At the turn of the twentieth century and during the 1920s, many Americans traveled in Europe and brought back examples of
ecclesiastical silk and métal thread embroideries. Thèse subse- quently found their way into muséum collections and many of them hâve never been properly analyzed or described, This paper présents the basic methods for evaluating the embroideries. I trust that the process will also bring to other researchers a heightened apprécia- tion for the beauty, labor, and artistic skill involved in produc- ing thèse works of art.
59
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Bath, Virginia C Embroidery Masterworks. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1972.
Briegar, Peter. English Art: 1216-1307. Oxford: Clarendon, 1957.
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Cavallo, Adolph, Needlework. Washington, D . C : The Smithsonian Institution, 1979,
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Cruttwell, Maud. Antonio Pollaiuolo. London: Duckworth, 1906.
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Dean, Béryl. Embroidery in Religion and Cérémonial. London: Bats- ford, 1981.
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Dolby, Anastasia. Church Embroidery. London: Chapman and Hall, 1867 Dryden, Alice. Church Embroidery. London: A.R. Mowbray, 1911.
Errera, Isabelle. Musées Royaux des Arts Décoratifs de Bruxelles.
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60
61 Ettinger, Leopold D, Antonio and Piero Pollaiuolo, Oxford*
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62 Mayer-Thurman, Christa. Raiment for the Lord's Service. A Thousand
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APPENDIX A
GLOSSARY
64
65
Church Paraments
ALB: a white tunic with sleeves worn under either a tunicle, dalmatic, chasuble, or cope and worn with an amice and a girdle.
Derived from a Greco-Roman garment, the tunic, it was originally called the tunica alba as referred to by St. Clément. In the Middle Ages, however, the adjective came to supercede the noun, and produced the alb. In early Christian times, white was always
used to garb the sacred maie figures as evidenced by the frescos ren- dered in the Roman catacombs during the second, third, and fourth centuries. Linen was used for thèse garments because, unlike wool, it became whiter the more it was laundered and hence, appeared more
"pure." As other vestments began to be worn over the alb, décorative panels known as apparels were placed where they would show: on the sleeve hems, front and back skirt hems, and at the neck or upper chest. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, spécifie require- ments for an alb included wrist-length tight sleeves, ankle-length
full skirt, and décoration on the garment itself or applied in panels. Apparels were generally richly embellished and could be 72 used repeatedly as the garments wore out. One may find them in muséum collections transformed into hangings or other secular ob- jects. Eventually, the alb sleeve came to be worn loose and the sleeve and skirt hems were lavishly embellished with beautiful and costly laces.
Janet Mayo, A History of Ecclesiastical Dress, (New York:
Holmes and Meiers, 1984), p. 15.
79
Christa Mayer-Thurman, Raiment for the Lord's Service. A Thousand Years of Western Vestments. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1975), p. 25.
66 AMICE: a rectangular pièce of white linen embellished with a décorative apparel. Originally it probably protected the neck areas of a chasuble, alb, tunic, or dalmatic from perspiration stains, The decorated long edge folds to the outside of the outer garment and has the appearance of a collar. It developed after the seventh century in the Western Church; it is not known in the Eastern
Church,
ANTEPENDIUM: literally anything placed in front of an altar including objects or screens in média other than textiles. Textile antependia include the altar cloth which completely covers the altar, the frontal which hangs over the front of the altar, and the super- frontal which is a narrow band that hangs over the top of the frontal or is attached to it. An example is the Cambi frontal with its own superfrontal as part of the overall design program. In contemporary churches, pulpit or lectern falls are also antependia.
APPAREL: a rectangular panel of varying dimensions used as em- bellishment s on albs, amices, dalmatics, and tunicles. The most common are narrow and decorate sleeve hems; those more nearly square or rectangular decorate the chest or the front and back hems (Fig.
36).^^
73
Mayo, p. 133.
