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design, that her silken textiles were in demand everywhere; and thus, as often happens, traders fastened the name of damascen or damask upon every silken fabric richly wrought and curiously designed, no See also:

MATTER

matter whether it came or not from Damascus." The term is perhaps now best known in reference to damask table-cloths, a See also:

SPECIES

species of figured See also:

CLOTH

cloth usually of See also:

FLAX

flax or See also:

tow yarns, but sometimes made partly of See also:

cotton. The finer qualities are made of the best linen See also:

YARN

yarn, and, although the latter is of a brownish See also:

COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour during the weaving processes, the ultimate fabric is pure See also:

white. The high See also:

LIGHTS, CEREMONIAL USE OF

lights in these cloths are obtained by long floats of warp and weft, and, as these are set at right angles, they reflect the See also:

LIGHT

light differently according to the See also:

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle of the rays of light; the effect changes also with the position of the observer. Subdued effects are produced by shorter floats of yarn, and sometimes by See also:

SPECIAL

special weaves. Any subject, however intricate, can be copied by this method of weaving, provided that expense is no See also:

OBJECT

object. The finest results are obtained when the so-called See also:

double damask weaves are used.

These weaves are shown under See also:

DIE, and it will be seen that each weave gives a maximum See also:

FLOAT (in O. Eng. floc and flota, in the verbal form f eotan; the Teutonic root is flut-, another form of flu-, seen in " flow," cf. " fleet "; the root is seen in Gr. a-M e, to sail, Lat. pluere, to rain; the Lat, fluere and fluctus, wave, is not connect

float of seven threads. (In some special cases a weave is used which gives a float of nine.) The small figure here shown to illustrate a small See also:

section of a damask design is composed of the two single damask weaves; these give a maximum float of four threads or picks. No shading is shown in the design, and this for two reasons—(r) the single damask weaves do not permit of elaborate shading, although some very See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good effects are obtain-able; (2) the available space is not sufficiently large to show the method to See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage. The different single damask weaves used in the shading of these cloths appear, however, at the bottom of the figure, while between these and the design proper there is an illus- tration of the See also:

THIRTY

thirty-first pick interweaving with all the See also:

FORTY

forty-eight threads. The See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal See also:

BRITISH

British centres for See also:

FINE

fine damasks are See also:

BELFAST

Belfast and Dunferm- See also:

LINE

line, while the See also:

MEDIUM

medium qualities are made in several places in See also:

Ireland, in a few places in See also:

England, and in the counties of See also:

Fife, See also:

FORFAR

Forfar and See also:

Perth in See also:

Scotland. Cotton damasks, which are made in See also:

Paisley, See also:

GLASGOW

Glasgow, and several places in See also:

LANCASHIRE

Lancashire, are used for See also:

TOILET

toilet covers, table-cloths, and similar purposes. They are often ornamented with colours and sent to the See also:

INDIAN

Indian and West Indian markets. Silk damasks for curtains and upholstery decoration are made in the silk-weaving centres.

End of Article: DAMASK

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