Apparel (for a dalmatic) of crimson satin with appliqué embroidery of gold, silver and silver-gilt and coloured silk threads; showing foliated scrolls terminating in dragon heads, a vase of pears, other fruits, and eagles.

Apparel (orphrey for a dalmatic) or seat back, made of crimson silk satin and decorated with embroidery and an edge of metallic braid. The embroidery comprises applied (appliqué) motifs in gold, silver and coloured silk threads; the metallic threads are couched to their backing the silk threads are sewn in satin or long and short stitch (shades of blue, red, yellow and green). The motifs are outlined with gold cord. The pattern is a symmetrical arrangement in the grotesque style around an elaborate vessel topped with two layers of baskets of fruits which are realistically depicted in coloured silks. Around this motif are foliated scrolls which terminate in dramatic dragon heads at the foot of the panel and smaller heads in the upper corners. An eagle sits on either side of the central motif on a scroll. There are repairs on the towards the lower edge around the middle of the seat back.

On the right and left hand edge there are holes indicative that the piece has been nailed to something at some point, either as an upholstery textile or as an image. On the right, the selvedge is intact.

The embroidered silk panel is glued to a simple undyed linen (plain weave) backing.

Purchased from the J. C. Robinson Collection in 1879, as one of 291 objects bought by the museum for a total £6,800, which was paid in two parts over two years. The majority of pieces were textiles. These acquisitions had been made 'from time to time in his travels in Spain' (Minute of 19 May 1879 Philip Cunliffe Owen) In the list of objects, these probably are identifiable with item 51 'Orphreys of a dalmatic. Spanish, about 1540.'(RP 2717.1879)

Historical significance: This panel is siginificant for the lavishness and preciousness of its embroidery in metallic threads. It demonstrates the adoption of grotesque motifs which were increasingly popular from the 1540s onwards. If used for religious purposes, this panel is significant as an example of the pre Council of Trent (1545-63) design on church ornaments. While the Council's impact on sculpture and painting is well covered in existing literature on the plastic arts, its interpretation in textiles has largely remained hidden within specialist textile histories.

This panel and its matching partner (119-1880) were presumably thought to be dalmatic panels because of the matching set on a dalmatic that came into the collection in the same year 254-1880). While the shape and construction are entirely in keeping with that of the panels on Spanish style dalmatics, the pattern of holes down the side of the piece suggest it may also have been used as upholstery. The small running stitches that attach the panel in the existing dalmatic to its base would not have created holes of this size, and would have been much more regular and frequent. Spanish chairs of the 16th century had backs and seats of a similar size to this panel (unlike Italian chairs which had rather narrower backs, as a rule). The pattern of darning suggests friction on the lower edge of the panel, and would be in keeping with wear and tear inflicted by a seated body. The grotesque style of pattern is not unknown on dalmatic accessories, as there are collars in our collection which have such motifs, however, it is strange that there is no obvious reference in the imagery of such a large panel to the Church or its saints.

Apparel panels belonged to a set of church ornaments fulfilled the function of a panel on a dalmatic (the priestly garment worn by deacons). The Spanish style of dalmatic had matching apparels on the front, back and sleeves, those on the body being substantially larger (squarer) than those on the sleeves (rectangles). Usually, those on the body of the garment were attached between the waist and the hemline, those on the sleeves towards the edge with the imagery clearly visible when the arm was at rest by the wearer's side. (Pauline Johnstone. High Fashion in the Church. Leeds: Maney, 2002, p.142). A second panel in this collection matches this one, and would have adorned the other side of the skirt.

The creation of embroidery and the learning of embroidery skills followed a similar path to that of sculpture and painting, and recently serious research has begun on its professional development in certain local centres in Spain (e.g. Marta Laguardia's work on Salamanca). Basically, skills were learnt through apprenticeship in a guild and groups of objects were made according to similar specifications (e.g. the workshop of the sculptor Gregorio Fernandez or that of the painter Francisco Zurbaran). Successful execution of standard imagery was valued (where today 'creativity' and 'originality' are highly prized). In some cases, embroidery was learnt in convents and nuns were skilled needlewomen who could make church ornaments.

The term grotesque refers to the location of the designs, the grottos, which inspired the style, rather than to the subjects themselves. The most important of these, discovered in 1493, were parts of the celebrated Domus Aurea, the Golden House of Nero (ruled AD 54–68), in Rome. Designs of masks, draperies, vases and other motifs were found painted on walls and ceilings.

A number of sixteenth and seventeenth century dalmatic collars and apparels survive in the V&A collection, divorced from their original garment (about 64). It seems likely that panels from dalmatics may have survived intact longer than other parts of the dalmatic which may have become damaged during church services or been recycled at a later date. In addition, collectors in later centuries tended to be more interested in patterned textiles or textiles with particularly painterly imagery rather than the plain silks or silks with repeating patterns that were used for the basic body of vestments.

As a furnishing, it could have been used as the back of a particularly lavish chair, Spanish chairs of the sixteenth century sometimes having squarish rather than rectangular backs. Antonio Mor's portraits of Mary Tudor shows just such a chair. Sixteenth or seventeenth-century dalmatic apparels have been used as upholstery on a simple chair of the type that was popular as a historical revival in the late nineteenth century, now in the Lehman collection. The seat backs demonstrate a desire for the opulent, decorative qualities of the embroidery rather than its iconographical content, as the design has been applied on its side rather than so that it is 'readable'. (Christa C. Mayer Thurman. The Robert Lehman Collection XIV European Textiles. Princeton: Metropolitan Museum of Art and Princeton University Press, 2001, pp. 128-9, Cat. nos. 62 and 63)

This is what is stated in the original accession record.

145-1880