Fragment, probably from a Chasuble (1400s): Art, History and Details

Fragment, probably from a Chasuble (1400s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Luxurious velvet fabrics were woven in several different grades based on the quality and quantity of the raw materials. Those with extensive gold thread and plush silk pile were the most luxurious. This green velvet is of a lower grade. The popular 15th-century pattern of five-lobed palmettes displaying pomegranates or blossoms is arranged in staggered rows. Velvet pile was omitted in areas to create the pattern, known as "voided" velvet. Since projecting pile required quantities of silk thread, voided velvet was less expensive to manufacture than solid-pile velvet or brocaded velvet.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment, probably from a Chasuble
• Date: 1400s
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Velvet
• Technique: Silk with cut and voided velvet
• Dimensions: Overall: 66 x 29.9 cm (26 x 11 3/4 in.); Mounted: 76.2 x 40.6 cm (30 x 16 in.)
• Collection: T - Ecclesiastical
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1918.232

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

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.