Embroidery
Category
Textiles
Date
1550 - 1600
Materials
Velvet, Silk, Metal thread, Silk thread, Linen canvas
Measurements
650 x 430 mm
Order this imageCollection
Moseley Old Hall, Staffordshire
NT 477543
Summary
A crimson velvet panel trimmed with braid and featuring an English medieval embroidered orphrey panel taken from a vestment and depicting a scene of two apostles or saints under a gothic architectural canopy and trimmed with fringe along bottom edge and finished with two tassels.
Full description
Originally, orphrey panels would have decorated church vestments. This one is likely to have come from a cope, typicallly a large semicircular garment made of a rich fabric such as patterned silk or velvet worn by an officiating priest during a religious ceremony. The embroidered panels would have been attached to each side of the vertical opening at the front of the cope. This type of English medieval embroidery was prised for its quality and magnificence and was known in Europe as 'Opus Anglicanum'.