Physical description
Orphrey pieces from the back and front of a chasuble, linen with embroidery in silver, silver-gilt and coloured silks.
[Orphrey] Cross-orphrey from the back of a chasuble, linen with embroidery in silver, silver-gilt and coloured silks (three shades of blue, three of green, two of brown, pink and fawn, black, grey, cream and deep yellow). The embroidery is executed through two thicknesses of materials, and has not been completed at the sides where the inked design can be seen. The stitches used are split, satin, basket-weave and underside couching (?). The faces and hands of most of the human figures are in pinks and white, but two are depicted with brown skin colour; the clothes are in the more vivid tones of red, blue and green, most have gold borders.
A small piece of the top of the orphrey is missing (the top of the uppermost spandrel), and a full scene is missing from the bottom. This section would probably have added about 9 inches to the length. The embroidery is extremely fresh. The underside not currently visible because the orphrey has been sewn down on a padded support.
Imagery: In the cross-arms are fathers of the church, Saint Peter (holding his attribute the keys to heaven and a book) and Saint Paul (identifiable by his sword and book). Scenes from the Life of Christ are shown in the central pillar, contained within spandrels: from bottom to top, the Flagellation (Christ flayed by two men), Christ carrying the Cross (aided by Simon of Cyrene), Christ Crucified flanked by the Virgin and St John, and Christ in Judgement with two attendant angels holding the instruments of the Passion (the cross, the spear, crown of thorns and two scourges.) The image originally at the bottom of the orphrey is missing (only the top of its framing bears witness to its former existence). The contours of Christ's torso and the drapery of his loin cloth are captured through the use of similar shades of the same silk, much more subtley executed than the drapery of the coloured robes of the other figures. The expressions on the faces are particularly vividly depicted; drops of blood fall from Christ's hands, side and feet.
Each spandrel also contains a shield in its upper left and right corner, containing a lion rearing up on its hind legs and wearing a silver coronet - in the language of heraldry, blazoned gules a lion rampant argent crowned or, for Wokyndon. Along the division between the spandrels two creatures (wyverns or dragons?) confront each other.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
ca. 1400-1430 (made)
1315-35 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Linen with embroidery in silver, silver-gilt and coloured silks
Marks and inscriptions
[Orphrey]
Dimensions
Height: 109.5 cm, Width: 44.5 cm
[Orphrey] Length: 43.5 in, Width: 18 in the cross bar, the widest section, Width: 8 in the pillar of the cross, Length: 12.5 in spandrel showing the Flagellation
Object history note
Mrs Grace Christie found the orphrey mounted on a 19th century chasuble and still in use in Marnhull, Dorset in 1935. At that stage she was working on a major publication on ecclesiastical embroidery. She recommended to Father William Moylan of Marnhull that he lend the orphrey to the Museum and that it be photographed. By 15 July, the Vicar General had given permission for the loan and photography and the possibility of the orphrey being available for purchase at some later date had been mooted; by 29 August a price was to be discussed; by 13 December permission had been granted for Mrs Christie to publish the embroidery in her forthcoming book. The Presbytery accepted that a price in line with that given for John of Thanet embroidery (T.337-1921) bought a decade earlier would be appropriate, and by 26 February 1936 was asking for £600-£700. On 18 June 1936 the NACF suggested an initial offer of £500 for the orphrey although they might be able to go up to £600. They wondered whether an external opinion beyond that of Mrs Christie should be sought on the condition of the object and suggested Sir William Burrell as an appropriate reviewer. Father Moylan accepted the £500 (24 June 1936). The money was to be invested for the Marnhull Mission.
