Last week, we examined the vestments made for Pope Nicholas V. Today, we continue our explorations of medieval goldwork from Tuscany, Italy with a cope hood made in Florence in the first quarter of the 16th century. The design of the Coronation of the Virgin is attributed to Sandro Botticelli (AD 1445-1510). Whether this means that the embroiderer was given a design by Botticelli or that a talented draughtsman copied a design by Botticelli will remain the question. As designs circulated for a long time in embroidery workshops (they were an expense, and they were popular), the fact that the embroidery was probably made after the death of Botticelli does not mean that he did not provide it. The resulting embroidery is of very high quality; let’s explore!

The cope hood is kept at the Civiche Raccolte d’Arte del Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Italy. I was lucky to see the piece when it was on display in the Castello Buonconsiglio in 2019. However, it wasn’t displayed to its greatest advantage, and taking good-quality photographs was impossible. As it is such an important piece regarding the connections between artisans in the late medieval period, it is worthy of its own blog post. For instance, Botticelli’s father changed his career from being a tanner to becoming a goldbeater. His beaten gold would be used to make passing thread. Furthermore, another cope hood used the same design drawing (Museo Poldi Pezzoli), indicating that the design was shared between embroiderers.

Typical for medieval goldwork from Italy, the faces have been executed separately on a piece of thin silk backed with linen. This has the advantage that the embroiderer can make far more precise split stitches than when he works directly on the linen embroidery ground. The faces are worked in tapestry shading, which means that the split stitches run strictly vertically. However, details are added on top for eyes, noses, and mouths. The mouths even have a few padding stitches to make them stand out. The hands are also worked in silk shading, this time directly over the gold threads that form the or nué for the rest of the figure.

The background of this medieval goldwork embroidery is also typical for Italian pieces. String padding is a common practice. In this case, linen threads run vertically the entire length of the cope hood. The gold threads run horizontally and are couched down in a bricking pattern. Groups of three threads are couched down with a single stitch. The gold threads are referred to as Milan gold. This means that the silver foil is only gilded on one side.

The elaborate frame around the cope hood was made separately and then attached. It consists of several bands of string padding, some twisted. The gold threads are gimped couched over it. These frames are so much fun and would work well in any piece of modern goldwork embroidery. You can find a tutorial on my old website. By the way, the Jenny Adin Christie slate frame winner is Janet Lennie. Congratulations! Janet has been contacted. The frame will go into the mail as soon as I receive her address. Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway and shared their views on using a slate frame.

Literature
Borgioli, C., 2016. Figure di seta. La produzione tessile e a ricamo a carattere figurativo nella Firenze del Quattrocento: modelli, committenze, manifatture. Revista Diálogos Mediterrânicos 10, 113–146.
Prá, L. Dal, Carmignani, M., Peri, P. (Eds.), 2019. Fili d’oro e dipinti di seta: Velluti e ricami tra Gotico e Rinascimento. Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento.