Three Fifteenth Century Chasubles

Chasuble with orphreys
1434-1445
Woven silk velvet, with embroidery in silk, silver-gilt and silver thread
Height 120 cm x Width 86 cm (maximum)
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The original owner was the Duke of Warwick (d.1445) who can be identified by the heraldic devices on the coats of arms applied to the orphreys.





Chasuble
1400-1430
Brocaded silk lampas, with embroidery in silk and silver-gilt thread
Length 148.5 cm (back of chasuble) Width 76.8 cm (back of chasuble at widest point)
Length 148.5 cm (orphrey on back) Width 41.3 cm (width of ophrey on back at widest point)
Length 112 cm (chasuble front) Width 56.5 cm (chasuble front at widest point)
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The chasuble has two shields or coats of arms bearing the personal devices of Sir Thomas Erpingham: an eagle rising and the red rose of Lancaster.

Erpingham (about 1375–1428) was a close associate of Henry IV and Henry V and a veteran of the Battle of Agincourt (1415).

The chasuble may have been for his personal chaplain, or for a church with which he was connected.



Chasuble
late 15th century
Woven silk velvet ground, with orphrey of linen embroidered with silver, silver-gilt and silks (metal threads couched; silks in split stitch; glass)
Height 95 cm x Width 72 cm
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London