Better Approaches to Medieval Y Orphreys on Roman Pianetas

As the gothic revival took hold in the second half of the nineteenth century, one of the interesting things we can observe is how some started to take some of this medieval revivalism and sought to apply it to sacred vestments. We saw, at certain points, a revival of the fuller flowing chasuble shapes, but we tend to forget that such shapes had been, in great part, out of common usage for many centuries. At least within a Catholic context, the 'Roman' shape as it had come to develop was the norm, and in point of fact there would even come to be formal prohibitions by ecclesiastical authorities against the revival of long out of use gothic cuts. Perhaps that explains -- at least in part -- why, in some cases, a partial approach was taken in the form of a slightly amplified Roman pianeta, taking the shape of what today we'd tend to consider more or less consider Neri or Borromean cuts (see some of Pugin's early vestment work for instance). Another trend we saw, right into the twentieth century, was the attempt to adopt the medieval "y-orphrey" design and apply it to the Roman shape.  Many of these attempts were quite unsatisfactory as they picked up on the particular strengths of neither period. 

That said, there have been some more interesting attempts from time to time, including this one, dated to 1888 and coming out of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The chasuble was designed by the English ecclesiastical architect, J.D. Sedding (+1891), an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement and student of the gothic revival movement.  The chasuble was made by and for the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Bristol and includes a thick and broad Y shaped orphrey on the back with an embroidered scene of the Crucifixion of Christ. Christ is surrounded by various angels, two of which hold a banner with the Latin text, "Amor meus crucifixus est" (Crucified is my beloved), while five others collect the Precious Blood pouring from Christ's five wounds -- one additional angel is present for symmetry's sake.  

Of course, it is important to note that this design is not strictly speaking a pure innovation of the nineteenth or twentieth century. In fact, the V&A has another, similarly styled chasuble in its collection dating from the late fifteenth century. The difference here, however, is that unlike the first chasuble, which was intentionally designed in this manner, this earlier example is a case of a re-purposed medieval orphrey that was detached from an earlier vestment (likely for reason of wear and tear as much as anything stylistically motivated) and then affixed to a new velvet ground that was done in the dominant and fashionable shape of that particular time.  The end result is strikingly similar in many regards:

Today it is popular to talk about "fusion" foods where different cuisines from different cultures are mashed together, and in many regards, vestments such as these are fusion vestments, combining an earlier style of orphrey with a later style and shape of chasuble.  While in many cases these have proven unsuccessful -- at least in this writer's estimation -- I think in both of these cases, it actually works rather well. If you were to ask me why, I believe it has to do with the use of broader orphreys and the large and distinctive figurative scenes that are embroidered within them.  Somehow, these work, where others have arguably failed.

Photos © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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