Cleveland Museum of Art

Burse (Corporal Case)

Date

1600s

Medium

Silk velvet: cut and uncut, metal thread lace

Culture

Italy, Genoa

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This sumptuous polychrome velvet displays a central vase with abundant flora and exotic leaves flanking curving blossoming fronds on a gilt-metal thread ground. The pattern was created with five colors of cut and uncut (loops) velvet pile. Only the pile warps for the lush green velvet occur across the entire cloth, while each additional color appears in vertical stripes—crimson, peach, rose, and purple. These widely acclaimed velvets from Genoa were the most colorful woven in Europe. Both the long stole and the shorter maniple are insignia of the office of deacons, priests, and the higher clergy. The stole was worn under a chasuble according to the office and the maniple was hung on the left forearm. The burse is a stiff receptacle in which the folded corporal, a white linen cloth on which the sacred bread and chalice are placed during the Mass, is carried to and from the altar. The upper fabric matches the chasuble, the bottom is a plain silk, and the interior has an obligatory linen lining.

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