Orphrey Fragment
Former TitleFlorentine Orphrey
CultureItalian or Spanish
Date15th-16th century
MediumSilk with metal
DimensionsOverall: 13 1/2 x 10 inches (34.29 x 25.4 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number32-22/10
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionYellow ground, Madonna in mandorla and angels in gold thread.Exhibition HistoryThreads of Gold: Brocades and Embroideries for the Church, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, July 2-September 1, 1985, no. 13.
This fragment is from an orphrey, a decorative
band applied to the front of church vestments. The central image is the Virgin
Mary, a subject popular in Florentine painting during the 1400s. The praying
Madonna is surrounded by a radiant, almond-shaped mandorla, which is supported
by two angels and flanked by two winged seraphs. Some of the silk threads used
to weave the orphrey were enhanced by wrapping them with small, flattened
strips of metal, most likely silver.
Threads of Gold: Brocades and Embroideries for the Church , exh. cat. (Lawrence, KS: Spencer Museum of Art, 1985), unpaginated.
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