160. 

 [515] Bock, _ibid. _, p. 158, quotes the Jesuit Erasmus Fröhlich, (1754). 

 [516] See Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. Taf. Iv. Pp. 165, 166. "One of three costly garments. "

 [517] Modifications of the "wheel pattern" ("wheel and plate"). Of these works of the tenth and eleventh centuries the fine Roman lettering in the borders is a marking characteristic. 

 [518] See Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. P. 214. 

 [519] There was no guild of embroiderers in England that we know of till that incorporated in the reign of Elizabeth. See chapter on English embroidery. 

 [520] Bock, i. 214, says that the splendid stuffs and embroideries were entirely consecrated to the use of the Church, till the luxurious arts invaded European domestic life from the seventh to the twelfth century. 

 [521] See the cross on the Rheims cope (plate 63). 

 [522] There is no doubt it was only used for church work. 

 [523] At Aachen, in Switzerland, there is a very remarkable pluvial of one kind of opus Anglicanum, which has been already alluded to. The border, of splendid gold embroidery, has the pattern completed in fine flowers of jewellers' work. (See Bock, "Liturgische Gewänder, " ii. P. 297, taf. Xli. -xliv. ) Rock, "Textile Fabrics, " Introduction, p. Xxxi, cites from Mon. Angl. (ii. 222), the vestments given to St. Alban's Abbey by Margaret, Duchess of Clarence, A. D. 1429, as being remarkable for pure gold in its texture and the splendour of the jewels and precious stones set into it, as well as for the exquisite beauty of its embroideries. These are some of the characteristics of the opus Anglicanum. 

 [524] Appendix 6. 

 [525] Mrs. Bayman, of the Royal School of Art Needlework. 

 [526] If it is true that in the days of the Greeks and Romans the art of acupictura or needle-painting copied pictorial art, so likewise in the Egyptian early times, painted linens imitated embroideries. This we learn by specimens from the tombs. Painted hangings and embroideries appear to have been equally used for processional decorations. In the Middle Ages painted hangings imitated embroideries and woven hangings, and were considered as legitimate art. 

 [527] See Bock, vol. I. P. 10. 

 [528] Exhibited in the "Esposizione Romana" in 1869, in the cloisters of Santa Maria degli Angeli. 

 [529] See Woltmann and Woermann, who quote evidence as to works in painted glass as early as the ninth and tenth centuries in France and Germany ("History of Painting, " vol. I. Pp. 316-339). They remark that the character of painted glass is nearly akin to textile decoration, that it is essentially flat and unpictorial. And doubtless there is an analogy between the two, but rather suggesting patchwork or cut work than legitimate embroidery. 

 [530] "Vasari, " ed. Monce, taf. V. P. 101. 

 [531] See plate 69, which is a fine altar-frontal of the plâteresque Spanish. 

 [532] The dress of the "Virgin del Sagrario" at Toledo, embroidered with pearls, and the chasuble of Valencia, worked with corals, show how profusely these costly materials were employed. 

 [533] See "The Industrial Arts of Spain, " pp. 250-264, by Don Juan F. Riano, and catalogues of Loan Exhibition by him for the South Kensington Museum series, 1881. The works of Spanish Queens and Infantas are to be seen at the Atocha, the church of the Virgin del Pilar at Madrid. 

 [534] There are most interesting examples of Scriptural subjects in Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. Taf. X. Pp. 207, 208; taf. Xi. Pp. 239-278. These are of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; and we have some good fifteenth century bead-work in the South Kensington Museum. 

 [535] The splendid embroideries from Westminster Abbey, sold to Spanish merchants at the Reformation, now at Valencia, and the cope in the Museum at Madrid, are instances of these exportations. The Syon cope also was returned to England, after its long wanderings, about sixty years ago. I give its history by Dr. Rock in the Appendix 6. 

 [536] For examples of this ornate and graceful, but frivolous style, we may remember the mosaic altar frontals throughout the basilica of St. Peter's at Rome. 

 [537] See Dr. Rock's "Catalogue of Textile Fabrics, " South Kensington Museum, Introduction, p. Cxxxvi. 

 [538] Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. Taf. Vi. , vii. , pp. 385-392. The emblematic meanings of stones is constantly alluded to in the Old Testament. Their symbolism has, therefore, a high authority and most ancient descent. In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford is an illuminated copy of Philip de Than's Bestiarium, composed for Adelais, second wife of Henry I. 

 [539] "Cyclopædia of Bible Literature, " vol. Vii. P. 477. 

 [540] See Clapton Rolfe, "The Ancient Use of Liturgical Colours. " (Parker, 1879. )

 [541] See "Indian Arts, " by Sir G. Birdwood, i. P. 97. He says this [Illustration] form is the sign of the Buddhist or Jainis, and that the [Illustration] fire-stick form was that of the Sakti race in India. 

 [542] See chapter on patterns, p. 103-4, _ante_. 

 [543] Revelations chap. Xxii. V. 2. 

 [544] In mediæval times the cross in a circle was sometimes called the "clavus" [Illustration]. It was the same as an Egyptian sign, meaning "land" (plate 25). Donelly fancifully claims the sign as being that of the garden of Eden, and of the four rivers flowing from it (see "Atlantis"). 

 [545] See plate 70, No. 1. In the upper part of the Halberstadt diptych, No. 1, the "gens togata" are sitting on Olympus, clothed in such purple garments embroidered with the chrysoclavus. 

 [546] I would instance the little church of St. Mary, built and adorned by the late W. E. Street, at Feldy, in Surrey. 

 [547] The art of illumination had in general kept a little in front of that of the painter, and illumination and embroidery went hand in hand. 

 [548] The fine brocades of velvet and gold, of which we find examples in the centres of palls, and a notable one in the celebrated Stoneyhurst cope, are still reproduced to order at Lyons, Genoa, Florence, and in Spain. The Florentine is distinguished by the little loops of gold thread which pervade it. 

 [549] In the English ritual gold was permitted wherever white was enjoined. This shows a true appreciation of the effect of the metal, separating and isolating all colours, and being of none. 

 [550] The purple is not one of the five mystic colours named; it is included in blue, and therefore the most ritualistic critic need not object to it. 

 [551] Under the Carlovingians, priestly garments were often enriched with splendid fringes, trimmed with bells. A Bishop of Elne, who died in 915, left to his church a stole embroidered with gold and garnished with bells. So rich were the fringes at that epoch, that King Robert, praying one day in the church, became aware that while he was lost in meditation a thief had ripped off part of the fringes of his mantle. He interrupted his proceedings by saying, "My friend, suppose you content yourself with what you have taken, and leave the rest for some other member of your guild. " See "Histoire du Tissu Ancien, " Union Central des Arts Décoratifs. For a fringe with bells, see the beautiful example in Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder" (plates xli. Xlii. Xliii. Vol. Ii. P. 297), already quoted. 

 [552] Resembling the fringe of St. Cuthbert's corporax, with its silver bells. 

 [553] This valuable collection of textiles is so ancient and therefore so frail, that it seems a pity to send portions of it continually travelling about the country for loan exhibitions. Change of climate--cold, heat, and damp--carelessness in packing and unpacking--above all, the reckless exposure to floods of sunshine even when they are protected from dust by glass, --all these endanger the preservation of what can never be replaced, and has only survived till now because of the quiet and darkness in which it has lain for centuries. 

 [554] George Herbert, "The Churchyard Porch, " v. 15. 

CHAPTER XI. 

ENGLISH EMBROIDERY. 

Through the preceding chapters I have tried to moderate my predominantinterest in our national school of needlework, seeking to place it inits just position alongside of the coeval Continental schools. However, the more I have seen of specimens at home and abroad, themore I have become convinced of the great superiority of ourneedlework in the Middle Ages. As information about our own art mustbe valuable to us, I give a short account of English embroidery. 

In England our art, like our language, is mixed. Our early history isone of repeated conquest, and we can only observe where style hasflowed in from outside, or has formed itself by grafting upon the stemfull of vitality already planted and growing. It is interesting toseek its root. 

There is every reason to believe, from the evidence of the animalremains of the Neolithic Age (including those of sheep), that theycame with their masters from the central plateau of Asia. 

The overlap of the Asiatic civilizations over the barbarism ofNorthern Europe shows that Assyria[555] as well as Egypt was a highlyorganized empire, and the Mediterranean peoples far advanced in thearts of life, while the Neolithic man survived and lingered inBritain, France, and Scandinavia. Yet, even at that early period, thecraft of spinning and the use of the needle were practised by thewomen of Britain. [556]

Our first glimpses of art may have come to us by Phœnician traders, touching at the Scilly Islands and thence sailing to the coasts ofCornwall and Ireland. From Ireland we have curious relics as witnessesof their presence--amongst others, jewellery connected by, or pendantfrom, "Trichinopoly" chains, similar to those dug out of Etruscantombs, and which were probably imported into Ireland as early as thesixth century B. C. [557]

In the Bronze Age the chiefs and the rich men wore linen or woollenhomespun. Fragments of these have been found in the Scale House barrowat Rylston, in Yorkshire. Dr. Rock says that an ancient Celtic barrowwas opened not long ago in Yorkshire, in which the body was wrapped inplaited (not woven) woollen material. [558] Before this time the Cymriin Britain probably wore plaited grass garments; they also sewedtogether the skins of animals with bone needles. 

Dyeing and weaving were well understood in Britain before the adventof the Romans. Hemp and flax, however, though native to the soil, werenot employed by the early Britons. Linen perhaps came to us firstthrough the Phœnicians, and afterwards through the Celts, and wasnaturalized here by the Romans. 

Anderson ("Scotland in Early Christian Times") gives a high place tothe forms of pagan art which prevailed in the British Isles, beforethe Roman civilization; and differing from and influencing that whichcame from Scandinavia. We must certainly allow that it was art, andthat it contained no Greek or other classical element. Hisillustrations explain and give great weight to his theories. 

Cæsar invaded England forty-five years B. C. [559] The Romans gave usChristianity and the rudiments of civilization, but their attempts toRomanize us met with little success. Probably they imported theirluxuries, and removed all they valued at the time of their exodus. From them we know what they found and what they left in Britain. Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, the day of her defeat wore a tartandress (polymita) and an "embroidered" or "fur" mantle; probably thefur was inside, and the skins embroidered outside. Dion Cassius, [560]who describes Boadicea's motley tunic, says that the bulk of thepeople wore what was apparently a chequered tartan. Semper says thatthe early tribes of Northern Europe, like the North American Indiansof the present time, embroidered their fur wraps. The EmperorHonorius, in the fourth century, made it illegal for Roman nobles towear extravagantly-worked fur robes; perhaps the report of Boadicea'sdress had set the fashion in Rome. 

During the first four centuries of our era, all art in Britain musthave come from our Roman masters; and owing to their neglect of thepeople they conquered, we benefited little by their civilization. 

All that we know of their decorative art in Britain, is that it was, with few exceptions, chiefly of small bronze statues, somewhat crudeand colonial, as appears from the remains of their architecture, sculpture, mosaics, and tombs. [561] Of their textiles we have norelics, and hardly know of any recorded, if we except the works of theEmpress Helena. See p. 316, _ante_. We must remember that, as she wasa British princess, it is likely that she had learnt her art at home, and therefore that the women of England were already embroiderers asearly as the beginning of the fourth century. [562]

On the departure of the Romans, chaos ensued, till the Britons, whohad called in the Saxons to help them, were by them driven into Wales, Brittany, and Ireland, which last they Christianized; and mingled theart of the Germans and Celts with that of the Danes and Norsemen[563];all which may be traced in the Irish remains to be seen in theCollege Museum at Dublin and elsewhere. From the time that Englandbecame Anglo-Saxon, literature, law, and art began to crystallize; andwhen, under Egbert, one kingdom was formed out of the heptarchy, orderand a sense of beauty were in the course of development. Then came theinvasion of the Danes (ninth century), who robbed, destroyed, andarrested all artistic improvement, till Alfred got rid of them for atime. Early in the seventh century the women of England had attainedgreat perfection in needlework. This appears from a passage in a poemby Adhelme, Bishop of Sherborne. He speaks of their shuttles, "fillednot with purple only, but with various colours, moved here and thereamong the thick spreading threads. "[564] He had himself a robe "of amost delicate thread of purple, adorned with black circles andpeacocks. " This may or may not have been woven in England, but at thattime weaving, as well as needlework, was the delight and occupation ofthe ladies of the court and of the cloistered nuns. [565] The thralls(slaves or serfs) were employed in weaving in the houses of thenobles, probably they embroidered also. 

Mrs. Lawrence sees reason to believe that in the seventh century, silkand fine linen were the materials for altar decorations, vestments, and dress; whereas the hangings of the house were of coarse canvasadorned with embroidery in thick worsted. [566] She says the term"broiderie" was reserved for the delicate works on fine grounds, insilk and gold and silver thread, and enrichments in metal work. Precious stones and pearls had already been introduced into theByzantine and Romanesque designs imported from Greece and Rome. 

The English Dominican Friar, Th. Stubbs, writing in the thirteenthcentury, describes in his notice of St. Oswald a chasuble ofAnglo-Saxon work, which exactly resembles that of Aix. [567] This issplendidly engraved in Von Bock's "Kleinodien" amongst the coronationrobes of the Emperors of Germany, and is adorned with the richestgolden orphreys, imitating jewellers' work, enriched with pearls andsilver bells. 

There is an Icelandic Saga of the thirteenth century which relates thehistory of Thorgunna, a woman from the Hebrides, who was taken toIceland on the first settlement of the country by Norway, A. D. 1000. She employed witchery in her needlework, and her embroidered hangingswere coveted by, and proved fatal to, many persons after her death, till one of her inheritors burned them. [568]

 [Illustration: Pl. 71. One of the ends of the Stole of St. Cuthbert at Durham, which together bear the inscription, "Aelfled fieri precepit pio Episcopo Fridestano. "]

English ecclesiastical art did not necessarily keep to Christiansubjects; for it is recorded that King Wiglaf, of Mercia, gave toCroyland Abbey his splendid coronation mantle and "velum;" and thatthe latter was embroidered with scenes from the siege of Troy. [569]

 [Illustration: Pl. 72. St. John. St. Roger. Durham Embroideries, tenth century. ]

It was probably on account of such derelictions from orthodox subjectsof design that in the eighth century the Council of Cloveshoeadmonished the convents for their frivolous embroideries. [570]

In the eighth century our English work in illuminations andembroideries was finer than that of any Continental school; andtherefore, in view of the great advance of these secondary arts, wemay claim that we were then no longer outer barbarians, though ouronly acknowledged superiority over Continental artists was in theworkrooms of our women and the cells of our religious houses. 

During the terrible incursions of the Danes, and the many troublesthat accrued from these barbarous and idolatrous invaders, theconvents and monasteries, especially those of the order of St. Benedict, kept the sacred flame of art burning. [571] Both monks andnuns wrote, illuminated, painted, and embroidered. They evidentlycontinued their relations with foreign art, for it is difficult to sayat what period the Norman style began to be introduced into England. It was the outcome of the Romanesque, and of this, different phasesmust have come to us through the Danes and the Saxons. 

I cannot but dwell on the early life and springtide of our AnglicanChristian art, which in many points preceded and surpassed that ofother northern nations, as we arose from that period commonly calledthe Dark Ages. Ours was a gradual development, adding to itself fromouter sources new strength and grace. The better perfection of detailsand patterns was succeeded by Anglo-Saxon ingenuity and refinement indrawing the human figure. The art, which was native to England, may bejudged by the rare examples that we possess, and of which we may wellbe proud; though we must remember with shame how much was destroyed atthe Reformation. Enough however, remains to prove that our English artof illumination of the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries was verybeautiful, and we are not surprised therefore to find in theembroideries of that period grace and artistic feeling. 

The stole and maniple of the Durham cathedral library, which bear theinscription "Aelfled fieri precepit pio Episcopo Fridestano, " are ofthe most perfect style of Anglo-Saxon design; and the stitching of thesilk embroidery and of the gold grounding are of the utmost perfectionof needlework art (plates 71, 72). 

The history of this embroidery is carefully elucidated by Dr. Raine inhis "Saint Cuthbert. " He says that Frithestan was consecrated bishopin 905, by command of Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great. Aelfled was Edward the Second's queen. She ordered and gave anembroidered stole and maniple to Frithestan. After her death, and thatof Edward, and of the Bishop of Winchester, Athelstan, then king, madea progress to the north, and visiting the shrine of St. Cuthbert, atChester-le-Street, he bestowed on it many rich gifts, which aresolemnly enumerated in the MSS. Cott. Brit. Mus. Claud. D. Iv. Fol. 21-6. Among these are "one stole, with a maniple; one girdle, and twobracelets of gold. " That the stole and maniple are those worked forFrithestan by the command of his mother-in-law, Aelfled, may fairly besaid to be proved. These embroideries, worked with her name and therecord of her act, were taken from the body of St. Cuthbert in1827. [572]

 [Illustration: Pl. 73. St. Dunstan's Portrait of himself in adoration. From his Missal in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. ]

Another and earlier Aelfled was the widow of Brithnod, a famousNorthumbrian chieftain. She gave to the cathedral of Ely, where hisheadless body lay buried, a large cloth, or hanging, on which she hadembroidered the heroic deeds of her husband. She was the ancestress ofa race of embroiderers, and their pedigree will be found in theAppendix. [573] At this time a lady of the Queen of Scotland was famedfor her perfect skill in needlework, and the four daughters of Edwardthe Elder were likewise celebrated embroiderers. 

St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, is said to have designedneedlework for a noble and pious lady, Aedelwyrme, to execute in goldthread, A. D. 924. [574] He prepared and painted a drawing, and directedher work. [575] I here give the portrait of our celebrated earlydesigner from the MS. In the Bodleian Library at Oxford, said to beby his own hand, and which represents him kneeling at the feet of theSaviour (plate 73). 

Shortly before the Norman conquest, in the beginning of the eleventhcentury, we have notices of sundry other very remarkable pieces ofwork. 

