A Seventeenth Century Festal Chasuble from St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria

There is a chasuble that is found in the treasury of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria that for a long while I have sought to feature, but regrettably very little information is available about it, beyond the fact of where it is located. Some date the chasuble to the seventeenth century, but personally I would be more likely to place it in the very early eighteenth century. 

The chasuble very clearly shows its Austrian roots by virtue of its shape as Austrian chasubles tend toward the sort of 'tear drop' like shape on the front and back as you see here. 

The chasuble includes colourful floral embroideries, as well as two crowns which are placed above two images. The most obvious is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary found toward the bottom half of the chasuble. Above is another saint who may be St. Mary Magdelene by virtue of the fact that the hill of Golgatha is seen in behind, but it is unfortunately difficult to make out anything for certain. 

What particularly appeals to me about this particular chasuble is the beautiful palette of colours, made up primarily of red, blue and gold (the old saying that 'less can be more' applies here), and the skilful integration of figurative imagery with floral -- a combination that is not as easy to tastefully execute as one might think. 

With many people in our time seeking to combine elements both naturalistic as well as symbolic, a chasuble like this serves as a very good template for how to achieve the best of both worlds. 

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