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Orphrey

1430-1460 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Embroidered orphrey for a vestment. The background is worked with a raised diamond pattern executed in gold thread and surface couching with red silk. There is a scene of three architectural canopies with pinnacles, each containing two saints, one male and one female. The figures and architecture are worked in silk in tones of blue, pink, beige, yellow, green, brown, and white, in split stitch. The figures are in the lively, somewhat caricatural style of drawing characteristic of English orphreys of the mid-15th century. Noses and other features are slightly raised by padding.
Reading upwards from the bottom of the orphrey the saints are; St. Cecily with a garland or St. Sitha with beads and St. Simon with a saw, St. James the Great with scallop shell and book, and an unidentified female saint with book and fish, St. Barbara with a tower and St. Paul with sword and book.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Embroidery, wool, silk
Brief description
Embroidered Orphrey, England, 1430-1460.
Physical description
Embroidered orphrey for a vestment. The background is worked with a raised diamond pattern executed in gold thread and surface couching with red silk. There is a scene of three architectural canopies with pinnacles, each containing two saints, one male and one female. The figures and architecture are worked in silk in tones of blue, pink, beige, yellow, green, brown, and white, in split stitch. The figures are in the lively, somewhat caricatural style of drawing characteristic of English orphreys of the mid-15th century. Noses and other features are slightly raised by padding.
Reading upwards from the bottom of the orphrey the saints are; St. Cecily with a garland or St. Sitha with beads and St. Simon with a saw, St. James the Great with scallop shell and book, and an unidentified female saint with book and fish, St. Barbara with a tower and St. Paul with sword and book.
Dimensions
  • Maximum height: 29cm
  • Maximum width: 22.5cm
Collection
Accession number
T.155-1970

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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