4045.
Chasuble; the ground, tawny-coloured velvet; pattern, angels and flowers in coloured flos-silks and gold thread, the orphreys before and behind figured with saints. English, 15th century. 7 feet by 3 feet.
Though the needlework upon this chasuble is effective at a distance,
like much of the embroidery of the time, both in this country and
abroad, it is found to be very rude and coarse when seen near. The style
of the whole ornamentation is so very English that there is no mistaking
it. The back orphrey is in the shape of a cross; and on it, and figured
at top, Melchisedek with three loaves in his hand; beneath him, the
prophet Malachi, on the left of whom we have Abraham with a large
broad sacrificial knife in his hand, on the right, King David and his
harp; these three form the transom of the cross. Going downward, we
see St. John the Evangelist with the chalice; below this apostle, David
again; and, last of all, half the person of some saint. On the front
orphrey are given St. James the Greater, and two prophets of the Old
Law. This chasuble, with its stole and maniple, is said to have been
found at Bath, hidden behind the wainscot of a house there. Certain it
is that the chasuble has been much cut down. The original size was
far larger.
4046, 4046A.
Stole and Maniple; ground, tawny-coloured velvet, embroidered with flowers in gold and coloured silks. English, 15th century. Stole, 8 feet 6 inches by 2-3/4 inches; maniple, 3 feet 3 inches by 2-3/4 inches.
The embroidery is quite of the style of the period, and in character
with that usually found upon the commoner class of English vestments,
done in flos-silk and gold thread, after a large design. The velvet is
Italian, and this tone of colour seems to have been then in favour.
