n
the reverse side, where it is protected from wear and tear, and being
out of sight can be made strong and durable. If a thread is accidentally
broken it does not necessarily give way along an entire line, as may
easily happen in the present method. A proof of this point can be seen
upon the beautiful Ascoli cope lately in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
about which there has been so much discussion of late as to in what
country it originated, and who was the rightful owner. The early
couching worked entirely over the background of the cope is in a state
of perfect preservation; portions of the gold thread drapery have here
and there been couched by the other method, the tying down threads have,
in those parts, mostly disappeared, and the gold hangs loose and ragged
upon the surface.

By the way in which it is worked, there results a particularly pleasing
and even surface, agreeably varied by play of light and shade. Another
advantage of the ancient method is that the completed work is very
flexible; this point will appeal to those who have experienced the
extreme stiffness of a large surface of ordinarily couched metal
threads. Flexibility is an invaluable quality for any work destined,
like copes and curtains, to hang in folds.

Representations of draperies upon figures are well expressed, for by the
way in which they are worked there comes an indentation along the lines
marking the folds; this emphasises them rather happily, and also breaks
up the surface in a satisfactory manner.

Fig. 125 is a diagram that will aid in explaining the working, it gives
both the front and the reverse side. This has been found to be the
simplest and the most practical method of obtaining a result similar to
the early examples; there is, however, no means other than examination
of result whereby to get at this obsolete method. To all appearance
there is upon the surface a kind of satin stitch worked in gold passing,
the stitches carrying out some geometrical pattern, such as a chevron or
lattice; but at the back a linen thread is seen running to and fro in
close parallel lines in the same direction as the surface thread, and at
regular intervals encircled by the gold passing, just as if this was
intended to couch down the linen thread.

[Illustration: Fig. 125. Front. Back.]

The ingenuity and satisfactoriness of the method must be admitted by all
who give it a trial, and it is interesting to conjecture how it may have
arisen. Po