Part of a Chasuble (c. 1500): Art, History and Details

Part of a Chasuble (c. 1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

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.

Object facts

• Title: Part of a Chasuble
• Date: c. 1500
• Culture: England, London (embroidery) and Italy, Florence (velvet), early 16th century
• Type: Embroidery
• Technique: Silk, gold filé; appliqué, embroidery: couching stitches Velvet: solid pile, silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 101 x 52.8 cm (39 3/4 x 20 13/16 in.)
• Collection: T - Ecclesiastical
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1970.124

Collection credit

Gift of The Textile Arts Club

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. 1971. “The Year in Review for 1970.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58 (2): 22–71.
• “Annual Report for 1970.” 1971. The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58 (6): 162–94.
• Young, Bonnie. "Opus Anglicanum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29, no. 7 (1971): 291-98. Accessed December 20, 2020.

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.