Monuments of the early church . ancientm 0 n u m e n t s whichshow so clearly thecharacter of the earlyaltar coverings as thesixth and seventh cen-tury mosaics of Ra-venna, represented byT^igs. 131 and 132. Thealtar here is a tablestanding upon fourlegs; it is covered onall sides by a whitelinen cloth, of whichonly the top and frontare decorated. Figure132 (sixth century) de-picts a heavier and darker cover under the linen. The deco-ration is precisely such as we have found among the Egyptiantextiles ; it corresponds closely to that of the curtain illustratedin Fig. 176, and to a table cover f
Monuments of the early church . ancientm 0 n u m e n t s whichshow so clearly thecharacter of the earlyaltar coverings as thesixth and seventh cen-tury mosaics of Ra-venna, represented byT^igs. 131 and 132. Thealtar here is a tablestanding upon fourlegs; it is covered onall sides by a whitelinen cloth, of whichonly the top and frontare decorated. Figure132 (sixth century) de-picts a heavier and darker cover under the linen. The deco-ration is precisely such as we have found among the Egyptiantextiles ; it corresponds closely to that of the curtain illustratedin Fig. 176, and to a table cover from Egypt which is pre-served in the museum at Vienna. We may see in these textiledesigns the origin of many of the stone reliefs of the subse-quent period ; for when the altar assumed a box form, by theinsertion of plates of stone between the legs, the design com-mon upon the altar covers was transferred to the stone, andthis simple decoration was just as naturally extended to thescreens of the choir and presbytery (Fig. 58).. Fig. 179. — Portrait in tapestry, from Achmiiiisixth century. About CUBTAINS AND ALTAR CLOTHS 381 Of far more importance are the curtains. The use of cur-tains at the doors (Fig. 135) is a matter which requires littlecomment. On the other hand, their use between the columnsof the ciborium (Fig. 144), to hide from the people the mostsolemn acts of the Eucharistic celebration, appears strange tous, though it was thoroughly in keeping with the early practice must have been all but universal, and probably asearly as the fourth century. At all events, the earliest ciboriawhich have been preserved show arrangements for attachingcurtain rods. But this was only a single feature of an elaborate system forexcluding the different ranks of the clergy and of the peoplefrom direct participation in the highest functions of theliturgy. In many churches of the fifth century which havepreserved their ancient columns, one can still see the holes inthe columns
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectchristi, bookyear1901
