Green and Crimson Cut Voided Satin Velvet
Not on view
Although the loss of the green pile has exposed much of the red ground, it is nonetheless apparent that the velvet composing these two fragmentary strips was once very fine indeed: a thick, early velvet, with a large scale, bold repeat pattern in gold of ornamented roundels and six-petalled blooms. Many centuries after the velvet was woven, these two lengths were sewn together (one upside down to achieve an alternating matte and gloss of pile direction) in the partial shape of a chasuble, with the exaggerated tear-drop contour popular in the mid-nineteenth century.
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