^'^Norris[Herbert Norris, Church Vestments: Their Origin and Development, (London: J.M. Dent, 1949), p. 64] writes that the différence in apparels and orphreys dépends upon the garment to which they are attached. Mayo (p. 133) states that apparels
are used only on the alb and amice, while Mayer-Thurman (pp. 14, 26, 39) makes the distinction in shape: the apparel being a rectan- gular panel and the orphrey being a band or cross. This last seems the most consistent as shape and placement of the décorative panels ehanged over the centuries. Accordingly, the apparel as a rectan- gular panel attached to any liturgical garment is the définition used in this paper.
WÊÊ'iiiisii'jns'iiisiSi;^^^^^^
67
01/.
#ï^--'
ife
- * : - . . . S - ^ « ï ' - ^ ^ ' " " ^ , * • - ^ • • • - t^lS î ^ ï ^
5, * •-
Fig. 36. Sleeve apparel #L6138a and hem apparel #7087 from the Smithsonian collection.
68 BURSE: a square of cloth stiffened by either a card-
board insert or by multiple layers of fabric, It is used to hold the corporal or linen cloth used to cover the éléments during Holy Communion, thus it resembles an envelope. Generally, the burse has a matching veil.
CHALICE VEIL: a square of cloth, ordinarily lined, used to cover the chalice before and after Holy Communion. The size of the square dépends upon the height and size of the chalice being em-
ployed. For instance, Washington Cathedral has smaller chalices for the chapels than for the High Altar. Thus, the veils for the chapels are smaller. The use of the chalice veil goes back to the thirteenth century; however, its présent form and function come from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth centuries. The veil generally has a matching burse,
CHASUBLE : the principal garment worn by a priest during Holy Communion or Mass. It is derived directly from the Roman paenula which was an outdoor garment somewhat like a modem day poncho. It
consists of a rectangular pièce of cloth folded crosswise with a hole in the center for the head. Occasionally it has a hood. An early example can be seen on the figure of St. Apollinaris in the apse mosaic of St. Apollinare in Classe in Ravenna. Through the centuries, the shape of the vestment ehanged until it became more an object of ornament than a protective garment (Fig. 37). The chasuble can either be embroidered over its entire surface of embellished with orphreys which are either pillar, cross, or Y-shaped.
COPE: a semicircular cape with a hood worn during processions and in cérémonies not involving Holy Communion. Thé garment came
Mayer-Thurman, p. 27
76. 'Dom E.A. Roulin, O.S.B., Vestments and Vesture, (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1950), p. 64.
69
Pcunula,
nobilis •Vt - Ea\^enn£ Xt.-HiLd^hzim . Ctj,ù S.QxCchareC
XJV. VoCùroru
XII. floretxcc. Ct^aU & Bertxcirdo. X l l t . • fwvlns Poncificad..
Ch 5. t£Ùn£.
XV. tDanUùj. n. [Xun£. xvi. &€nxe. CULCSCC r v n . Rome. fSarchi
"3-
l}'Mif^
fronce. ÎCalle TUxCrlctu BrisiL.Fig. 37. Chasuble shapes from Roman times to the présent From Poulin, p. 64.
70 into use as a religious vestment sometime in the eighth century when the chasuble became insufficient as a protection against incle- ment weather. Mayo writes that it derived from the Roman byrrus which was a winter cape with a central opening and fastened by a pin or brooch. Norris notes that though the garment was in gênerai 77 use by the eleventh century, it was not until the thirteenth century that its liturgical use was firmly established. During médiéval 7 R
times, when the entire cope was covered with embroidery, the straight edge held an orphrey band and, occasionally, a matching embroidered morse. After the fourteenth century, when such extensive embroi-
dery became rare, the richly woven brocades and damasks from which the copes were made were embellished with orphrey bands and the hoods became increasingly more elaborate. By the Baroque era, in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the hood had become enormous, reaching half-way down the back of the vestment. The Gothic Revival in the nineteenth century brought the style of the cope hood back into reasonable proportions (Fig. 38).