The Danish Queen Emma, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy, when shewas wife to Ethelred the Unready, and again during her second marriageto Canute, gave the finest embroideries to various abbeys andmonasteries. Canute, being then a Christian, joined her in thesesplendid votive offerings. To Romsey and Croyland they gavealtar-cloths which had been embroidered by his first queen, Aelgitha, [576] and vestments covered with golden eagles. She workedone altar-cloth on shot blood-red and green silk, [577] with goldenorphreys at the side and across the top. When one considers what thelife of poor Queen Emma was, one hopes that "Art the Consoler" came toher in the form of her favourite craft, and that she did findconsolation in it. 

Croyland Abbey seems to have been most splendidly endowed by theAnglo-Saxon monarchs. There is continual mention in the records ofthose times of offerings of embroideries and other Church apparels. Queen Editha, the wife of the Confessor, dispensed beautiful worksfrom her own workrooms, and herself embroidered King Edward'scoronation mantle. 

When in the eleventh century the Normans became our masters, theyfound cathedrals, churches, and palaces which almost vied with theirown; likewise sculptures, illuminated books, embroidered hangings, and vestments of surpassing beauty. 

William of Poitou, Chaplain to William the Conqueror, [578] relatesthat the Normans were as much struck on the Conqueror's return intoNormandy with the splendid embroidered garments of the Saxon nobles, as with the beauty of the Saxon youth. Queen Matilda, who evidentlyappreciated Anglo-Saxon work, left in her will, to the Abbey of theHoly Trinity, "My tunic worked by Alderet's wife, and the mantle whichis in my chamber, to make a cope. Of my two golden girdles, I give theone which is adorned with emblems to suspend the lamp before the greataltar. "

I come now to the earliest large work remaining to us of theperiod--the Bayeux tapestry. We must claim it as English, both onaccount of the reputed worker, and the history it commemorates, thoughthe childish style of which it is a type is indeed inferior in everyway to the beautiful specimens which have been rescued from tombs inDurham, Worcester, and elsewhere. They seem hardly to belong to thesame period, so weak are the designs and the composition of thegroups. Though Mr. Rede Fowke gives the Abbé de la Rue's doubts as tothe accepted period of the Bayeux tapestry, which he assigns to theEmpress Matilda, he yet leans to other equally good authorities whoconsider the work as being coeval with the events it records. [579]

Mr. Collingwood Bruce is of the same opinion, and for thisreason--the furniture, buildings, &c. , are all of the eleventhcentury, and our ancestors were no archæologists, and always drew whatthey saw around them. Mr. Bruce fancies the design to be Italian, "because of the energetic action of the figures;" this seems hardlyjustified when we look at the simple poverty of the style. Miss A. Strickland suggests that the artist was perhaps Turold the Dwarf, whohas cunningly introduced his effigy and name. That the tapestry is notfound in any catalogue before 1369, is only a piece of presumptiveevidence against the earlier date, and cannot compete with theinternal evidence in its favour. On 227 feet of canvas-linen, twentyinches wide, are delineated the events of English history from thetime of Edward the Confessor to the landing of the Conqueror atHastings. The Bayeux tapestry is worked in worsted on linen; thedesign is perfectly flat and shadowless. The outlines are firmly drawnwith cords on thickly set stem-stitches. The surfaces are laid in flatstitch. Though coarsely worked, there is a certain "maestria" in theexecution. 

The word "orphrey" (English for auriphrigium or Phrygian goldembroidery) is first found in Domesday Book, where "Alvide the maiden"receives from Godric the Sheriff, for her life, half a hide of land, "If she might teach his daughters to make orphreys. "[580]

In the end of the eleventh century, Christina, Abbess of Markgate, worked a pair of sandals and three mitres of surpassing beauty, sentthrough the Abbot of St. Alban's to Pope Adrian IV. , who doubtlessvalued them the more because they came from his native England. [581]

 [Illustration: Pl. 74. English Patterns, chiefly from Strutt's "Royal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England. " 1. 1066. 2. 1092. 3. 1100. 4. 1171. 5. 1171. 6. 1189. 7. 1189. 8. 1361. 9, 10. 1377. 11. 1399. 12. 1422. 13. 1426. 14. 1440. 15. 1445. 16. 1416. 17. 1445. 18. 1477. 19. 1530. 20. 1272. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 75. 1. Panel of a Screen in Hornby Church. Painted fifteenth century. 2. Dress pattern from painted glass. St. Michael's Church, York. Fourteenth century. 3. A portion of the material of the Towneley Copes. Fifteenth century. ]

Of the twelfth century (1170) we have the robes and mitres of Thomasà Becket at Sens; and another mitre of the period, white and gold, isin the museum at Munich, with his martyrdom embroidered on one side, and that of St. Stephen on the other. The gold needlework is soperfect that it resembles weaving. It is recorded that a splendiddress was embroidered in London for Elinor of Aquitaine, which cost£80, equal to £1400 of the value of to-day. [582]

Rock ("Church of our Fathers, " t. Ii. P. 279) truly says that it isshown by plentiful records and written documents, from the days of St. Osmond to the time of Henry VIII. , that the materials employed inEnglish ecclesiastical embroideries were the best that could be foundin our own country or in far-off lands, and the art bestowed on themwas the best we could learn and give. Various fabrics came fromByzantine or Saracenic looms, which are described as damasked, rayed, marbled, &c. The few surviving specimens fully justify the admirationbestowed on them throughout Christendom. 

Matthew Paris, in the reign of Henry III. , says that Innocent III. (1246), seeing certain copes and infulæ with desirable orphreys, wasinformed they were English work. He exclaimed, "Surely England is agarden of delight! In sooth this is a well inexhaustible! And wherethere is so much abundance, from thence much may be extracted!"[583]

From the Conquest to the Reformation the catalogues of Churchvestments which are to be found in the libraries of York, Lincoln, andPeterborough, show the luxury of ecclesiastical decoration. In Lincolnalone there were upwards of 600 vestments wrought with divers kinds ofneedlework, jewellery, and gold, upon "Indian baudichyn, " samite, tartarin, velvet, and silk. Even in reading the dry descriptions of acommon inventory, we are amazed by the lists of "orphreys of goodlyneedlework, " copes embroidered with armorial bearings, and knightsjousting, lions fighting, and amices "barred with amethysts andpearls, &c. &c. " The few I have named will give an idea of theaccumulation of riches in the churches, and the gorgeousness ofEnglish embroideries. [584]

I have collected from Strutt's "Illustrations"[585] and other sourcesa number of patterns for domestic hangings, copied from MSS. Ofcontemporary dates, covering about 400 years, from the time of Haroldto Edward IV. The hangings may have been more effective than appearsat first sight, if the materials were rich and enlivened with gold. Igive two textile designs which in their style are peculiarly English(plates 74, 75). 

Now we enter on the age of romance and chivalry, when all domesticdecorations began to assume greater refinement. Carpets from the Eastcovered the rushes strewn on the floors, and splendid tents werebrought home by crusading knights; and the decorative arts of northernEurope were once more permeated with Oriental taste and design. 

We know that in the so-called "days of chivalry, " i. E. From theConquest till the beginning of Henry VIII. 's reign, needlework was theoccupation of the women left in their castles, while the men were awayfighting for the cross, for the king, for their liberties, or forbooty. 

This period included the Crusades, the Wars of the Roses, wars withFrance, and rebellions at home; and yet there was a taste for art, luxury, and show spreading everywhere. [586]

The women were expected to provide, with their looms and theirneedles, the heraldic surcoats, the scarves and banners, and themantles for state occasions. [587] They also worked the hangings forthe hall and chapel, and adorned the altars and the priests'vestments. Alas! time, taste, and the moth have shared in thedestruction of these gauds. The taste for the "baroc" is a newacquisition; no one cared for what was old, merely because it was old. The rich replaced their hangings and their clothes when they becameshabby; the poor let them go to pieces, and probably burned the oldstuff and the embroideries for the sake of the gold thread, which wasof intrinsic value. But both in prose and poetry we read descriptionsof beautiful works in the loom, or on the frame, executed by fairladies for the gallant knights whose lives and prowess these poemshave preserved to us. I will give one quotation from that of Emare, in Ritson's collection: "Her mantle was wroughte by a faire Paynim, the Amarayle's daughter. " This occupied her seven long years. In eachcorner is depicted a pair of lovers, "Sir Tristram and Iseult--SirAmadis and Ydoine, &c. , &c. These pictures were adorned with preciousstones. " The figures were portrayed--

 "With stonès bright and pure, With carbuncle and sapphire, Kalsèdonys and onyx clere, Sette in golde newe; Diamondes and rubies, And other stones of mychel pryse. "

The lady who owns this mantle is herself great in "workes ofbroderie. "

From the Conquest to the Wars of the Roses, England may claim to havegradually acquired a higher place in art. Our architecture, sculpture, manuscripts, and paintings were not surpassed on the Continent:witness Queen Eleanor's crosses, and her tomb in Westminster Abbey;and the portrait of Richard II. , surrounded by saints and angels, atWilton House, [588] a picture which, preceding Fra Beato Angelico'sworks by at least a quarter of a century, yet suggests his style, refined drawing, and tender colouring. All who saw the frescoes foundin the Chapel at Eton College when it was restored, will remembertheir extreme beauty, and regret that they were effaced, instead ofbeing preserved and restored. They were a lesson in what English artwas in the end of the thirteenth, during the fourteenth, and into thebeginning of the fifteenth centuries. 

During the Wars of the Roses, when a duke of the blood-royal is saidto have begged his bread in the streets of the rich Flemish towns, ladies of rank, more fortunate, were able to earn theirs by the workof their needle. [589]

The monuments of the eleventh and twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenthcenturies, are our best authorities for the embroideries then worn. The surcoat of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral is anoteworthy example. The sculptured effigy on the tomb over which it issuspended is absolutely clothed in the same surcoat, with the sameaccidents of embroidery, as if it had been modelled from it. 

In Worcester, when the archæologists opened King John's tomb in 1797, they found him in the same dress and attitude as that portrayed on therecumbent statue. [590] Dress was then extravagantly expensive, andembroidered dresses were worn with borders richly set with preciousstones and pearls. 

The Librate Roll of Henry III. Gives us a list of embroiderers' names:Alain de Basinge, Adam de Bakeryne, John de Colonia, &c. ; and in thewardrobe accompts of Richard II. , William Sanstoune and Robert deAshmede are called the "Broudatores Domini Regis. " These may havebeen the artists to whom the orders were delivered, for in the LibrateRoll of Henry III. We find Adam de Baskeryne receiving 6_s. _ 8_d. _ fora "cloth of silk, and fringe, purchased by our commands to embroider acertain chasuble which Mabilia of St. Edmunds made for us. " There werecertainly then purveyors and masters of the craft. Stephen Vigner, inthe fourteenth century, is so warmly commended by the Duke of Berriand Auvergne to Edward III. , that Richard II. Appointed him his chiefembroiderer, and Henry IV. Pensioned him for his skilful services. 

John Garland, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, is a goodauthority for the use by our women of small hand-looms. In these theywove, in flax or silk (often mixed with gold), the "cingulæ" or"blode-bendes" so often mentioned, supposed to be gifts betweenfriends for binding the arm, when blood-letting was so much in fashionthat the operation was allowed to assume a certain air of coquetry. But the idea suggests itself that this was oftener the gift of thefair weaver to her favoured lover, to fold round his arm as a scarf inbattle or tourney, to be ready in case it was needed for binding up awound, and had possibly served as a snood to bind her own fair hair. There is an account of a specimen of this kind of weaving by M. Léopold Delisle. [591] He describes the attachment of a seal to a grantfrom Richard Cœur de Lion to Richard Hommet and Gille his wife, preserved in the archives of the Abbey of Aunai, in the department ofCalvados. He considers it to be either French or English, and says itwas a "lac d'amour, " or "tie of love, " cut up to serve its presentpurpose. It is woven with an inscription in white on a ground ofgreen, backed with pale blue, and the material is silk. The wovenlegend is thus translated from the old French--"Let him perish whowould part us. "

 [Illustration: Opus Anglicanum, XIII. Century British Museum]

The term "opus Anglicanum" is first recorded in the thirteenthcentury, and is supposed simply to mean "English work. " But there isalso good authority for its having been applied, on the Continentespecially, to a particular style of stitchery, of which the Syon copein the Kensington Museum is the best preserved great example known. Its peculiarity consists in its fine split-stitch being moulded so asto give the effect of a bas-relief; and this appears to have beengenerally reserved for the medallions representing sacred subjects, and especially employed in modelling the faces and the nude parts ofthe figures delineated. The effect of this work has often beendestroyed, as time has frayed and discoloured the parts that areraised, exhibiting the canvas ground, reversing the high lights, andcausing dark spots in their stead. This reversal of the intendedeffect is an additional practical argument for the flatness ofembroidery. [592]

From the Librate Roll of Henry III. One can form an estimate of thevalue of the "opus Anglicanum" in its day. [593] In 1241 the king gavePeter de Agua Blanca a mitre so worked, costing £82. This would be, according to the present value, £230. 

The finest specimens of this English work are to be found on theContinent, or have been returned from it. [594] They had either beengifts to popes or bishops before the Reformation, or they had beensold at that time of general persecution and pillage. Among the mostremarkable are the pluvial (called) of St. Silvester at Rome, theDaroca pluvial at Madrid, the great pluvial at Bologna, and the Syoncope, of which I have already spoken. The general idea and prevailingdesign of these three great works are so singular, and yet so alike, that they must have issued from the same workshop, and that wascertainly English. 

In the Daroca cope the cherubim, with their feet on wheels, which arepeculiar to English design, and the angels (in the vacant spacesbetween the framed subjects from the life of our Lord) have theirwings carefully done in chain split-stitch representing peacocks'feathers, of which the silken eyes are stitched in circles, and thenraised with an iron by pressure, so as to catch a light and throw ashadow. The ground is entirely English gold-laid work. This cope, somarkedly national in design and stitches, probably drifted to theContinent at the time of the Reformation. [595]

 [Illustration: Pl. 77. Characteristic English Parsemé Patterns for Ecclesiastical Embroideries. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 78. Dunstable Pall. Property of the Vicar of Dunstable _ex officio_. ]

A wonderfully preserved specimen of the "opus Anglicanum, " of which aphotogravure is here given, was lately presented by Mr. Franks to theMediæval Department of the British Museum (plate 76). In this may beseen most of the characteristics of this work in the thirteenthcentury; such as the angels with peacock feather wings, moulded by hotirons; the features of all the figures similarly manipulated; thebeautiful gold groundwork, which in this instance is covered withdouble-headed eagles; and lastly, the fashion of the beard on the faceof our Lord and of all the men delineated--the upper lip and round themouth being invariably shaven; whereas, in Continental work, thebeard is allowed to grow into the moustache, closely surrounding themouth. There are other peculiarities belonging to English design--suchas the angels rising between the shrine-work on the pillars out of aflame or cloud pattern, and the pillars very often formed of twinedstems bearing vine-leaves or else oak-leaves and acorns. Thecompartments which frame the groups, when they are not placed inniches, are usually variations of the intersected circle and square. Plate 77 shows the cherubim which from the thirteenth to the sixteenthcenturies are found on English ecclesiastical embroideries--also thevase of lilies (emblematic of the Virgin), and the Gothic flowerswhich are so commonly _parsemé_ over our mediæval altar frontals andvestments. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 26. ]

It appears that in the reign of Edward III. The people ingeniouslyevaded the penalties against the excess of luxury in dress, by wearingsomething that looked as gay, but was less expensive than theforbidden materials; and which did not come under the letter of thelaw. They invented a spurious kind of embroidery which was, perhaps, partly painted (such examples are recorded). In the 2nd Henry VI. (1422) it was enacted that all such work should be forfeited to theking. The accusation was that "divers persons belonging to the craftof Brouderie make divers works of Brouderie of insufficient stuffe andunduly wroughte with gold and silver of Cyprus, and gold of Lucca, andSpanish laton (or tin); and that they sell these at the fairs ofStereberg, Oxford, and Salisbury, to the great deceit of our SovereignLord and all his people. " In those days any dishonest work or materialwas illegal and punishable. [596]

This was, in fact, a protectionist measure in favour of the charteredembroiderers, and gave them a slight taste of the advantages ofprotection. For a time it was doubtless useful in keeping up thestandard of national work. Then followed further measures for thebenefit of the established monopolies. First, a statute in 1453 (HenryVI. ), forbidding the importation of foreign embroideries for fiveyears. This is re-enacted under Edward IV. , Richard III. , and HenryVII. ; and was partially repealed in the 3rd and 5th George III. Whilewe are on this subject, we may remark that in 1707, the importation ofembroidery was forbidden to the East India Company, and we closed ourports to all manufactured Indian goods. The only artistic trade _now_protected is that of the silversmith; no plate from foreign workshopsbeing permitted to enter England--not even do we allow Indian plate tocome in, except under certain conditions. This may be the reason thatour own plate is so very bad in design and execution, for want ofcompetition and example. 

Protection is always more or less fatal to art. The Wars of the Roseshad injured our own best schools, and we needed refined imported ideasto raise our standard once again. Perhaps, since embroidery had becomea regular industry, our markets were overstocked by home productionswhich were outrivalled by the works from the Continent, and it wasdistress that caused the plea for protection. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 79. Pall of the Vintners' Company (sixteenth century). ]

It is fair to say that some of the English works of that time, ofwhich we have specimens, are as good as possible. In the Dunstablepall, for instance, the figures of which are perfectly drawn andbeautifully executed, the style is excellent and pure English (plate78). The pall itself is of Florentine crimson velvet and gold brocade, with the little loops of gold drawn through the velvet, showing theloom from whence it came. The white satin border carries theembroidery. It is a more perfect specimen of the later fourteenthcentury work than the famous pall of the Fishmongers' Company, whichshows the impress of the Flemish taste, which was at its perfection inthe fifteenth. The style reminds us of that of the fine tapestriesfrom the St. Mary's Hall, Coventry, of which the subject is King HenryVI. And Cardinal Beaufort praying. The Vintners' Company's pall isalso very fine (plate 79). 

 [Illustration: Henry VII. 's Cope from Stoneyhurst]

Of the time of Henry VII. We have the celebrated cope of Stoneyhurst, woven in Florence, of a gold tissue, the design raised in crimsonvelvet. It is without seam, and the composition which covers the wholesurface is the crown of England lying on the portcullis; and the Tudorrose fills up the space with a magnificent scroll. The design isevidently English, as well as the embroidery, which is, however, muchrestored[597] (plate 80). 

