Priest's Red Cope, Orphrey and Hood (late 1500s - early 1600s): Art, History and Details

Priest's Red Cope, Orphrey and Hood (late 1500s - early 1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Liturgical copes are used for processions especially by those who assist the celebrant. They evolved from a secular outer garment with a hood to protect the wearer from wind and rain. Hoods remained although they became decorative and nonfunctional. This Italian silk damask features large symmetrical bouquets in urns within curved lattices bearing crowns flanked by birds. The French orphrey band, or ornamental border, along the front edges and hood incorporates small ornament associated with prestigious lace amid the formal foliate design.

Object facts

• Title: Priest's Red Cope, Orphrey and Hood
• Date: late 1500s - early 1600s
• Culture: France and Italy, Orphrey and hood: France, Lyon, Regency period, 1715-1725; Cope: Italy, late 16th - early 17th century
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Cope: damask weave, silk; Orphrey and hood: brocade, silk and silver
• Dimensions: Overall: 124.5 x 276.9 cm (49 x 109 in.)
• Collection: T - Ecclesiastical
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1995.106

Collection credit

Gift of the Swetland Family

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.