
- Embroidered panel
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Embroidered panel
- Place of origin:
Venice (made)
- Date:
ca. 1325 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Embroidered silk in metal thread and silks, lined with linen and silk velvet
- Museum number:
T.92-1969
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This Venetian embroidered devotional picture of a half-figure of Christ, incorporates design elements from various cultures and areas. There is a lotus from the Far East, another lotus and ornamental circles from Islamic traditions, and from Byzantium, the Christ in the style of a particular Byzantine dynasty, the Palaeologues. This panel may have been part of a burse, the bag used for holding linen cloths for the celebration of the Christian Mass.
Venice was one of the few place where craftspeople would combine such an eclectic mix and this attribution is reinforced by the use of a particular embroidery stitch, underside couching, which is generally found only in England and Venice after 1300. This stitch is produced by couching down a metal thread with linen or silk and pulling the couching thread through to the back of the work so that it does not show, leaving an effectively unbroken line of gold on the surface.