The utility, universality, construction, texture, ornamentation and colour of textile fabrics are full of interest and suggestiveness, for in the remarkable development of textile fabrics we may trace the continuity of style and tradition, the intermingling of races and customs, and the grafting of religious ideas with the wealth and luxuriance of the past.

All fabrics wrought in the loom are called textiles. They are broadly divided into three classes: 1st, plain fabrics in which the warp and weft alternate equally; 2nd, those fabrics in which a pattern is produced by the warp and weft intermingling in different proportions or colours, figured cloths and tapestries being included in this class; 3rd, those fabrics in which the plain textile No. 1 is enriched with the needle or by printing, termed embroideries or printed fabrics.

Owing to their perishable nature few remains of ancient textile fabrics are in existence. The oldest examples are found in the tombs of Egypt, where, owing to the dryness of the climate, some fabrics of the early dynasties still remain. They are usually of fine linen and without enrichment, yet upon the same tombs are many painted patterns that undoubtedly show a woven origin. The oldest figured fabrics found in Egypt are of the 6th century A.D., and they show a remarkable similarity to the early patterns of Persia and Byzantium, for it was in India, Persia and Arabia that textiles reached their perfection of workmanship and their wealth of material. This splendid tradition was carried from Persia and India to Byzantium in the 5th century, and in the 8th century the Arabians absorbed and assimilated the arts of Persia, India, Egypt and Spain and brought the art of weaving to its culmination during the 14th and 15th centuries.

The ornamental designs of textile fabrics of different nations and periods are characterised by well-defined forms, differentiated by racial influence, climatic conditions and the myths and traditions of the people. Yet the traditional Eastern origin may be traced through many textile designs, for there is no doubt that India, Persia and Arabia influenced the designs of textile fabrics more than any other nations. This was due no doubt partly to the Eastern weavers carrying their art and traditions with them to various parts of Europe, and also to the exportation of their splendid fabrics, but principally to the beautiful and interesting designs which were perfectly adapted to the process of weaving. It is due no doubt to this frank adaptation of natural forms and their appropriateness to the technical necessities of woven fabrics, that has rendered this Eastern influence so persistent through many centuries in different parts of Europe. It is remarkable that even in Italy during the whole of the Renascence period, with the characteristic scroll forms and acanthus foliation of its architecture and decorative arts, the textiles are quite distinct in style, having the characteristics of the Sicilian, Persian and Indian ornament.

Among the earliest figured fabrics must be placed those of Assyria, of which representations may be seen in Layard’s Book on Nineveh. The patterns consisted of symmetrically placed winged figures with the Hom or Tree of Life and the rosette, which was used as a symbol by Zoraster. It is probable that many of these patterns were embroidered, as the Babylonians were reported to be skilful in the art of embroidery, but it is also certain that some of the patterns were woven. The figured fabrics found in Egypt only date from the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., and show a marked Byzantine and Persian influence (figs. 1-7, plate 35). Characteristic Byzantine examples have medallions and symmetrically placed figures and ornament of the “Hom.” At Alexandria and Antioch, many fine green and gold silk fabrics with ornament in brown outline were produced from the 6th to the 10th centuries.

Under the Saracens, textile fabrics reached their highest development; splendour of colour, beauty and perfection of material and the singularly interesting beauty of the designs being the chief characteristics.

