The lower side shows a female figure worked in a similar way; in this
case she bears in her right hand some kind of wand or spray, which has
nearly worn off, and in her left a bunch of corn or grapes, or something
of that kind which has also badly worn away. If the first figure may be
considered to represent Peace, this one may perhaps be Plenty. She wears
a deep purplish skirt, with full over-garment and body of the same
colour, with an under-jacket of white and gold. On her dark hair she has
a blue flower with red leaves. Her feet are bare. The ground and sky are
both worked in the same way as the other side. Both figures are
enclosed in a flat oval border of gold thread, broad at the top and
narrowing towards the foot. In the corners are symmetrical arabesques
thickly worked in gold, and within the larger spaces in each
corner-piece are the 'remains' of feathered caterpillars, now skeleton
forms of threads only. The back of the book is particularly good, and
most beautifully worked. It is divided into five panels, within each of
which is a conventional flower, a cornflower alternating with a
carnation, and the colours of all of these are marvellously fresh and
effective. Among embroidered panelled backs it is probably the finest
specimen existing.
[Illustration: 37--Emblemes Chrestiens. MS 1624.]
_Emblemes Chrestiens_, par Georgette de Montenay. MS. a
Lislebourg. [Edinburgh] 1624.
Charles I., when he was Prince of Wales, often used the
book-stamps that had been cut for his brother Henry, and he also
particularly liked the triple plume of ostrich feathers. It occurs, as
has been shown, on one of Prince Henry's velvet-bound books, and it
forms the central design on the satin binding of an exquisite manuscript
written by Esther Inglis, a celebrated calligraphist, who lived in the
seventeenth century. It is a copy of the _Emblemes Chrestiens_, by
Georgette de Montenay, dedicated to Prince Charles, covered in red satin
embroidered with gold and silver threads, cords, and guimp, with a few
pearls, measuring 11-1/4 by 7-3/4 inches. In the centre is the triple
ostrich plume within a coronet, enclosed in an oval wreath of laurel
tied with a tasselled knot. A rectangular border closely filled with
arabesques runs parallel to the edges of the boards, and there is a
fleuron at each of the inner corners. In all cases the design is
outlined in gold cord, and the thick parts of the design are worked in
silver guimp. There are several spangles, and on the rim of the coronet
are three pearls.
_New Testament._ London, 1625.
One of the most curious embroidered satin bindings still left is now in
the Bodleian Library, and a slightly absurd tradition about it says that
the figure of David, which certainly is something like Charles
I., is clothed in a piece of a waistcoat that belonged to that king.
[Illustration: 38--New Testament. London, 1625.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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