• Facets (new session)
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  • Inference Rule: asEquivalentb3sb3sifpfacetshttp://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ldpoplwebskos-transvirtrdf-labelvirtrdf-urlNone
    

Purchased from Lady Battersea for £84 in June 1908. When acquired, the chasuble was in two parts, both described as 'damaged and repaired'. It was joined up in the 'art workroom'. The chasuble had been offered to the Museum for sale on the occasion that Lady Battersea gave the Museum an altar frontal (2490-1908). Expert views on the object came from E.R.D. Maclagan on 6/06/1908, from P.Trendell on 11/06/1908 and A.F. Kendrick on 11/06/1908. All agreed that the chasuble was Italian, the embroidery probably Florentine of the first quarter of the fifteenth century, the velvet somewhat later in the century. Maclagan compared the embroidery with the earlier and finer treatment of the Life of the Virgin on 831-1903 and the panel with the death of St Viridiana (4216-1857) of about the same date. He noted that embroidery of this period was not well-represented in the Museum. Trendell considered the floral pattern on the velvet ground particularly effective, and the embroidery of the orphreys very rich. He also noted that at that time the Museum had only one complete chasuble (7788-1862) with fifteenth century orphreys of similar character, and that the price asked was not excessive. On 20/06/1908 A. B. Skinner noted that the price was good, comparing it as a purchase of eleven panels of a complete chasuble, with the £130 paid for the nine panels representing the life of the Virgin in 1903, the £67 for a chasuble of fifteenth century Italian brocaded damask with English orphreys in 1901, £91 for a chasuble of Italian damask with sixteenth century French orphreys in 1903, and the £103 for a chasuble of Florentine velvet with English orphreys in 1907. Paid on 17/07/1908. (MA/1/B723). Historical significance: This vestment is significant as an example of the investment that went into the creation of suitable attire for the church: the materials are inherently precious (real silver and silver-gilt threads; imported silk), the labour required in the creation of such superlative embroidery and the weaving of fine velvet extremely skilled. The recycling of the silk and the embroidery at a later date into this particular vestment indicates the value attached to such materials.