The conquest of Persia, in 632 A.D., by Abu Bekr, the successor of Mahomet, the establishment of Bagdad in 762 as the capital of the Arabian Khalifs, and the invasion of India, in 711, gave a remarkable impetus to the decorative arts, more especially the arts of dyeing, weaving and embroidery. These arts culminated in the splendid period of the Fatimy Khalifs, 909-1171 A.D. Though Mahomet forbade his followers to wear silk, it was largely used by the Saracens and, to evade the injunction, cotton was frequently interwoven with it, and, in India especially, the fabrics often have a cotton warp as a foundation for the weft patterns of coloured silks and gold thread. Many fine examples of Saracenic fabrics of the 11th to the 15th centuries are now in our national museums. The larger portion are from Sicily, and are termed Sicilian or Siculo-Saracenic. They have bands of birds, animals, foliage and inscriptions in blue, green and gold on a red ground. If wholly of silk the fabric was termed Holosericum, and if of silk and gold, Chrysoclavum fundatum. Drawn gold thread was not used in early fabrics, but gold leaf laid on paper or skin and then rolled round a fine thread of silk was largely used by the Saracenic weavers. The patterns in some of the later Sicilian fabrics of the 13th and 14th centuries have a purple ground in twilled silk, with birds and foliage formed by a weft of gold thread. These patterns were usually symmetrical in arrangement, no doubt partly due to the traditional art of Assyria, but also to the simple necessities of weaving, for in the early looms the turnover of the pattern was frequently used. The Saracenic fabrics produced in Spain are called Hispano-Moresque and are distinguished by splendid crimson or dark blue conventional patterns of silk upon a yellow ground of a fine quality, and a frequent use of strips of gilded parchment in place of the rolled gilt thread. In this period, many fine velvets raised on a satin ground with gold

and silver threads, were made. In the 12th century, Roger II., the Norman King of Northern Sicily, took Corinth and Argos, and carried many weavers and embroiderers from Greece to Sicily, and established them at Palermo, where they quickly assimilated the Sicilian style and produced many fine fabrics during the 13th and 14th centuries.

The crusades now began to influence the arts; in 1098, Antioch was taken and the spoil distributed through Europe; in 1204, Constantinople was taken by Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the Venetian Doge, Dandolo, and the vast spoil of textiles distributed. It was doubtless under the influence of the crusades that the Sicilian weavers of the 13th and 14th centuries produced the many beautiful fabrics enriched with winged lions, foliated crosses and crowns, rayed stars, harts and birds linked together, and with the introduction of armorial bearings. Early in the 14th century, this splendid tradition was introduced into Italy, and at Lucca many beautiful fabrics were produced, having the same characteristics and technique as the Sicilian fabrics.

The cloak upon the recumbent bronze figure of Richard II. in Westminster Abbey has a pattern of foliage with couchant harts and rayed stars, and was most probably copied from the original silk made for Richard at Lucca or Palermo.

The beautiful materials and designs of Indian textile fabrics are indicative of the love of nature and the splendour of colour of a remote antiquity. Though influenced at various times by Greek, Persian and Arabian traditions, India still preserved an indigenous ornamental art of remarkable freshness and vitality, the designers choosing their own flora and fauna with rare selective power and adaptive qualities. With an instinctive feeling for ornamental art, aided by the splendid colourings of the native dyes, they produced textile fabrics of silks, brocades, and gold and silver lace remarkable for richness and perfection of material, beauty of design and harmony of colour. The Indian pine is a familiar form of enrichment differentiated from the cypress of Persia (fig. 1, plate 22), by the spiral at the apex. This typical pine is treated with a wonderful diversity of detail (figs. 4, 5 and 6, plate 23). The splendid carpets of India were doubtless influenced by the Persian tradition and they follow the same methods and ornamental arrangements, adapting, conventionalizing and emphasising plants, flowers and seeds, and rendering them with a fine feeling for form and colour. Block printing was largely used for silks and cottons, and many splendid examples are now treasured in our museums; an illustration of a printed cotton Palampore from South Kensington is given here, showing the beautiful floral treatment, diversity of detail, and contrast of line and mass. The gold and silver Brocades or “Kincobs” of Ahmedabad and Benares, with patterns of animals, flowers and foliage richly spangled; the delicate muslins of Dacca, the gold and silver primed muslins of Jaipur, and the woollen

shawls of Kashmir, with the well-known pine pattern, are splendid examples of richness of material, delicacy and skilfulness of technic, and beauty and appropriateness of ornamentation.

