TAP 



43 



TAP 







pieces and a sreat variety of subjects, belonged to the 

 temple of Apollo at Delphi, and was used to form a mag- 

 nificent tent for the purpose of an entertainment (Ion, 

 1141-1162) ; for it is to be observed that stores of shawls 

 were not only kept by wealthy individuals (Homer, Odyssey, 

 xv., 104-108), but often constituted a very important part 

 of the treasures of a temple (Euripides, Ion, 329, 330), 

 having been presented to the divinity on numerous occa- 

 sions by suppliants and devotees. (Homer, Iliad, vi., 

 271-304"; Virgil, Mneid, i., 480, Ciris, 21-35.)' 



Several substances appear to have been used by the 

 antients as materials for the ornamental fabrics alluded 

 to. Jubinal states that flax, wool, and byssus [Bvssus, 

 vol. vi., p. 81] entered into their composition; and 

 that the richest colours, embroidery, precious stones, and 

 gold, were used in them. It is not very clear in what 

 form and manner gold \vas applied in many cases. In 

 the third verse of the thirty-ninth chapter of Exodus, 

 iks of beating gold into thin plates, and then 

 cutting it into wires, to work it into the ephod with cun- 

 ning work : and Wilkinson states that probably the gold 

 thread used in Egyptian embroidery was formed in like 

 manner, and rounded by the hammer. Beckmann < Ilix- 

 tory of Inventions, vol. ii., p. 212, &c.) enters minutely 

 into this question, and states that he had not met with a 

 single passage in antient authors where mention is made 

 of iiu'tal being wire-drawn; yet. Jubinal thinks that gold 

 was perhaps Mimetimes used in antient tapestry in the 

 form of fine drawn wires, flattened and wound round 

 threads in a manner resembling modern gold thread. He 

 further supposes that gold was sometimes introduced sub- 

 sequently to the weaving of the tissue, by loosening its 

 texture, and inserting the gold between the threads. 



Sranty as are the notices of tapestry in antient writers, 

 our information respecting it during the middle ages is 

 not much fuller. Jubinal observes that we find females 

 :ed in working tapestry with the needle from the 

 earliest epochs of the French monarchy. Gregory of 

 Tours, writing towards the close of the sixth century, in 

 his description of the rejoicings which followed the pro- 

 fession of Christianity by Clo\is and his people, speaks of 

 the streets being shaded with painted cloths or curtains 

 ' rr//\ ilij,irii.\ . and the churches being adorned with 

 hanirinirs : and airain. in describing the consecration of 

 the chinch of St. Denis, he mentions tapestries embroi- 

 dered with irold and irarnished with pearls. The fabrica- 

 tion of tapestry-hangings by the loom appears to have 

 be, -n introduced into France, at the earliest, about the 

 ninth century, until which time the needle had been used 

 -ivcly in their production; and, long after that 

 period, the two processes were piacti.--.ed concurrently. 

 At this time we often find embroidered cloths cnum 

 amon;r tlif decorations of churches. Jubinal quotes Fa- 

 ther Lubbe for the statement that many tapestries were 

 made for the church of Auxerre prior to the year K40 : 

 and he n !. there existed in the abbey 



Klorent. nl Sii'iniur. a great manufactory of .stuff's, 

 . which were woven by the inmates. 

 From contempoiary notices', it i.-; trident that there was a 

 celebrated manufacture of t;ipr-,h v at Poitiers as early as 

 IH-J.Y Nor was the manufacture of tapestry confined to 

 France at this period. The inhabitants of the north of 

 Europe also practised it, and Knglish embroidery was 

 much admired and highly prized on the Continent. In 

 the Kast also, where the art had been culthuted from the 

 earliest antiquity, fine embroidery was produced in the 

 :ith century. Much of the early Oriental tapcstry 

 was adorned with erotcsque i >d, long after it 



became usual to depict natural ;;d scenery upon 



tapestry, such devices were often used in ornamental 

 bordi 



In the twelfth and thirteenth ccntr e of tapes- 



try <-\ti'!ided greatly. It pa*sed from churches and monas- 

 teries, in which it had been used for curtain*, palls, altar- 

 luth.-i. vestments. &<.. 1n the residences of the nobilitv. 

 Ke, pectins: this chant,'-,'. Jubinal observes :' If, in the 

 le of the cloister, the monks had, as .' e h;i\e seen, 

 ' of wool and silk for the sake of oc- 

 ion, ladies and their followers, shut up in their < 

 durin .inirs of winter, the tedium of which 



'pled only by the periled of works of piety or 

 chivalry, I with their needles the glorious 



action The high walls of these cold 



rooms, built of stone, spoke far more effectually to the 

 hearts and imaginations of those who lived under their 

 protecting shelter, when they were covered with interesting 

 histories, with important instruction, or with glorious re- 

 membrances of the past, than when nothing appeared to 

 veil their nakedness.' The use of tapestiy in this way was 

 one of the luxuries introduced from the East in conse- 

 quence of the increased intercourse occasioned by the 

 crusades. The crusaders brought accounts of the Oriental 

 practice of covering walls with prepared and ornamented 

 skins, chiefly those of goats and sheep. These, which 

 were probably at first used of their natural size and shape, 

 were, at a later period, cut into rectangular pieces, about 

 two feet high, and rather less in width, and united by 

 sewing into very solid and handsome hangings, which 

 were well adapted to resist damp. Such hangings, or 

 leather tapestry, were manufactured much at Venice and 

 Cordova, and were sometimes either gilt all over, or orna- 

 mented with gilt devices, in which case they bore the 

 name of (for buxuiie. The Oriental origin of the more 

 ordinary kind of tapestry is indicated by the name Sun/- 

 sins or Sarazii/ois. which was frequently applied in France 

 to the early manufacturers. 



Numerous allusions to the use of tapestry iu the four- 

 teenth and fifteenth centuries, collected from contempo- 

 rary documents, arc given by Jubinal. It was then not 

 only used to cover the nakedness of interior walls, but 

 was also employed, on great occasions, as for instance 

 on the public entries of princes, to decorate streets, and 

 to impart a joyful appearance to towns and public places. 

 It formed part of the decorations of festal halls, and was 

 employed to ornament the galleries and other erections 

 required at tournaments. Rich embroidery was also much 

 employed in the decorations of the horses and men who 

 formed the actors in those chivalric amusements ; and the 

 brilliant, though often grotesque devices of heraldry, which 

 formed so important a part of the display upon such occa- 

 sions, afforded extensive employment to the workers of 

 tapestry and other ornamented tissues. 



The art of making tapestry, for which the Flemings had 

 been celebrated from the twelfth century, made consider- 

 able progress in Flanders in the fourteenth century, and 

 attained its highest perfection there in the fifteenth. 

 Cinicciardini has ascribed the invention of tapestry to 

 Flanders ; but, if received at all, this statement must be 

 supposed to refer merely to such as is produced by the 

 loom. It is certain however that Europe is much indebted 

 to the Flemings for the revival and improvement of tapes- 

 try, and for the production of many of the finest speci- 

 mens yet existing. The countess of Wilton, whose inte- 

 resting volume on ' The Art of Neddlework' contains 

 much information upon the subject of tapestry, is probably 

 correct in assuming that the weaving of tapestry-hangings 

 was not practised until they had become, from custom, a 

 thing of necessity. ' Unintermitting and arduous,' she 

 observes, ' had been the stitchery practised in the creation 

 of these coveted luxuries, long, very long, before the loom 

 was taught to give relief to the busy finger.' Tapestry 

 manufactories were early established at" Brussels, Antwerp, 

 Oudenarde, Lisle, Tournay, Bruges, and Valenciennes ; 

 but that of Arras* was more celebrated than any other, 

 and its productions were so highly prized, that the name 

 arras became a common expression for the finest tapestry 

 generally, whether made in that place or elsewhere. The 

 hangings of Arras, as well as those of other manufactories 

 in France, were, says Jubinal, for the most part executed 

 in wool. Hemp and cotton were also used in them, but 

 no silk or gold thread. The fabrication of tapestries 

 formed of these substances was carried on chiefly at Flo- 

 rence and at Venice. The recollection of this difference 

 is important in discovering where old tapestries were made, 

 and Jubinal refers to instances of the difference in some 

 of those engraved in his great work on this description of 

 monuments. Writing of the period under consideration, 

 he observes that the devices (ymaiges) of the tapestry 

 were very various. We have seen that, they sometimes 

 represented scenes from antient history, from the fabulous 

 . of heroes, and from modern historical c\enl- : 

 but. the imagination of the tapestry-designers did not stop 



* T;ipestry of Arras, represoiitivu; the battle* of Alexander the (Jrent, foi -innl 

 lrt of llio yran'ilt sent liy thu kiiu; of Cnuiiv, in \\SI6, to the sultan ll:ij:i/.<>t. 

 to inJtico him to ransom some captives taken at tho battle of Nioopolli. (Mac- 

 pherson, Amals nf Commerce, vol. i., i>. 608.) 



