Chasuble front
Not on view
This fragment originally formed the front of a garment worn, tabard-like, by a Catholic priest. It is of interest as an example of mid-range production. The well-preserved crimson red support is a stamped velvet– cheaper and considerably easier to produce than a true woven velvet whose pattern was achieved using supplementary wefts and warps of cut and uncut pile. Its design remains nicely legible, but the textile is thin and of middling quality. The needlework of the orphrey panel is likewise of serviceable but not virtuoso quality, and additionally suffers from very heavy-handed restoration. At top is John the Baptist, underneath whom Saint Agatha.
This chasuble front was originally attached to a chasuble back also in The Met’s collection (14.134.6a) on which are represented the Virgin and Infant Christ, Mary Magdalene, and Saint Andrew.
