surcoats given by Amasis, one to the Lacedaemonians, and the other to the
temple of Athena at Lindos, were of linen embroidered with figures of
animals in gold thread and purple, each thread consisting of three hundred
and sixty-five distinct filaments. To go back to a still earlier period,
the monumental tableaux show portraits of the Pharaohs wearing garments
with borders, either woven or embroidered, or done in _applique_ work. The
most simple patterns consist of one or more stripes of brilliant colour
parallel with the edge of the material. Elsewhere we see palm patterns, or
rows of discs and points, leaf-patterns, meanders, and even, here and
there, figures of men, gods, or animals, worked most probably with the
needle. None of the textile materials yet found upon royal mummies are thus
decorated; we are therefore unable to pronounce upon the quality of this
work, or the method employed in its production. Once only, upon the body of
one of the Deir el Bahari princesses, did I find a royal cartouche
embroidered in pale rose-colour. The Egyptians of the best periods seem to
have attached special value to plain stuffs, and especially to white ones.
These they wove with marvellous skill, and upon looms in every respect
identical with those used in tapestry work. Those portions of the winding
sheet of Thothmes III. which enfolded the royal hands and arms, are as fine
as the finest India muslin, and as fairly merit the name of "woven air" as
the gauzes of the island of Cos. This, of course, is a mere question of
manufacture, apart from the domain of art. Embroideries and tapestries
were not commonly used in Egypt till about the end of the Persian period,
or the beginning of the period of Greek rule. Alexandria became partly
peopled by Phoenician, Syrian, and Jewish colonists, who brought with them
the methods of manufacture peculiar to their own countries, and founded
workshops which soon developed into flourishing establishments. It is to
the Alexandrians that Pliny ascribes the invention of weaving with several
warps, thus producing the stuff called brocades (_polymita_); and in the
time of the first Caesars, it was a recognised fact that "the needle of
Babylon was henceforth surpassed by the comb of the Nile." The Alexandrian
tapestries were not made after exclusively geometrical designs, like the
products of the old Egyptian looms; but, according to the testimony of the
ancients, were enriched with figures of animals, a