FIG. 6.--PANEL OF PETIT-POINT EMBROIDERY, WITH A REPRESENTATION OF COURTLY FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE. English work of the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Scale: 1/6th. FIG. 7.--PORTION OF THE "BAYEUX TAPESTRY," A BAND OF EMBROIDERY WITH THE STORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. In the museum at Bayeux, 11th century work. Scale: ¼th.] [Illustration: PLATE II. FIG. 8.--HANGING OF WOOLLEN CLOTH, EMBROIDERED WITH THE FIVE WISE AND THE FIVE FOOLISH VIRGINS. German work, dated 1598. Scale: 1/10th. FIG. 9.--PORTION OF THE ORPHREY OF THE "SYON COPE," EMBROIDERED WITH SHIELDS OF ARMS. The cope, formerly in the monastery of Syon near Isleworth, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. English work of the 13th century. Scale: 5/16ths. FIG. 10.--PORTION OF A BAND OF LOOSE LINEN, EMBROIDERED IN WHITE THREAD WITH FIGURES AND ANIMALS. German work of the later part of the 14th century. Scale: 2/7ths.] In concerning ourselves solely with those periods of which examples survive, we must pass over a wide gap and begin with the anciently-civilized land of Egypt. The sandy soil and dry climate of that country have led to the preservation of woven stuffs and embroideries of unique historic interest. The principal, and by far the earliest, known pieces which have a bearing on the present subject, found in 1903 in the tomb of Tethmosis (Thoutmôsis, or Thothmes) IV. at Thebes, are now in the Cairo Museum. There are three fragments, entirely of linen, inwrought with patterns in blue, red, green and black (fig. 1). A kind of tapestry method is used, the patterns being wrought upon the warp threads of the ground, instead of upon the finished web or woven material. Such a process, generally supplemented, as in this case, by a few stitches of fine needlework, was still in common use at a far later time. The largest of the three fragments at Cairo bears, in addition to rows of lotus flowers and papyrus inflorescences, a cartouche containing the name of Amenophis (Amenhotep) II. (c. 15th century B.C.); another is inwrought with the name of Tethmosis III. (c. 16th century B.C.).[1] [Illustration: FIG. 1.--Fragment of a linen robe, found in the tomb of Tethmosis (Thothmes) IV. at Thebes, and now in the Cairo Museum. The cartouche has the name of Amenophis (Amenhotep) II. (c. 15th century B.C.).] No other embroidered stuffs which can be assigned to so early a date have hitherto come to light in the Nile valley (nor indeed elsewhere), and the student who wishes to gain a fuller knowledge of the textile patterns of the ancient Egyptians must be referred to the wall-paintings and sculptured reliefs which have been preserved in considerable numbers.