Hood of a Cope, Netherlands, c. 1525, in Or Nué

Hood of a cope, Netherlands, c. 1525, worked in or nué, Hood of a cope, Netherlands, c. 1525, worked in or nué, Courtesy Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, acc. no. BK-NM-12713.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses a delicately embroidered hood of a cope. It dates to c. 1525 and represents the Dispute between Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the Emperor Maxentius and the Philosophers. It measures 53 x 49 cm.

The embroidery is worked in couched gold and silver thread, accentuating important details, and in multi-coloured silk thread. The embroidery is carried out in such a way, with an emphasis on shading, as to imitate woven tapestry. The hood was probably designed and embroidered in The Netherlands. This is the famous or nué technique, which was very popular in the Netherlands and beyond in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

See also another hood of a cope, dating to roughly the same period, and also housed in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum.

Source: BEER, Richard de, Micha LEEFLANG, and Kees van SCHOOTEN (2015). Middeleeuwse Borduurkunst uit de Nederlanden, pp. 187-188, cat.no. 43.

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam online catalogue (retrieved 15 October 2016).

WV

Last modified on Saturday, 04 March 2017 21:22