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Nov 7, 2014

Orphrey Band: The Tree of Jesse

c. 1350

England, 14th century

Silk, gold and silver thread, linen; embroidery: split and couching stitches

Overall: 85.7 x 18.1 cm (33 3/4 x 7 1/8 in.); Mounted: 109.2 x 28.6 cm (43 x 11 1/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1949.503

Location

not on view

Description

From the 1100s to the 1300s in London, both men and women worked as professional embroiderers. Here, the Tree of Jesse, a favorite medieval theme illustrating the ancestry of Christ, appears as a grapevine with three ancestors—Achim, Ezechias, and Eliud—seated on tendrils. Painters often provided embroiderers with designs, revealing a close relationship between the professions.

Inscriptions

Inscription

three figures framed by a scrolling vine dressed in medieval costumes hold scrolls on which their names are written in Latin; they read from top to bottom: Achim, Ezechias-Rex, and Eloud.

Provenance

formerly in the collection of Marquis de Cubas, Madrid; Joseph Brummer collection, New York; A. Bradley Martin, New York.

Citations

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Arts of the Middle Ages; A Loan Exhibition, February 17 to March 24, 1940. Boston, Mass: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 100b, p. 35

Shepherd, Dorothy G. "An English Embroidery." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 37, no. 4 (1950): p. 66-68 www.jstor.org

Riefstahl, Elizabeth. "An Embroidered Tree of Jesse." Brooklyn Museum Bulletin 11, no. 4 (1950): 4-13. Accessed April 24, 2020. p. 4-13 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 153 archive.org

Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Aspects of Late Mediaeval Art; The Mediaeval Conference, the Ohio State University. 1958. no. 3 (under textiles)

King, Donald. Opus Anglicanum; English Medieval Embroidery. [London]: Arts Council, 1963. no. 88, p. 42

Bober, Harry. 1963. "Medieval Art at Cleveland". Apollo 78. 447-456. p.456

"Gothic Art 1360-1440." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 7 (1963): 174-215. no. 49, pp.176, 207 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 62 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 62 archive.org

Mayer-Thurman, Christa C., John Maxon, Aidan Kavanagh, Donald L. Garfield, and Horace T. Allen. Raiment for the Lord's Service: A Thousand Years of Western Vestments. Chicago: Art Institute, 1975. no. 14, p. 82, p. 83 illus

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 71 archive.org

Martin Nagy, Rebecca. Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. p. 15, 17-18, 58

Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. p.98

Exhibition history

Aspects of the Middle Ages. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (February 17-March 24, 1940)

Aspects of Late Medieval Art. The Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH (October 31-November 20, 1958).

Opus Anglicanum. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (September 26-November 26, 1963).

Raiment for the Lord's Service, A Thousand Years of Western Vestments. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (November 11, 1975-January 18, 1976).

Gallery 216 installation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1991).

Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).

English Medieval Embroidery. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (September 26-November 24, 1963).

When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982).

Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 22-March 17, 1985).

Only for Beauty? (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 2014-December 7, 2015).

Art of Embroidery in Late Medieval Europe (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 19, 2020-April 11, 2021).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Orphrey Band: The Tree of Jesse|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.503|year=c. 1350|access-date=25 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Orphrey Band: The Tree of Jesse

Orphrey Band: The Tree of Jesse

England, 14th century

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