Chasuble, Stole, Burse (Corporal Case), and Maniple (1600s): Art, History and Details

Chasuble, Stole, Burse (Corporal Case), and Maniple (1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This sumptuous polychrome velvet displays a central vase with abundant flora and exotic leaves flanking curving blossoming fronds on a gilt-metal thread ground. The pattern was created with five colors of cut and uncut (loops) velvet pile. Only the pile warps for the lush green velvet occur across the entire cloth, while each additional color appears in vertical stripes—crimson, peach, rose, and purple. These widely acclaimed velvets from Genoa were the most colorful woven in Europe. Both the long stole and the shorter maniple are insignia of the office of deacons, priests, and the higher clergy. The stole was worn under a chasuble according to the office and the maniple was hung on the left forearm. The burse is a stiff receptacle in which the folded corporal, a white linen cloth on which the sacred bread and chalice are placed during the Mass, is carried to and from the altar. The upper fabric matches the chasuble, the bottom is a plain silk, and the interior has an obligatory linen lining.

Object facts

• Title: Chasuble, Stole, Burse (Corporal Case), and Maniple
• Date: 1600s
• Culture: Italy, Genoa
• Type: Velvet
• Technique: woven polychrome silk and gilt metal threads, cut and uncut velvet
• Dimensions: Overall: 106 x 68.3 cm (41 3/4 x 26 7/8 in.)
• Collection: T - Ecclesiastical
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1916.1443

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Phillips, Amanda. Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. 2021.
• Lisby, Darnell-Jamal, William Griswold, Matteo Augello, Alessandra Arezzi Boza, Massimiliano Capella, Luke Meagher, Stefania Ricci, and Cleveland Museum of Art. Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.