Chasuble

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This intriguing object is a composite: at some point in their history, embroidered orphreys- attributed 17th-Century, Spanish- have been cut down and applied to an eighteenth-century silk support- attributed either Chinese made for export, or a British imitation thereof. The raw materials and the execution of the embroideries are rather modest, with twisted threads couched in place, and a very thinly piled red velvet support emulating pricier production. The silk, in contrast, is very fine, though mechanically woven. The embroidered orphreys represent Christian figures of devotion: on the front, a monk saint (perhaps Dominic or Francis) holding the Christ Child, and Christ at the Cross (amputated at the thighs); on the reverse, the Virgin and Child, the same or another monk saint, and Saint Jerome (whose panel has also been roughly cut at thigh level). The later, figurative silk, conversely, is decorated with a secular repeat pattern of clouds, wickerwork, and baskets of flowers. In its current iteration, this garment is a chasuble (the tabard worn by a Catholic priest over his alb gown when conducting church services), although its very long, narrow shape is highly unusual.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art