Page:Textile fabrics; a descriptive catalogue of the collection of church-vestments, dresses, silk stuffs, needle-work and tapestries, forming that section of the Museum (IA textilefabricsde00soutrich).pdf/465

 8611.

Piece of Silk Damask; ground, red; pattern, foliage in green, wild dogs in blue, gold, and white. South Italian, 14th century. 15 inches by 12-1/2 inches.

The wild dogs are segeant face to face, in pairs; one blue, the other gold; one white, the other gold: and below are flowers blue, gold, and white, alternating like the animals. The warp is cotton, the woof silk, and altogether the stuff is coarse.

8612.

Fragments of Silk Damask; ground, black; pattern, a tower surrounded by water and a figure holding a hawk, and hawks perched, in pairs, on trees. Italian, 15th century. 9 inches by 5-1/2 inches; 9 inches by 4-1/2 inches.

Pity that this curious piece is so fragmental and decayed that its singular design cannot, as in another specimen of the very same tissue, all be made out. Whether it be man or woman standing on high outside the tower with a bird at rest on the wrist is here hard to say. The castle is well shown, with its moat, and its draw-bridges—for it has more than one—all down. Like No. 8606, it shows its pattern by the difference of material in the warp and woof. All over it has been thickly sprinkled with thin gilt trefoils that were not sewed but glued on; many have fallen off, and those remaining have turned black. See No. 7065.

8613.

Piece of Silk Damask; ground, black; pattern, in gold thread, birds amid foliage. Italian, 14th century. 14 inches by 7-1/4 inches.

The bold and facile pattern of this piece is very conspicuous, with its eagles stooping upon long-necked birds perched on waving boughs; to much beauty in design it adds, moreover, richness in material.