Orphrey Medallion - 26 cm (2) - Silk, Silver yarn - 1700-1750

Fragments of an 18th-century French liturgical vestment and medaillon Lyon silk
20 cm 20 cm for the medaillon
26 cm 26 cm for the fragment
France, probably Lyon, circa 1730–1750
Silk brocaded with metallic thread, with embroidered appliqué medallion
Fragment from a chasuble or other liturgical vestment
This rare surviving fragment comes from an early 18th-century French ecclesiastical textile, probably produced in Lyon, one of the principal European centres of luxury silk weaving.
The textile is woven in a subdued blue-grey silk ground, decorated with scrolling vegetal and rocaille-inspired motifs worked in gold-coloured metallic thread. The elegant asymmetrical foliage and curling ornament are characteristic of the decorative vocabulary of the first half of the 18th century.
The fragment retains an embroidered central medallion, probably contemporary with the original liturgical ensemble. The medallion has a distinctive quatrefoil/foliate outline, with radiating ornament surrounding a small figurative religious scene. The restricted palette of the embroidery is particularly harmonious with the blue-grey and gold ground.
The textile is in very fragile antique condition, showing extensive historical wear, losses, fraying and numerous old repairs and reinforcements. These alterations are themselves evidence of the long liturgical use and subsequent reuse of the fabric. The fragment has clearly been conserved and reworked during its history.
The combination of the silk weaving, metallic decoration, ornamental vocabulary and embroidered medallion supports a date in the first half of the 18th century, with a probable date around 1730–1750.
Attribution: France, probably Lyon
Date: circa 1730–1750
Material: Silk, metallic thread, embroidery
Object: Fragment of a liturgical vestment, probably from a chasuble
Condition: Very fragile; extensive historical repairs, losses, fraying and wear; sold as a historical textile fragment.