The beauty of needlework

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 1997 by Christa C. Mayer Thurman

A group of exquisitely wrought sections and fragments of needlework in the Art Institute of Chicago bears witness not only to the high standard by which needlework has long been measured but also to the joys of detective work in the decorative arts. These fourteenth-century Florentine textiles, known as orphreys, were used to ornament liturgical vestments or altar frontals. Richly worked with gilt and silver threads, they have probably graced more than one sacred cloth.

When they were discovered on the art market and acquired in 1992, they decorated a type of liturgical garment called a dalmatic, some pieces forming a cross on the back (Pl. IV) and the others making up a shorter band on the front. It is not known when they were attached to the dalmatic, but it was definitely not their original placement. They would have made far more sense on a chasuble, another type of liturgical garment, the cross on the back and the shorter band down the front. A close examination of the orphrey cross revealed that the arms had been formed simply by stitching two separate squares to the vertical portion. Furthermore, an incomplete fragment with one curved side was added at the very top of the cross to make the band long enough to reach from the neck to the hem line. An examination of the shorter band revealed that it, too, had been lengthened at the very top with a square outlined on three sides with a typical nineteenth-century braid called a galloon. This addition also had no business being where it was.

The anomalies in the application of the orphrey bands and fragments provided the clue that their configuration should be reconsidered. Given the consistent widths of the longer sections, it seemed likely that they originally formed one continuous band, and if so, their most probable placement was on another type of ceremonial or processional vestment, a cope - a long semicircular cape. Placed along the straight edge of the cope, the orphrey would have formed two parallel bands down the front of the vestment when it was draped over the wearers shoulders [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED], a configuration supported by the outlining border design on the two longer pieces. In such a configuration, the images on these pieces would have faced each other, and corresponding images would have been related to one another. Once such an arrangement is established, it becomes apparent that there is a precise pattern alternating older and younger saints or prophets. However, it also becomes clear that the two sections are not long enough to complete the entire orphrey band on a cope, and so some images are missing. How many and who they might be can be answered with some certainty based on the images that do exist.

Unfortunately, of the extant images that would have embellished the front of the cope, only three can be identified: Christ, shown with the raised right hand; Saint Paul, with the sword; and Saint Margaret, who holds a small cross. Surely, in a balanced arrangement, if Saint Paul was on one side, then Saint Peter would have been opposite him. And the most appropriate figure to pair with Christ would have been Saint John the Baptist.

The two squares that formed the arms of the cross in the chasuble configuration and the single one that was outlined on three sides with a galloon differ from those in the longer bands in that the framing element on them runs horizontally, not vertically. Thus, while they were not part of the longer bands, they were probably meant to go together. They could have been used above the hood on the back of the cope, where the horizontal edging would have created a continuation of the edging on the vertical bands. Alternatively, they could have been part of a totally different composition, perhaps an altar frontal.

It is also interesting to speculate about whether a fourth square might be missing from this group of three (Pls. V-VII), for judging by the Latin words worked into each of the three squares, they represent three of the four Gospels. The word "INITIUM.S" on one is the first word of the Gospel of Saint Mark; "IN PRINCIP[IO]" begins the Gospel of Saint John; and "DEUS" can be associated with two verses in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Thus, a square representing Saint Luke is almost certainly missing. In examining the fragments it became clear that Saint Matthew and Saint John had once been unified in a single piece, suggesting that the missing Saint Luke might have been placed between Saint Matthew and Saint Mark.

Regardless of their original placement or intent, these orphreys are masterpieces par excellence, rare examples of extraordinary Florentine craftsmanship from a period when needlework was looked upon as a high art. While during a far more recent century the needle arts have been relegated to the realm of the decorative arts, the finest examples have always had the power to move and inspire us.

CHRISTA C. MAYER THURMAN is the Christa C. Mayer Thurman curator of textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago.