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Late lUh Century woolen 
hand-block fruit showing In¬ 
dian influence 
Portuguese Prints 
{Continued from page 76) 
Deep rose printed cotton 
of the lUh Century, used 
for lining brocades 
Tree of Life design in Indo- 
Persian manner on hand- 
painted cotton 
Table cover of mid-l&th 
Century showing French 
influence 
mulberry or mauve, such as may be 
seen in old cashmere shawls, played an 
important part in the early color 
schemes; the browns, generally a strong 
umber, were judiciously employed and 
were commonly so manipulated as to 
impart definition to the design. The 
early red, prepared from kermes, was 
far softer and more tractable than the 
later reds prepared from cochineal; the 
early blue, prepared from pastel, also 
had some desirable qualities not pos¬ 
sessed by the later indigo. 
The secret of these colors and also the 
use of many of the later coloring sub¬ 
stances the Portuguese learned through 
their extensive East Indian connection. 
They were really the pioneers in intro¬ 
ducing these, and likewise many of the 
most prized designs and fashions, into 
Europe. 
In the later prints, especially when 
the reflex effect of English and French 
influence, aided by the more highly de¬ 
veloped technical processes employed by 
British and French artisans, began to be 
felt in Portugal, the colors became 
more trenchant and varied and we find 
vigorous reds, blues, yellows, greens, and 
browns dominating the field. 
There is unmistakable evidence that, 
in the late 16th and early 17th Cen¬ 
turies, many of the decorations were 
done altogether by hand. The next step 
was to impress the designs with wooden 
hand-blocks. Some of the pieces show 
that the work of the wood-blocks was 
supplemented by handwork. During the 
greater part of the 17th and 18th Cen¬ 
turies wooden blocks alone were used 
almost exclusively. From about the 
middle of the 18th Century a combina¬ 
tion stencil and sponge process was also 
employed to some extent, the colors 
being daubed or pounced on with 
a sponge through the openings of 
the stencil. Late in the 18th 
Century wooden rolls largely su¬ 
perseded the hand-blocks, there¬ 
by economizing time, effecting 
England and France steel 
and plates also were used at 
