The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Part of a Chasuble

c. 1500

England, London (embroidery) and Italy, Florence (velvet), early 16th century

Silk, gold filé; appliqué, embroidery: couching stitches Velvet: solid pile, silk

Overall: 101 x 52.8 cm (39 3/4 x 20 13/16 in.)

Gift of The Textile Arts Club 1970.124

Location

not on view

Description

Although missing the central decorative band, these two velvet panels embroidered with angels and thistles originally formed part of the back of an ecclesiastical chasuble.

The term opus anglicanum, or English work, refers to English embroidery dating from the 1100s through the 1500s, like this example. Made primarily in embroidery guilds in London, it was in great demand for royal and ecclesiastical garments and furnishings throughout Europe.

Provenance
(Mme. Jacques Bacri).
Citations
Lee, Sherman E. 1971. “The Year in Review for 1970.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58 (2): 22–71. p. 79 no. 119, illus. p. 31 www.jstor.org
“Annual Report for 1970.” 1971. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58 (6): 162–94. p. 174 www.jstor.org
Young, Bonnie. "Opus Anglicanum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29, no. 7 (1971): 291-98. Accessed December 20, 2020. p. 291-298 www.jstor.org
Christa Mayer-Thurman. 1973. “Recent Acquisition: An English Cope.” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1973-1982) 67 (2). p. 4-5 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 123 archive.org
Wardwell, Anne E. Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club, 1934-1984 : [Exhibition] 21 November-30 December 1984, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum, 1984. p. 30
Staniland, Kay. Embroiderers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.
Monnas, Lisa. 1994. "Opus Anglicanum and Renaissance Velvet: The Whalley Abbey Vestments". Textile History. 25:1. p. 3-28
Bergemann, Uta-Christiane. “Serial Production of Embroidered Orphreys in the Late Middle Ages.” in Wetter, Evelin, and Michael Bangert. Iconography of Liturgical Textiles in the Middle Ages. Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 2010. p. 171-182
Heard, Kate. “‘All holie companye of heaven’: Uniformity and Individuality in the Iconography of Late Medieval English Orphreys.” In Wetter, Evelin, and Michael Bangert. Iconography of Liturgical Textiles in the Middle Ages. Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 2010. p. 155-162
Browne, Clare Woodthorpe, Glyn Davies, M. A. Michael, and Michaela Zöschg. English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum. 2016.
Michael, M. A. The Age of Opus Anglicanum. 2016.
Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).

Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 21-December 30, 1984).

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).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1970.124