HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. Embroidery in its crudest form is one of the oldest of the decorative arts. It was probably applied to skins before the art of spinning and weaving had been devol. aped. and almost as soon as the use of the needle and thong for joining together skin garments Was developed. Among the primitive tribes of Central Afriea the girls embroider skins with figures of flowers and animals, bright. shells and feathers also being used in their decoration. The Lap lander embroiders upon his reindeer-skin gar ment with a needle of reindeer bone. thread of reindeer sinews, and applique. of strips of hide. The blanket of the early American Indian was commonly ornamented with embroidery. Among the earliest of the civilized nations, the Egyptians and Assyrians, the art of embroidery was highly developed, as is abundantly testified by the re mains which have come down to us. From the Egypt inns the Jews learned the art, and the early books of the Bible eentain many deserip 1 ions of embroideries. Ancient. Tyre and Sidon were famous for embroidery, as well as other forms of decorated fabrics which they produced. The writings of Homer contain many descriptions of elaborate needlework. The embroidery of the later Greeks and Romans was largely copied from Oriental patterns, and never equaled the orig inals in quality of workmanship.
During the palmy days of the Roman Empire embroidery was developed to a pitch of the greatest elaboration; and, being at once the most rapid and most showy, became the favorite method of ornamenting personal apparel. At Byzantium a distinct style of embroidery. as of mo*t other arts, was created. With the fall of the Empire and the banishment of the gentler pursuits to monasteries and convents, embroidery became largely ecclesiastical in its designs and purposes. After the dawn of the seventeenth
century embroidery once more became largely secula r.
The people of the Orient continue as in ancient times to excel in the art of embroidery. The Chinese are perhaps the most laborious and elaborate hand embroiderers of modern times; their best work is upon silk. The figures are either in colored silk alone or combined with gold and silver thread; sometimes the figures of men, horses, dragons, and the like are outlined in gold cord and filled up with shaded silk. The Per sians, Turks, and 'Hindus use, besides silk and gold and silver threads, beads, spangles, pearls, and precious stones. Some of the Oriental em broideries include a still wider range of materials. Feathers are largely and very tastefully em ployed, and also the skins of insects, the nails, claws, and teeth of animals; nuts, pieces of fur, and skins of serpents are among the materials drawn upon. Coins, which are so commonly used as ornaments of the hair of unmarried women, are also worked into embroidery on their dresses. The Indian women embroider with their own hair and that of animals. The oldest embroideries among the civilized nations were executed in thread of cotton, wool, and linen. The use of silk was a later disc-overy, and was not known to the most ancient embroiderers. It is now con sidered the material par excellence for effective work. The fineness of embroidery depends upon the fineness of the thread with which it is ex ecuted. The linen thread used in some Egyptian embroidery was of an inch in diameter.