Daroca Cope

Detail from the Daroca cope, also known as the Madrid cope. showing Adam and Eve. Opus anglicanum. Early 14th century. Detail from the Daroca cope, also known as the Madrid cope. showing Adam and Eve. Opus anglicanum. Early 14th century. Copyright Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, Spain, acc. no. 52022.

The Daroca cope (also known as the Madrid cope) is a famous example of medieval opus anglicanum, which is housed in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, Spain. The cope shows scenes from the Creation of the World and Fall of Adam and Eve. It is an exceptional example of opus anglicanum, since scenes from the Old Testament are rarely depicted in medieval embroidery from England. 

The spine of the cope is decorated with scenes taken from the New Testament (Annunciation and Crucifixion). The cope was sold in 1879 to a private collector, by the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria de los Sagrados Corporales, at Daroca, Spain, and acquired in the same year by the National Archaeological Museum. It is generally dated to the early fourteenth century; the attached orphrey may be somewhat later in date. Documentary sources seem to indicate that the cope was given to the church in Daroca by Pope Benedict XIII (the anti-pope, otherwise known as Pedro Martinez de Luna), who had strong links with Daroca.

The cope, which measures 140.5 x 297 cm, has a ground of two layers of linen. The embroidery is worked with silver-gilt and coloured silk threads, using underside couching and split stitch, with laidwork and some surface couching.

The vestment was included in the exhibition on opus anglicanum at the Victoria and Albert Museum, October 2016 - February 2017.

Source: BROWNE, Clare, Glyn DAVIES, and M.A. MICHAEL (2016). English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum. London, Catalogue no. 31 (pp. 160-164).

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 30 October 2016).

WV

Last modified on Monday, 27 March 2017 16:35