Vic Cope

The Vic cope, c. 1350-1375, worked in opus anglicanum, in its current composition completed at the Abegg Stiftung, Switzerland, in 2008. The Vic cope, c. 1350-1375, worked in opus anglicanum, in its current composition completed at the Abegg Stiftung, Switzerland, in 2008. Copyright Museu Episcopal, acc. no. MEV 1430.

The Vic cope is an ecclesiastical vestment that used to be owned by the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle, in Vic, Catalonia, Spain. It was acquired by the Museu Episcopal in Vic, in the late nineteenth century (acc. no. MEV 1430). The cope in its present composition has a height of 123 cm and is 324 cm wide. It dates to the third quarter of the fourteenh century.

It is a typical example of opus anglicanum: It is embroidered with silver-gilt and silver thread and with coloured silks in underside couching and split stitch with some raised work. The ground material is a red, silk velvet, probably Italian. The interlayer is made of silk. The cope probably belonged to Ramon the Bellera, Bishop of Vic between 1352-1377. The original cope was taken apart in the seventeenth century, but reassembled in the late nineteenth century. The current composition of the cope was completed by the Abegg Stiftung in 2008.

The decoration of the cope is divided into three concentric circles that contain arcades filled with the depictions of apostles, martyrs and saints (including English saints such as Edward the Confessor, Thomas Becket Saint Alban, and Edmund of Bury [the Martyr]). Three large arcades along the spine of the cope contain, from top to bottom, illustrations of the Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity and the Coronation of the Virgin. Many of the scenes are accompanied by Latin texts.

Source: BROWNE, Clare, Glyn DAVIES, and M.A. MICHAEL (2016). English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum, exhibition catalogue, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, Catalogue no. 61, pp. 233-238.

Museu Episcopal online catalogue (retrieved 3 March 2015).

WV

Last modified on Friday, 03 March 2017 13:12