Medieval vestment recycling in Exeter

I came across the following images the other day. They are of a funerary pall from St Mary Arches in Exeter, now in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in the city. The pall is post-Reformation and is recycled from elements of pre-Reformation vestments, including a strips of rich back and gold figured velvet from a cope and embroidered orphreys both from a cope and from a chasuble. With the Devon connection and the black and gold velvet, I can't help thinking of Eamon Duffy's Voices of Morebath and the fate of poor Sir Christopher Trychay's black vestments. He spent so many years saving for, only for them to be surrendered more-or-less as soon as they arrived.

Detail of the chasuble orphrey and some of the black and gold figured velvet.

Detail of one of the cope orphreys, fairly standard figures of the Apostles under canopies.

Tollhouse Alan's photo of St Mary at Arches, Exeter.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Duffy indicates ("Voices of Morebath", p 178) that in 1570 a silk tunicle was refashioned as a covering for the communion table. One would love to see how this was done.

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