Grace Christie's note to the NACF stated, 'The piece is typically English in both design and technique. I have examined it closely, and there is no question of any restoration of the needle-work having been attempted; it has not been touched by later hands. To find in these days such an example, almost as fresh as when it came out of the embroidery frame, is a matter for congratulations' (24 June 1936). (Correspondence on file: RP 1936/4228)
At the time of purchase the arms had not been identified. The chasuble from which the orphrey was removed, was to remain unnumbered and retained for Departmental use (note in accession register, JB, 22 May 1952)
[Orphrey] Historical significance: This piece is significant for the fine quality of its embroidery and for the fact that it can be associated with a particular family.The embroidery demonstrates why English work was so highly regarded across Europe in this period. The family are important as they are known to have been benefactors of one of the most important churches in London.
Historical context note
[Orphrey] The cruciform shape of this orphrey indicates that it would originally have been attached to the back of a chasuble, while its pillar-shaped equivalent would have adorned the front of the same chasuble. In this case, the pillar-shaped orphrey that matched this one does not exist, and the piece taken from the front of the same chasuble (T.31A-1936) was made at a later date, probably in the following century. Only part of it has survived.
The use of decorative bands over seams can be traced back to the everyday clothing of the first Christians in the late classical period, the clothing from which Medieval ecclesiastical vestments derive. It is thought that they were originally used to cover and strengthen seams (Johnstone, High Fashion in the Church, p. 1). Orphrey bands were usually highly decorative, often created through embroidery, with iconography that related to the life of Christ, and includes images of saints and/or apostles. Sometimes the decoration also incorporates references to the patron who commissioned them (as in this case). Often the orphreys survive when the original garment to which they were attached has been lost, indeed they were recycled over time as the base fabric wore out. The shape usually reveals which particular vestment they were made for - cope, chasuble or dalmatic. In this case, the orphreys were found on a 19th century velvet, which may merely have been the last in a succession of backings since the creation of the orphreys in the 14th century. At the time they entered the museum, this 'life' of the object would not have been as important to the curators as it might be now, hence the divorce of the backing from the orphreys.
Chasubles of the date of the orphreys were usually circular in shape, made of patterned silk textiles. It was quite common for the embroidery to be English, while the woven silk was manufactured in Italy or Spain, the two main centres of silk weaving in fourteenth century Europe (Pauline Johnstone. High Fashion in the Church. Leeds: Maney, 2002, pp.36-49 ). Archaeological records suggest that by the 14th century, Italian fabrics had ousted Spanish ones (Crowfoot, E. et al., Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450. London: Museum of London Publication, 2006 reprint, p. 89) Other examples in the Museum collection show that even if the original silk ground survives, often the vestment has been cut down into a less voluminous shape at a later date (e.g. the Erpingham chasuble,T.256-1967). From the point of view of the congregation, the back of the chasuble was most consistently visible during church services, as until Vatican II in the 1960s, the priest faced the altar when saying Mass, raising the host so that it was visible to the faithful (e.g. representation of wedding service from Très Belles Heures de Notre Dame, Turin, Museo Civico, f. 87, reproduced in Margaret Scott. Late Gothic Europe, 1400-1500. London: Mills and Boon, 1980, pl. 34, p. 84).
The shields in the spandrels are blazoned gules a lion rampant argent crowned or for Wokyndon. The Wokyndon family were patrons of St Paul's Cathedral and the cathedral archives contain the 1322 will of Joan, widow of Sir Nicholas Wokyndon. She founded a chantry at the cathedral in 1321.
The embroidery is representative of Opus Anglicanum(literally English work) which was an artistic product famous throughout the Middle Ages. It was in demand all over Europe and bought by princes and popes. Typically, it has a linen ground which is entirely covered with gold threads couched on to the surface, from the underside; colour is added through a variety of stitches in coloured silks. Almost all the surviving embroidery is ecclesiastical. As it is usually pictorial, it can be compared closely with contemporary illuminated manuscripts and was often referred to in Latin, the language used in documents, as acupictura or painting with the needle. The highest quality examples were made in professional workshops between about 1250 and 1350. In this case the pattern comprises quatre foils, foliate crosses and lions. The effect is similar to the illuminated images in the twenty-six miniatures illustrating the Life of Christ in the Bodleian Library (MS. Gouch, Liturg. 8). The figures in these East Anglian miniatures, notably the Flagellation, are similar to those on the orphrey (The Medieval Treasury, p. 203).
