Cleveland Museum of Art
Embroidered Front of an Altar
- Date
- 1600s–1700s
- Medium
- Satin and silk: embroidery
- Culture
- Italy or Spain
- Department
- Textiles
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
This spectacular cloth with raised three-dimensional embroidery embellished the front of an altar. Lavishly applied gilt-metal thread creates architectural embellishments enhanced by grand vases displaying sheaves of wheat in the upper corners and bunches of grapes in the center of the fringed over-frontal, referring to the bread and wine of the Mass. The central coat of arms represents the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, a Roman Catholic mendicant order established in 1218 by Saint Peter Nolasco in the city of Barcelona, Spain, then in the principality of Catalonia (crown of Aragon).
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