This is one of the "whole suite of vestments and copes of cloth ofgold tissue wrought with our badges of red roses and portcullises, thewhich we of late caused to be made at Florence in Italy . . . Which ourking, Henry VII. , in his will bequeathed to God and St. Peter, and tothe Abbot and Prior of our Monastery at Westminster, "[598] which weredesigned for him by Torrigiano. 

From the portraits of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries we canjudge of the prevailing taste in dress embroideries of that period, which consisted mostly of delicate patterns of gold or silver on theborders of dresses, and the linen collars and sleeves. Of this style Igive a small sampler, from Lord Middleton's collection. We have a goodmany specimens of the work of these centuries, both ecclesiastical andsecular. They had still a Gothic stamp, which totally disappeared inthe beginning of the sixteenth century in the new style of theRenaissance. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 27. Sampler, from Lord Middleton's collection. Time, Henry VIII. ]

The next great change throughout northern Europe affecting all theconditions of life, most especially in England, was caused by theReformation, which swept away both the art and the artist of theGothic era. The monasteries which had fostered painting, illumination, and embroidery, and the arts which had been so passionately devoted tothe Church, were doomed. George Gifford, writing to Cromwell of thesuppression of a religious house at Woolstrope, in Lincolnshire, afterpraising that establishment says, "There is not one religious personthere, but what _can_ and _doth_ use either embrotheryng, wrytingbookes with a fayre hand, making garments, karvynge, &c. "[599]

In the general clearance the churches and shrines were swept, thoughnever again garnished, and the survivals have to be painfully soughtfor, and are so few that a short catalogue will tell them all. 

The greater part of the fine embroideries which escaped the"iconoclastic rage" of the Reformation, and the final sweep of thePuritans, are to be seen now in the houses and chapels of the oldRoman Catholic families, who have either preserved or collected them;also in the museums of our cathedrals, and spread about the Continent. For instance, at Sens are the vestments of Thomas à Becket, and atValencia, in Spain, there are yet in the chapter-house a chasuble andtwo dalmatics, brought from London by two merchants of Valencia, whosenames are preserved--Andrew and Pedro de Medina. They purchased themat the sale of the Roman Catholic ornaments of Westminster Abbey inthe time of Henry VIII. They are embroidered in gold, and representscenes from the life of our Lord. The background of one is arepresentation of the Tower of London. 

In 1520 was held the famous tournament of the Field of the Cloth ofGold. [600] Here came all England's chivalry surrounding their splendidyoung king; followed by squires and men-at-arms, and carrying withthem tents, banners, and hangings covered with devices and mottoes. Their own dresses, of rich materials and adorned with embroidery (aswell as the housings of their horses), vied in ingenuity and splendourwith those of the still more luxurious court and following of FrancisI. , the French king. The tradesmen and workmen and workwomen inEngland were driven crazy in their efforts to carry out the ideas andcommands of their employers. It is recorded that several committedsuicide in their despair. It was worse than the miseries caused by aCourt Drawing-Room now. Ingenuity in devices was the order of the day. Francis and his "Partners of Challenge" illustrated one sentimentalmotto throughout the three days' tourney. The first day they wereapparelled in purple satin, "broched" with gold, and covered withblack-ravens' feathers, buckled into a circle. The first syllable of"corbyn" (a raven) is _cor_, a "hart" (heart). A feather in French is_pennac_. "And so it stode. " The feather in a circle was endless, and"betokened sothe fastnesse. " Then was the device "Hart fastened inpain endlesse. "

The next day the "Hardy Kings" met armed at all points. The Frenchking and his followers were arrayed in purple satin, broched with goldand purple velvet, embroidered with little rolls of white satin, onwhich was written "Quando;" all the rest was powdered with the letterL--"Quando Elle" (when she). The third day the motto was laboriouslybrought to a conclusion. Francis appeared dressed in purple velvetembroidered with little white open books; "Liber" being a book, themotto on it was, "A me. " These books were connected with worked bluechains; thus we have the whole motto: "Hart, fastened in painendlesse, when she delivereth me not of bondes. " Could painfulingenuity go further? On the English side we have similar devices. Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the bridegroom of the Dowager Queen ofFrance, Henry's sister, was clothed on one side in cloth of frise(grey woollen), on which appeared embroidered in gold the motto, --

 "Cloth of frise, be not too bold That thou be match'd with cloth of gold. "

This parti-coloured garment was on the other side of gold, with themotto, --

 "Cloth of gold, do not despise That thou be match'd with cloth of frise. "

Besides mottoes, cyphers and monograms were the fashion, embroideredwith heraldic devices. These particulars we find in Hall's account ofthe tournament, with a detailed description of the golden tent inwhich the monarchs met, and which gave its name ever after to theplain near Guisnes, where the jousts were held. What we read of itsconstruction recalls the Alexandrian erections, of which I have spokenalready, as well as their hangings and embroideries. 

 [Illustration: Pl. 81. English Specimens of Spanish Work. Time of Henry VIII. Lord Middleton's Collection. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 82. English Specimen. Spanish Work. Henry VIII. Louisa, Lady Waterford's Collection. ]

Incrustations of pearls and precious stones gave a dazzling brilliancyto the tent, divided into many rooms, and adapted to the climate ofthe north. It covered a space of 328 feet. Hall describes the tent, the jousts, and the splendid apparel belonging to this last chapter ofthe magnificence of chivalry. Brewer remarks that magnificence was, inthose days, often supposed to be synonymous with magnanimity (at anyrate, it was erected into a royal virtue). "The Mediæval Age, " hesays, "had gathered up its departing energies for this last display ofits favourite pastime, henceforth to be consigned without regret tothe mouldering lodges of the past. "[601]

We cannot say how much of French taste was imported from this meetingof French and English luxury. The spirit of the Renaissance, freshfrom Italy, was reigning in France, but we had also in Italy our ownemissaries. John of Padua was probably only one of many Englishmen whotravelled to learn and improve themselves in their special crafts. 

Catherine of Aragon introduced the Spanish taste in embroidery, whichwas then white or black silk and gold "lace stitches" on fine linen(plate 81). This went by the name of "Spanish work, " and continued tobe the fashion down to and through the reign of Mary Tudor, whoremained faithful to the traditions of her mother's and hergrandmother's work[602] (plate 82). Catherine of Aragon had learnedher craft from her mother, Queen Isabella, who always made herhusband's shirts. To make and adorn a shirt was then an artistic feat, not unworthy of a queen. Isabella instituted trials of needleworkamongst her ladies. In the days of her disgrace and solitude, Catherine turned to her embroidery for solace and occupation. She cameforth to meet the Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio with a skein of redsilk round her neck. [603] Taylor, the water poet, says, --

 "Virtuously, Although a queen, her days did pass In working with her needle curiously. "

At Silbergh Castle, in Westmoreland, was a counterpane and toiletembroidered by Queen Catherine. 

Anne of Cleves brought with her the taste for Flemish and GermanRenaissance designs; and all the cushion stitches were in vogue. TheRenaissance borders for dress were mostly worked in gold on colouredsilk on the linen collars and cuffs. Holbein's and other contemporaryportraits illustrate this peculiarity of the costumes of the time. Thewomen's head-dresses also carried much fine, beautifully designed, anddelicate work. 

In the reign of Henry VIII. Fine hangings were worked and woven inEngland; the royal inventories give us an idea to what extent. Cardinal Wolsey's walls were covered with splendid embroideries, besides the suites of tapestries still adorning the hall at HamptonCourt. One room was hung with embroidered cloth of gold. 

Mary Tudor, as I have said, was Spanish in all her tastes, and wehave lists of her "smocks" all worked in Spanish stitches, black andgold, or black silk only. [604] This taste, following the politicaltendencies of the time, entirely disappeared under Elizabeth. Itsurvives, however, in peasant dress in the Low Countries. 

Queen Elizabeth spent much of her time in needlework. She herself hadreceived the education of a man, as well as her cousin, Lady JaneGrey; and doubtless many women were taught at that time Greek andLatin, and to study philosophy, mathematics, and the science of music, as a training for serious life. Elizabeth studied and embroidered too;at any rate, she stood godmother to many pieces of embroidery, whichare to be seen still in the houses she visited or occupied. 

While at Ashridge, and afterwards as a prisoner at Hatfield, she soemployed herself; and among the specimens of work of the sixteenthcentury exhibited at South Kensington in 1873, were her shoes and cap, worked in purl, a semainière in the same stitch, also cushion-coversin divers cushion stitches, and a portmonnaie in exquisitely finesatin-stitch; all of which articles, and many more, were left by herat Ashridge when she was hurried away in the dead of night toHatfield. [605]

The character of the Renaissance of the sixteenth century, justreleased from the trammels of Gothic traditions, was somewhat lawlessin England, being unchastened by the classical element which entirelycontrolled the movement in Italy. 

The queen's dress soon departed from the severe simplicity which sheat first affected, and every part of her costume was covered withflowers, fruit, and symbolical designs; while serpents, crowns, chains, roses, eyes and ears crowded the surfaces of the finematerials of her dresses. These symbolical designs were rich withoutgrace, and ingenious rather than artistic, although their workmanshipwas perfect. In Louisa, Lady Waterford's collection we find a jacketfor a slight girl's figure, of white linen, covered with flowers, fruit, and berries, all carried out in satin and lace stitches. Thereare butterflies with their wings disengaged from the ground; podsbursting open and showing the round seeds or peas; caterpillarsstuffed and raised; all these astonish us by their quaint perfection, and shock us by their naturalistic crudeness of design, and the utterwant of beauty or taste in the whole effect. The impression left onthe mind is, how dear it must have cost the pocket of the purchaserand the eyes of the workers. There are, however, exceptions to thesedefective poor designs; and in the same collection is a cushion-coverworked in gold and silver plate, purl and silk, on a red satin ground, which is as good as possible in every respect, and is purely Englishin style. The stitches and materials are most refined and varied. Purl, which was a newly made material imported from Italy and Germany, was then in much vogue, and we have seen a few fine specimens of it, that have been imitated from the Italian cinque-cento raised andstuffed needlework, which are very curious and almost verybeautiful, --only one feels that the same effect could have beenproduced by simpler means. This work is characteristic of the reignsof Henry VIII. , Elizabeth, and James I. We have needlework of anothermost unhappy queen of this date. Poor Mary, Queen of Scots, tried tosoften Elizabeth's heart towards her prisoner by little gifts of herown embroideries. [606]

We have no account of the cause of the incorporation of theEmbroiderers' Company by Queen Elizabeth, [607] in the third year ofher reign, Oct. 25th, 1561, confirmed by James II. , April 12th, 1686, which is still a London guild. It received the lions of England as aspecial favour. The arms are thus blazoned: "Palée of six argent andazure on a fess gules, between three lions of England pass. Gardantor. Three broches in saltire between as many trundles (i. E. Quills ofgold thread), or. Crest: on a wreath a heart; the holy dove displayedargent, radiated or. Supporters: two lions or (guttée de sang). Motto:'Omnia Desuper. ' Hall, 20, Gutter Lane. " There were branches, incorporated and bearing the arms, at Bristol and Chester, in 1780. (See Appendix. )

 [Illustration: Fig. 28. Arms of Embroiderers' Guild. ]

In the reign of James I. It was the fashion to do portraits inneedlework, stitched flat or raised. Some are artistic in design andexecution, but they are mostly ridiculously bad. 

The East India Company was founded in 1560, under Elizabeth, andobtained the monopoly of the Anglo-Indian trade, under Cromwell, in1634. This would have been the moment for encouraging a freshimportation of Oriental taste into our degenerate art. Cromwell's ownservice of plate was scratched over ("graffito") with a childish andweak semi-Indian, semi-Chinese design; and we must accept this astypical of the artistic Oriental knowledge of that day. Grafted on thestyle of James I. , it shows, however, that Indian ideas were creepingin and sought for, if not understood in high places, under theauspices of the East India Company. Needlework alone was excluded fromall benefit. From that date, for 150 years, Indian manufactureswere imported, _with the exception of embroidery_, which wascontraband by the ancient statutes. This accounts for our faint andignorant imitations of Indian work, and the extreme rarity of the truespecimens to be met with in England, unless of a later period. 

 [Illustration: Cushion cover Temp. Queen Elizabeth XVI. Century]

But our Aryan instincts have always led our English tastes towardsconventional naturalism. Although we have lost the rules andtraditions which converted natural objects into patterns, we arecontinually, in our style, leaning and groping in their direction, andtwining flowers, those of the field by preference, intosemi-conventional garlands and posies. 

In the seventeenth century, when James I. Was king, protection haddone its worst. The style of work called "embroidery on the stamp" wasthen the fashion. This sort of work in Italy continued to be artistic, but the English specimens that have survived from this reign aremostly very ugly. Continental art had ceased to influence us, and badtaste reigned supreme, except in our architecture, which hadcrystallized into a picturesque style of our own called "James I. , "and was the outcome of the last Gothic of Henry VIII. And the Italianstyle of Edward VI. And Elizabeth. But the carvings of that phase ofarchitecture were semi-barbarous. Nothing could have been poorer thantheir composition, or coarser than their execution, and the needleworkof the day followed suit. Infinite trouble and ingenuity were wastedon looking-glass frames, picture frames, and caskets worked in purl, gold, and silver. The subjects were ambitious Solomon and the Queen ofSheba, and James and Anne of Denmark, [608] and other historicalfigures were stuffed with cotton or wool, and raised into highrelief; and then dressed and "garnished" with pearls; the faces eitherin painted satin or fine satin stitch; the hair and wigs in purl orcomplicated knotting. Windsor Castle as a background for King Jamesand King Solomon alike, pointed the clumsy allegory, and the lion ofEngland gambolling in the foreground, amid flowers and coats-of-arms, filled up the composition. 

The drawing and design were childish, and show us how high art can ina century or less slip back into no art at all. Any one comparing theDunstable or the Fishmongers' pall with one of the best caskets ofthis period would say that the latter should have preceded the formerby centuries. In James I. 's time, ignorance of all rules ofcomposition was added to the absence of any sort of style. [609] I givethe illustrations of the time of James I. Plate 83 is a cushion fromHatfield House, rich and rather foolish, with tiny men filling in thecorners left vacant by large flowers, caterpillars, &c. 

Charles I. Gave a raised embroidered cope to the Chapter of Durham, ofthis description of work. [610]

 [Illustration: Pl. 84. English embroidered curtain (James I. ), at Cockayne Hatley, Beds. ]

 [Illustration: Pl. 85. Embroidered Hangings. Crewels on Linen. Hardwicke Hall. ]

The other fashionable work of that day had its merits. It was thecustom to embroider hangings or linen in crewels. Considering howoften in this book and my preceding lectures I have said that thisstyle of work was common (even in the early days of Egypt andAssyria), it may well be said, when was it _not_ the fashion? and Imust answer, "only since the days of Queen Anne. " It seems as ifbefore that time our designs for work were partially influenced by thefine Indian specimens which had surreptitiously crept into England. Some of these are very cleverly executed. Huge conventional trees growfrom a green strip of earth carrying every variety of leaf and flowerdone in many stitches. The individual leaf or flower is often verybeautiful. On the bank below, small deer and lions disport themselves, and birds twice their size perch on the branches (plate 84). [611] Buteven where the work is finest, the incongruities are too annoying. Themodern excuse for it, "that it is quaint, " does not reconcile us toits extravagant effect. To be quaint in art is, as I have said before, to be funny without intending it; and these curtains are funny bytheir absence of all intention or perspective, and when hung theymake everything in the room look disproportionate to the unnaturalsize of the foliage. (Plate 85. ) Specimens of this work are to befound in most English country houses. It has lasted till now, partlybecause the crewels first manufactured in the sixteenth century wereof an excellent quality, and secondly, because there was no gold tomake it worth any one's while to destroy them; so the old hangingswent up into the attics in all the disgrace of shabbiness, and havecome down again as family relics. Even the moths have been deprived oftheir prey, by these curtains having served for the beds of thehousehold, so that they have been kept for their nearly 300 years ofexistence, aired and dusted. Much of this work has been recovered fromfarmhouses and cottages in tolerable preservation. In many cases theflowers have survived the stout linen grounds on which they wereworked. The Royal School of Needlework has often been commissioned torestore and transfer the crewel trees on to a new backing. Thehangings and the curtains I have described, prevailed from the end ofElizabeth's reign to that of Queen Anne, and gradually deteriorated. The stitches, of which the variety at first was infinite, had givenplace to a coarse uniform stem stitch--"gobble stitch. " The materialsalso were of inferior quality, and less durable, so that the latestspecimens are in general in the worst condition. 

It is remarkable how little the beautiful Continental work influencedour English school. We were enjoying perfect protection, and wereclumsily taking advantage of our security from all competition. In theItalian palaces this was the moment of the finest secular embroideriesin satin stitches, gold and silver, and "inlaid" and "onlaid"appliqués. Likewise in Spain and Portugal the Oriental work, especially that executed at Goa, filled the palaces and the conventswith gorgeous hangings, carpets, table-covers, and bed furniture. Wefeel it painful to contrast with these our own shortcomings in art, and our faded glories. 

The fact is, that, owing to our art-killing protectionist laws, embroidery had the misfortune to be treated at that time as textilemanufacture, and not as art at all. 

In the reign of William and Mary, Dutch taste had naturally beenbrought to the front. [612] This included Japanese art, or imitationsof it, and also had something of late Spanish. The Georges broughtinto England, and naturalized a rather heavy work, in gold andsilver--the design being decidedly a German "Louis Quatorze"--richlystitched and heavily fringed, and much employed on court dresses andon state furniture. We have seen royal beds and court suits which showvery little difference in style. It does not appear that this wasworked by ladies. It has, somehow, a professional look. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 29. Part of James II. 's Coronation Dress. From an old Print. ]

Occasionally, however, we meet with pieces of exceptionally beautifulwork of the end of the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenthcenturies. The style is the most refined Louis Quatorze, but the workis actually English. The white satin coverlets belonging to theMarquis of Bath and the Duke of Leeds are not to be exceeded indelicacy and splendour. The embroidered dresses of the Duke andDuchess of Buckingham, in Westminster Abbey (early eighteenthcentury) are of this description. 

