After a successful week of teaching for Creative Experiences in Les Carroz, France, I decided to drive a further 330 km to visit Le Puy-en-Velay. The Cathedral Treasury houses the Cougard-Fruman textile collection. Judging from the catalogue, the collection comprises around 180 pieces. Most of it is liturgical textiles. And a few pieces are medieval goldwork embroidery. The museum is well worth a visit. And even a repeat visit as the pieces on display rotate. The town itself is beautiful too, with a medieval ‘haute-ville’. It is also one of the main departure points in France for the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. But let’s have a closer look at one of the embroidered chasubles in the museum. It turned out that I was already somewhat familiar with it …

This is the said chasuble. It was made in Flanders (likely in Brussels) in the 15th century, according to the museum caption. On the front, we see Catherine of Alexandria above Philip the Apostle (identification uncertain). The cross on the back shows the Trinity at the top, flanked by two angels. Below are Saint John and Saint Peter.

Although the embroidery does not feature high-quality silk shading or brilliant or nué, the chasuble is a high-end piece. The composition of the Trinity with the two censer swinging angels on either side is balanced and full of movement. The string-padded frame within a string-padded frame for the central depiction of the Trinity also adds extra texture.

The lining of the cloaks of the angels is made by couching a piece of blue-green heavy silk in place. The goldwork embroidery is executed with membrane threads. The membrane threads are now badly oxidised and dull. When the embroidery was initially made, the threads would have looked golden and shiny. The silk embroidery is done with untwisted silk. I am a bit puzzled by the twisted textile thread used in the padded basket-weave border around the orphrey. It is reddish-brown and much duller than the silks. To me, it appears to be wool. However, it might be a thick, spun silk.

From the pictures in the catalogue, I had not realised that one of the orphrey panels I bought at an auction is related to the orphreys on this chasuble. When I stood in front of the display case in the museum, it suddenly dawned on me that I had something similar. It so happens that I brought the orphrey panel with me for my students at Les Carroz to study. The museum personnel were very friendly and helpful, and they allowed me to fetch the panel from my car and bring it into the museum for comparison. How cool is that?!

As you can see from the above picture of my orphrey panel, the materials, colours, style of the figure and embroidery techniques are pretty similar to those seen on the chasuble in Le Puy. My orphrey panel is very dirty and will need some TLC. It was glued onto velvet, which was glued onto plywood. As the wood was mouldy, I had to remove the orphrey by cutting through the velvet and glue with a surgical knife. Not a delicate task. But it worked. I will write more on the orphrey and what I did to it in a future blog post.

But first, I am off to the International Festival of Gold Embroidery and Jewelery in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. I received my flight tickets yesterday and will be leaving on Wednesday. As I will still be in Uzbekistan next Monday, there will be no blog post. As always, my Patrons will be able to follow me on my travels.

Literature
Cougard-Fruman, J. & D.H. Fruman (2010). Le trésor brodé de la cathédrale du Puy-en-Velay. Centre des Monuments Nationaux.