Mention has been made that in the twelfth century, when the Normans conquered Sicily, of their bringing silk weavers from Athens and from other parts of Greece to work at Palermo. Here and at this time (1130) a distinct alteration of the design took place by the introduction of the Greek classic and Christian elements of ornament in mixture with some of the older Saracenic forms. Mock Arabic inscriptions were also used very much in these Sicilian fabrics; this may have been done by Christian designers ignorant of Arabic, in order to give to the fabrics an appearance of Saracenic work, which, perhaps, made them sell better when exported (Fig. 266). Another peculiarity of the Palermitan silks is the multitude of elements found in the designs. All kinds of fabulous animals and birds are used as in heraldic blazoning: sunbursts, cloud-forms, Christian emblems and elements occurring as forms of angels with swinging censers, initials of sacred names, and emblematic plants. The use of these heraldic and Christian elements was in a great measure due to the influence of the Crusaders in the Middle Ages. The favourite colouring of the Sicilian silks was dark red grounds and green foliage; the birds, animals, and mythological elements were usually woven in gold threads as in the example given (Fig. 267). [Illustration: Fig. 266.—Silk Damask; Sicilian; with Imitated Arabic Characters. (R.)] Towards the end of the fourteenth century and during the fifteenth the designs became more floriated, the vine and pomegranate, with vase forms, were used and were really developments from, and did duty for, the sacred tree of the early patterns, and instead of a circular framing the flamboyant or ogival diaper lines were introduced. This repeating framework was derived from the Saracenic Pointed architecture and adopted in the ogival Gothic at this date (Figs. 268, 269). [Illustration: Fig. 267.—Silk Damask; Sicilian; Fifteenth Century. (L.P.)] During the sixteenth century the pineapple was used very much under a variety of modifications as an ornamental form in fabrics (Fig. 269), and often in company with the pomegranate. This came about after the discovery of the West Indies, from where the pineapple had been imported into Europe (Fig. 270). Large-pattern damask diapers, brocades, and velvets were now made in many places in Italy, with patterns based on waving lines or ogival forms enclosing bilateral schemes of ornament, all of which were reminiscences of the “tree of life” patterns, and in all may be traced the strong influences of Saracenic design. [Illustration: Fig. 268.—Silk Damask; Florentine; Fifteenth Century.] From the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, and even later, Lucca in Tuscany, Genoa, Florence, and Venice were celebrated for the manufacture of silken brocades and velvets, which have been used for the dresses of priests, kings, and noblemen, as well as for hangings.