Plate XLVII. Embroidery and designs for inlaying. Middle ages.
MIDDLE AGES. FIFTEENTH CENTURY. EMBROIDERY AND DESIGNS FOR INLAYING. From Paintings.
Plate XLVII.
THIS plate contains twenty-two examples of the ornamentation of hangings and stuffs, all of them remarkable for simplicity of design, but at the same time extremely effective. In most cases the patterns are produced by means of gold and one other colour; in some the gold is placed upon a coloured ground, and in others the design is stamped in colour upon a gold ground.
These twenty-two subjects are, for the most part, borrowed from different manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. The following is a list of them according to the numbers on the plate.
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. — Manuscript, B. N. French Supplements. (No. 542.) No.7. — Sainte-Chapelle de Bourbon-l’Archambault. Nos. 8, 9. — Window-glass from Moulins. No.10. — Manuscript, B. N. (No. 6789.) No.11. — Manuscript of Monstrelet, B.N. (No. 8299.) *) No. 13. — Hours of Anne of Brittany (Louvre). No. 14. — Manuscript, B. N. (Colbert Collection, No. 1174.) No. 15. — Manuscript, B. N. (No. 540.) Nos. 16, 17. — Manuscript, B. N. (No. 6788.) Nos. 18, 19. — The Golden Legend, B. N. (No. 6888.) Nos.20, 21. — Manuscript, B.N. (No.9387.) No. 22. — Book of Hours of the Schuehborn Family. Manuscript belonging to M. de Rothschild.
Source: Polychromatic ornament by Auguste Racinet. London, H. Sotheran and Co., 1877.
*) Enguerrand de Monstrelet (around 1390 in Montrelet; † July 20, 1453) was a French chronicler. He is the author of the Chroniques de Monstrelet, which were written for the House of Luxembourg-Ligny and record events from 1400 to 1444. The Chroniques de Monstrelet were on the side of the Burgundians, at that time one of the two parties in the struggle for power in France. His report is about the Hundred Years’ War that took place before his eyes. Monstrelet is not known for his literary style, his partisanship is clear, even though he affirms his neutrality. Nevertheless, he is one of the essential sources for his time, his chronicles are valuable because of the presumably authentic documents and the statements they contain.
