Gift and Loan to the Textile Departme
The Textile Collection has recieved as a gift from Miss Louise M. Nathurst seventy-four THE Textile Collection has received as a gift pieces of Italian towels, some of them dating, possibly, from the fifteenth or sixteenth century. These towels are of white linen loosely twisted and woven in diaper patterns with many plain and ornamental bands woven in blue cotton on the ends. Animals and birds, both real and imaginary, are used in the designs, such as hares, dogs, horses, lions, unicorns, dragons, eagles, peacocks, cocks and griffons, also men, both on foot and on horseback, and women and mermaids. The figures are arranged, as a rule, face to face, and are separated by trees, flowers, fountains or battlemented towers...
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