In the past months, we have examined medieval goldwork embroidery centres in Italy and England. This month, we will explore medieval goldwork embroidery made in the Franconia Region in Germany, which lies just south of the centre of Germany. Important cities include Nuremberg, Würzburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Ansbach, Coburg, Meiningen and Schwäbisch Hall. As far as I know, there is no literature on medieval embroiderers or the guilds they belonged to from these towns. We do know of two 15th-century Bamberg embroiderers, Friedrich Seidensticker and Jörg Spiß. It is possible that Jörg was Friedrich’s son. As all these centres were quite important during the Middle Ages – either dominated by nobility, clergy or wealthy merchants – professional embroidery production could have taken place in all of them. Let’s examine their products.

The above green chasuble with medieval goldwork embroidery on its back is kept at the Diocesan Museum in Bamberg. Unfortunately, I cannot find this piece in the literature and rely solely on the museum caption. The chasuble cross consists of two different pieces of stumpwork embroidery. The museum thinks that both pieces were possibly made in Franconia.

The medieval goldwork embroidery of the central column was made around AD 1400. The scenes show (from the top) the Crucifixion, Jesus being taken down from the cross, the Pieta, the entombment, and the Resurrection. I would count this embroidery as stumpwork, as the figures and some background elements are slightly padded. The amount of bare white string padding that was once completely covered with fresh-water pearls is very high. This means that this embroidery was extremely valuable.

It looks as if most of this medieval goldwork embroidery was stitched on linen and then applied onto the red silken velvet, which is now a bit faded. Other parts, like the little stars and flowers, seem to have been embroidered directly onto the velvet.

To my delight, I have found other parts of the same medieval goldwork embroidery in a book on the Keir Collection. After all, many more embroidered scenes are needed to tell the complete Passion story and decorate a chasuble properly. This chasuble cross was in the Keir Collection until 1997 and then likely auctioned in New York—its current place of residence is unknown to me. The scenes preserved here are two censing angels in the cross beam, and (from the bottom up) Agony in the garden of Gethsemane, Betrayal of Christ, Christ before Pontius Pilate, Flagellation, and Crowning with thorns. Just as seen on the chasuble in Bamberg, the bottom part of the bottom scene has been cut off. This shows that the original chasuble had been re-made into a shorter, more fashionable shape at some point. It is unknown when the column and the cross were separated. The cross was purchased in Italy in the 20th century.

The medieval goldwork embroidery in the cross beam of the chasuble from Bamberg was made about 50 years later, around AD 1450. Again, we have a form of appliqued stumpwork embroidery embellished with many fresh-water pearls on red velvet. As the velvet has not faded like the velvet of the other embroidery, it becomes clear that it is of a younger date. However, you can see that whoever joined the two embroideries onto this chasuble has tried to marry them up nicely. They even added the stars in the background and a similar ribbon-like border.

It is impossible for me to tell when the merging of the two embroideries happened. But it was done by a skilled person. The two types of embroidery are similar enough that they nicely complement each other. As the Passion scenes on the chasuble from Bamberg are the more important ones (it includes the Crucifixion), this part would also have sat on the back of the original vestment. The cross in the Keir collection was probably always intended for the front.

As I don’t know how the chasuble ended up in Bamberg—whether it was part of the original Cathedral Treasury or bought at auction—it is difficult to guess what happened to the original vestment. Could it be that two 15th-century vestments were in such a dilapidated state that they were mixed and matched into two ‘new’ vestments fit for auction? What do you think?

Literatur
Baumgärtel-Fleischmann, R., 1983. Ausgewählte Kunstwerke aus dem Diözesanmuseum Bamberg. Veröffentlichungen des Diözesanmuseums Bamberg 1. Bayerische Verlagsanstalt GmbH, Bamberg.
King, M., King, D., 1990. European Textiles in the Keir Collection 400 BC to 1800 AD. Faber and Faber, London.
Kohwagner-Nikolai, T., 2020. Kaisergewänder im Wandel – Goldgestickte Vergangenheitsinszenierung: Rekonstruktion der tausendjährigen Veränderungsgeschichte. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg.