Cope with Embroidered Orphrey & Hood

Circa 1560 - 1580

Commissioned by Philip II of Spain

Cope 140 x 312 cms
Hood - 54 x 53 cms

Workshop and chronology: Spain. Brocatelle: third quarter of the 16th century; Embroidery: between 1560-1580 Technique: Cope: silk lampas (brocatelle), brocaded in metal threads with bouclé effects. Two warps: red and yellow silk. Wefts: linen weft for the ground, yellow silk for the supplementary weft (lancé). Metal suplementary wefts: flat silver metal thread (filé) and metal thread wrapped around forming weft loop pile. Lining Orphrey and hood: embroidered or nué (paired metal threads applied to the ground an covered in polychromed silks). This cope is composed of six pieces of the same fabric, where four of them are preserved in full width with the selvedges folded at the back. The vibrantly yellow, symmetrical decoration is organised around a central medallion depicting a pomegranate, surrounded with stems of flowers and leaves, on a crimson red silk ground. The central motifs and some of the flowers are enriched with metal threads loops (bouclé). The lampas of this cope, which in this case could be referred to as a brocatelle) just like the similar one used for the following ecclesiastical set (Cat. No. 38) is a compound textile technique in lampas weave. According to R. Martín i Ros (1999: 60-61), former director of the Textile Museum of Barcelona, a brocatelle is considered to be a compound weave where in which one of the warps and or wefts is in linen. Other authors consider brocatelles as lampases where robust linen or hemp threads are employed as a ground weft, allowing the pattern elements to be woven in relief. The cope’s brocatelle has a brocading weft of a flat metal thread (or filé – or lamé?) and a decorative weft creating loops with metal threads wrapped around a silk core. These type of threads created the same effect in velvets. Some authors, as Martín i Ros, considered brocatelles textile less expensive than velvets, even though very expensive variants were made, as in this case, additionally enriched with an embroidered orphrey and hood The embroidery technique is in or nué (gilt-metal threads applied to the ground and fixed with little stitches and covered in polychromed silks) and metal cord to outline the figures (see details from the Crowning with Thorns or the Ecce Homo) on linen tabby; with a border of a band decorated with a candelieri motifs in gilt metal threads. The figures’ incarnate is made in satin stitches, that, unfortunately, have been redone and ‘restored’; the clothes of the figures are in a combination of colours that recreates the reflections of the silk cloth, as in the scene of the Agony in the Garden. This embroidery technique, its widespread French term or nué translating as shaded gold, in Spanish historical written sources is named as as oro matizado (Barrón García, 2014: 3 and 8-9). It was one of the most costly and appreciated decorations, as the prices recorded in contemporary sources show.

'Apparelled in Celestial Light' Catalogue (.pdf 206 Mb)