From Queen Anne to George III. , a great deal of furniture was coveredwith the different cushion stitches, either in geometrical orkaleidoscope patterns, or else displaying groups of flowers orfigures, quaint and sometimes pretty. These designs are generally, however, wanting in grace, and their German feeling shows them to bethe precursors of the Berlin wool patterns. 

When the crewel-work hangings ceased to be the fashion, home work tookanother direction. All the ladies imitated Indian dimity patterns, onmuslin, in coloured silks or thread, with the tambour-frame andneedle;[613] but in 1707 the "Broiderers' Company, " we presume, foundthat the Indian manufactures were engrossing the market, and a freshstatute was obtained, forbidding the importation from India of anywrought material. This cruel prohibition carried its own punishment. The Indian trade was ours, and we might have adapted and assimilatedthe Indian taste for design. We might have brought over men and womengreat in their most ancient craft, and so produced the most splendidIndo-English School. The Portuguese at least sent out their own silksand satins to be worked at Goa; _we_ threw away our chance, and signedthe death-warrant of our art. 

About the middle of the last century, several ladies, notably MissLinwood, Miss Moritt, of Rokeby, and Mrs. Delany, copied pictures inworsteds. Some of these are wonderfully clever and even very pretty, but they are rather a painful effort of pictorial art underdifficulties, than legitimate embroideries. These pictures would haveserved the purpose of decoration better as medallions in the centresof arabesque panels, than framed and glazed in imitation of oilpaintings. Some of the followers of this school produced works thatare shocking to all artistic sense, especially as seen now, when themoths have spoiled them. They can only be classed with such abortiveattempts at decoration as glass cases filled with decayed stuffedbirds, and vases of faded and broken wax flowers. 

I may record with praise the efforts of Mrs. Pawsey, [614] a lady whostarted a school of needlework at Aylesbury. She was patronized byQueen Charlotte; and for her she worked the beautiful bed at HamptonCourt, of purple satin, with wreaths of flowers in crewels touched upwith silk, which look as if they might have been copied from theflower-pieces of a Dutch master. The execution is very fine, andreminds one of the best French work of the same period. Mrs. Pawseytaught and helped ladies to embroider in silk and chenille, as well ascrewels, and in many country houses we can recognize specimens of herstyle; usually on screens worked in silk and chenille, with bunches offlowers in vases or baskets, artistically designed. 

This was our last attempt at excellence, immediately followed by thetotal collapse of our decorative needlework, and the advent of theBerlin wool patterns. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

A postscript to this chapter will perhaps be acceptable to those whohave taken an interest in the "History of English Embroidery, " and whowill therefore care to know about the revival which has filled so manyworkshops with what is now called "Art Needlework. "

There was a public demand for something better than the worstedpatterns in the trade, and the Royal School of Art Needlework rose andtried to respond to that call by stimulating original ideas anddesigns, and imitating old ones in conformity with modernrequirements. The difficulties to be overcome were at first verygreat. The old stitches had all to be learned and then taught, and thebest methods to be selected; the proper materials had to be studiedand obtained--sometimes they had to be manufactured. Lastly, beautifultints had to be dyed; avoiding, as much as possible, the gaudy and theevanescent. 

The project of such a school was first conceived in the autumn of1872. 

Lady Welby, herself an accomplished embroideress, had the courage toface all the difficulties of such an undertaking. A small apartmentwas hired in Sloane Street, and Mrs. Dolby, who was already anauthority on ecclesiastical work, gave her help. Twenty young ladieswere selected, and several friends joined heartily in fostering themovement. 

H. R. H. The Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein gave her name asPresident, and her active co-operation. [615]

The school grew so fast, that for want of space for the work-frames, it had to remove into a larger house, No. 31, Sloane Street, andfinally in the year 1875 it found its present home in Exhibition Road, when the Queen became its Patron. In 1878 the Association wasincorporated under the Board of Trade, with a Managing and a FinanceCommittee, and a salaried manager to overlook the whole concern. 

From 100 to 150 ladies at a time have there received employment. Theirclaims were poverty, gentle birth, and sufficient capacity to enablethem to support themselves and be educated to teach others. 

Branch schools have been started throughout the United Kingdom and inAmerica. [616]

The education of the school has been much assisted by the easy accessto the fine collections of ancient embroideries in the KensingtonMuseum, and by the loan exhibition of old artistic work, which wasthere organized in 1875, at the suggestion of H. R. H. The President;and since then there have been three very interesting loan exhibitionsin the rooms of the Royal School. 

It was, indeed, necessary that the acting members should availthemselves of every means of instruction, in order to fit themselvesfor the task they had undertaken. They were expected at once to becompetent to judge all old work, to name its style and date, and evensometimes its market value. They were to be able to repair and add toall old work; to know and teach every stitch, ancient and modern; andproduce designs for any period, Gothic, Renaissance, Elizabethan, James I. , or Queen Anne; besides contemporary European work, --alldifferent, and each requiring separate study. 

Some important works have been produced which will illustrate what hasbeen said:--

 1. A suite of window curtains for her Majesty, at Windsor (style, nineteenth century; sunflowers). 

 2. Curtains for a drawing-room for the Duchess of Buccleuch: crimson velvet and gold appliqué (Louis Quatorze). 

 3. Curtain for Louisa, Lady Ashburton: coloured silk embroidery on white satin (Venetian, sixteenth century). 

 4. Curtain, also for Louisa, Lady Ashburton: brown velvet and gold appliqué (_Italian_). 

 5. Dado for the Hon. Mrs. Percy Wyndham: linen and crewels. Peacocks and vines (_Mediæval_). 

 6. Furnishings and hangings for state bedroom for Countess Cowper, Panshanger: crimson satin, embroidered and coloured silks (_Chinese_). 

 7. Curtains for music gallery for Mr. Arthur Balfour: blue silk, appliqué, velvet, and gold (_Italian_). 

The earnest attempt to produce an artistic school of embroidery metwith recognition and help from the highest authorities. Sir F. Leighton granted permission for appeals to his judgment. Mr. BurneJones, Mr. Morris, Mr. Walter Crane, and Mr. Wade gave originaldesigns. 

We cannot guess whether the taste which has sprung up again sosuddenly will last. Perhaps its catholicity may prolong itspopularity, and something absolutely new in style may be evolved, which shall revive the credit of the "opus Anglicanum. " Of one thingwe may be sure--that it is inherent in the nature of Englishwomen toemploy their fingers. And the busy as well as the ignorant need aguide to the principles of design, as well as the technical details ofthe art of embroidery. This should be supplied by the Royal School ofArt Needlework, which by inculcating careful drawing, by reviving oldtraditions and criticizing fresh ideas, becomes a guarantee for theimprovement of domestic decorative design. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [555] "The people of Babylon, the Accadians, had a written literature and a civilization superior to that of the conquering Assyrians, who borrowed their art of writing, and probably their culture, which may have been the centre and starting-point of the western civilization of Asia, and therefore the origin of our own. Accadian civilization was anterior to that of the Phœnicians and the Greeks, and is now received in these later years as the original form, and become again the heritage of mankind. It has been said that Assyrian art was destitute of originality, and to that of the Accadians, which they adopted, we ourselves owe our first customs and ideas. Four thousand years ago these people possessed a culture which in many of its details resembles that of our country and time. "--"Assyrian Life and History, " p. 66, by M. Harkness and Stuart Poole. 

 [556] "The arts of spinning and the manufacture of linen were introduced into Europe and drifted into Britain in the Neolithic Age. They have been preserved with but little variation from that period down to the present day in certain remote parts of Europe, and have only been superseded in modern times by the complicated machinery so familiar to us. . . . The spindle and distaff are proved by the perforated spindle-whorls, made of stone, pottery, or bone, commonly met with in Neolithic habitations or tombs. The thread is proved, by discoveries in the Swiss lakes, to have been made of flax; and the combs that have been found for pushing the threads of the warp on the weft show that it was woven into linen on some sort of loom. "--Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain, " p. 275. 

 [557] I am aware that the presence of the Phœnicians (or Carthaginians) on our coasts has been disputed; but I think that the evidence of the Etruscan ornaments I have mentioned gives more than probability to the truth of Pliny's account of the expedition of Himilco from Gades, 500 B. C. By some he is supposed to have been a contemporary of Hanno, and of the third century B. C. There is some confusion in the imperfect record of the voyage; but it is difficult to interpret it otherwise than that he touched at several points north of Gaul. (See Boyd Dawkins' "Early Man in Britain, " pp. 457-461; see also Perrot and Chipiez, "L'Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, " t. Iii. ; "Phénicie et Cypre, " p. 48. ) For a contrary opinion, see Elton's "Origins of English History. " Elton ascribes the first knowledge of the British islands to the voyage of Pytheas in the fourth century B. C. ; he acknowledges that the geography of Britain was well known to the Greeks in the time of Alexander the Great. We owe to Pliny and Strabo the few fragments from Pytheas that have been rescued from oblivion, and to Pliny the notices of Himilco. (See Bouillet's "Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie. ")

 [558] See Rock's Introduction to "Textile Fabrics, " p. Xii. 

 [559] I give the following amusing tradition, which was probably founded on the celebrity of the English pearl embroidery of the Anglo-Saxon times, of which much went to Rome:--

 "Then Cæsar, like a conqueror, with a great number of prisoners sailed into France, and so to Rome, where after his return out of Brytaine, hee consecrated to Venus a surcote of Brytaine pearles, the desire whereof partly moved him to invade this country. "--(Stow's "Annales, " p. 14, ed. 1634. ) Tacitus, in the Agricola 12, says that British pearls are grey and livid. 

 [560] See Rock's Introduction to "Textile Fabrics, " p. Xii. 

 [561] These are the poor results of the Roman invasion and neglect of Britain during their occupation. The second invasion of Britain by the Romans, under Claudius, was caused by the squabbles between the chiefs of the different tribes. Comnenus, the prince of the Atrebates, was at war with the sons of Cunobelinus (Cymbeline). He took his grievances to Rome, and the Roman legions were despatched to settle the matter, and to dazzle the world by the echoes rather than the facts of the triumphant victories in the land of the "wintry pole. " Claudius marched with elephants clad in mail, and bearing turrets filled with slingers and bowmen, accompanied by Belgic pikemen and Batavians from the islands in the Rhine, A. D. 44. The dress of Claudius on his return from Britain was purple, with an ivory sceptre and crown of gold oak leaves. One officer alone was entitled to wear a tunic embroidered with golden palms, in token of a former victory. The Celts, the Gauls, the Gaels, the Picts, the Scots, and the Saxons, --all crowded and settled in Britain when the Romans left it in 410, after nearly four hundred years of misgovernment. (See Elton's "Origins of English History, " pp. 306-308. )

 [562] Semper, "Der Stil, " pp. 133, 134. See Louis Viardot, "Des Origines Traditionnelles de la Peinture en Italie" (Paris, 1840), p. 53, note. Also see "Les Ducs de Bourgogne, " part ii. Vol. Ii. P. 243, No. 4092. Muratori was born in 1672; and he says the Empress Helena's work was in existence in the beginning of the eighteenth century. (See p. 316, _ante_. )

 [563] When St. Augustine (546) came to preach to the Anglo-Saxons, he had a banner, fastened to a cross, carried before him, on which was embroidered the image of our Lord. (See Mrs. Lawrence's "Woman in England, " pp. 296, 297. ) Probably this was Roman work. 

 [564] Quoted by Mrs. Lawrence, "Woman in England, " p. 49, from one of Adhelme's Latin poems. Adhelme, Bishop of Sherborne, died in 709, having been thirty years a bishop. He wrote Latin poems, of which the most important, in praise of virginity, is in the Lambeth Library, No. 200. The MS. Contains his portrait. See Strutt's "English Dresses, " ed. Planché. 

 [565] An Anglo-Saxon lady named Aedelswitha, living near Whitby, in the sixth century, collected a number of girls and taught them to produce admirable embroideries for the benefit of the monastery. (See Rock's "Church of our Fathers, " p. 273; also his Introduction to "Textiles, " p. Xxvii. ) Bock speaks of Hrothgar's tapestries, embroidered with gold, of the thirteenth century. See Appendix 8. But the earliest English tapestry I have seen is that in York Minster, in which are inwoven the arms of Scrope, 1390. Wright says of the Anglo-Saxon women, "In their chamber, besides spinning and weaving, the ladies were employed in needlework and embroidery, and the Saxon ladies were so skilful in this art, that their works were celebrated on the Continent. "--"History of Manners in England during the Middle Ages, " by Thomas Wright, p. 52. 

 [566] See Mrs. Lawrence's "Woman in England, " i. P. 296-7. 

 [567] See Rock's "Church of our Fathers, " ii. P. 272, quoting Th. Stubbs. "Acta Pontif. Th. Ed. Twysden, " 1. Ii. P. 1699; also Bock's "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. P. 212, and p. 325 _ante_. 

 [568] Appendix 9. 

 [569] This could hardly have been intended originally for an ecclesiastical purpose. It sounds as if it were a stray fragment from Græco-Roman art, rather than a survival of the classical legend employed as a pretty motive for decoration. Wiglaf's veil is named by Ingulphus. See Strutt's "English Dresses, " pp. 3, 7. See also "Historia Eliensis, " l. 2, ed. Stewart, p. 183. 

 [570] See Rock's "Textile Fabrics, " p. Xxi. ; also for Council of Cloveshoe, see his "Church of Our Fathers, " p. 14. 

 [571] The Benedictines drained the marshes of Lincolnshire and Somersetshire to employ the poor in the eighth century. St. Bennet travelled to France and Italy, and brought back from his seven journeys cunning artificers in _glass_ and stone, besides costly books and copies of the Scriptures, in order (as is expressly said by Bede) that the ignorant might learn from them, as others learned from books. See Mrs. Jameson's "Legends of the Monastic Orders, " pp. 56, 57. 

 [572] See Raine's "St. Cuthbert, " pp. 50-209. Mr. Raine describes it as being "of woven gold, with spaces left vacant for needlework embroidery. " Beautifully drawn majestic figures stand in niches on rainbow-coloured clouds, and the effect is that of an illumination of the ninth century. The style is rather Greek or Byzantine than Anglo-Saxon. For further notices of St. Cuthbert's relics, see chapter on Materials, _ante_; also see Rock's "Introduction, " p. Cxvii. 

 [573] Appendix 10. 

 [574] See "Calendar of the Anglican Church, " by J. H. Parker (1851): "St. Dunstan was not only a patron of the useful and fine arts, but also a great proficient in them himself; and his almost contemporary biographers speak of him as a poet, painter, and musician, and so skilled a worker in metals that he made many of the church vessels in use at Glastonbury. "

 [575] See Rock's "Church of our Fathers, " p. 270. 

 [576] Strutt's "English Dresses, " p. 70, quoted from Ingulphus' "History of Croyland Abbey. "

 [577] Shot, or iridescent materials, were then and had been some time manufactured at Tinnis in Egypt, a city now effaced. It was called "bouqualemoun, " and employed for dresses and hangings for the Khalifs. See Schefer's "Relations du Voyage de Nassiri Khosrau, " p. Cxi. The original was written in the middle of the eleventh century. 

 [578] See Duchêsne's "Historiæ Normanorum. " Fol. Paris, 1519. 

 [579] Queen Matilda was not the originator of the idea that a hero's deeds might be recorded by his wife's needle. Penelope wove the deeds of Ulysses on her loom, and it is suggested by Aristarchus that her peplos served as an historical document for Homer's "Iliad. " See Rossignol's "Les Artistes Homériques, " pp. 72, 73, cited by Louis de Ronchaud in his "La Tapisserie, " p. 32. Gudrun, like the Homeric woman, embroidered the history of Siegfried and his ancestors, and Aelfled that of the achievements of her husband, Duke Brithnod. The Saga of Charlemagne is said to have been embroidered on twenty-six ells of linen, and hung in a church in Iceland. 

 [580] Domesday ed. Record Commission, under head of Roberte de Oilgi, in co. Buckingham. See also another entry under Wilts, where "Leivede" is spoken of as working auriphrigium for King Edward and his Queen. 

 [581] Canon Jackson, writing of embroidery, says: "That this was cared for in the great monasteries at this early date appears from a MS. Register of Glastonbury Abbey in the possession of the Marquis of Bath. It is called the Liber Henrici de Soliaco, and gives an account of the affairs of that abbey in A. D. 1189 (Richard I. ). " There was a special official whose business it was to provide the monastery with church ornaments generally, and specially with "aurifrigium, " or gold embroidery, on vestments. For this a house and land, with an annual allowance of food, was set apart. Another tenant also held some land, to which was attached the obligation to find a "worker in gold. "--Letter from Canon Jackson to the Author. 

 [582] See Mrs. Lawrence's "Woman in England, " vol. I. P. 360. She quotes an entry from Madox, a sum of £80 (equal to £1400 of to-day) for an embroidered robe for the Queen, paid by the Sheriffs of London. 

 [583] Matthew Paris, "Vit. Abb. St. Albani. " p. 46; Rock, "Church of our Fathers, " vol ii. P. 278. 

 [584] See Mrs. Dolby's Introduction to "Church Vestments. "

 [585] Strutt's "Royal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England, " ed. Mdcclxxiii. 

 [586] Though the work was domestic, the materials came from the East and the South; and while the woven gold of Sicily and Spain was merely base metal on gilded parchment, our laws were directed to the preservation of pure metals for textile purposes. 

 [587] Matthew Paris, "Hist. Angl. , " p. 473, ed. Paris, 1644. See Hartshorne's "Mediæval Embroideries, " pp. 23, 24. 

 [588] The reproduction by the Arundel Society of this picture will familiarize those who care for English art with what is, perhaps, its finest example, next to the crosses of Queen Eleanor. It has been erroneously attributed to Van Eyk, but it is undoubtedly English. That its art is contemporary with the time of Richard II. , is shown by the design and motives of the woven materials and embroidery in which the king and his attendant saints are clothed. They remind us of the piece of silk in the Kensington Museum, into which are woven (probably in Sicilian looms) the cognizance of the King's grandfather, the sun with rays; that of his mother Joan, the white hart; and his own, his dog Math. This is a good example of the value of an individual pattern. It helps us to affix dates to other specimens of similar style. 

