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/61

 Of silks patterned with the Greek cross or "stauracin," there are several examples in this collection; and though not of the remotest period, are interesting; the one No. 8234, p. 154, wrought in Sicily as it is probable by the Greeks brought as prisoners from the Morea, in the twelfth century, is not without some value. In the Chapter Library at Durham may be seen a valuable sample of Byzantine stauracin "colours purple and crimson; the only prominent ornament a cross—often repeated, even upon the small portion which remains." Those who have seen in St. Peter's sacristy at Rome, that beautiful light-blue dalmatic said to have been worn by Charlemagne when he sang the Gospel at high mass, at the altar, vested as a deacon, the day he was crowned emperor in that church by Pope Leo III. will remember how plentifully it is sprinkled with crosses between its exquisite embroideries, so as to make the vestment a real "stauracin." It has been well given by Sulpiz Boisserée in his "Kaiser Dalmatika in der St. Peterskirche;" but far better by Dr. Bock in his splendid work on the Coronation Robes of the German emperors.

Silks, from the pattern woven on them called de fundato, are frequently spoken of by Anastasius. From the texts themselves of that writer, and passages in other authors of his time, it would seem that the silks themselves were dyed of the richest purple, and figured with gold in the pattern of netting. As one of the meanings for the substantive "funda" is a fisherman's net, rich textiles so figured in gold, were denominated from such a pattern "de fundato" or netted. To St. Peter's Church at Rome the pontiff, Leo III. gave "cortinam majorem Alexandrinam holosericam habentem in medio adjunctum fundatum, et in circuitu ornatum de fundato;" and for the Church of St. Paul's, Leo provided "vela holoserica majora sigillata habentia periclysin et crucem tam de blattin seu de fundato." From Fortunatus we gather that those costly purple-dyed silks called "blatta," were always interwoven with gold:—

Serica purpureis sternuntur vellera velis, Inlita blatta toris, aurumque intermicat ostro.

This net-pattern lingered long, and, no doubt, we find it, under a new name, "laqueatus"—meshed—as identified upon a cope made of baudekin, at St. Paul's, London, 1295: "Capa de baudekino cum pineis (fir-apples) in campis laqueatis. Modifications of this very old pattern may be seen in this catalogue (pp. 35, 36, 154).

The Latin term "de fundato," for this net-pattern, so unusual, has for many been quite a puzzle. Here, too, art works are our best help to properly understand the meaning of the word. The person of Con-*