The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 3 (of 3)Williams, Leonard
History
The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 3 (of 3)
Williams, Leonard
Decorative arts -- Spain -- History
Early in the fourteenth century a number of other costly stuffs began to
be made in various quarters of the civilized world, including Spain.
Among these fabrics were _zatonin_ or _zatony_ (perhaps the same as
_zetani_, _aceituni_, or _aceytoni_--that is, satin), several kinds of
_drap d'aur_ or cloth of gold, several kinds of velvet, _sarga_ or
serge, and _camocas_, which is stated by Miquel y Badía to have been a
strong material used for lining curtains, coats of mail, etc. The same
writer observes that the stuff called by the name _zatonin_ and its
variations is the same as the Castilian raso and the Catalan _setí_ or
_satí_, a favourite though expensive and luxurious fabric in the
fourteenth and succeeding centuries. Under the name _aceytoni_ it is
mentioned in a work in the Catalan language titled _Croniques
d'Espanya_, by Pedro Miguel Carbonell, in which we read that at the
coronation of Don Martin of Aragon this monarch's consort, Doña María,
was "dressed in white cloth of gold and a long mantle ... and rode upon
a white horse covered with trappings of white _aceytoni_."
Miquel y Badía has discovered the names of other fabrics which are known
from documentary evidence to have been used in older Spain, and which
were called _aducar_, _alama_, _tela de nacar_, _primavera_ or
_primavert_, _almexia_, _picote_, and _velillo_. It is probable that
_alama_ and _tela de nacar_ had silver interwoven with their texture.
The _primavera_ or "spring fabric" was so named from the flowers which
adorned it. _Almexía_ is mentioned in the _Chronicle of the Cid_. It was
a costly and elaborate stuff, and is believed by Miquel to have taken
its title from the city of Almería. _Picote_ was a kind of satin
manufactured in the island of Majorca, and _velillo_ a thin, delicate
fabric decorated with flowers and with silver thread.
The devices on all these stuffs were very varied. Prominent types among
them were the _pallia rotata_, containing circles which are commonly
combined with other ornament, the _pallia aquilinata_, in which the
dominant motive was the eagle, and the _pallia leonata_, in which it was
the lion. Other beasts, birds, and monsters were also figured with great
frequency, such as griffins, peacocks, swans, crows, bulls, tigers, or
dogs; but the emblem most in favour, especially throughout the tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth centuries, was the eagle, owing to the numerous
and illustrious qualities attributed to it, such as majesty, victory,
valour, and good omen. These creatures, too, were frequently represented
face to face or back to back, in pairs; nor were they so disposed in
textile fabrics only, but on ivory, wood, or silver caskets, and on
numerous other objects, as well as on the painted friezes of a place of
worship.[2]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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