The Pile carpets of Persia, especially those of Kurdistan, Khorassan, Kirman, and Ferahan, are the finest in the world, being magnificent in colour and having bold conventional patterns of their beautiful flora, with birds and animals interspersed with the ornament, giving a largeness of mass and interest and vitality of detail. The illustration on the opposite page is from a fine 16th century Persian carpet, and is a good example of their methods and traditions. The hyacinth, tulip, iris and the pink, are frequently introduced, together with the hom or tree of life. An illustration is given (fig. 2, plate 22) of a Genoa fabric but of Persian design, showing the typical “pink” with its simplicity and beauty of line. This traditional art of Persia had a most marked influence upon the textile fabrics of Europe from the 12th to the 17th centuries. This was no doubt due to many causes, but the perfect adaptability to the process of weaving, the interest, inventiveness and beauty of the ornament, and the singular frank treatment of form and colour, doubtless appealed to the craftsmen of Europe, and hence we find many Persian designs produced in Sicily, Spain, Italy, France and Flanders.

The finest silk velvets and damasks produced from the looms of Florence show a distinct Persian influence in their bold artichoke and pomegranate patterns of the 16th and 17th centuries. In Genoa, similar patterns in many coloured velvets were produced, and it is singular how largely this persistency of type prevails in all countries.

In 1480, Louis XI. introduced the art into France, when looms were established at Tours, and in 1520 they were established at Lyons by Francis I., and the art of weaving rapidly spread. The earliest fabrics of these looms have patterns similar to the Persian and Italian fabrics; but soon the vase pattern, which no doubt had its origin in Byzantine textiles and which had been used by the Persians and Italians, began to influence French designs. However, this rapidly gave place towards the middle of the 17th century to the imitations of ribbons and laces in textile fabrics, together with a more naturalistic treatment of floral forms, and the beauty, suggestiveness and interest of the early patterns now gave way to prettiness, affectation and a naturalistic treatment which culminated in the period of Madame Pompadour.

The remarkable invention of perforated cards for facilitating the weaving of figured fabrics was introduced by Bonchon, 1725, and continued by Falcon in 1728, by Vancanson in 1745, and perfected by Joseph Marie Jacquard, 1752-1834.

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis the XIV., caused large numbers of weavers to come to England, bringing their art and tradition with them, and many established themselves at Spitalfields which soon rose to some importance. The patterns, necessarily, were purely French in treatment, consisting of natural arrangements of flowers; a sketch is here given of a Spitalfields design for silk damask.

The textile fabrics of Flanders reached a high degree of perfection in the 16th and 17th centuries, Bruges being famous for its silk damasks and velvets, the patterns showing the traditional Persian or the pomegranate and artichoke type of the Florentine textiles. Block printing had been introduced into Flanders in the 15th century and many fine patterns with Indian motives were produced up to the 17th century.

At Ypres, fine diapered linen was manufactured, and Ghent was famous for its woollens, but the remarkable prosperity of Flanders was destroyed by the Spanish occupation (1556-1648).

Then large numbers of Flemish weavers came to England and settled in many parts of the country, bringing their traditions and craftsmanship, which have undoubtedly had a most marked influence upon the production of cotton and woollen textile fabrics in England.

Tapestry, of which many fine examples of the 16th and 17th centuries are treasured in our museums and palaces, differs from most woven fabrics in its method of production, which consists of interweaving and knotting short pieces of coloured wefts, which form the pattern, to a strong warp, a ground weft being thrown across each pick to bind the material well together;

this is almost the same method as that used in the manufacture of the Indian and Persian carpets. It was during the 14th and 15th centuries, at Arras in Flanders, that storied tapestries were brought to their culmination and the tapestry workers became a most powerful guild. From about 1480, Brussels produced many magnificent hangings from designs by the great masters of the Italian Renascence. Raphael’s famous cartoons which are now in the South Kensington Museum are the original designs for the ten tapestries manufactured at Brussels for Pope Leo X. for the enrichment of the Sistine chapel in the Vatican; the seven cartoons, three being lost, were purchased by Charles I.

Many of the great Flemish painters also designed for the Brussels tapestries, such as Van Orley, Van Leyden and Jan Mabuse.

Francis I. caused tapestry looms to be set up at Fontainbleau in 1339, under the direction of the Italian, Serlio, but it was not until the Gobelin tapestry manufactory was established in 1603 in the Faubourg Saint Marcel by the Fleming, Marc de Comans, and FranÇois de la Planche, that French tapestry reached any importance. Under the Minister Colbert in 1667, the Royal Gobelin manufactory produced many fine tapestries designed by the head of the establishment, Charles le Brun.

About 1590, some carpets called Savonnerie were made in the Louvre, the technique being somewhat similar to the Persian carpets but the patterns were more pictorial and naturalistic in treatment; fine tapestries were also produced at Beauvais and Aubusson. Tapestry had been manufactured in England as early as the reign of Edward III., but it was not until the time of James I. that it assumed any importance, when a tapestry manufactory was established at Mortlake by Francis Crane.

Some fine Flemish tapestries are in the South Kensington museum and eight large pieces by Bernard Van Orley are in the Great Hall of Hampton Court. The coloured cartoons by Mantegna in Hampton Court, representing the Triumph of CÆsar, were to be reproduced in tapestry for the Duke of Mantua. There are some fine Gobelin and Beauvais tapestries in Windsor Castle which were gifts from the Court of France, and they all show the most consummate technique, beauty of material and harmony of colour.

The well-known Bayeux tapestry is embroidered in coloured wools upon a white linen ground. It is 214 feet in length and 22 inches in width and divided in 72 compartments with incidents representing the Norman invasion of England by William I.

Though reputed to be the work of Queen Matilda, the probability is that it is the work of English hands some few years after the invasion. This embroidery or tapestry is still preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux.

The remarkable civilization of the Incas or Peruvians, is shown in the many splendid objects of the industrial arts now treasured in our museums. Of these relics of a vanished civilization, the textile

fabrics are, perhaps, the most instructive and interesting. The high technical skill of the craftsmanship, the fine spinning of the wool and cotton, and the perfection of the dyeing of the yarn, together with the skilful weaving of the figured cloths and tapestries are a tribute to the vitality and civilization of a people remote from all Asiatic or European influences.

Many of the fabrics are of double cloth, of deep brown and pale straw colour, and show the same colour and pattern on both sides of the cloth. Some of the fabrics are tapestry woven, having short strands of coloured wool inserted into the fabric by the aid of the needle, and they somewhat resemble the Gobelin tapestry in their method of production.

A few of these Peruvian cotton fabrics are ornamented by means of tied or knotted work, identical with the Bandhana or knotted work termed Chunti Cloth, of the North-west province of India. These knotted patterns consist of simple spots arranged in square, zig-zag or curved lines. The pattern is first marked with a red earth on the plain fabric; then the pattern or spots are tied up tightly with cotton thread and the whole dipped in the dye which only acts on the untied portions of the cloth; a white pattern on a coloured ground is thus produced, both sides being alike.

These Peruvian textiles are remarkable for the absence of the beautiful flora of Peru as elements for decoration. The fylfot or fret is a frequent form of enrichment (plates 40-41.) The wave scroll so typical of Greek work is also a remarkable element in Peruvian ornament, and illustrates the singular development of the same ideas and aspect of form among people so remote from each other as the Greeks and Peruvians.

But the patterns that sharply differentiate Peruvian examples from all other styles are the conventional treatments of figures, birds, fishes and animals. The llama is conspicuous in many patterns, but the bird forms are the most remarkable, having many variations of type and treatment. Illustrations are given in plates 40 and 41, all taken from the Smithies Loan Collection at Manchester. Other examples of these interesting fabrics may be seen in the Smithies collection at South Kensington, showing the wonderful diversity of the treatment of pattern designing by a people so remote as the Peruvians.

It is difficult to fix any date for these Peruvian examples, but as it is known that during the reign of Inca Pachacutic (circa 1390), the ceramic art was at its best, we may assume that the sister art of weaving reached its perfection about the same period, and continued until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century.