A SET OF FOUR 'OPUS ANGLICANUM' ORPHREY PANELS

A SET OF FOUR 'OPUS ANGLICANUM' ORPHREY PANELS

15TH / 16TH CENTURY

of lancet form, worked in silk and silver thread on a linen ground in a variety of stitches including split and satin, with applique and couched work on a silver thread ground depicting St Catherine, possibly Mary Magdalene and two male saints, each beneath Gothic style trefoil arches (4)

29.5 x 16cm (max)

Catalogue Note

See the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 817-1901, item record 0364885 for an altar frontal with four panels depicting figures under similar Gothic arches and worked using silks in similar colours.

Orphrey panels such as these were traditionally applied to ecclesiastical vestments, such as chasubles or copes, or to altar frontal cloths. They were made using silk and precious metal threads often commissioned by the patron of the churches in which they would be seen and are usually either English or Italian. The term 'Opus Anglicanum' was first adopted in the 13th century to classify works of this nature and the quality produced in the medieval and early late medieval period.