me of the Exodus, carried their knowledge of the textile arts
with them to India. Ezekiel in chapter twenty-seven, verse seven, in
telling of the glories of Tyre, says: "Of fine linen with broidered
work Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign." In
"De Bello Judaico," by Flavius Josephus, another reference is made to
ancient needlework: "When Herod the Great rebuilt the temple of
Jerusalem nineteen years before our era, he was careful not to omit in
the decoration of the sanctuary the marvels of textile art which had
been the chief embellishment of the tabernacle during the long
wanderings in the desert. Before the doors of the most sacred place he
hung a Babylonian tapestry fifty cubits high by sixteen wide: azure
and flax, scarlet and purple were blended in it with admirable art and
rare ingenuity, for these represented the various elements. Scarlet
signified fire; linen, the earth; azure, the air; and purple, the sea.
These meanings were derived in two instances from similarity of
colour: in the other two from their origin, the earth yielding linen
and the sea purple. The whole range of the heavens, except the signs,
was wrought upon this veil or hanging. The porticos were also enriched
with many coloured tapestries ornamented with purple flowers."

There is very meagre information concerning the character and style of
tapestry in Egypt during the rule of the Pharaohs. MM. Perrot and
Chipiex, in their "Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquite," publish a
painting containing a hanging of purely ornamental design formed of
circles, triangles, and palm leaves reversed. Wilkinson describes an
Egyptian hanging--an original, not a reproduction--found in an English
collection: "In the centre, on a green ground, stands a boy in white,
with a goose beside him; and around this centre a border of red and
blue lines; then white figures on a yellow ground; again blue lines
and red ornaments; and lastly red, white, and blue embroideries." This
is a very ancient example of true applied work combined with
embroidery. In the Psalms it is said that Pharaoh's daughter shall be
brought to the king in a raiment of needlework and that "her clothing
is of wrought gold."

The huge columns, bas-reliefs, and the various architectural details
of the early Egyptian buildings were all decorated in vivid colours.
The interiors of their temples were also covered with gayly coloured
scenes which have preserved for us a most extensive