Orphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in glories

Orphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in glories

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although this object resembles the reverse of a chasuble- the tabard-like garment worn by a Catholic priest during church services- this is a modern composite of a central fragmentary orphrey strip (33.39.5) and two lengths of lampas silk (33.39.4a, .4b), assembled soon after the three elements entered The Met's collection in 1933. Most likely not originally part of the same garment, it is probable that the side panels, on the one hand, and the orphrey strip, on the other, were all intended for and used as elements within two different chasubles, long ago dismembered.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Orphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in gloriesOrphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in gloriesOrphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in gloriesOrphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in gloriesOrphrey woven with figurative repeat design of seraphim with Virgin and Child and reversed IHS Christogram in glories

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.