A BABYLONIAN AMULET opotamian believed himself to be in con ...
A BABYLONIAN AMULET opotamian believed himself to be in con ...
A BABYLONIAN AMULET opotamian believed himself to be in con ...
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BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART<br />
ogy. The wisdom of the Chaldeans and<br />
their magic and superstition played a great<br />
role up <strong>to</strong> the early Middle Ages, both <strong>in</strong><br />
the Christian and <strong>in</strong> the Mohammedan<br />
world.<br />
H. H. VON DER OSTEN.<br />
TEXTILES AS FURNISHINGS IN<br />
EARLY AMERICAN HOMES<br />
One of the most <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g and fasci-<br />
nat<strong>in</strong>g among the problems which have <strong>con</strong>-<br />
fronted the Museum <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>stallation of<br />
its early American rooms and galleries <strong>in</strong><br />
the new American W<strong>in</strong>g, the gift of Mr.<br />
and Mrs. Ro<strong>be</strong>rt W. de Forest, which it<br />
is proposed <strong>to</strong> open on Oc<strong>to</strong><strong>be</strong>r 20, has<br />
<strong>be</strong>en the selection and arrangement of tex-<br />
tiles for use as furniture cover<strong>in</strong>gs, cur-<br />
ta<strong>in</strong>s, etc. The eight hundred pieces of<br />
silver made <strong>in</strong> this country dur<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, now<br />
on exhibition <strong>in</strong> Gallery 22, have demon-<br />
strated that there existed here a love of<br />
the <strong>be</strong>autiful and an appreciation of good<br />
craftmanship which made possible the high<br />
order of development of the art of the sil-<br />
versmith which prevailed <strong>in</strong> this country<br />
almost from its very <strong>be</strong>g<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g; but no<br />
such demonstration of the use of textiles<br />
can possibly <strong>be</strong> made, as these early fur-<br />
nish<strong>in</strong>gs have of necessity long s<strong>in</strong>ce dis-<br />
appeared. However, enough old fabrics<br />
have <strong>be</strong>en obta<strong>in</strong>ed for a fairly good repre-<br />
sentation of the orig<strong>in</strong>al textiles. These,<br />
used <strong>in</strong> our various period rooms accord<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>to</strong> his<strong>to</strong>ric precedent, can not but give an<br />
added charm and atmosphere.<br />
Although the textile <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong> its <strong>be</strong>-<br />
g<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> America was largely <strong>con</strong>f<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
<strong>to</strong> cloth spun and woven by Colonial wo-<br />
men for purely utilitarian purposes, or<br />
wrought <strong>in</strong> their leisure hours for the<br />
em<strong>be</strong>llishment of their homes after the<br />
fashion which existed <strong>in</strong> the Old World,<br />
a study of seventeenth- and eighteenth-<br />
century <strong>in</strong>ven<strong>to</strong>ries and eighteenth-century<br />
newspapers and <strong>con</strong>temporary descriptions<br />
of early American homes <strong>con</strong>v<strong>in</strong>ces us<br />
that the same <strong>be</strong>autiful fabrics used <strong>in</strong><br />
the decorations of the <strong>in</strong>teriors of private<br />
homes <strong>in</strong> the Old World came <strong>to</strong> America<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>con</strong>siderable quantities, and when used<br />
148<br />
as furnish<strong>in</strong>gs gave <strong>to</strong> many of the homes<br />
an elegance not <strong>con</strong>sistent with the preva-<br />
lent ideas of life <strong>in</strong> the early days of this<br />
country.<br />
Turkey workl is noted as <strong>in</strong> general use<br />
from 1646 for cushions and general furni-<br />
ture cover<strong>in</strong>gs. That doughty old settler,<br />
Major-General Edward Gibbons, English<br />
by descent-merchant of Bos<strong>to</strong>n <strong>in</strong> 1629,<br />
major-general of militia 1649-51, and de-<br />
scri<strong>be</strong>d by Johnson (1654) <strong>in</strong> his Wonder-<br />
Work<strong>in</strong>g Providence of Sions Saviour <strong>in</strong><br />
New England as "a man of resolute spirit,<br />
bold as a Lion, <strong>be</strong><strong>in</strong>g wholly tu<strong>to</strong>red up <strong>in</strong><br />
N. E. Discipl<strong>in</strong>e, very generous and forward<br />
<strong>to</strong> promote all military matters; his Forts<br />
are well <strong>con</strong>trived, and batteries strong, and<br />
<strong>in</strong> good repair"-left <strong>be</strong>h<strong>in</strong>d him <strong>in</strong> 1654<br />
thirty-one cushions, of which eleven were<br />
w<strong>in</strong>dow cushions, four damask, four vel-<br />
vet, two leather, and one Turkey work.<br />
"Raught" w<strong>in</strong>dow cushions which appear<br />
from 1653 on were unquestionably of the<br />
needlework popularly called Charles II<br />
needlework.<br />
Anne Hibb<strong>in</strong>s, the third person executed<br />
for witchcraft (I656) dur<strong>in</strong>g that strange<br />
psychological wave which at frequent <strong>in</strong>-<br />
tervals swept New England for over half a<br />
century, widow of a successful Bos<strong>to</strong>n mer-<br />
chant who had long <strong>be</strong>en a deputy <strong>to</strong><br />
the general court and was assistant at the<br />
hour of his death, <strong>be</strong>autified her home,<br />
<strong>be</strong>sides her other furnish<strong>in</strong>gs, with "a<br />
green say2 cushion, a violet p<strong>in</strong>ckt cushion,<br />
a velvet (Ios) and a wrought cushion with<br />
gold (5s), a wrought cupboard cloth, a<br />
green say valance, a green cupboard cloth<br />
with silk fr<strong>in</strong>ge, a green wrought do. with do.,<br />
one wrought valliants, five pa<strong>in</strong>ted calico<br />
curta<strong>in</strong>s and valence, one cupboard cloth<br />
with fr<strong>in</strong>ge, and one wrought Holland cup-<br />
board cloth." The pa<strong>in</strong>ted calico curta<strong>in</strong>s<br />
referred <strong>to</strong> are those gorgeous fabrics from<br />
India, pa<strong>in</strong>ted with the design of the tree of<br />
life, with its brilliant foliage and many-<br />
'A home product <strong>in</strong> imitation of Oriental pile<br />
rugs, made by thread<strong>in</strong>g worsted yarns through<br />
a coarse cloth of open texture, then knott<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
cutt<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
2A cloth of f<strong>in</strong>e texture, resembl<strong>in</strong>g serge; <strong>in</strong><br />
the sixteenth century sometimes partly of silk,<br />
subsequently entirely of wool.