Fig. 38. Cope styles. From Roulin, p. 146.
77 Mayo, p. 16.
78 Norris, pp. 157-160,
71 DALMATIC and TUNICLE: outer garments with wide, loose sleeves.
In Roman times, the dalmatic was worn over the tunica alba and under the toga, It became an ecclesiastical vestment for bishops, deacons, and sub-deacons. During the Middle Ages, the tunicle be- came a différent garment having long tight sleeves and slits up the sides, Eventually, however, the two garments came to be exactly alike except that the garment, when worn by a sub-deacon, was called a tunicle. The garment originally had clavi or long, narrow 79
strips running from shoulder to hem as embellishment. An example can be seen in the Madonna and Child fresco in the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome. With time, the orphrey bands replaced the clavi and apparels were added, especially at chest and hem. Since the fabric of the garment was heavier than that of the alb, the large, heavy apparels in many muséum collections today probably graced dal- matics or tunicles. Examples are the St. Lucy and St. Barbara
apparels and the four evangelist hem or chest apparels with matching sleeve apparels in the Smithsonian collection (Fig. 36).
MANIPLE: originally, a cloth napkin or handkerchief worn folded over the left arm during the serving of Holy Communion.
Eventually it became a strictly décorative object embellished with a strip of fabric matching the stole. The earliest extant example of this style of maniple is that of St. Cuthbert, dating from the early ninth century and in Durham Cathedral today. The lower edges can be either straight, tapered, or spade-end. The portion which fits over the arm can be shaped or pleated.
MITRE: a cap or hat worn by a bishop, archbishop, or pope.
It émerges as a liturgical hat in the eleventh century. By the twelfth century, it has the charateristic cleft, or dent, down the center. Initially the two peaks were worn on the sides and the hat
79 Mayer-Thurman, pp. 30, 36,
72 was tied under the chin by strings or bands called lappets. During
the thirteenth century, the hat was worn sideways with the peaks front and back. The lappets remained where they were but as décora- tive bands hanging from the back (Fig, 39).
Fig. 39. Mitres from the eleventh century to the présent. Fron Roulin, p. 194
MORSE : a fastener used on a cope. It can be embroidered to match the orphrey or can be of another médium such as metalwork,
ORPHREY: a band decorated with gold used to embellish litur- gical vestments. The word comes from the Latin auriphrygium, or Phrygian gold, for the peoples who, in the ancient world, were
known for their gold thread embroidery. The bands took the place of the Roman clavi which ran from shoulder to hem on a tunic. Orphreys also embellished the straight edge of the semicircular copes and were used on the front and back of chasubles in pillar, Y-shaped, or cross forms. In many muséum collections are panel fragments of such or- phrey bands which were frequently made in separate rectangular
panels and joined together after the embroidery had been completed.
As vestments wore out, the worn portions were sometimes removed and the panels rearranged in order to prolong the use of the embroi- dery,
PARAMENT: ail textile articles used in worship. This term includes vestments and other textile visual aids to worship such as dossals, antependia, and fair linens.
STOLE: a décorative band suspended around the neck with the
73 ends hanging down in front, Mayer-Thurman notes that the 20th
Chapter of the Council of Mayence of 813 bade the priests to wear the stole to identify themselves as full members of the priesthood.
From the ninth century, deacons wear the stole over the left shoulder and diagonally across the chest and back, The ends are looped across one another under the right arm, Priests wear the stole around the neck and crossed over the chest, while bishops wear it around the neck and hanging freely to below the knees. When vesting for Holy Communion or Mass, the stole is worn over the alb and under the chasuble or dalmatic,
VESTMENT: any garment worn by the clergy during religious
services. Vestments can be part of a set of paraments including such articles as antependia, chalice veils, and burses.
Médiéval and Renaissance Architectural and Design Terms ABACUS; a flat stone slab above the capital and below the architrave.
