TAPESTRIES—ANCIENT AND MODERN

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 35, 4 November 1922, Page 17

TAPESTRIES—ANCIENT AND MODERN

■ TAPESTRIES—ANCIENT AND MODERN. Not many women realise that the presentiday tapestry (purchased, as a matter of course, for its wearing qualities) has a long and glowing history unmatched perhaps nV any dthw. furnishing requisite. “The painted tapesties of Egypt” find mention by the writer of tho Proverbs, but it is not until a later date that history is substantiated by authenic specimens. The art of tapestry weaving has passed through many vicissitudes, writes a correspondent in the “Daily News.” From medieval times, when the cold, bare walls of the castle were screened with deftly woven panels, to the brilliant renaissance of the art tinder William Morris at Merton, tapestry has been an essential factor in the creation ,of the domestic interior. Gone are the times when niilady sat for days and weeks working out the intricate details on a cushion square, but thanks to modern machinery it is now possible to obtain tapestries which have scarcely felt the touch of the .human hand, at a price that is within the roach of the average house furnisher, and which nevertheless possess all the beauty of tho antique. Tapestry is neither weaving nor embroidery. It must necessarily be wrought on a loom, with a warp stretched along it ( s frame, but no woof is thrown across the threads with a shuttle, the weft being worked with ■ short threads of. various colours, which are put- in with a needle. As many as 14,000 shades are available for working into tho design of the tapestry. Hence the soft gradation of tones in the woven tapestry becomes one of its primary features, and stamps the quality of the work. . . ' But whether it be a crudely .woven panel in wools of faded colour or a glowing panel of silk from the looms of tho Gobelins—the appealing merit of the woven texture is tho same. It is at present enjoying _s( revival of popularity, and it is chiefly .used to ornament walls, either in the form of panels oi 4 pictures, and to upholster furniture.