Cope

Cope

A splendid convergence of cultures can be seen in this cope, a semicircular cape and hood worn in processions during Christian liturgical services. The form itself is thus Christian, as is the Eastern Orthodox subject matter of the embroidered orphrey, or ornamental border, that embellishes each of the straight sides, which would have met at the front of the wearer. The orphrey has ten decorated panels, five per side. Six show figures, among them the Virgin Mary and three early saints—Nicholas of Myra and two Armenian patriarchs, Nerses I and Sahak I —identified by inscriptions in Armenian.[1] The other four panels contain crosses. Worn inscriptions in Armenian appear beneath the embroidered saints.

The main body of the cope consists of joined pieces of Persian velvet patterned with rows of swaying flowers, the rows alternating in direction. The stylized flowers are distinguished by the grace and clarity of their drawing and by the broad palette of their colors. A single velvet blossom shows in the "window" of the hood. The voided satin ground between the areas of pile was originally completely covered with supplementary wefts of yellow silk wrapped in a silver-gilt strip, or lamella, with some space left in the wrapping so that the core still showed. This may have been done to soften the glittering effect of the metal or to reduce the amount of silver required, and hence the cost.

The presence in the velvet area of small fragments with diagonal or curved sides indicates that the various joined pieces were previously parts of garments that had been deconstructed to be reassembled here in a form of "adaptive reuse." Since the embroidery of the orphrey represents a somewhat later date than the velvet itself, the main body of the vestment may have been assembled from the older velvet, and the orphrey and hood added at the same time, probably in the early eighteenth century. Two closely related pieces are worthy of note: an almost identical cope exhibited in Munich in 1910 ( present whereabouts unknown) and a stray piece of the same velvet material acquired in 1986 by the David Collection, Copenhagen.[2] The two copes, which appeared in the West at about the same time early in the last century, probably derive from one of the Armenian churches built in the Isfahan suburb of New Julfa during the seventeenth century. Also, in the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., there is a cope without orphrey fashioned from three full-width lengths of Safavid brocade.[3]

Daniel S. Walker in [Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby, and Haidar 2011]

Footnotes:

1. I am indebted to Amy Landau of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, for providing the identifications.

2. The piece exhibited in Munich, then in the collection of Dr. Roden of Frankfurt, is illustrated in Sarre and Martin 1912, vol. 3, pl. 202. The Copenhagen velvet is published in Woven Treasures: Textiles from the World of Islam. Exhibition, The David Collection, Copenhagen. Catalogue by Kjeld von Folsach and Anne-Marie Keblow Bersted. Copenhagen, 1993, p. 113.

3. Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (no. 3.150). For a piece of the same textile, see Bier 1987, pp. 172–73.


Cope

This cope has been fashioned from cut-and-voided silk velvet dating to the first part of the seventeenth century, a product of Safavid looms. Its rows of flowering plants, made from raised, multicolor pile, were once surrounded by a ground of yellow silk wrapped in strips of silver-gilt metal, the contrasting textures and coloration combining for a luxurious effect.[1]

The fabric was made into items of clothing that eventually found their way into the collection of an Armenian church, where they were reconfigured as vestments for for ceremonial use with the seams of the earlier coats or robes still visible. In addition to this cope, a second cope was made of the same fabric and would have been worn during ceremonies in which several clergy wearing matching vestments officiated.[2]