 [589] See Miss Strickland's mention of the Countess of Oxford in her "Life of Queen Elizabeth of York, " p. 46. 

 [590] From the fragments found, it appeared that King John's mantle was of a strong red silk. Till lately, when it was effaced by being completely gilt, the mantle on the recumbent effigy was of a bright red, bordered with gold and gems. See Greene's "Worcester, " p. 3, quoted in the "Report of the Archæological Association of Worcester, " p. 53. 

 [591] "Notice sur les Attaches d'un Sceau, " par M. Léopold Delisle (Paris, 1854); and also Rock's Introduction to "Textile Fabrics, " p. Xxii. 

 [592] The opus Anglicanum often included borders and orphreys set with jewellers' work (or its imitation, worked in gold thread), gems, and pearls. 

 [593] Edward III. Had from William de Courtenay an embroidered garment, "inwrought with pelicans, images, and tabernacles of gold. The tabernacles were like niches, with pinnacles and roofs. "

 [594] Bock, "Liturgische Gewänder, " i. P. 211, says there is a piece of opus Anglicanum in the treasury of Aix-la-Chapelle, called the Cope of Leo III. 

 [595] For further notice of the "opus Anglicanum, " see chapter (_ante_) on ecclesiastical embroideries. 

 [596] Appendix 11. 

 [597] The orphreys are probably not the original work. 

 [598] "Testamenta Vetusta, " ed. Nicholas, t. I. P. 33. 

 [599] Woolstrope, Lincolnshire. Collier's "Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, " v. P. 3 (ed. Lothbury). This proves that the monks sometimes plied the needle. 

 [600] See Hall's "Union of the Houses of York and Lancaster, " pp. Lxxv-lxxxiii. 

 [601] See Brewer's "Reign of Henry VIII. , " vol. I. Pp. 347-376. 

 [602] In the Public Record Office is an inventory of Lord Monteagle's property, 1523 A. D. ; amongst other things, is named a piece of Spanish work, "eight partletts garnished with gold and black silk work. " This Spanish work is rare, but the description reminds us of a specimen belonging to Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford (Plate 82)--a square of linen, worked with ostriches, turkeys, and eagles in gold and black silk stitches. See Mrs. Palliser's "History of Lace, " pp. 6, 12. 

 [603] Quoted from Cavendish by Miss Strickland, "Queens of England, " iv. P. 132. 

 [604] "The invalid queen, in her moments of convalescence, soothed her cares and miseries at the embroidery frame. Many specimens of her needlework were extant in the reign of James I. , and are thus celebrated by Taylor, the poet of the needle:--

 "'Mary here the sceptre sway'd; And though she were no queen of mighty power, Her memory will never be decay'd, Nor yet her works forgotten. In the Tower, In Windsor Castle, and in Hampton Court, -- In that most pompous room called Paradise, -- Whoever pleases thither to resort, May see some works of hers of wondrous price. Her greatness held it no disreputation To hold the needle in her royal hand, Which was a good example to our nation To banish idleness throughout the land. And thus this queen in wisdom thought it fit; The needle's work pleased her, and she graced it. '

 "According to Taylor, Mary finished the splendid and elaborate tapestry begun by her mother. "--Miss Strickland's "Life of Mary Tudor, " v. P. 417. 

 [605] "After the action at D'Arbre de Guise, Elizabeth (of England) sent to Henri IV. A scarf embroidered by her own hand. 'Monsieur mon bon frère, ' wrote the queen, 'its value is naught in comparison to the dignity of the personage for whom it is destined; but I supplicate you to hide its defects under the wings of your good charity, and to accept my little present in remembrance of me. '"--"Henri IV. , " by Miss Freer, p. 311. 

 [606] In the year 1683 the Marchese Luca Casimiero degl' Albizzi visited England, and his travels were recorded in manuscript by Dr. A. Forzoni. At Windsor he observed over a chimney-piece a finely wrought piece of embroidery--"un educazione di fanciulli"--by the hands of Mary Queen of Scots. --Loftie's "History of Old London;" also article on "Royal Picture Galleries, " by George Scharf, p. 361 (1867). 

 [607] "The Company of the Embroiderers can make appear by their worthy and famous pieces of art that they have been of ancient use and eminence, as is to be seen in divers places at this day; but in the matter of their incorporation, it hath relation to the fourth year of Queen Elizabeth. "--Stow's "Survey of London and Westminster, " part ii. P. 216; also see Edmonson's "Heraldry, " vol. I. (1780). "The Keepers, Wardens, and Company of the Broiderie of London. . . . 2 keepers and 40 assistants, and the livery consists of 115 members. They have a small but convenient hall in Gutter Lane. "--Maitland's "History of London, " book iii. P. 602. 

 [608] The fashion of this work began much earlier, for we find in the inventory of "St. James's House, nigh Westminster, " 1549: "42 Item. A table wherein is a man holding a sword in his one hand and a sceptre in his other hand of needlework, partly garnished with seed pearl" (p. 307). 

 [609] The merit or blame of this rounded padded work (a caricature of the raised embroidery of the opus Anglicanum) is often erroneously awarded to the "nuns of Little Gidding. " The earliest specimens we know of this "embroidery on the stamp" are German. At Coire in the Grisons, at Zurich (see chapter on ecclesiastical art), and in the National Museum at Munich are some very beautiful examples. The Italians also executed elaborate little pictures in this manner; but I cannot praise it however refined in execution or beautiful the design. I have seen no English specimens that are not beneath criticism; they are only funny. 

 [610] In the Calendar of the State Papers Office (Domestic, Charles I. , vol. Clxix. P. 12), Mrs. H. Senior sues the Earl of Thomond for £200 per annum, her pay for teaching his daughter needlework. Mrs. Hutchinson, in her Memoir, says she had eight tutors when she was seven years old, and one of them taught her needlework. This shows how highly this accomplishment was still considered in the days of Charles I. And the Commonwealth. Later, Evelyn speaks of the "new bed of Charles II. 's queen, the embroidery of which cost £3000" (Evelyn's Memoirs, January 24, 1687). Evelyn says of his own daughter Susanna, who married William Draper: "She had a peculiar talent in designe, as painting in oil and miniature, and an extraordinary genius for whatever hands can do with a needle. " See Evelyn's "Memoirs, " April 27, 1693; also see Mrs. Palliser's "History of Lace, " pp. 7, 8. 

 [611] The tree-pattern, already common in the latter days of Elizabeth, reappeared on a dress worn by the Duchess of Queensberry, and described by Mrs. Delany; she says, "A white satin embroidered at the bottom with brown hills, covered with all sorts of weeds, and with a brown stump, broken and worked in chenille, and garlanded nasturtiums, honeysuckles, periwinkles, convolvuluses, and weeds, many of the leaves finished with gold. " Mrs. Delany does not appreciate this ancient pattern. 

 [612] Queen Mary only knotted fringes. Bishop Burnett says: "It was strange to see a queen work so many hours a day. " Sir E. Sedley, in his epigram on the "Royal Knotter, " says, --

 "Who, when she rides in coach abroad, Is always knotting threads. "

 Probably it was the fashion, as Madame de Maintenon always worked during her drives with the king, which doubtless prevented her dying of _ennui_!

 [613] I quote from the _Spectator_, No. 606: "Let no virgin receive her lover, except in a suit of her own embroidery. "

 [614] Her style was really legitimate to the art. It was flower-painting with the needle. Miss Moritt copied both figures and landscapes, with wonderful taste and knowledge of drawing. Miss Linwood's and Mrs. Delany's productions are justly celebrated as _tours de force_, but they caused the downfall of the art by leading it on the wrong track. 

 [615] Lord Houghton alludes to H. R. H. 's patronage of the revival of embroidery in his paraphrase of the "Story of Arachne, " p. 238, _ante_. 

 [616] "Opposed to the 'utility stitches' are the art needlework schools that have branched out in many directions from New York. . . . The impulse that led to their formation was derived from South Kensington (England), and affords a striking instance of the ramifications of an organization. "--_Atlantic Monthly_ ("Women in Organization"), Sept. , 1880. 

FINIS. 

APPENDICES. 

APPENDIX I. , TO PAGE 105. 

_By Ch. T. Newton. _

Though the embroidered and richly decorated textile fabrics of theancients have perished, all but a few scraps, we may form some idea ofthe richness and variety of Greek female attire from the evidence ofthe inventories of dedicated articles of dress which have beenpreserved for us in Greek inscriptions. 

In the Acropolis at Athens have been found a number of fragments ofmarble on which are inscribed lists of various female garmentsdedicated, for the most part, in the Temple of Artemis Brauronia, inthe Archonship of Lykurgos, B. C. 338-35. These articles were thuscarefully registered because they formed part of the treasuresdedicated to the gods of the Acropolis, which it was the duty of thestate to guard, and to commit to the custody of officers speciallyselected for that duty. One of these fragments is in the ElginCollection at the British Museum, and has been published by Mr. Hicksin the "Collection of Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the BritishMuseum, " Part 1, No 34; and the entire series has since been given tothe world in the "Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum" of the Academy ofBerlin, ii. , Part 2. , Nos. 751-65. 

The material of these garments seems to have been either linen or finewoollen; the colours white, purple, or some shade of red, mostly usedas a border or in stripes; or a shade of green, the tint of which isdescribed as "frog colour, " saffron, or sea-green. 

The borders and patterns noted remind us of those represented on thegarments of figures in vase pictures, such as the embattled border, the wave pattern, and certain patterns in rectangular compartments. Agroup of Dionysos pouring out a libation while a female serves himwith wine, and a row of animals, are also noted among the ornaments. 

The inscription, "Sacred to Artemis, " woven into the fabric of thegarment, occurs twice. Gold, as an ornament fixed on the dress, ismentioned in these entries. It is noted that some of these dressesserved to deck the statue of the goddess herself. Most of the garmentsare the _chiton_ or tunic, flowing to the feet; the _chitoniskos_, ashorter and more ornamental garment worn over it; and the mantle, _himation_. Pieces of cloth or rags are also mentioned among theentries; these were probably the remnants of cast-off garmentsdedicated by their wearers. Some of the dresses are described asembroidered with the needle. 

In the worship of the Artemis Brauronia, certain Athenian girlsbetween the ages of five and ten were solemnly dedicated to thegoddess every five years. In publishing the inventory in the BritishMuseum already referred to, Mr. Hicks remarks, "It may have been thecustom sometimes to dedicate to the goddess the garments worn bychildren at their presentation, just as we know that the garments inwhich persons had been initiated at the Greater Eleusinia were worn bythem until threadbare, and then dedicated to some god. If so, thenumber of children's clothes mentioned in our inventory is easilyexplained. Or were these the clothes of children cut off by Artemis ininfancy, such as bereaved mothers nowadays often treasure for years, having no temple wherein to dedicate them?" Mr. Hicks further remarksthat it was usual for the bride before marriage to dedicate her girdleto Artemis; and at Athens the garments of women who died in childbirthwere likewise in like manner so dedicated. It is probably on accountof such dedications that Artemis was styled Chitonè--the goddess ofthe _chiton_. 

Another list of vestments is preserved in an inscription found atSamos, and published by Carl Curtius in his "Inschriften u. Studienzur Geschichte von Samos, " pp. 17-21. The garments in this list werededicated to the goddess Herè (Juno) in her celebrated temple atSamos. The entries relate chiefly to articles of female attire, butsome few are dedicated to the god Hermes. Some of these articles weredoubtless worn by the deities themselves on festive occasions, whentheir statues were decked out. The toilet, _kosmos_, of goddesses wassuperintended by a priestess specially chosen for that purpose. Shewas called _kosmeteira_, or "Mistress of the Robes. "

In the Samian list of garments, those which are embroidered orornamented with gold are specially noted. Some of the tunics aredescribed as Lydian. Curtains or hangings are also mentioned in thislist. These must have been used to ornament the interior of thetemple, or to screen off the statue of the goddess on the days whenshe was withdrawn from the gaze of the profane. Such hangings were, probably, a main cause of the conflagrations by which Greek templeswere from time to time destroyed in spite of the solidity of theirwalls. 

APPENDIX II. , TO PAGE 210. 

In the Castle of Moritzburg, built by Augustus the Strong, Elector ofSaxony and King of Poland, is a quaint apartment, on the walls ofwhich are hung rugs of feather-work, of which the borders are adornedwith set patterns of fruit and flowers, and the colouring is as softas a Gobelins tapestry. The feathers are woven tightly into the warp, in the same manner as the tufts are set in a velvety carpet; forming asurface as delicate as silk to the touch. There are four high-backedchairs covered with the same work in smaller patterns. But what isespecially remarkable is an immense canopy, like that of a state bed, with urn-shaped ornaments of stiff feathers at the corners; and apretty bell-shaped fringe of scarlet feathers. The same ornament edgeda large rug like those on the wall, thrown over what at first appearedto be a bed; but on examination it was found to be a rough woodenplatform, said to be the throne of Montezuma. The story is thatAugustus the Strong went to Spain incognito at the age of eighteen, insearch of adventures, and distinguished himself at a bull-fight. Whenthe king (Charles II. ) heard the name of the young hero, he gave him ahospitable reception, and afterwards sent these Mexican treasures tohim as a token of friendship. 

APPENDIX III. , TO PAGE 237. 

_Story of Arachne, abridged by Earl Cowper from Ovid's Metamorphoses. _

 Arachne's tale of grief is full: Her father was of low degree; No thought beyond his crimson'd wool, His daughter and his wife had he. 

 The wife had fill'd an early tomb, The daughter lived--and all the land Of Lydia boasted of her loom, Her needle, and her dexterous hand. 

 To watch her task the nymphs repair From fair Timolus' vine-clad hill; They deem the work divinely fair, The maid when working fairer still. 

 The softness of the fleecy ball, By skilful fingers taught to flow In lengthening lines--they watch'd it all-- And round and round the spindle go. 

 Wondering, they view the rich design: Ah, luckless gift! ah, foolish pride! 'Twas Pallas taught the art divine, But this the haughty maid denied. 

 "Me taught, " she cried, "by Pallas! Me By Pallas! Let the goddess first Accept my challenge. Then, should she Surpass me, let her do her worst. "

 Vain, impious words! The goddess came In likeness of an ancient crone, With grizzled locks and tottering frame, And spoke with warning in her tone. 

 "Though matchless in thine art, " she cried, "Though first of mortals, tempt not fate. Age makes me wise. Thou hast defied A goddess. It is not too late. "

 The unhappy maid, with madness blind, Replied, and scarce restrain'd the blow. "'Tis plain, old woman, that your mind Is drivelling to address me so. 

 "Some daughter or some slave may want Your counsel. Let her but appear, This mighty Pallas whom you vaunt!" The goddess answer'd, "She is here. "

 She spoke, and lo! that ancient crone Was young and fair, and tall and proud: --The nymphs fell prostrate. She alone-- Arachne--neither shrank nor bow'd. 

 One blush quick came and pass'd away, Hovering as clouds, when night is done, Grow rosy at the dawn of day, Then whiten with the rising sun. 

 She did not shrink--she did not pause-- But headlong to destruction ran; And thus the strife ordain'd to cause Such dark calamity began. 

 Each for the contest takes her stand-- The goddess here, the mortal there-- And each proceeds with skilful hand The means of victory to prepare. 

 The beam each loom supports full well, And to the loom the warp is tied; Nor will I now forget to tell The reed that doth the warp divide. 

 The woof the shuttle in doth bring, The nimble fingers guide its way; And still from either work-frame ring The blows inflicted by the slay. 

 Each to her bosom binds her vest: The arms of each, quick moving, feel No sense of toil, no need of rest, For weariness is quench'd by zeal. 

 And all the gorgeous tints of Tyre In varying shades are mingled there; And every hue the sun's bright fire Can kindle in the showery air, --

 When the wide rainbow spans the sky; The bow whose colours, in the end So different, yet so like when nigh, In harmony's own concord blend, --

 And precious threads of glittering gold Enrich the growing web. But say! What ancient tale by each was told? What legend of an earlier day?

 Pallas her well-known triumph drew; The gods assembled in their force, And Neptune with his trident, too, Exulting in the fiery horse, --

 Which from the rock he made to bound: But she herself, more deeply wise, A greater blessing from the ground The olive brought, and gain'd the prize. 

 The border of this main design With Rhodope's sad tale was set; And all who dared the gods divine To rival--and the fate they met. 

 Meanwhile Arachne wove the wool: The web with many a picture shone. She drew Europa with her bull, And Leda with her snow-white swan. 

 Deois with her snake display'd, And Danäe with her shower of gold; And many a tale besides the maid, Had fate permitted, would have told. 

 But the dread goddess now no more To check her rising envy strove; The half-completed task she tore, And all the pictured crimes of Jove. 

 The shuttle thrice the air did rend, Thrice did the heaven-directed blow Full on Arachne's head descend, And made her purple blood to flow. 

 Arachne's soul was proud and high: She drew a cruel cord around Her tender neck--and, driven to die, Was from a beam suspended found. 

 Her death the unpitying goddess stay'd; "Henceforth, vain fool! for such a crime For ever shall thou hang, " she said; "A warning to the end of time. "

 In scorn she spoke, and over all Her rival's face and form she smear'd A deadly drug. The head grew small, And each fair feature disappear'd. 

 And off the beauteous tresses fell; The tender waist that was so slim, In loathly sort was seen to swell, Shrivell'd and shrank each comely limb. 

 The spider's fingers still remain To spin for ever. --We may vie With fellow mortals, but 'tis vain To struggle with the gods on high. 

 _January, 1885. _ COWPER. 

APPENDIX IV. , TO PAGE 318. 

