Chasuble

Unknown

ca. 1720 · Silk · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This modest chasuble– the tabard-like garment worn by a Roman Catholic priest over the alb and other clothing whilst leading services in church– exemplifies middle-range eighteenth-century production. It was tailored from a mass-produced, but appealing, satin in which multiple supplementary wefts create a floral pattern in a palette of green, pink and blue against a white ground articulated by mat and glossy white silk. At some point, probably during the nineteenth century, the chasuble, doubtless exhibiting multiple signs of wear-and-tear, underwent an intensive restoration campaign, in which another machine-woven floral textile was used to patch holes around the chest area, and during which the chasuble’s front was cut to a more fashionable, fiddle-back silhouette.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1720

Medium

Silk

Culture

French or Italian

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948