ARCH: a curved or pointed structure that supports weight over an open space.
ARCHITRAVE: the section directly above the arch and columns.
ARCHIVOLT: a molding or band of molding surrounding an arch;
the undercurve of an arch.
BASE: the molded block supporting the column shaft.
CAPITAL: the carved portion of a column between the shaft and the abacus.
CARTOUCHE: a scroll-like décorative framework; occasionally the edges are cut and turned in.
80 Mayer-Thurman, p. 35.
74 COLUMN; a cylindrical shaft standing on a base and topped by a capital,
FRIEZE: the area above the architrave.
LUNETTE : a semicircular space above a door or window.
MEDALLION: an oval or circular design élément, NICHE : a recess for a statue,
ROUNDEL: a round ornamental panel.
APPENDIX B
SAINTS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES
75
76 Twelves Apostles
ANDREW: saltire of X-shaped cross. Patron saint of Russia, Scotland, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
BARTHOLOMEW: flaying knives.
JAMES THE GREATER: scallop shell, pilgrim's staff with knobs, wearing a pilgrim's hat with low rounded crown and wide brim.
Patron saint of Spain and of pilgrims, JAMES THE LESS: a saw,
JOHN: serpent emerging from a cup, a cauldron of oil, The only apostle not to be martyred. As one of the four evangelists, his symbol is the eagle for he wrote of the divine nature of Christ.
JUDE: sailing ship, lance or halberd.
MATTHEW : moneybags, an ax. As one of the four evangelists, his symbol is the winged man for he wrote of the human nature and the life of Christ.
MATTHIAS : an ax. He replaced Judas Iscariot.
PETER: keys of the kingdom of heaven. Latin cross turned upside down, fish, cock.
PHILIP: loaves of bread. Tau cross.
SIMON: large saw, fish.
THOMAS : carpenter's square, spear.
JUDAS ISCARIOT: thirty pièces of silver, rope.
Other Saints
AGATHA (third century): two breasts on a platter, shears or pincers, wears a long veil.
AUGUSTINE (fifth century): dressed as a bishop in mitre and
77
cope, holds a crozier. Flaming heart pierced by an arrow (Fig. 40)
Fig. 40. Attributes of St. Augustine.
BARBARA (third century): tower with three Windows, peacock's feather.
CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA (third century): spiked wheel, sword, book, wears a crown.
CATHERINE OF SIENA (fourteenth century): stigmata, Dominican habit, holds cross surmounted by lily, a heart.
DOMINIC (thirteenth century): wears black and white Dominican habit, rosary, star on forehead. Occasionally accompanied by a dog bearing a flaming torch in his mouth.
78 FRANCIS (thirteenth century): stigmata, skull, lily, wears the brown Franciscan habit and cincture with three knots,
JOHN THE BAPTIST: lamb, banner with reed cross, wears cloth- ing of skins,
JOSEPH: budding staff, carpenter's saw, plane.
LAWRENCE (third century): gridiron, dressed as a deacon, occasionally in a flaming tunic,
LUCY (third century): eyes on a platter, poniard, wound in the neck, lamb.
LUKE: one of the four evangelists, His sjmibol is the winged ox for he wrote of the sacrificial nature of Christ.
MARGARET OF ANTIOCH (third century): wears crown, usually shown trampling the devil in the form of a dragon or démon.
MARK: one of the four evangelists. His sjmibol is the winged lion for he wrote of the royal nature of Christ.
MARY MAGDALENE: flowing hair, ointment jar.
PAUL: sword, book.
SEBASTIAN (third century): young man transfixed by arrows.
STEPHEN: wears the dress of a deacon, stones.
SYLVESTER (fourth century): wears papal robes, mitre and triple tiara, crozier and book. Occasionally has a bull at his feet,
THOMAS AQUINAS (thirteenth century): ox, sunburst on his breast, books, wears Bénédictine black habit.
VERONICA: holds veil with image of Christ's face imprinted on it.