Studio: international art (19.1900)

The Ornamentation of Textiles

Fig. 2. The second example is a stout sub-
stance, in dark blue colour and well-preserved gold.
The design has very little relief. We discover
birds, affronies, perched on a closed pomegranate
and separated by palm-leaves, while above their
wings are flowers of six petals. In the spaces
are palm-leaves. The ornamentation is done in
twisted gilt gold-beaters' skin.

Is this of Sicilian origin ? Mme. Errera is of
that opinion, which is also supported by Professor
Freunberger, Conservator of the Diisseldorf
Gallery, who says that materials of this sort, with
exclusively metallic designs, come from Palermo,
whence in the thirteenth century proceeded crafts-
men to Lucca where they began to work in poly-
chrome. Moreover, M. Forrer, of Strasburg,
assures us that in Italy the textiles adorned with
metals had but little relief, while in Spain the relief
was very pronounced. M. F. Fischbach (in his
work "Die Geschichte der Textilkunst," p. 184)
holds that the material in question is either Saracen
or Greek, or else proceeds from Asia Minor—a
somewhat indefinite verdict ! As to their period,
it would be interesting to compare these designs
with the mosaics in the chamber of King Roger in
the palace of Palermo, which dates from Norman
times—the twelfth century.

FIG. 9.—GERMAN: SILK AND GOLD XV. CENTURY

260

Fig. 3. This piece of stuff, of which a repro-
duction is given, appears to bear a great similarity
to No. 2, although it is, I believe, Spanish, and of
the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

On a ground of dark blue we have a gold design
in strong relief, representing foliage united by
branches and surmounted by birds, affronies, and
separated by a palm leaf, above which is another
palm leaf of smaller size.

Fig. 4. A pink silk piece, with design in
gilt gold-beaters' skin in low relief. It repre-
sents a figure of a dog lying under the shade
of the " Horn," or tree of life, while an eagle is
swooping down on him. This particular tree is
one of the old symbols in Oriental as in Occi-
dental art.

Mme. Errera considers this to be Italian work
of the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The eagle
is certainly drawn with a sure hand, and its wings are
boldly marked and detailed. At an earlier period
than that suggested here, wings were usually repre-
sented by solid masses without detail. The central
flower on the tree is identical with the aster seen
on the material shown on the central plate of
page 16 in Dupont-Auberville's " L' Ornement du
Tissu," and referred to by the author as being
fourteenth-century work. Fischbach also mentions
similar compositions, which he places in the
thirteenth or fourteenth century.

Fig. 5. A piece of fine white silk ornamented
with birds, closely affrontes, with averted heads
and a leaf in the beak. There is a geometrical
design on the breast. The birds are perched
on a sort of palm leaf terminated by a smaller
one. The palm leaf is decorated with vine
leaves, and on the upper part of the handle is
a cherub. The design is in gold for the most
part, but the claws, the heads, and the medallion
are in beige.

Is this Byzantine or Italian ? The palm
leaf is worked in relief, which inclines one to
favour the Byzantine theory, but there is evi-
dence on the other side such as to make one
hesitate on that point. For example, M. Ch.
de Linas, in his " Chasubles conservees a Saint-
Rambert-sur-Loire" (Ancient priestly Vestments,
Paris, 1862), arrives" at the conclusion that the
Eastern art workers avoided as far as possible
the use of straight lines generally, and intersect-
ing angles in particular. Now the tails of these
birds are quite straight, as are the bands across
their breasts. Fischbach, however, describes a
piece of work almost exactly similar in every
respect as Byzantine in origin and Saracen in