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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.

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