Cope (1500s): Art, History and Details

Cope (1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Silk fabric woven in China with European motifs was transported by European traders by the early 16th century. This popular pattern features a crowned double-headed eagle grasping arrows in its claws above a vase emitting blossoming vines. The eagle motif was derived from the Habsburg coat of arms, rulers of Spain and Austria during the 1500s and 1600s. Vertical borders with Chinese flora occur near the selvages of the five silk lengths forming the cope. The gilt-metal braided and fringed hood and broad orphrey band, or ornamental border, along the front edges feature fashionable small-scale floral sprigs.

Object facts

• Title: Cope
• Date: 1500s
• Culture: China, Macao
• Type: Garment
• Technique: Silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 124.5 x 276.9 cm (49 x 109 in.)
• Collection: T - Ecclesiastical
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1950.6

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade 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.