It is not clear when the embroidered band, or orphrey, on the straight end of the cope was attached to it. Armenian copes do not typically have this element; instead a stole (Greek epitrachelion, Armenian p'orurar) performing the same decorative function is worn seperately.[3] The inexpert handling of this addition is revealed in the inscriptions that identify the figures embroidered on the orphrey. While the inscriptions for "St. Nerses Patriarch," "St. Nicholas Patriarch," and "St. Sahak Patriarch" are placed next to the corresponding images of these bishops, the inscription for the fourth bishop has been cut off. That for Mary has been placed below two of the crosses, with half of the inscription ("Virgin Mary") on one side of the cope and half ("Mother of God") on the opposite side.[4] The stole probably belonged to an archbishop, as indicated by the inclusion on it of four bishop-saints and four crosses, the hierarchy of the church mirrored in the number of such symbols each official could wear on his vestments.[5] As Armenian communities were found throughout Safavid lands, notably in the capital of Isfahan, it is unclear whether the original velvet textile was ever traded abroad. The cope fits into the story of trade, however, as the Armenian community played a crucial role in the conveyance of silk from the Safavid Empire to European markets.

Marika Sardar in [Peck 2013]

Footnotes:

1. See technical observations by Daniel Walker in Ekhtiar, Maryam D., Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Najar Haidar. eds. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, pp. 251–53, no. 175. Other fragments of the same velvet are in the David Collection, Copenhagen (Folsach, Kjeld von, and Anne-Marie Keblow Bernsted. Woven Treasures: Textiles from the World of Islam. Exh. cat. Copenhagen: The David Collection, 1993, p. 113) and the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (Bier, Carol, et al. Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, 16th–19th Centuries. Exh. cat. Washington, D.C.: The Textile Collection, 1987, pp. 172–73).

2. The last known whereabouts of the second scope were recorded in 1910, when it was in the collection of Dr. Roden of Frankfurt (see Sarre F. and F.R. Martin, eds., Die Ausstellung von Meisterwerken muhammedanisher Kunst in Munchen, 1910. Exh. cat. Munich: F. Bruckman, 1910–12, vol. 3, pl. 202.

3. See the copes illustrated in Marchese, Ronald T., and Marlene R. Breu. Splendor and Pageantry: Textile Treasures from the Armenian Orthodox Churches of Istanbul. Istanbul: Citlembik/Nettleberry Publications, 2010, pp. 152–53 and 154–55. For the use and the form of the cope in the Armenian Church, see Muyldermans, J. "Le costume liturgique arménien: Étude historique." Le muséon: Revue d'études orientales 39 (1926), pp. 285–86, pls. 1–9.

4. The embroidered figures were previously identified as the Virgin Mary, the archangel Gabriel, and Saints Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzen, Basil the Great, and John Chrysostom (as in M[orris], Francis, "An Early Seventeenth-Century Cope," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 9, no. 6, 1914, pp. 147–48); and then correctly, as the Virgin Mary, Nicholas of Myra, Nerses I, and Sahak I (Armenian Inscriptions as read by Amy Landau, cited by Daniel Walker in Ekhtiar et al. 2011; see note 1 for reference). V. Rev. M. Daniel Findikyan, Dean and Professor of Liturgical Studies, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, New Rochelle, New York, re-read the inscriptions for me and noted that the orphrey had been cut and incorrectly attached to this cope.

5. Muyldermans 1926 (see note 3), pp. 286–87.

[ Tabbagh Frères, Paris and New York, until 1914; sold to MMA]

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800," September 9, 2013–January 5, 2014, no. 64.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Armenia!," September 21, 2018–January 13, 2019, cat. no. 133.

Evans, Helen C., ed. Armenia : Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 133, pp. 288–89, ill. (color).

Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Textiles. New York, 1915–16. no. 306, p. 74.

Sarre, Friedrich Dr, and F. R. Martin. "Die Keramik, die Metallarbeiten Glass und Kristall." In Die Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Muhammedanischer Kunst in Munchen 1910. Vol. 2. Munich: F. Bruckmann A.-G., 1912. vol. 3, ill. pl. 202, (related).

Bier, Carol, ed. "Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran 16th–19th Centuries." In Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart. Washington, D.C.: Textile Museum, 1987. pp. 172–73, (related).

Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, ed. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 175, pp. 251–53, ill. p. 251 (color).

Peck, Amelia, ed. Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013. no. 64, pp. 218–19, ill. pl. 64 (color).