A SET OF THREE 'OPUS ANGLICANUM' ORPHREY PANELS

A SET OF THREE 'OPUS ANGLICANUM' ORPHREY PANELS

15TH / 16TH CENTURY

of lancet form, worked with silk and gilt thread in a variety of stitches including split, satin and silk twist, with applique and couched work on a gilt diapered ground with a king wearing an ermine lined gown and holding an orb and sceptre before a flowery mound, a saint holding a staff and a nobleman, each above a panel with castellations (3)

29.5 x 18cm (max)

Catalogue Note

For a very similar single panel with a man standing on a similar architectural background and worked in a similar manner, dated 1400-1500s, see Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number T.81-1946, item 0364623. Also, see the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 241-1908, item 0354257 for a 16th century chasuble applied with similar orphrey panels.

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.