Velvet panels from a chasuble
These two panels are a tour-de-force of Renaissance velvet. They combine a bold, unusual design with the most expensive raw materials that money could buy, executed in the most virtuoso, technically-superlative weaving. The precious gilded metal threads, in varying thicknesses and profiles, have been used in three different techniques– random dashes of gold (called alluciolato, after the Italian for "firefly") in the crimson flower petals; rows of raised loops (bouclé) in the pine cones, leaves and tendrils; flat golden expanse of taut golden threads (lancé) across the surrounding ground. The deep, lush crimson pile is two heights, achieving an additional effect of three dimensionality.
This velvet was clearly greatly prized as the current two panels, cut for use as the front half of a Catholic priest's tabard-like chasuble garment, were likely expertly tailored second-hand (probably in the sixteenth century): the shoulders are skillfully patched from a different original context.
This velvet was clearly greatly prized as the current two panels, cut for use as the front half of a Catholic priest's tabard-like chasuble garment, were likely expertly tailored second-hand (probably in the sixteenth century): the shoulders are skillfully patched from a different original context.
Artwork Details
- Title: Velvet panels from a chasuble
- Date: Late 15th century
- Culture: Italian, probably Florence or Lucca
- Medium: Silk and metal thread
- Dimensions: a) Gr. L. 49 1/2 x Gr. W. 11 3/8 inches
125.7 x 28.9 cm
b) Gr. L. 48 x Gr. W. 11 inches
121.9 x 27.9 cm
Together with orphrey:
Gr. L. 49 1/2 x Gr. W. 30 1/4 inches
125.7 x 76.8 cm - Classification: Textiles-Velvets
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1956
- Object Number: 56.166a, b
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Italian
16th century
Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso
Marco del Buono Giamberti
after ca. 1461
Giambologna
1590s
Giambologna
probably 1587–91
Italian, Florence
ca. 1460–80
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