GOTHIC PERIOD PASSING ASSING now into Gallery 12, the first thing to attract our attention on the right as we enter is an admirable oblong panel of EARLY THIRTEENTH-CENTURY TAPESTRY: not embroidery or darned-work, like that of Bayeux, but real tapestry, a woven web of baute lice, vertical loom, always the characteristic method of the Parisian and best French schools, to which this belongs. The subject, one need hardly say, is the traditional and symbolical representation of the Crucifixion, with the historical figures of the Blessed Mother and St. John on either side accompanied by later saints, who are only present from local devotion and because all sanctity is the fruit of the Cross. In this case they are two VirginMartyrs: the one to the right of the Cross very evidently St. Catharine of Alexandria; the one to the left, probably, St. Margaret of Antioch. Immediately below this is A LARGE GABLED SHRINE, AUMRY, or, possibly, tabernacle or repository for the Holy Sacrament, although the present use of stationary taber nacles, on or above an altar, dates only from the sixteenth century. It is of wood covered inside and on the front with plates of Limoges enamel of the thirteenth century, and heightened with figures in relief of copper gilt. It was unfortunately buried for centuries, probably to save it from destruction or desecration, and nothing is more fatal to the beauty and splendor of enamel; it requires, therefore, some effort of the imagination to restore to it its original brilliance and charm. The principal group inside represents with great simplicity and dignity the Descent from the Cross; those inside the folding-doors represent, three on each side, scenes connected with the Resurrection. On the right, that is, Our Lord's right, beginning from the bottom (and in mediæval subjects divided into compartments, it will usually be found that a vertical series begins at the bottom, and several horizontal series, at the left-hand of the bottom row), the liberation from Hell of the souls of the Old Testament Saints: the Three Maries at the empty Sepulchre; the appearing of the Lord to St. Mary Magdalene. Those on the left: Our Lord joining the Two Disciples on their journey to Emmaus; His recognition by them at the supper at Emmaus; His satisfying the doubts of St. Thomas. On the outside of the doors are figures in relief of Our Lord in Glory surrounded by emblems of the Four Evangelists; and of Our Lady, by four Angels. It will also be noted that throughout, even in Death on the Cross, the Lord is regally crowned, signifying that His endless triumph had now begun. Worth more than a glance, too, is the short band of faded TAPESTRY, beautiful ENGLISH WORK OF THE LATE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, representing a Crucifixion with attendant Saints: on the right of the Cross SS. Peter and James-the-Great; on the left SS. Paul and Andrew. Several things concur to fix the date of this piece within a year or two: not only the architecture, which could not be later than the early fourteenth century, but the heraldries and the Saints. Of the shields in the spandrels of the arches, those to the right and left of the Cross are the royal arms of England (Edward I) and of Castile and Leon (his beloved and heroic Queen Eleanor). She died in 1290, and the King in 1307; and this was probably executed before her death, or as part of one of the many and various memorials which he dedicated to her memory immediately afterwards. Of the Saints, too, St. James, Santiago, is the renowned patron of Castile, and St. Andrew, much honored in other parts of Spain, especially in Catalonia. The other two complete shields are: the lion, that of Mowbray, Earl of Arundel, ancestor of the present Duke of Norfolk, and the three chevrons, that of the DeClares, once Earls of Pembroke. In Case A are several beautiful and characteristic Case A FRENCH IVORIES: a large group of the Madonna and |