_Extract from "History of Christian Art. " By Lord Lindsay. Vol. I. Pp. 136-139. _

"But perhaps the noblest testimony to the revival under the Comneni isafforded by the designs on the Dalmatic or sacerdotal robe, commonlystyled 'Di Papa San Leone, ' preserved in the sacristy of St. Peter's--said to have been embroidered at Constantinople for thecoronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West, but fixed by Germancriticism as a production of the twelfth, or the early part of thethirteenth century. The Emperors wore it ever after, when serving asdeacons at the Pope's altar during their coronation-mass. You willthink little of it at first sight, and lay it aside as a piece ofdarned and faded tapestry, yet I would stake on it, alone, thereputation of Byzantine art. And you must recollect, too, thatembroidery is but a poor substitute for the informing hand and thelightning stroke of genius. 

It is a large robe of stiff brocade, falling in broad and unbrokenfolds in front and behind, --broad and deep enough for the Goliath-likestature and the Herculean chest of Charlemagne himself. On the breast, the Saviour is represented in glory, on the back the Transfiguration, and on the two shoulders Christ administering the Eucharist to theApostles. 

The composition on the breast is an amplification of No. V. (as aboveenumerated) of the Personal traditional compositions. --In the centreof a golden circle of glory, 'Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and theLife, ' robed in white, with the youthful and beardless face, his eyesdirectly looking into yours, sits upon the rainbow, his feet restingon the winged wheels[617] of Ezekiel, his left hand holding an openbook, inscribed with the invitation, 'Come, ye blessed of MyFather, '--his right raised in benediction. At the four corners of thecircular glory, resting on them, half within it, half without, floatthe emblems of the four Evangelists; the Virgin and the Baptist standto the right and left of our Saviour, the Baptist without, the Virginentirely within the glory, the only figure that is so placed; she issweet in feature and graceful in attitude, in her long white robe. 

Above Our Saviour's head, and from the top of the golden circle, risesthe Cross, with the crown of thorns suspended upon it, the spearresting on one side, the reed with the sponge on the other, and thesun and moon looking down upon it from the sky. 

The heavenly host and the company of the blessed form a circle ofadoration around this central glory; angels occupying the upper part, emperors, patriarchs, monks and nuns the lower; at the extremity, onthe left side, appears Mary Magdalen, in her penitence--a thinemaciated figure, imperfectly clothed, and with dishevelled hair. 

In the corners, below this grand composition, appear, to the right, St. John the Baptist, holding the cross, and pointing upwards to OurSaviour; to the left, Abraham seated, a child on his lap, and restinghis hand on another by his side. 

The background and scene of the whole composition is of blue, torepresent heaven, --studded with stars, shaped like the Greek cross. 

The Transfiguration, which corresponds to this subject on the back ofthe robe, is the traditional composition, only varied by the unusualshape of the vesica piscis which encloses Our Saviour. The twocompositions representing the Institution of the Eucharist, on theshoulders, are better executed and more original. In each of them, OurSaviour, a stiff but majestic figure, stands behind the altar, onwhich are deposited a chalice and a paten or basket containing crossedwafers. He gives, in the one case, the cup to St. Paul, in the otherthe bread to St. Peter, --they do not kneel, but bend reverently toreceive it; five other disciples await their turn in eachinstance, --all are standing. 

I do not apprehend your being disappointed with the 'Dalmatica di SanLeone, ' or your dissenting from my conclusion, that a master, aMichael Angelo I might almost say, then flourished at Byzantium. 

It was in this Dalmatic--then _semée_ all over with pearls andglittering in freshness--that Cola di Rienzi robed himself over hisarmour in the sacristy of St. Peter's, and thence ascended to thePalace of the Popes, after the manner of the Cæsars, with soundingtrumpets and his horsemen following him--his truncheon in his hand andhis crown on his head--'terribile e fantastico, ' as his biographerdescribes him--to wait upon the legate. [618]"

FOOTNOTES:

 [617] In the 'Manual of Dionysius, ' recently published by M. Didron (p. 71, &c. ), these winged wheels are interpreted as signifying the order of angels commonly distinguished as Thrones. Their interpretation as the Covenants of the Law and Gospel, sanctioned by St. Gregory the Great in his Homilies, is certainly more sublime and instructive. 

 [618] Cited from the original life, printed in Muratori's 'Antiquit. Ital. Medii Ævi, ' tom. Viii. , by M. Sulpice Boisserée, in his essay, 'Ueber die Kaiser-Dalmatica, ' &c. 

APPENDIX V. , TO PAGE 320. 

The Hon. And Rev. Ignatius Clifford has permitted me to make extractsfrom his "Memoranda of some remarkable Specimens of Ancient ChurchEmbroidery. " First on his list is the Cope now in the possession ofColonel Butler Bowden, of Pleasington, near Blackburn, Lancashire. Igive his account of the mutilated condition, from which he has madehis beautifully drawn restoration. "Formerly, " he says, "portions ofthis cope, some made up into chasuble, stole, maniple, and some scrapsdetached, were at Mount St. Mary's College, Spink Hill, nearChesterfield, Derbyshire. "

The well-known architect, the late Augustus Welby Pugin, having seenthem (or at least the chasuble), wrote on the 20th April, 1849, to theRector of the College, "I found it to be of English work of the timeof Edward I. , and have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be the mostinteresting and beautiful specimen of church embroidery I have everseen. "

Other portions of the cope had been made up into an altar-frontal, andwere in the possession of Henry Bowden, Esq. , of Southgate House, Derbyshire, some four or five miles from the college. 

The ground is crimson velvet. The designs are wrought in gold, silver, silk, and seed pearls. The silks are worked in chain, or rather insplit stitch. It contains between seventy and eighty figures. 

Only two small fragments remain of the quasi-hood. 

In the orphrey are kings, queens, archbishops, and bishops. In thebody of the cope are the Annunciation--Adoration of the Magi--Our Ladyenthroned at the right of her Divine Son. _Lowest row_ of singlefigures--St. Simon, St. Jude, St. James, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Barnabas, St. Matthew, St. Philip, St. James, St. Bartholomew. _Middle row_--St. Edward the Confessor--a Bishop--St. Margaret, St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist, St. Catherine, an Archbishop, St. Edmund king and martyr. _Top row_--St. Lawrence, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Martha (or St. Helen?), St. Stephen. In the intervals, angels seated on faldstool thrones, and bearingstars; also two popinjays. 

Mr. Clifford describes the Steeple Aston Cope. The ground is of arichly ribbed faded silk. The design worked in gold and silks isenclosed in quatrefoils of oak and ivy. The Syon Cope he refers toRock's "Textile Fabrics. " See Appendix. 

The Dalmatic from Anagni, exhibited at Rome in 1870, he thinks isprobably English. 

The Pluvial in the Basilica of St. John Lateran at Rome, he speaks ofas "having much the appearance of the celebrated Opus Anglicanum. "

He describes the subjects embroidered on it thus: "No border round thecurved edge. The orphrey is divided into tabernacles containing anarchbishop, two bishops, and three kings and queens. Between thetabernacles are four angels, each accompanied by one of theevangelistic symbols. The body of the cope is cut into a mostelaborate system of tabernacles, with a centre compartment of adifferent form for the group of the Crucifixion. The subjects arechiefly from the life of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin. The smallquasi-hood is embroidered with two wyverns or griffin-like creatures. The pelican and the phœnix are introduced over the top centralgroup of the enthronement of our Lady. "

Mr. Clifford gives the history of the Cope of Pius II. (BartolomeoPiccolomini, "Æneas Silvius") fifteenth century. It is a masterpieceof Italian embroidery of the early Renaissance. The material was goldbrocade, covered with wonderful designs carried out in needlework, representing saints and angels, trees and birds, and arabesques. Thewhole was adorned with pearls and precious stones valued at £80, 000. At his death the pope bequeathed this vestment to the cathedral of hisnative town. The cope was stolen in March, 1884, from the treasury atPienza; and shortly afterwards discovered in the shop of a dealer inantiquities at Florence, but completely stripped of its preciousstones and of some of its more valuable embroidery. After magisterialinvestigation, the cope was restored to Pienza. 

The cope at Bologna is thus described: "Subjects from the NewTestament contained in two rows of tabernacle compartments, twelve inlower, seven in upper row. Spandrils occupied by angels playing onvarious musical instruments. After each row, a border containingmedallions with heads (of angels, prophets, &c. ), twenty-three inlower, nine in upper row. No orphrey; no border or outside curve;quasi-hood very small. "

APPENDIX VI. , TO PAGE 326. 

_From Rock's "Textiles, " p. 275. _

"The Syon Monastery Cope; ground green, with crimson interlacingbarbed quatrefoils, enclosing figure of our Lord, the Blessed VirginMary, the Apostles, with winged cherubim standing on wheels in theintervening spaces, and the orphreys, morse, and hem wrought witharmorial bearings; the whole done in gold, silver, and variouscoloured silks. English needlework, thirteenth century; 9 feet 7inches by 4 feet 8 inches. 

"This handsome cope, so very remarkable on account of itscomparatively perfect preservation, is one of the most beautiful amongthe several liturgical vestments of the olden period anywhere to benow found in Christendom. If by all lovers of mediæval antiquity itwill be looked upon as so valuable a specimen of art of its kind andtime, for every Englishman it ought to have a double interest, showing, as it does, such a splendid and instructive example of theopus 'Anglicum, ' or English work, which won itself so wide a fame, andwas so eagerly sought after throughout the whole of Europe during theMiddle Ages. "

Dr. Rock gives a list of the subjects. St. Michael overcoming Satan(from Rev. Xii. 7, 9). The next quatrefoil above this is filled withthe Crucifixion. Here the Blessed Virgin is arrayed in a green tunic, and a golden mantle lined with vair; her head is kerchiefed, and heruplifted hands sorrowfully clasped. St. John--whose dress is all ofgold--is on the left, at the foot of the cross, upon which theSaviour, wrought all in silver--a most unusual thing--with a cloth ofgold wrapped about His loins, is fastened by three (not four)nails. . . . In the highest quatrefoil is figured the Redeemer in glory, crowned as a king, and seated on a cushioned throne. Resting upon Hisknee and steadied by His hand is the Mund, or ball representing theearth. . . . This is divided into three parts, of which the largest, anupper horizontal hemicycle, is coloured crimson (now faded to abrownish tint), but the lower hemicycle is divided vertically in two, of which one portion is coloured green, and the other white orsilvered. . . . 

The next two subjects to be described are--one on the right hand, thedeath of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the other, on the left, herburial. . . . 

Below the burial we have our Lord in the garden, signified by twotrees; still wearing the crown of thorns; our Lord in His left handholds the banner of the Resurrection, and with His right bestows Hisbenediction on the kneeling Magdalene, who is wimpled, and wears amantle of green, shot yellow, over a light purple tunic. 

Below, but outside the quatrefoil, is a layman clad in gold, upon hisknees, and holding a long, narrow scroll bearing words which cannotnow be satisfactorily read. 

Lowermost of all we see the Apostle St. Philip, with a book in onehand, in the other the flaying knife. 

A little above him St. Peter, with his two keys, one gold, the othersilver; and somewhat under him is St. Andrew with his cross. On theother side of St. Michael and the Dragon is St. James theGreater--sometimes called of Compostella, because he lies buried inthat Spanish city--with a book in one hand and in the other a staff, and slung from his wrist a wallet, both emblems of pilgrimage to hisshrine in Galicia. . . . In the next quatrefoil above is St. Paul withhis sword, and over to the right St. Thomas; still further to theright St. James the Less. Just above is our Saviour, clad in a goldentunic, and carrying a staff, overcoming the unbelief of St. Thomas. Upon his knees that Apostle feels, with his right hand held by theRedeemer, the spear wound in His side. 

As at the left side, so here, quite outside the sacred history on thecope, we have the figure of an individual probably living at the timethe vestment was wrought. The dress of the other shows him to be alayman; by the shaven crown of his head, this person must have been acleric of some sort; but we cannot tell . . . For the canvas is wornquite bare, so that we see nothing now but the lines drawn in black toguide the embroiderer. . . . This Churchman holds up another scrollbearing words which can no longer be read. 

"When this cope was new, it showed, written in tall gold letters morethan an inch high, an inscription now cut up and lost . . . The word_ne_, and a V on some of the shreds are all that remains of it. 

"In its original state it could give us the whole of the twelveApostles. Portions can still be seen. . . . The lower part of thevestment has been sadly cut away, and reshaped with the fragments;perhaps at that time were added the present heraldic orphrey, morse, and border, probably fifty years later than the other portions of thismatchless specimen of the far-famed 'Opus Anglicum. '" "Of angels, "the "nine choirs, " and the three great hierarchies, Cherubim, Seraphim, and Thrones, are figured here. Led a good way by Ezekiel, but not following that prophet step by step, our mediæval draughtsmenfound out for themselves a certain angel form. To this they gave ahuman shape, that of a comely youth; clothing him with six wings, withhuman feet; instead of the body being full of eyes, the wings areoften composed of the bright-eyed feathers of the peacock. On thiscope the eight angels standing upon wheels are so placed that they areeverywhere nearest to those quatrefoils wherein our Lord's Personcomes, and may therefore be taken as representing the upper hierarchyof the angelic host. The other angels, not upon wheels, no doubtbelong to the second hierarchy; while those that have but one pair ofwings (not three) represent the lowest hierarchy. "All, like our Lord, are barefoot. All of them have their hands lifted in prayer. . . . Forevery lover of English heraldry this cope, so plentifully blazonedwith armorial bearings, will have a special value, equal to thatbelonging to many an ancient roll of arms. " The orphrey, morse and hemcontain the arms of Warwick, Castile and Leon, Ferrars, GenevilleEverard, the badge of the Knights Templars, Clifford, Spencer, Lemisior Lindsey, Le Botiler, Sheldon, Monteney of Essex, Champernoun, England, Tyddeswall, Grandeson, FitzAlan, Hampden, Percy, Chambowe, Ribbesford, Bygod, Roger de Mortimer, Golbare or Grove, DeBassingburn, with many others not recognized, and frequentrepetitions. . . . "Besides their heraldry, squares at each corner arewrought with swans and peacocks of curious interest for every lover ofmediæval symbolism. . . . " These coats of arms, being mostly blazoned onlozenge-shaped shields, suggest that possibly they record those of thenoble ladies who worked the border; while those on circles may be thearms of religious houses or donors. 

"A word or two upon the needlework; how it was done; and the nowunused mechanical appliance to it after it was wrought, so observableon this vestment, lending its figures more effect. "

"We find that for the human face, all over this cope, the firststitches were begun in the centre of the cheek, and worked in circularlines, into which, after the first start, they fell, and were socarried on through the rest of the flesh tints. 

"Then with a little iron rod, ending in a small bulb slightly heated, were pressed down those parts of the faces worked in circles, as wellas the wide dimple in the throat. By the hollows thus sunk a play oflight and shadow is brought out that lends to the parts so treated alook of being done in low relief. Upon the lightly clothed figure ofour Lord the same process is followed, and shows a noteworthy exampleof the mediæval knowledge of external anatomy. 

"We must not, however, hide from ourselves that the unequal surfaces, given by such a use of the hot iron to parts of the work, expose it tothe danger of being worn by friction more than other parts, and soonbetray the damage by their threadbare, dingy look, as is the case inthe example just cited. The method for grounding the quatrefoils isremarkable for being done in a long zigzag diaper pattern (laidstitch). . . . 

"The stitching on the armorial bearings is the same as that nowfollowed in many trifling things worked in wool (cross stitch). 

"The canvas (or linen) for every part of this cope is of the finestsort, but its crimson canvas lining is thick and coarse. . . . 

"A word or two about the history of this fine cope. . . . "

Dr. Rock now enters into the history of the guilds, which includednoble laymen and women, and members of the clergy; and tells us thatthe rolls of these associations sometimes grew to be exceedinglywealthy. He says that each of these guilds had usually in its parishchurch a chapel or altar of its own, splendidly provided for, to whichofferings were spontaneously given by individuals, or by membersclubbing together that their joint gift might be the more worthy. 

Perhaps the cleric and the layman worked on the cope may have been thedonors. Dr. Rock suggests that possibly Coventry may have been theplace of its origin, "where the famous Corpus Christi plays" (whichthis cope so well illustrates) "drew crowds every year to see them, asis testified by the Paston letters. Taking this old city as a centre, with a radius of no great length, we may draw a circle on the mapenclosing Tamworth, tower and town, Chartley castle, Warwick, Charlcote, and Althorp. The lords of these broad lands would, inaccordance with the religious feelings of those times, become brothersof the famous Guild of Coventry, and on account of their high rankfind their arms embroidered on the vestments belonging to theirfraternity. That such a pious queen as the gentle Eleanor, wife ofEdward the First, who died 1290, should have in her lifetime become asister is very likely, so that we may easily account for theshield--Castile and Leon. "

The other noble shields may possibly record munificent benefactions. "The whole must have taken very long in the working, and theprobability is that it was embroidered by the nuns of some conventwhich stood in or near Coventry. . . . 

"Upon the banks of the Thames at Isleworth, near London, Henry V. Built and munificently endowed a monastery, to be called 'Syon, ' forthe nuns of St. Bridget's order. Among the earliest friends of thisnew house was a Master Thomas Graunt, an official in one of theEcclesiastical Courts of the kingdom. In the Syon Nun'sMartyrologium--a valuable MS. Lately bought by the BritishMuseum--this Churchman is gratefully recorded as the giver to theirconvent of several precious ornaments, of which this very copeseemingly is one. It was the custom for a guild or religious body tobestow some rich church vestment upon an ecclesiastical advocate whohad befriended it by his pleadings before the tribunal, and thus toconvey their thanks to him with his fee. After such a fashion thiscope might easily have found its way, through Dr. Graunt, fromWarwickshire to Middlesex. 

"At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign it went with the nuns, as theywandered in an unbroken body through Flanders, France, and Portugal, where they halted. About sixty years ago it came back again fromLisbon to England, and has found a home in the South KensingtonMuseum. "

For want of space I have been obliged to omit a great deal of Dr. Rock's interesting account of the Syon Cope. The reader is referredfor further details, especially regarding the heraldry and thesubjects in the quatrefoils, to Rock's "Textile Fabrics, " pp. 275-291, in the South Kensington Museum (No. 9182). 

APPENDIX VII. , TO PAGE 350. 

