Liturgical celebrations were a central element of daily life and court ceremonies in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Liturgical vestments played a part in the splendour of these highly codified rituals.
By “liturgical vestments” we mean the clothing worn by the priest who celebrating the mass and his “assistants” (a deacon or subdeacon). A chasuble (from the Roman word casula), a cope (a sort of large cape) or a dalmatic (a coat with "kimono" sleeves reserved for deacons), are all vestments inherited from the Roman church and remain very basic. Given this simplicity of shape, luxury is expressed in the material used. Liturgical vestments were often cut or recut from fabrics originally intended for the very wealthy classes of civil society for clothing or furnishings.
The silks were imported, from the Middle East until the 14th century, and then from Spain or Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries, before this craft was developed in the Kingdom of France, in Tours and Lyon, at the instigation of Louis XI. At the end of the Middle Ages, weaving techniques became increasingly complex, incorporating metallic thread of gold and silver, making the end product more valuable, as shown with the chasuble displayed in this exhibition. It was made from velvet with a pomegranate pattern inspired be the pattern on imported oriental cloth. This velvet is known as alluciolato: small loops of gold metal have been added to the fabric using a technique developed in Italy around 1430. Bands of orphrey (broad bands embroidered with religious themes) were added to indicate the fabric had been reassigned to the church,
Fabric accessories can be coordinated with the liturgical vestments, such as a corporal purse (a fabric pouch in which the corporal, a white cloth used to place the chalice or monstrance on the altar, must be stored).
Illustration
The Virgin weaving
The Annunciation from the Book of Hours of Charles of France, Master of Charles of France
Paris, 1465
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (MET)