Print Specifics:
- Type of print: Lithograph - Original French antique print
- Publisher: Librairie de Firmin Didot, Paris, Rue Jacob 56, 1885-1887.
- Condition: 1 (1. Excellent - 2. Very good - 3. Good - 4. Fair)
- Dimensions: 11 x 15.5 inches (28 x 40 cm), including blank margins (borders) around the image.
- Paper weight: 2 (1. Thick - 2. Heavier - 3. Medium heavy - 4. Slightly heavier - 5. Thin)
- Reverse side: Blank
- Notes: 1.
Green color 'border' around the print in the photo is a contrasting background
on which the print was photographed. 2. Detail of the print is sharper than the photo of the print.
Legend to the illustrations:
- No.
1. This fragment represents a brocaded silk fabric of the fifteenth
century, taken from a painting by Marziale Marco, in the Contarini
Gallery, in Venice. The ground is in white satin, and the
characteristics of the decoration are both Persian and Indian. The
ramifications recall the ingenious combinations of Persian tilework,
and the flora belong mostly to the Indian style. This decoration is one
of the most charming types of brocaded silk fabrics, known during the
Middle Ages as the Saracen genre. While the workmanship of this brocade
is European, its Oriental model probably underwent few modifications
after it was supplied to the Venetian manufactories, which then worked
for the whole of Europe. No. 3. From a painting by Giottino at the
Uffizi in Florence; it is a sacerdotal fabric of Byzantine character.
Silvered material spangled with gold and brocaded with red and black
velvet; the letters are in gold. This inscription is typical. IXOYE
means "fish" in Greek. The fish was the symbolic representation of the
Lord; it was the password of the first Christians. The Greek word for
fish is believed to have provided the five initial letters of the five
words signifying "Jesus Christ", "son of God", and "Saviour". The palms
which divide this decoration have an emblematic meaning as well, for
the palm was the reward for whoever triumphed over all trials of
faithfulness to God. Sacerdotal vestments often bear inscriptions in
Latin, and, more rarely, in Greek.
- No. 2 and 4. From a painting by
primitives of the Academy of Florence. These examples are from the
first part of the fifteenth century. One of these fragments is red
velvet spangled with gold, and its decoration consists of florets. The
other Is green velvet spangled with gold, in which the plant and the
animal world are combined to form a repeating pattern. The Oriental and
Byzantine Influences are still quite obvious, although the style
belongs to a period of transition. Until the middle of the fourtenth
century, in all the paintings and frescoes in which fabrics are
represented, the Byzantine style always appears in the shape of
geometric ornaments symmetrically arranged, such as stars, florets,
rhombs, and so on. Almost always, the predominating colour apart from
gold Is poppy red, or light bright green (Veronese green). In our
example the movement imparted to the cocks is worthy of notice as it
suggests the emergence of a taste for reality. This fragment, n° 4,
belongs to a dress. In the Christian symbolism used by the painters of
the Roman catacombs, two cocks face to face are the allegory of
struggle and martyrdom.
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