Two weeks ago, I introduced you to the embroidered vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Last week, we studied the iconography and the embroidery techniques on the two antependia. This week, we will have a look at the three copes that the priest, the deacon and the subdeacon would have worn. Each cope measures a staggering 3.30 m at its widest part and 1.64 m at its maximum height. This surface is covered with one of the most beautiful examples of or nué embroidery. All three copes are on permanent display at the Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria. Let’s have a closer look!

Let’s start with the Christ Cope, which the priest would have worn. Along the top, there’s the orphrey sporting three orphrey panels on either side of the cope hood. When the vestment was worn, these images would have sat opposite each other and formed a pair along the front opening. In this case, the first and the third pair are unidentified prophets. The second pair shows Saint John and Saint Andrew. The cope hood shows Christ Pantocrator, and this gives the cope its name.

The body of the cope consists of three semi-circular bands filled with figures. The one closest to the cope hood is filled with angels. The angel directly central underneath the cope hood is Archangel Michael. The second row is filled with (from the left): Peter of Verona, Saint Christopher, Saint Blaise, Saint Quentin, Saint Lawrence, Saint Stephen, Saint Adrian, Denis of Paris, Victor of Xanten and Saint Sebastian. The third row is filled with (from the left): Saint Gregory the Great, Charlemagne, Mark the Evangelist, Louis of Toulouse, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Jerome, Luke the Evangelist, Francis of Assisi, Saint Ambrose, Germain of Paris and Saint Augustine.

Then there’s the Mary Cope, which would have been worn by the deacon or subdeacon. Along the top, there’s the orphrey sporting three orphrey panels on either side of the cope hood showing Mary as Queen of Heaven. Unusually, the first pair from the top are a prophet and Saint Peter, followed by Saint Paul and a prophet and a prophet and Bartholomew the Apostle at the bottom. It is far more common to see Saints Peter and Paul as a pair.

The body of the cope consists of three semi-circular bands filled with figures. The one closest to the cope hood is filled with angels. The angel directly central underneath the cope hood is Archangel Gabriel (from the Annunciation). The second row is filled with (from the left): Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret the Virgin, Saint Barbara, Saint Apollonia, Saint Lucy, Saint Ursula, Genevieve, Christina of Bolsena, Clare of Assisi and Saint Gudula. The third row is filled with (from the left): Saint Helena, Aldegund, Radegund, the three Marys at the grave, Elisabeth of Thuringia, Bridget of Sweden, Attala von Straßburg, Genevieve of Brabant and Saint Veronica.

The last cope is the John the Baptist Cope, which would have been worn by the deacon or subdeacon. Along the top, there’s the orphrey sporting three orphrey panels on either side of the cope hood showing John the Baptist. It follows the same “rhythm” as observed on the Mary Cope. The first pair from the top are a prophet and Simon the Zealot, followed by Thomas the Apostle and a prophet and a prophet and Jude the Apostle at the bottom.

The body of the cope consists of three semi-circular bands filled with figures. The one closest to the cope hood is filled with angels. The angel directly central underneath the cope hood is Archangel Raphael. The second row is filled with (from the left): two unidentified patriarchs, Aaron, Moses, Melchior, Daniel, prophet, Caspar, Balthasar and prophet. The third row is filled with (from the left): holy monk, Anthony the Great, holy monk, Leonard of Noblac, three holy monks, Saint Giles, Benedict of Nursia and holy monk.

When all three clergymen wear a cope and celebrate mass with their backs to the congregation, their cope hoods form a story. In the middle would be Christ as ruler of Heaven and Earth. On either side are Mary and John the Baptist interceding on behalf of Christians.

As these cope hoods are really high up in the display cases, it is difficult to tell how they were embroidered. The faces have been embroidered directly onto the linen. The rest of the figures and the background seem to have been directly worked on the linen too. The figure is not a slip. The hands and John’s naked feet are silk shaded on top of the gold threads. The hood is about 65 x 45 cm. This would about fit on a standard 24-inch slate frame and could have been the work of a single embroiderer.

The bodies of the copes consist of hexagon-shaped orphrey panels in three different sizes. It is difficult to see if the embroidered frames surrounding these panels are part of the panel or if they were added when the whole cope was sewn together. The strips of red velvet and the rose medaillons with the pearl embroidery were added when the cope was sewn together. Sewing together many separate panels into a cope is a clever solution. It meant that many embroiderers could be employed at the same time to speed up the work. It would have required a skilled overviewer to make sure that the quality and the unity of the work was maintained. Still, in-depth study of each panel would probably reveal different hands/workshops.

The first band on each cope – the one with the angels – is still very high up and difficult to inspect. The angels are not worked es a slip. The tiled floor and a bit of the lower part of the background architecture and the body of the Archangel Michael are formed by the same gold threads spanning this whole width. However, some parts have metal threads running in a different direction (like Archangel Micheal’s sword in the picture above). As seen in the cope hoods, the face is worked directly on the linen, but the hands are worked on top of the gold threads.

The second and third bands are much closer to the viewer and can be more easily studied. In the case of Saint Apollonia, she has also not been worked as a slip. It looks like her face is stitched on the linen, but her hand is stitched on top of the gold threads. It also looks like the pliers have been worked on top of the gold threads of the background. To distinguish the different parts of the embroidery, the gold threads used can run horizontally (clothing, background), vertically (filling of the “windows”), circular (nimbus) or follow the flow of the object (headdress).

A different embroidery technique was used on the tracery (and columns) of the background. This part seems to have been made from string padding covered by guimped couching. A very effective way to add a layer of goldwork on top of existing embroidery. It also gives a little bit of depth to the scenes.

Apologies for the very long blog post! However, as not everyone reads German with ease, I thought it a good idea to include the names of all the saints depicted. Enjoy studying the stunning or nué and other embroidery techniques!

Literature
Schlosser, J. von, 1912. Der burgundischen Paramentenschatz des Ordens vom goldenen Vliesse. Anton Schroll & Co., Wien.