The Assyrians were great in fringes. Of this we can judge from theirsculptures, in which the rich deep and broad fringe forms the ornamentand accentuates the shaping of the garments of kings and priests andnobles. Loftus, in his "Babylon and Susiana, " tells of the onlyactually existing remnant of their textile art of which I can find anyrecord. Some terra-cotta coffins were opened at Warka (the ancientErech), and in one of them was a cushion, on which the head, gone todust, had reposed. It was covered with linen--fringed. Nothing elsehad survived the ages except a huge wig of false hair. Suchfragmentary echoes from a life, a civilization, and an art dead forthousands of years, are curiously pathetic, and touch and startle thethinking mind. 

APPENDIX VIII. , TO PAGE 369. 

The following poem from the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf shows that thehospitable hall of the Saxon earl was hung with tapestry embroideredwith gold. 

 Fœla pœra was Much people were Wera and Wifa pe pat win rued Men and women who that wine house Gest sele gyredon gold fag scinon That guest-hall garnished. Cloths embroidered with gold Web-after wagum. Wundersiòna feld Those along the walls many wonderful sights Sioga gustryleum para pe on swyle stara ♀ To every person of those that gaze on such. 

 Translation by Thomas Arnold. 

The poem of Beowulf is supposed to have been written in the early partof the twelfth century. 

The lines which follow are from a poem, recomposed from earlier sagas, in the beginning of the twelfth century. It serves to show that arraswas used in bedrooms thus early in Germany. 

From the "Niebelungen Lied, " übersetzt von Karl Simrock, p. 294. 

 Manche schmucke Decke von Arras da lag Aus lichthellem Zeuge und manches Ueberdach Aus arabischer Seides so gut sie mochte sein, Darüber lagen leisten du gaben herrlicher Schein. 

I owe these notices to the kindness of the Rev. A. O. WinningtonIngram. 

APPENDIX IX. , TO PAGE 362. 

_Abridged from Trans. By Sir G. Dasent. _

(_From the Ezrbyggja Saga. _)

In that summer in which Christianity was established by law in Iceland(A. D. 1000), there came a ship from off the sea out to Snowfellsness, in Iceland. It was a Dublin ship, and on board it were Irishmen andmen from Sodor and the Hebrides, but few Norsemen. . . . On board theship was a woman from the Hebrides, whose name was Thorgunna. Hershipmates said that they were sure she had such treasures with her aswould be hard to get in Iceland. 

Thurida, the housewife at Frida, was envious and covetous of theseprecious goods, and received Thorgunna into her home in hopes, by somemeans, to possess herself of them, especially the embroidered hangingsof a bed; but Thorgunna refused to part with them. "I will not lie inthe straw for thee, though thou art a fine lady, and thinkest greatthings of thyself. " Thorgunna made her own terms with Thurida andMaster Harold, and set up her bed at the inner end of their hall. Herrichly worked bed-clothes, her English sheets and silken quilt, andher bed-hangings and canopy were such "that men thought nothing at alllike them had ever been seen. " An air of truth is given to the wholestory by the details. Thorgunna is described as "tall and strong andvery stout. She was swarthy brown, with eyes set close together; herhair was brown and very thick. She was well-behaved in daily life, andwent to church every morning before she went to her work. " Then comesan account of a storm, and a rain of blood; and how Thorgunna sickenedand died, and at her own desire was carried to be buried to Skilholt, which she prophesied would one day be considered holy, and thatpriests might there sing dirges over her. 

There is a curious and picturesque account of the two days' journey toSkilholt, and the adventures that befell the funeral cortége;including the incident of the corpse cooking the supper of the convoyat an inhospitable farmhouse where they had sought refuge and receivedno entertainment. 

On Harold's return home after the funeral, he proceeded to carry outthe wishes of Thorgunna, who had warned him that the ownership of herembroidered hangings would cause trouble, and therefore she haddesired they should be burned. Thurida, however, could not bear tolose them, and persuaded Harold to spare them. "After this followedmany signs and portents, and deaths of men and women, and apparitionsof ghosts, until Kjartan (Thurida's son) brought out all Thorgunna'sbed-hangings and furniture, and burned them in the fire. "

APPENDIX X. , TO PAGE 365. 

Aelfled or Athelfleda was the founder of a race of embroiderers. Theirpedigree is as follows:--

 BRITHNOD, === ATHELFLEDA. A Northumberland | She embroidered the Chief or Alderman. | daring deeds of her husband. | LEOFLEDA. === KING OSWIC. | Oswic's sister Aedelfleda was | adopted by Hilda, Abbess of Whitby. | She succeeded Hilda, and died 713. | She was a great embroiderer. ___________|___________ | | | AELFWIN. AELSWITH. LEOFWED. | AELSWITH. 

Leofwed made her will in the time of King Cnut; dividing her revenuebetween her daughter Aelswith and the Abbey of Ely. Aelswith acceptedthe residence of Coveney, a small property belonging to the convent, and there she embroidered with her maidens. See Liber Eliensis, ed. D. J. Stewart, "Anglia Christiana, " vol. I. , 1848. 

APPENDIX XI. , TO PAGE 377. 

In the Statutes at Large there is the following in vol. I. P. 526 (inold French):--

2 Henry VI. 

A penalty on deceitful workers of gold and silver embroidery. 

Item. Pur ceo que diverses defautes sont trovez en loveraigne dediverses persons occupiantz le mestier de brouderie. Ordonnez est &assentiez, que tout loveraigne & stuff de brouderie d'or ou d'argentde Cipre ou d'or de Luke melle avec laton de Spayne & mys a vent endeceit des lieges du Roi sont forfait au Roi ou as Seigneurs et autresaccenz franchises d'autielx forfaitures ein quy franchise autieloveraigne soit trouvée et durera c'est ordinance longue parlementprochainement avenir. 

33 Henry VI. 

That if any Lombard or any other person, Stranger or Denizen, bring orcause to be brought by way of merchandize any wrought silk thrown, Ribbands, Laces, Corses of Silk, or any other thing wrought, touchingor concerning the mystery of Silk women, the corses which come fromGenoa only excepted, into any part or place of the Realm from beyondthe Sea, that the same . . . Be forfeit. 

3 Edward IV. 

Whereby the importation of any wrought silk thrown, Ribbands, Laces, Corses of Silk, or other things wrought, concerning the craft of Silkwomen is prohibited or restrained. 

22 Edward IV. 

That no Marchant, Stranger, nor other person shall bring into theRealm to be sold, any Corses, Girdles, Ribbands, Laces, Coll. Silk orColein Silk, thrown or wrought, upon pain of forfeiture of the same. 

Also Richard III. "An Act touching the bringing in of Silk Laces, Ribbands, &c. "

Also 19 Henry VII. "An Act for Silk Women. "

These acts appear to have been partially repealed, 3 and 5 George III. 

INDEX. 

 Achilles, shield of, 33, 103. 

 Aelgitha, wife of Canute, embroideries by, 366. 

 Æsthetic, 17, 90, 339. 

 Agrippina, golden garment of, 143. 

 Alessandri Palace, Florence, 284. 

 Alexander the Great, 142, 299; wedding tent of, 263-4; pall of, 142. 

 Alkisthenes, mantle of, 298. 

 Altar, 42, 346; altar-piece, 328; altar-cloths, 340, 346; by Queen Emma, 366. 

 Amasis, corselet of, 20, 308; Bishop of, 299. 

 Anne of Brittany, 331. 

 Apollo of Branchidæ, 296. 

 Arabesque, 43, 80. 

 Arachne, 237. 

 Aragon, Catherine of, embroideries by, 383. 

 Aristophanes, 98. 

 Arras, 238, 243, 255-6, 274. 

 Arrazzi, 245; Prince of, 249; trade with, 250, 252. 

 Art of dress, 298; of needlework, 396. 

 Art, Greek, 18, 35, 59, 306; Egyptian, 20, 25, 34, 56-7; Scandinavian, 29, 40; Roman, 37, 60, 310; Romanesque, 36, 323; Christian, 37, 39, 300, 306, 311, 315, 317; Chinese, 38, 73, 153, 155; Japanese, 38, 64, 65, 393; Gothic, 42, 52, 68, 307, 324; Italian, 43, 311; French, 46; Ecclesiastical, 41, 78, 303, 305; Aryan, 69, 70; Celtic, 96, 273; decorative, 289; Lombardic, 310; Pagan, 338. 

 Asbestos linen, 123. 

 Atrebates, 136, 246. 

 Attalus II. , 142. 

 Auxerre, Bishop of, 242. 

 Balawat, bronze gates from, 271. 

 Baldachino, 170, 268, 283, 312. 

 Banner, 215; of St. Cuthbert, 349. 

 Bas-relief, Assyrian, 287. 

 Bayeux tapestries, 367. 

 Beads, 332. 

 Bede, mention of worked palls by, 160. 

 Bedsteads, 282; at Kenilworth, 283-4; at Hampton Court, 395. 

 Bellini, portrait of Mahomet II. , 147. 

 Black, 187. 

 Blode-bendes, or silk arm-bindings, 374. 

 Blue, 184, 187. 

 Boadicea, dress of, 87, 359. 

 Bombacinum or cotton, 138. 

 Book-coverings in library of Charles V. , 289. 

 Borghese Palace, Rome, 277. 

 British Museum, sculptures in, 22; vases, 31, 114; frieze of Parthenon, 31; mantle of Demeter, 93; Egyptian dress, 93; glass bowls, 101; carpets from Nineveh, 105; Egyptian woollen embroidery, 130; fine linen printed, 134; garment with gold ornaments, 144; "opus pectineum" from Egypt, 236; pavements, 272; bronze statuette of Minerva, 297; specimen of "opus Anglicanum, " 376. 

 Brocade, 141. 

 Bronze age, 358; statues, 359. 

 Brown, 187. 

 Buckram, 139. 

 Burleigh House arras, 256. 

 Byrri, 238. 

 Byssus, 134-5. 

 Byzantium, 306, 314. 

 Carpets, 261, 285; Persian, 23, 73, 132, 188, 241, 271, 371. 

 Cashmere, 133. 

 Castle Ashby, tapestries at, 277. 

 Catacombs, 304. 

 Chair, 285; chair-backs, 286. 

 Chaldean house, 281. 

 Charles I. , 255, 390. 

 Charles V. , library of, 289, 295. 

 Chasuble, 164; by Isabella of Spain, 147; at Coire, 328; of St. Oswald, 362; at Valencia, 381; for Henry III. , 374. 

 Chaucer, 251. 

 Chemmis, city of Pan, woollen trade in, 127. 

 Chenille, 395. 

 Church historical embroideries, 316. 

 Ciclatoun, 145. 

 Cinnabar, 183. 

 Clavus latus, 309, 337. 

 Cleves, Anne of, 384. 

 Cochineal, 184. 

 Code of Manu, 89. 

 Colour, 175-193; prismatic, 177; purple, 180; crimson, 184; copper, 184; yellow, 185; pure, 189, 192; iodine, 190; chromatic, 190; Oriental, 191; gas, 191; foundation, 289; green, 289; liturgical, 305; mystical, 335. 

 Complication, 67. 

 Confusion, 65. 

 Constantine, 306, 316. 

 Consutum, 214. 

 Contrast, 66. 

 Conventional, 71, 97. 

 Cope of St. Andrew, 144; Syon, 206, 326; of Boniface VIII. , 320; at Rheims, 321-2; Daroca, 320, 376; at Stoneyhurst, 348, 379; of Innocent III. , 369; at Durham, 390. 

 Copper, 184. 

 Coral, 88, 124, 332. 

 Coronation robes, 295, 318, 362; of St. Stephen of Hungary, 322; of Charles X. , 339; of Edward the Confessor, 366; of James II. , 393. 

 Corselet of Amasis in temple at Lindos, in Rhodes, 20, 308. 

 Cotton, 137; cotton trees, 138; woven, 139; cotton plush, 139. 

 Counterpane worked by Queen Catherine, 384. 

 Coverlets, 393. 

 Crewels, 133, 229, 345, 398; work in, 390, 392. 

 Crimson, 184. 

 Cross, 103; of St. Andrew, 144; Greek, 165; emblem of, 308; prehistoric, 335-6. 

 Croyland Abbey embroideries, 366. 

 Crusaders, 307, 371. 

 Curtains, 261, 270, 272, 281, 288; ordered by Sergius, 312; by Pope John, 312; by Stephen IV. , 312. 

 Cushion at Hatfield, of James I. 's reign, 390. 

 Cuthbert, St. , 144; silk garments in tomb of, 163, 165, 364-5. 

 Cyprus bowls, 109. 

 Dado, 271. 

 Dais, the chamber of, 282. 

 Dalmatic of Charlemagne, 53, 317-18; at Valencia, 381. 

 Damascus, 127. 

 Decoration, 5, 50, 70, 290, 355; art of, 273. 

 Decorative, 81, 273. 

 Design, 54-81; floral, 71, 345, 348; English, 377; by St. Dunstan, 365. 

 Detail, 71. 

 Dress, 70, 294, 301, 373; Greek, 297-8; Roman, 299; early Christian, 300; of Claudius, 360; of Duke and Duchess of Buckingham, 393. 

 Durham Cathedral, 348. 

 Dyes, 183, 185, 358; Indian, 187. 

 East India Company, monopoly of trade by, 388. 

 Ecclesiastical embroidery, 303, 327, 330, 353; for images, 305; priests' robes, 306; materials used in, 311; names of garments in, 313, 316; at Durham, 316; English, 332. 

 Edward II. , 250. 

 Edward III. , 377. 

 Eighteenth century decorations, 112; embroidery, 393, 395. 

 Eleanor, Queen, crosses of, 372. 

 Emare, mantle of, 372. 

 Embroiderers' Guild, 388; list of names, 373; Company in Elizabeth's reign, 387, 394. 

 Embroideries, Babylonian and Ninevite, 22, 44, 105, 127, 132, 271, 299, 311, 350; Greek, 31-2, 93, 103, 142; German, 43, 149; Italian, 43, 116, 147; Spanish, 45, 150, 331, 383; Portuguese, 45; Scandinavian and Celtic, 68, 91, 104, 116, 131, 136, 306; Egyptian, 93, 114, 130, 134, 209, 236, 271; Assyrian, 93, 127, 262, 357; Roman, 129, 143, 153, 313; Chinese, 97, 113, 127, 151, 208; Persian, 99, 266, 299; Japanese, 109, 214; Russian, 201, 206, 313; Delphic, 272; English, 319, 321, 325, 356-396; spurious, in Henry VI. 's reign, 377. 

 Embroidery, art of, 16, 136, 173, 195, 289, 378; white, 200; in churches, 313, 341. 

 Emma, Queen, embroideries by, 366. 

 Enamel, 146. 

 Etruscan borders, 47; tombs, 357. 

 Fashion, 301. 

 Fayoum, 39; ancient Egyptian textile fabrics from, 139, 300. 

 Fictile vases, 31, 32, 93, 103. 

 Field of Cloth of Gold, 381-2. 

 Filatorium, 222. 

 Fitness, 81. 

 Flat, drawing on, 69-70; stitches, 345. 

 Flavius Vopiscus, 158. 

 Flax, 133, 135. 

 Flemish work, 329. 

 Floral patterns, 71. 

 Floss silk, 374. 

 Flowers, 291. 

 Footstools, 285. 

 Frames, 292, 299, 371, 389. 

 Frescoes, 373. 

 Fringes, 271, 351. 

 Fulham, tapestry works at, 257. 

 Furniture, 280-293. 

 Gammadion, 104. 

 Gaudry, Bishop, tapestry of, 242. 

 Geoffrey, Abbot, 249. 

 Gisela, Queen, 323. 

 Giustini Palace, Florence, 277. 

 Gobelins, 131, 237, 247-8, 275, 277. 

 Gold, 140, 143; threads, 346; Gothic design in, 75, 377; embroideries, 202; needlework for Elinor of Aquitaine, 369; Spanish lace, 381; caskets, 389. 

 Gradation, 67. 

 Green, 187. 

 Gregory Nazianzen, 160. 

 Grey, 187. 

 Grotesque, 43. 

 Guimp, 163, 223. 

 Hair, 133. 

 Hampton Court, 288, 384; bed at, worked by Mrs. Pawsey, 395. 

 Hand-looms, 374. 

 Hangings, 243, 260-274; of the Hebrew Sanctuary, 262; of Alexander's tent, 263; portraits on, 265; in Kosroes' "white palace, " 268; on Greek vases, 269; in Pompeii, 269; saffron, mentioned by Euripides, 272; French, sixteenth century, 274; modern French, 275; in Holland House, 276; in Florence, 277; in Rome, 277; English, from time of Harold to Edward IV. , and others, 370, 384, 392-3. 

 Harmonies, 66. 

 Hawaiian royal mantle, 209. 

 Helen, 33. 

 Helena, Empress, 316, 360. 

 Hemp, 121. 

 Henry II. , mantle of, 203, 323. 

 Henry VIII. , manufacture of tapestry in reign of, 252; embroidery, 302, 369, 384-5. 

 Hephæstion, catafalque of, 267. 

 Hexameron work of St. Ambrose and St. Basil, 333. 

 Holland House, 276. 

 Homer, 11, 19, 33, 130. 

 Hom, the sacred, 99, 334. 

 Icelandic Sagas, 273, 362. 

 Illumination, 273, 305, 310, 363. 

 Imperial, a silk tissue, 161. 

 India, arts of, 7, 27, 75, 83, 311; Museum, 89, 285. 

 Indian carving, 75; shawls, 133; cotton fabrics, 138; dyes, 187; embroideries, 284, 299; manufactures, 389, 391, 394. 

 Inscriptions, 105, 146, 341; woven in, 168; in tapestry, 242, 375. 

 Isabella of France, 331; of Spain, 384. 

 Jacket in Lady Waterford's collection, 386. 

 James I. , manufacture of tapestry in reign of, 254; portrait of, 255; work in reign of, 387, 388. 

 Josephus, 9. 

 Juno, toilet of, 297. 

 Jute, 121. 

 Kells, Book of, 30. 

 Khotan, Prince of, 156. 

 Kosroes' hangings, 261, 268. 

 Kunigunda, Empress, 203, 323. 

