Orphrey in Two Pieces
1340-70 (made)
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This orphrey is the only example of 14thcentury English embroidery worked on green, rather than red, velvet to have survived with its ground intact. The design consists of double interlacing bands that form barbed quatrefoils; the spaces in between are decorated with oak leaves and acorns. In the quatrefoils, enthroned figures of angels, holding crowns and the instruments of Christ’s Passion, alternate with figures of female saints – St Mary Magdalene with her jar of ointment (twice), St Catherine of Alexandria with a wheel (twice), St Margaret of Antioch with a cross staff, and an unidentified saint with a book.
Object details
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| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Embroidered with silver-gilt and silver thread and coloured silks in underside couching and split stitch, with raised work, on silk velvet with an interlayer of silk in plain weave. |
| Brief description | An orphrey in two pieces, embroidered with silver thread and coloured silks, 1340-70, England. |
| Physical description | This orphrey is the only example of 14thcentury English embroidery worked on green, rather than red, velvet to have survived with its ground intact. The design consists of double interlacing bands that form barbed quatrefoils; the spaces in between are decorated with oak leaves and acorns. In the quatrefoils, enthroned figures of angels, holding crowns and the instruments of Christ’s Passion, alternate with figures of female saints – St Mary Magdalene with her jar of ointment (twice), St Catherine of Alexandria with a wheel (twice), St Margaret of Antioch with a cross staff, and an unidentified saint with a book. |
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| Content description | In the quatrefoils, enthroned figures of angels, holding crowns and the instruments of Christ’s Passion, alternate with figures of female saints – St Mary Magdalene with her jar of ointment (twice), St Catherine of Alexandria with a wheel (twice), St Margaret of Antioch with a cross staff, and an unidentified saint with a book. |
| Object history | Two longer pieces of an orphrey came to the Museum in 1889, together with fragments of the Jesse Cope (175-1889). The orphrey pieces were separated from the cope fragments, with which they had no original connection. These further two small pieces, clearly belonging to the orphrey, were acquired by the Museum in 1937, and attached to the longer parts. |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.14&A-1937 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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