Chasuble

Eighteenth-century Europeans were entranced by the light touch and vibrant palettes of Chinese embroidery, worked upon soft, lustrous Chinese silks. This chasuble– the tabard-like garment worn by a Catholic priest in Christian church services– is part of a partially-surviving set of church vestments in The Met's collection (see 1973.118b, .118c, .118d). The complete set was decorated and assembled in China for the export market; although the front and back of the chasuble were each made in a single piece, the chasuble's Chinese designers evoked the European convention of sewing together separate side panels and central "orphrey" strips. At some point in its history, the chasuble needed considerable repairs after the wear-and-tear of decades' use worn by priests: patches cut from a matching item in the vestment set were very carefully applied to the garment's front around the chest area, the seams and joins hidden by a broad, nineteenth-century passementerie braid, which has since been removed.