Cope of red silk velvet. The cope is of pile on pile silk velvet made up from two panels 21.5 inches wide with two cut panels to either side. The cope is not a full semi-circle, and the original orphrey was probably attached to the edge of the cope and not applied to the velvet.
Three ground warp threads of yellow silk, two straight flanking one sinuous thread, separate the pile warp threads of red silk. The weft is on two levels.
The pattern is of a main stem bearing a head of three flowers and leaves which mass to form a spade shape, and enclosed by a rough-barked stem of continuous husk shapes. From this, smooth stems bearing small heraldic roses and pomegranates branch off to fill the spaces left where the central stem curve inwards.Cope of silk velvet, Italy, 16th century