The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 29, no. 7 (March, 1971)

ECCLES ASTCAL VE STMENTS
OF THE MIDDLE AGESn
An
EJli;ioi
I'n this age of synthetic fibers and mass-marketed fashion, our sensitivity
to the rich embroidery and costly textiles of other centuries seems to have
waned. But during the Middle Ages, long before the reign of industrial
technology and the pervasiveness of consumer goods, even the simplest woven
fabric was held as an object of value not only because of the function it fulfilled
but also because of the meticulous hand labor it represented.
By today's standards, none but the richest households of the Middle Ages
could boast vast arrays of material possessions. Distinctions of wealth and
position were achieved not through accumulation alone but rather through
the richness and artistry invested in these possessions. Textiles therefore
became an important medium through which one's rank, wealth, and prestige
were symbolized in both secular and ecclesiastical spheres. It is not surprising,
then, that elaborate ceremonial costumes, richly decorated bed hangings, and
heraldic banners appear frequently in private inventories throughout the Middle
Ages. Unfortunately, virtually none of these are extant today.
The finest examples of embroidered textiles that survive were ordered by
and for the use of the greatest of all medieval patrons-the church. These
surviving textiles, however, can give us only an indication of the size and
splendor of the original production, because much has been destroyed by
war and reformation and through the continual changes in liturgy and fashion,
as outmoded vestments were often recut, otherwise mutilated, or even destroyed.
Collections of ecclesiastical vestments of the Middle Ages in this country
are not as impressive as many in Europe, partly because of a general lack of
interest in such lesser and parochial arts, and partly because of the unavailability
of these objects. Most of the finest examples are preserved in church
or private treasuries or have found their way into important European museums.
Nonetheless, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has accumulated a superior
collection, whose particular strength is in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century
vestments.
Ecclesiastical Vestments of the Middle Ages, currently at The Cloisters, is
the third in a series of special exhibitions initiated and designed by Florens
Deuchler, Chairman of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, to display rarely seen
objects from the collections. Not only are many of the vestments being shown
for the first time, but the exhibition is one of the very few in this country ever
devoted exclusively to this material.
About twenty-five vestments, including all the major types and ranging in
285
Contents
Ecclesiastical Vestments
of the Middle Ages
Timothy B. Husband
Opus Anglicanum
Bonnie Young
Sacred Vestments as They
Developed in the Middle Ages
Jane Hayward 299
Ecclesiastical Vestments in
the Modern Church
John T. Doherty 310
The Study of Medieval
Ecclesiastical Costumes:
A Bibliography
Dobrila-Donya Schimansky 313
Glossary 316
Origin and Influence 318
"A Young Man Impatient
to Distinguish Himself"
John K. Howat 327
FRONTISPIECE
A detail of one of the most
beautiful vestments at The Cloisters
- the Chichester-Constable
chasuble, discussed in the article
beginning on page 291
ON THE COVER
285
291
Front: An angel holding
instruments of the Passion. Detail
from the embroidered orphreys
of the Burgos cope, illustrated on
pages 290 and 309
Back: Louis-Marie, Vicomte de
Noailles, by Gilbert Stuart. This
recently acquired painting is
discussed in the article beginning
on page 327
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