Cope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of Malta

Cope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of Malta

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A phenomenally expensive special commission, this cope celebrates Barberini’s illustrious family—his uncle was Pope Urban VIII—with a repeating pattern of the family’s devices, a bee and a radiant sun. Barberini’s coat of arms, embroidered on the orphrey band, surmounts a Maltese cross. The cope was worn by the Grand Prior while celebrating Mass, and officiating priests donned similar garments made from the same distinctive textile. The glittering effect of the complete set of vestments and matching altar hangings (including a frontal, now in Boston) must have been stupendous, especially when experienced in the flickering candlelight of the church sanctuary. This cope was displayed in European Textiles and Costume Figures, on view at the School of Industrial Arts (visible at center in the photograph of 1935). [Elizabeth Cleland, 2020]

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of MaltaCope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of MaltaCope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of MaltaCope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of MaltaCope made for Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), Grand Prior of Rome in the Order of Saint John and the Knights of Malta

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.