126 DERBYSHIRE TAPESTRY. 



and silver thread is abundantly used in the warp, which 

 embodies also a considerable amount of white silk. One 

 of these pieces was recently found to have borne the Royal arms 

 in the top border in the centre — removed (save the orb and cross) 

 to make room for a blue heart in a medallion — the mark of the 

 Mortlake factory during the Cromwellian era. " A suite of 

 hangings representing the ' Five Senses,' executed at Mortlake, 

 was in the palace at Oatlands, and were sold in 1649 (the year 

 of the execution of Charles I.) for ^270." * 



There can hardly be a doubt but that we have here the 

 identical suite sold at the dispersal of the Royal effects. 



These hangings have central medallions with surrounding 

 festoons of flowers, etc., on which are seated peacocks, monkeys, 

 and various demihuman grotesques, with floral or leafy termina- 

 tions. Small side plaques in the border have illustrations from 

 the fables of ^sop— the Fox and Stork and the Dog and his 

 Shadow — designed to set forth the sense of " Seeing." At the 



bottom of the first piece we have Wk I perhaps for Pi'xwct 



Charles Mortlake, with the monogram *|-| in the right hand 

 margin for Sir Francis Crane, the first Vp master of the 

 works. 



On the hanging behind the bed, the factory mark is slightly 

 re-arranged TWyi with the addition of a plain shield PI 

 and the j y | initials of the chief master as above in 

 the margin. 



In the right hand border we find the dog and bear, and in 

 the left the stork picking the bone out of the fox's throat 

 {Feeling). 



3. — Between the fireplace and door. 



The centre medallion has a female singing, her viol laid aside, 

 with a stag reposing by her. The left border medallion has an 

 ass in a lion's skin counterfeiting the voice of the Forest King 

 {Hearing). 



* Mantling and Bray's " Surrey." 



