The Vic cope is an ecclesiastical vestment that used to be owned by the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle, in Vic, Catalonia, Spain. It was acquired by the Museu Episcopal in Vic, in the late nineteenth century (acc. no. MEV 1430). The cope in its present composition has a height of 123 cm and is 324 cm wide. It dates to the third quarter of the fourteenh century.
Tree of Needlework is an educational institution in The Netherlands run by Ms Majo van der Woude. It focuses on all aspects of embroidery and other forms of needlework. It organises workshops and courses, both in Utrecht and in Amsterdam (in the Afstap or in the Weldraad). The address in Utrecht is Zaagmolenkade 34bis, 3515 AD Utrecht. Tel. +31 (0)30-8776580.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds a collection of objects that belonged to John Grandison (or Grandisson), Bishop of Exeter between 1327 and 1369, who before his appointment as Bishop worked for some time at the papal court at Avignon.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a fine example of Flemish or English or nué work, dating to about 1500. It consists of two fragments of what probably was an altar frontal. They measure 33 x 17.5 cm and 50 x 72 cm respectively.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses the so-called Fayrey Pall. This funeral pall measures 255 x 134 cm and was made in England between 1470 and 1530. It is made of red, silk velvet (probably originating from Italy) and embroidered with silk and metallic thread. It has a metallic fringe.
Small fragments of an embroidered woollen chemise were discovered at the cemetery of Hohmichele, near the hillfort of Heuneburg, in southern Germany. The burial ground is dominated by an 85 metre high tumulus, which contained a number of burials. The tumulus was first excavated between 1936 and 1938, and again between 1954 and 1956.
The kurgans of Pazyryk, in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia, yielded the burials of noblemen who had been buried there in the fourth and third centuries BC. The tombs included many textiles, including Chinese silks with embroideries. The first of the barrows (kurgans) was excavated in 1929; others were studied between 1947 and 1949 by Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, houses a remarkable chasuble that dates to the fifteenth century and originates from Lower Saxony in Germany. The chasuble is made of wool with appliqué motifs in linen, with silk thread embroidered details. The figure of Christ is drawn in brown ink. A parchment strip may have been gilded.
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La Grande Broderie was the name given to a set of gold-embroidered ecclesiastical garments and textiles designed in the mid-fifteenth century by Pierre de Villant.
Antonio Pollaiolo was a fifteenth century Italian engraver, goldsmith, painter and sculptor, who is mentioned by the writer and artist Vasali (click here).
In 1303, the then Provost of Paris, Guillaume de Hangest, signed specific statutes for the corporation of the embroiderers and embroideresses in Paris. They are the first of this type ever drafted in western Europe. One of the rules says that gold work should be worked with silk thread. Another rule forbids embroiderers to work with candlelight, since their work would simply be inferior to that worked by daylight.
Mabel of Bury St Edmunds was a thirteenth century English embroideress, whose name is often mentioned in connection with the production of opus anglicanum. Her name is linked to King Henry III (1216-1272), for whom she worked various embroideries.