About This Artwork

Italy, Florence

Two Bands and Four Fragments from an Orphrey, 1360s

Linen, plain weave; underlaid with linen, plain weave; embroidered with silk, gilt- and silvered-metal-strip-wrapped silk in split and surface satin stitches; laid work, couching, and padded couching
a: 111 x 18.2 cm (43 3/4 x 7 1/8 in.)
b: 83.5 x 17.6 cm (32 7/8 x 7 in.)
c: INITIUM.S: 17.6 x 14.2 cm (6 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
d: INPRINCIP: 15.5 x 15.8 cm (6 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.)
e: DEUS: 17.3 x 14.1 cm (6 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
f: 9.6 x 17.8 cm (3 3/4 x 7 in.)
Inscriptions: c: INITIUM / d: INPRINCIP / e: DEUS
Robert Allerton Endowment, 1992.742a-f

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

The Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 142, "God is in the Details: Italian Medieval Church Needlework," November 6, 1993–January 2, 1994

1992.742a-e:
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lehman Galleries, "The Gothic Illustrations of Florence," November 11, 1994–February 26, 1995

1992.742a-f:
The Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, "Gloria in Excelsis Deo: Heralding a Vestment Collection," September 11, 1996–January 12, 1997

1992.742c-f
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 141, “Devotion and Splendor: Medieval Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” September 20, 2004–January 4, 2005

Publication History

Laurence B. Kanter, Barbara Drake Boehm, Carl Brandon Strehlke, Gaudenz Freuler, Christa C. Mayer Thurman, and Pia Palladino. "Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence: 1300–1450" (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1994), pp. 115-123.

Christa C. Mayer Thurman. "The Beauty of Needlework." Antiques, vol. CLI, no. 1, January 1997. pp. 216-217.

Christa C. Mayer Thurman and Jessica Batty, “Two Bands and Four Fragments from an Orphrey Band,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 29, 2 (2003), pp. 20-21 (color ills.).

The Art Institute of Chicago. “Devotion & Splendor: Medieval Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.” Museum Studies. vol. 30, no. 2. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004. cat. no. 29