Liturgical Textiles of the Post-Byzantine World
At The Met Fifth Avenue
August 3–November 1, 2015
Seldom-shown textiles from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century from the Museum's departments of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Medieval Art and The Cloisters, and Islamic Art demonstrate the longevity of imagery developed in the Byzantine era over a wide geographical range, from workshops in Georgia to Muscovy to Greece.
These rich and complex woven silks and gold-embroidered details of liturgical vestments communicate the continuing prestige of the Orthodox Church and its clergy in the centuries following the fall of Byzantine Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Silk textile with seraphim and crosses, 17th century. Ottoman Empire. Silk, lampas weave (ground in satin, pattern in twill); 43 x 22 1/2 in. (109.2 x 57.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1908 (08.109.16)