 Lace, 222-235; bone, 225; yak, 225; needle-made, 227; ancient lace-books, 228; stitches, 229; Venetian, 229; Burano, 230; list of, 231; blond, 232; schools in France, 233; for ecclesiastical purposes, 233; bobbin, 234; Limerick, 234; Irish, 234; Honiton, 234; Spanish, 383. 

 Lambeth tapestry works, 257; missal at, 30. 

 Lares, 291. 

 Leather, 123. 

 Lilac, 187. 

 Linen, 357-8. 

 Lombardic, 310, 323. 

 Lotus, 89, 102, 105. 

 Louis XIV. , 46, 247, 276, 332, 393. 

 Louis XV. , 47, 110, 247, 276, 332. 

 Louis XVI. , 332. 

 Lyons, 151, 167, 345. 

 Maniple of St. Cuthbert, 144; in Durham library, 364. 

 Mantle of Demeter, 93; of Ajax, 103; of Servius Tullius, 129; of Alkisthenes, 299; of Gisela, 323; of King Wiglaf, 363-4. 

 Manu, Code of, 314. 

 Manufactures of Nineveh and Babylon, 127; at Lyons, 151; of silk, 160; at Palermo, 161. 

 Marcus Aurelius, 158. 

 Mark's, St. , Venice, 346. 

 Mary, Queen of Scots, 387. 

 Mary's, St. , Hall, Coventry, 250, 379. 

 Melito, Bishop of Sardis, book on Symbolism by, 333. 

 Middle Ages, 12, 23, 42, 73, 125, 137, 145, 168, 183, 202, 239, 242, 249, 273, 307, 315. 

 Mitre at Milan, 211; of St. Thomas à Becket, 321, 369. 

 Monks of St. Florent, Saumur, 242; of Cluny, 242; of Fleury, 242; in England, 249; of St. Alban's, 251. 

 Monuments, 373. 

 Morris, William, 290. 

 Mosaics, 40, 300, 314; Empress Theodora's dress figured in, 41, 93; of Sta. Pudenziana, 306, 317; early Christian, 314; in Sta. Maria Maggiore, 117, 322. 

 Mummy-wrappings, 21. 

 Museum, Cluny, 247, 275, 277; at Boulac, 56. 

 Muslin, 139. 

 Mycenæ, tomb of Agamemnon at, 19; lion's gate of, 304. 

 Needle, the first, 14, 357; bronze, steel, 195, 213; bone, 358. 

 Nimroud, 24. 

 Nineteenth century, style of, 49, 339. 

 Normans, 366. 

 Northumberland House, tapestries at, 257. 

 Nunneries, 10. 

 Opus Alexandrinum, 117. 

 Opus Anglicanum, 325, 376. 

 Orange, 187. 

 Order, 59. 

 Oriental work, 392. 

 Orphrey, 368-9. 

 Oudenarde "hallings" or "salles, " 252. 

 Painting, 4. 

 Palermo, silk-weaving at, 165, 307. 

 Pall of Alexander, 142; at Dunstable, 251, 378; of London Companies, 329, 379. 

 Pamphile silk-weaver, 152. 

 Panels, 69, 79. 

 Patchwork, 117; appliqué, 214, 325, 392. 

 Patterns, 82-117; wave, 62, 114; key, 63, 97; Oriental, 84, 99; lotus, 89, 102; animal, 93; lily, 95; rose, 95; palm leaf on shawl, 96; sacred hom, 99; pine-apple, 100; honeysuckle, 101; egg and tongue, 102; cross, 103; crenelated, 104; Renaissance, 108; cloud, 109, 338; fundata or netted, 109; wheel, 110; Moorish, 110; Sicilian, 111; shell, 112; Indian balcony, 112; chrysoclavus or palmated, 113; wicker and lattice-work, 113; bead, 114; daisy, 114; geometrical, 115; German and Venetian books of, 206; feather, 208; Persian, 241; check, 270; metal-work, 325; Roës, or wheel and plate, 336-7; Indian dimity, 394. 

 Peacocks, 163, 211; feathers, 376. 

 Pearls, 332, 362, 383, 389. 

 Pectineum, 235. 

 Penates, 291. 

 Penelope, bridal couch of, 281. 

 Peplos of Athene, 32. 

 Père Labbé, 242. 

 Persian carpets, 23, 73, 98, 132, 241, 266, 271; rugs, 94; silks, 153. 

 Perspective, 70. 

 Peter's, St. , Rome, 346. 

 Pheidias, 59. 

 Phœnicians, 7, 21, 125, 176, 357; bowls from Cyprus, 109. 

 Phrygium, 202. 

 Pictorial art, 79, 331. 

 Plâteresque, 45. 

 Plumarii, 207, 212. 

 Plush, 221. 

 Pluvial of St. Silvester, 319; at Bologna, 320; at Aix, 351; Daroca, 376. 

 Polymita, 87. 

 Pompeii, 269. 

 Portraits of Charles V. , 295; of Richard II. At Wilton House, 372; of fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 379; in needlework in reign of James I. , 388. 

 Portuguese silks, 394. 

 Progression, 64. 

 Proportion, 64, 291. 

 Pulvinarium, 204. 

 Purl, 387. 

 Purple, 187. 

 Queen Anne, style in reign of, 46, 49, 88, 391, 394. 

 Queen Elizabeth, embroidery of, 385-6; style in reign of, 389. 

 Queen Mary of Hungary, 330. 

 Queen Matilda, 367. 

 Radiation, 67. 

 Raphael, 44, 245; cartoons of, 255. 

 Renaissance, 26, 43, 45, 75, 108, 308, 329, 380, 383. 

 Repetition, 62. 

 Reredos at St. Alban's, 249, 347; of Vintners' Company, 251. 

 Richard Cœur de Lion, 374. 

 Robes of Julius Cæsar, 153; of Childeric, 144; of Bishop Adhelme, 361; of St. Thomas à Becket, 369. 

 Roger, King of Sicily, transports silk-weavers from Greece, 161. 

 Roman silks, 160; fashions, 299. 

 Romanesque, 36, 306, 323, 362, 364. 

 Roses, Wars of, 371, 372-3, 378. 

 Rugs, 285. 

 Runic art, 29, 306. 

 Samit, 145. 

 Sampler of Henry VII. 's reign, 379-80. 

 Saracenicum, 240. 

 Satin, 161, 170; of Bruges, 171. 

 Scarlet, 182, 187, 189. 

 School of Art Needlework, South Kensington, 219, 288, 392; rise of, 396-7; list of work executed at, 398; designs for, 398. 

 Schools, branch of Art Needlework, 397. 

 Screens, 261, 287. 

 Sculptures, 4, 353. 

 Seam, 198. 

 Seres, 154, 160. 

 Seventh century work, 361-2. 

 Sewing, plain, 197. 

 Shells, 88, 124, 190. 

 Sicilian patterns, 111; embroideries, 124; textile designs, 162, 341; silk manufactures, 168; fabrics, 315; ecclesiastical designs, 331. 

 Sicily, textile art in, 41, 307. 

 Si-ling-chi, Empress, inventor of unwinding the cocoon, 156. 

 Silk, origin of, 151; first woven by Pamphile at Cos, 300 B. C. , 152; Roman and Chinese, 153, 160; trade in, 153; in cocoon, 153, 156; wild silk in China, 154-5; attire mentioned in Latin poets, 157; silken robes sold by Marcus Aurelius, 158; garments given by Emperor Carinus, 158; edict of Diocletian, with prices of articles, 159; silk mentioned by poets and historians from first to sixth century, 159; silkworm, 159; monopoly of silk manufactures in Constantinople, 159; first allusion to use of silk in Christian Church, 160; palls of silk brought from Rome, A. D. 685, 160; Bede's remains wrapped in silk, 160; specimens of silk in Auberville's "Tissus, " silk tissues called "Imperial, " 161. 

 Silk-weavers, Jewish, at Thebes in 1161, 161; transported by Roger, King of Sicily, from Greece to Palermo, 161, 165; description of Royal manufactory at Palermo, by Hugh Falcandus, twelfth century, 161; three periods in Sicily, 162-3; Saracenic, in India, 166-7; Italian, in Lyons, 1450, 167, 169; Spanish at Malaga and Almeria, 168; in Hungary under Queen Gisela, 169; in the Flemish towns, 170; Asiatic, 170. 

 Smock of Mary Tudor, 385. 

 Society of Arts, Birmingham, 292. 

 Sofas, 285. 

 Spangles, 146. 

 Spanish Armada, hangings, 253. 

 Sphinx, 265. 

 Spinning, 357. 

 Stamford, Arras woven at, 256, 257. 

 Stitches, 194-259; lists of, 196; gold, 203; mosaic, 204; cushion, 204; plumage, 207; satin, 214; sampler, 234; ecclesiastical, 345; stem, 214. 

 Stole, 308; at Durham, 364; of Aelfled, Queen of Edward II. , 364. 

 Style, 14-53. 

 Sun-cross, Egyptian, 337. 

 Sunflower, 91; radiated pattern of, 111. 

 Surcoat of Black Prince, 373. 

 Swastika, 103. 

 Symbolism, 59, 95, 98, 307, 333, 334-5, 352. 

 Symmetry, 63-4. 

 Table covers, 287. 

 Tanaquil, robes worked by, 129. 

 Tapestry, 235-259; in British Museum, 236; woven, 237; of Charles, Duke of Burgundy, 243; Gobelins, 237; Arras, 238; Saracenic, 240; at Brussels, 245; French, 245; Italian, 245; English, 248, 277; revival of, at Windsor, 257; in Cluny Museum, 277. 

 Taste, 52; Oriental, 388. 

 Tau, 335. 

 Tent, funeral, of an Egyptian queen, 25, 215; of Antar, 263; of Nadir Shah, 263; of Alexander, 264; of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 264-5; Persian, 265. 

 Textile art, 45, 59, 74, 77, 93, 104, 107, 174, 176, 187, 205, 307, 310. 

 Thebes, silk-weavers of, 161. 

 "Tissus" of Auberville, 160. 

 Titian, 178. 

 Toga, 338. 

 Tomb of Agamemnon, 19; of Rameses, 20; of warrior at Kuban, 129; in Crimea, 130, 217; Anglo-Saxon, 144; of St. Cuthbert at Durham, 163. 

 Trabea, 309, 337. 

 Tree of Life, 336. 

 Triptych in Cluny Museum, 211; at Zurich, 328. 

 Tyrian purple, 180, 289. 

 Ulysses, 281. 

 Vatican, Etruscan gold ornament, 21, 295, 300. 

 Veil of Temple, 22; classical, 261, 265, 311, 312; for pyx, 350; of Hebrew sanctuary, 311, 351. 

 Velvet, 76, 345, 347; stoles, 161, 172, 221; pall, 378. 

 Venetian red, 289; style, 306. 

 Vestments, 313, 326; Italian, 329; Spanish, 331; modern, 343; set presented to Romsey and Croyland by Canute, 366, 370; set bequeathed to Westminster Abbey by Henry VII. , 379. 

 Watteau, school of, 248. 

 Welby, Lady, founder of School of Art Needlework, South Kensington, 396. 

 Wiglaf, King, 362. 

 William and Mary, 393. 

 Wilton carpet works, 190. 

 Windsor, 257, 398. 

 Wool, 125, 127, 130; Berlin, 395. 

 Worcester, dress in tomb of Walter de Cantilupe, 320; cope of William of Blois, 322; tomb of King John, 373. 

 Workhouse sheeting, 140. 

 Wroxton House, Arras at, 256. 

 York, Archbishop of, Arras with design of the Four Seasons, 255. 

 Zoroaster, 101. 

ERRATA. 

 Page xv, line 27, _for_ Albert Castet _read_ Albert Castel. " 10, " 24, _read_ as that of an important factor. " 17, " 22, _for_ slow _read_ swift. " 26, " 16, _for_ art _read_ artistic. " 42, " 16, _for_ are _read_ were. " 56, " 5, _read_ advance of them, in the earliest. " 66, " 21, _for_ we _read_ I. " 75, " 20, _for_ These _read_ Those. " 101, " 18, _for_ from Cervetri, in Southern Italy, _read_ from a tomb at Chiusi, in Etruria. " 156, " 8, _for_ Chin _read_ Chan. " 195, " 20, _for_ 6, 7. Bone needles from Neolithic cave-man's grave, _read_ 6. Cave-man's needle from the Pinhole, Churchfield, Ereswell Crag. 7. Bone needle from La Madeleine, Dordogne. " 198, " 5, footnote, _for_ act _read_ art. " 208, " 3, footnote, _for_ "Arte Plumarii" _read_ "Arte Plumaria. " " 237, " 8, _for_ which prove _read_ proving. " 239, " 17, _delete_ " _after_ of art. " " " " 18, _insert_ " _after_ backwards. " 242, " 9, _for_ in the Crimea _read_ at Chiusi. 

Transcriber's Note

Page 202--the marker for footnote 2 was missing in the original. Thetranscriber has estimated where it should have been, based on the textand reference material therein. 

Page 303 includes an excerpt from Psalm 45, with quoted verse numbersof 10, 14 and 15. These should be verses 9, 13 and 14. 

Archaic spelling is preserved as printed. Variable spelling, hyphenation and use of accents has been made consistent where therewas a clear prevalence of one form over the other, or with referenceto reliable sources; otherwise, these are preserved as printed. Typographic errors, e. G. Omitted, superfluous or transposed letters, and punctuation errors have been repaired. Other amendments are asfollows:

 Plate 71--precipit amended to precepit and omitted word 'pio' added--". . . Aelfled fieri precepit pio Episcopo Fridestano. "

 Page xx--3 amended to 9--"From Layard's "Monuments, " Series i. Pl. 9. "

 Page xxi--Edward amended to Richard--"6. Badge of Richard II. "

 Page xxii--John amended to Mark--"ST. MARK. Anglo-Saxon Book of the Gospels. "

 Page 115--5. Removed from beginning of section title, for consistency with others in that chapter, "GEOMETRICAL. "

 Page 197--Encyclopedia amended to Cyclopædia--"The second list is from Rees' "Cyclopædia" (Stitches), 1819 . . . "

 Page 311--des Antiquités amended to Royale des Antiquaires--"". . . Par la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord" . . . "

 Page 316--Lwewelig amended to Wledig--". . . And in the Welsh ballad of "The Dream of Maxen Wledig" . . . "

 Page 316, footnote 502--Pallison's amended to Palliser's--"See Mrs. Palliser's "Lace, " p. 4. "

 Page 320--T. Amended to I. --". . . (see Hon. And Rev. I. Clifford's list of embroideries in Appendix 5). "

 Page 331--Riario amended to Riano--"Don Juan F. Riano[533] says that Toledo is a perfect museum . . . "

 Page 331, footnote 533--Riario amended to Riano--"See "The Industrial Arts of Spain, " pp. 250-264, by Don Juan F. Riano, . . . "

 Page 417--350 amended to 348--"Design, . . . Floral, 71, 345, 348; . . . "

 Page 417--210 amended to 109--"Embroideries, . . . Egyptian, 93, 114, 130, 134, 209, 236, 271; . . . "

 Page 419--47 amended to 46 and 308 amended to 276--"Louis XIV. , 46, 247, 276, 332, 393. "

 Page 419--167 amended to 93--"Mosaics, . . . Empress Theodora's dress figured in, 41, 93; . . . "

 Page 419--306 amended to 117--"Mosaics, . . . In Sta. Maria Maggiore, 117, 322. "

 Page 420--index entries for 'Pall' and 'Pamphile, ' which originally followed the entry for 'Pattern, ' have been moved to their correct places. 

 Page 421--399 amended to 345--"Stitches, . . . Ecclesiastical, 345; . . . "

There are a number of discrepancies between the information in thelist of illustrations (LOI) and the information on the platesthemselves. Some of these are simple omission, others involveconflicting information. The transcriber has resolved and repairedsome of these differences with reference to alternative sources. Ingeneral, it seems that the information on the plate is correct. Thosethat could not be resolved are as follows:

 Pl. 5--LOI has "Journal Asiatique, Syro-Egyptien-Phœnicien. " Plate has "Journal Asiatique, Coupe de Palestrina. "

 Pl. 9--LOI has "sixteenth century. " Plate has "seventeenth century. "

 Pl. 10--LOI has "5, 6, 7. Egyptian smooth and rippling wave pattern. " Plate has "5, 6, 7. Egyptian Smooth and Rippling Water Patterns. "

 Pl. 10--LOI has "10, 11, 14. Babylonian and Chaldean. " Plate has "10, 11, 14. Assyrian. "

 Pl. 11--LOI omits Assyrian references. 

 Pl. 12--LOI has "2, 3. Egyptian. 4, 5. Greek. " Plate has "2, 3. Indian Lotus Patterns. 4, 5. Egyptian Lotus Patterns. "

 Pl. 15--LOI has "Book of Kells. " Plate has "Lindisfarne Gospels. "

 Pl. 20--LOI has "1, 2, 3. Assyrian. 4. Sicilian Silk. 5. Mediæval. " Plate has "1, 2, 3, 5. Assyrian. 4. Sicilian Silk. "

 Pl. 28--LOI has "1. Dress patterns from old MS. 2, 3. Old English tiles. " Plate has "1, 2. Gothic tiles. 3. Gothic Border of a Dress. 4. Gothic Vine. "

 Pl. 31--LOI omits mention of a third Egyptian fundata pattern. 

 Pl. 32--LOI references "Bock's Lit. Gew. Ii. P. 246. " Plate references "Vol i. Taf. Xi. "

 Pl. 35--LOI omits mention of a peacock pattern. Plate omits mention of Persian type. 

 Pl. 41--The source of the examples are either omitted or different on the LOI to those given on the plate. 

 Pl. 68--LOI has "sixteenth century. " Plate has "fifteenth century. "

 Pl. 70--LOI has "A. D. 434. " Plate has "sixth century. "

 Pl. 72--LOI "ST. GREGORY AND ST. JOHN (PROPHET). " Plate has "St. John" and "St. Roger. "

 Pl. 74--LOI gives different title for Strutt's book to that given on the plate. From research, it seems that the short title is actually "The Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiqities of England. "

 Pl. 76--LOI has "twelfth century. " Plate has "XIII. Century. "

Illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not inthe middle of a paragraph. Some of the plates do not have numbers onthe plate themselves.