Details

LOT 0369

Medieval Embroidered Orphrey with Six Saints

SOUTHERN NETHERLANDS, 15TH CENTURY A.D.

41 in. (502 grams, 104 cm).

Rectangular textile panel with six figural scenes within laid work borders; each figure a nimbate saint with couched robes, satin stitch facial features, threaded sequins and other detailing; modern fabric backing. [No Reserve]

Provenance

with SVV Prunier, 20 May 2018, no.86.
Ex central London gallery.

Literature

Cf. for comparison an embroidered panel part of the dalmatic in MET, accession no.64.101.1381, in Hartt, F., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 4, The Renaissance in Italy and Spain, New York, 1988, pp.67-69.

Footnotes

This substantial embroidered panel comes from an ecclesiastic Dalmatic composed up of various sections, each section comprising an applied figure embroidered in yellow-brown colours with the addition of light blue in some figures. From top to bottom two female saints, probably the Virgin Mary and her Holy Mother Anna; in the second central panels are represented Saint Peter, keys in hand, and probably his brother Andrew. Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas are possibly the subjects of the last two vertical panels. The embroidery technique used is including fine worked nué, in which metallic threads are laid down and worked over in silk, with split stitch.