Chasuble

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glinting with shiny (and cheap) lamella metal thread, this red, yellow and white woven silk is thick- almost to the illusion of having a pile- thanks to several warps and wefts. What the textile lacks in terms of dexterity of execution, it gains in unusualness of design and technique. It was apparently repurposed, cut and stitched together, some one hundred and fifty-odd years after it was woven to create the current garment- a tabard-like chasuble worn by a Catholic priest over his clothes in the church. In outline, particularly its exaggerated tear-drop shaped front panel, this chasuble is typical of the nineteenth century.

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