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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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MARCO POLO BOOK I.
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violet, and of blue cramoisy, and pourpres of a variety of colours, though he says he has never met with pourpre blanche. I may, however, point to Plano Carpini (p. 755), who describes the courtiers at Karakorum as clad in white purpura.
The London prices of Chermisi and Baldacchini in the early part of the 15th century will be found in Uzzano's work, but they are hard to elucidate.
Babylon, of which Baghdad was the representative, was famous for its variegated textures in very early days. We do not know the nature of the goodly Babylonish garment which tempted Achan in Jericho, but Josephus speaks of the affluence of rich stuffs carried in the triumph of Titus, " gorgeous with life-like designs from the Babylonian loom," and he also describes the memorable Veil of the Temple as a ?re7rÄos Ba f3vX 6vtOs of varied colours marvellously wrought. Pliny says King Attalus invented the intertexture of cloth with gold ; but the weaving of damasks of a variety of colours was perfected at Babylon, and thence they were called Babylonian.
The brocades wrought with figures of animals in gold, of which Marco speaks, are still a spécialité at Benares, where they are known by the name of Shikárgáh or hunting-grounds, which is nearly a translation of the name Thard-wahsh " beast-hunts," by which they were known to the mediæval Saracens. (See Q. Makrizi, IV. 69-70.) Plautus speaks of such patterns in carpets, the produce of Alexandria" Alexandrina belluata conchyliata tapetia." Athenaeus speaks of Persian carpets of like description at an extravagant entertainment given by Antiochus Epiphanes ; and the same author cites a banquet given in Persia by Alexander, at which there figured costly curtains embroidered with animals. In the 4th century Asterius, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, rebukes the Christians who indulge in such attire : " You find upon them lions, panthers, bears, huntsmen, woods, and rocks ; whilst the more devout display Christ and His disciples, with the stories of His miracles," etc. And Sidonius alludes to upholstery of like character :
" Peregrina det supellex
Ubi torvus, et per artem
Resupina nexus ora,
It equo reditque telo
Simulacra bestiarum
Fugiens fugansque Parthus." (Epist. ix. 13.)
A modern Kashmfr example of such work is shown under eh. xvii.
(D'Avezac, p. 524 ; Pe,olotti, in Cathay, 295, 306 ; I. B. II. 309, 388, 422 ; III.
81 ; Della Decima, IV. I25-I26 ; Fr.-Michel, Recherches, etc., II. Io-I6, 204-206;
Joseph. Bell. Jud. VII. 5, 5, and V. 5, 4 ; Pliny, VIII. 74 (or 48) ; Plautus, Pseudolus, I. 2 ; Yonge's Athenaeus, V. 26 and XII. 54 ; Moszgery in 1lfém. Acad. IV. 275-276.)
NOTE 5.—[Bretschneider (Med. Res. I. p. i 14) says : " Hulagu left Karakorum, the residence of his brother, on the 2nd May, 1253, and returned to his ordo, in order to organize his army. On the 19th October of the same year, all being ready, he started for the west." He arrived at Samarkand in September, 1255. For this chapter and the following of Polo, see : IlulaJ u's Expedition to Western Asia, after the Mohamnzedan Authors, pp. 112- I 22, and the Translation of the Si Shi Xi (Ch'ang Te), pp. I 22-156, in Bretschneider's Mediæval Researches, I.—II. C. ]
NOTE 6.—[" Hulagu proceeded to the lake of Ormia (Urmia), when he ordered a castle to be built on the island of 7åla, in the middle of the lake, for the purpose of depositing here the immense treasures captured at Baghdad. A great part of the booty, however, had been sent to Mangu Khan." (Ilrclao-u's Exp., Bretschneider, 1lled.
. a Res. I. p. 120.) Ch'ang Te says (Si Shi Ki, p. 139) : " The palace of the IIa-li-fa
was built of fragrant and precious woods. The walls of it were constructed of black
.,. and white jade. It is impossible to imagine the quantity of gold and precious stones
found there. "--I I. C. ]
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