Cope

This is a cope, a semicircular cloak that a priest or bishop wore over other clothing in processions and special ceremonies. Spread out, it measures about 1.6 meters by 2.9 meters. The cloth is brown velvet, an unusual color for vestments like this, and it may once have been purple or crimson before it faded. Across the velvet, silk and gold threads build the central scene, the Assumption of the Virgin, which shows Mary being taken up into heaven. Look for that scene in the middle of the great curve, and let your eye travel outward from it.

Around the central scene, look for winged seraphim, a kind of angel, each standing on a wheel. Between them are thistles, fleurs-de-lis, and double-headed eagles, all joined by curling tendrils dotted with metal spangles that catch the light as you move. Next, find the straight decorated band called the orphrey, which runs the full width of the cope. Old Testament prophets and New Testament saints alternate along it, and the saints carry attributes, the objects that identify them. On the hood at the back is Saint Paul. At the closure, called the morse, God holds an orb.

The needlework on this cope is called opus anglicanum, which means English work. It dates from between 1490 and 1525, and some of it was restored later. Silk and gilt metallic thread are stitched across the surface, and linen appliqué, meaning pieces of cloth sewn onto a larger background, is used as well. The cope belongs to a long tradition. From the twelfth century through the eighteenth, making textiles for churches, including hangings, altar frontals, and vestments, was a thriving industry in Europe. This is counted among the finest vestments of its kind.