Early Opus Anglicanum c. AD 1000-1250[1]

The period before the ‘classical’ period of Opus Anglicanum, with its famous copes and chasubles, is characterised by a change from surface to underside couching. New fabrics such as linen are introduced as are threads that are made of strips of gilded silver around a silken core. Metal threads dominate the embroidery, and silk threads are used only to embellish the goldwork. This group of early Opus Anglicanum is still relatively small, with mostly smaller pieces of embroidery. This reflects the fact that many fragments come from the opening of clergy tombs. Interestingly, the deceased clergy were often laid to rest in vintage vestments. Sometimes, they are even too worn to be used in religious ceremonies. The fact that these pieces were used for burial reflects that they were treasured and probably still relatively rare.

Below, you find a selection of these pieces. They all include detailed pictures I took at exhibitions or links to museum catalogues with such images. You can peruse them as intensively as you wish. Together with the pieces introduced in the recorded lecture for this second lesson, you will have been exposed to almost all surviving fragments of Anglo-Saxon and early Opus anglicanum goldwork embroidery.

[1] Literature used: Browne et al. (2016), Christie (1938); Descatoire (2019).