The depiction of the dress of the figures is significant as it picks out high status and low status, good and bad. Long robes since Roman times had denoted high rank, while the short tunic worn over hose was the reserve of the labourer. The Virgin's gown follows the conventions of mediaeval depictions of dress in manuscripts, as her green gown is lined with brown with shield shapes, a shorthand for fur, and a sign of status in medieval dress (Ruse, Evelyn & Bell, Clifford R.'Illustrations of Costume from Historical Sources', Costume, p. 80 ) At this date, blue was only just becoming the usual colour in which to depict her (Pastoureau, Michel. Bleu. Histoire d'une couleur. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2002, pp.44-47). The depictions of the lower ranking individuals is also suggestive: both Simon of Cyrene and one of the men flaying Christ are depicted as dark skinned, rather than white like all other figures; the two men flaying Christ ('baddies') wear variegated hose (checked or striped); such variegation often had negative connotations in this period (Pastoureau, Michel. The Devil's Cloth. A History of Stripes and Striped Fabric. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001, pp. 12-23.)
Descriptive line
Orphrey bands from back and front of a chasuble, linen embroidered in coloured silks and metallic threads in tradition and quality of Opus Anglicanum, 1315-1335, and early 15th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
The Medieval Treasury. The Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. Paul Williamson, 1986, pp. 202-3.
A colour image of the whole orphrey with a brief catalogue entry by Donald King.
British Textile Design in the Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. Donald King. Tokyo: Gakken, 1980, Vol. I. Colour plate 11.
A black and white photo of the orphrey faces the page describing it and its imagery. The description does not put it into the context of it original use. It is likely that this entry was written by Santina Levey and Linda Woolley.
King, Donald. Opus Anglicanum. 1963, no. 58, p. 33 and Colour plate facing p. 16
Catalogue entry with a simple description of iconography and heraldry.
The Age of Chivalry. London: Royal Academy, 1988, Cat. no. 578.
A black and white photo of the orphrey faces the page describing it and its imagery. The description does not put it into the context of it original use. It is likely that this entry was written by Santina Levey and Linda Woolley.
Pauline Johnstone. High Fashion in the Church. Leeds: Maney, 2002, p. 42
A black and white detail of the Flagellation is juxtaposed with a black and white image of the Ramsey Psalter, and the text makes a point about the similarity of the images.
A. G. I. Christie. English Medieval Embroidery. London, 1938, no. 72, pls XCI, XCII.
Exhibition History
The Mediaeval Treasury, 1986
Age of Chivalry. Royal Academy, 6 Nov 1987-6 March 1988
Labels and date
ORPHREY. LInen embroidered with metal threads and silk in underside couching, split stitch, laid and couched work. ENGLISH. 1315-35
Inv. no. T.31-1936
Purchased with the aid of the National Art-Collections Fund.
Scenes from the Passion of Christ. The shields of arms are for Wokyndon.
The orprey was acquired at Marnhull in Dorset. Its earlier history if not known.
Orphrey. Linen embroidered with metal thread and silk in underside couching, split, stitch, laid and couched work. English. 1315-35
Inv. no. T.31-1936
Purchased with the aid of the National Art-Collections Fund. [pre 1990]
Production Note
Attribution note: Commissioned for use on a particular ecclesiastical vestment
Reason For Production: Commission
Materials
Linen; Silk thread; Silver thread; Silver-gilt thread
Techniques
Embroidered
Subjects depicted
Jesus Christ; Mary (Virgin Mary); Coats of arms; Sword; Saints; Shields; Crosses; Keys; Simon (of Cyrene)
Categories
Textiles; Religion; Christianity; Ecclesiastical textiles; Embroidery; Death; Black History
Production Type
Unique
[Orphrey] Unique
Collection code
T&F
