Textiles

Textiles adorn, envelop, and clothe. They make especially fascinating cultural goods through their special sensuality, their transience and their often close connection with the human body. In the Middle Ages, ecclesiastical robes and textile accessories for divine services were made of valuable materials such as silk and gold and silver threads and were richly decorated with ornate embroidery and woven borders. However, high-quality textile artworks such as tapestries and cushion panels were also made for bourgeois living and reception rooms.

For reasons of conservation, textiles are not always on display in the permanent collection.

Red- beige chasuble with embroidery in the shape of a cross on the front.

Chasuble of St. Anno,
vestment fabric: silk, Byzantium, c. 1000, borders: “Kölner Borten” (Cologne Orphreys), Cologne, mid-15th cent., 146 x 112 cm, inv. no. P 1, © Museum Schnütgen, Photo: Thomas Zwillinger

White robe with embroidery on the sleeves and rectangular decoration on the front.

Undergarment (Alb), Benedictine convent of Engelberg, Switzerland, after 1300, vestment fabric: white linen fabric, linen and silk embroidery, ornamental border: woven silk (lampas), Italy, 13th/14th cent., l. 181 cm, seam circumference 472 cm, inv. no. P 4, © Simon Vogel, Cologne

Choir coat with velvet decoration and gold brocade.

Cope, Venice, c. 1400-1425, silk, atlas with velvet decoration and brocaded in gold, 134 x 289 cm, Inv. No. P 201, © Museum Schnütgen, Photo: Thomas Zwillinger

Gold colored linen bag with embroidery.

Reliquary Bag (Bursa),
Rhineland, 14th and 15th cent., linen with silk embroidery, metal-wrapped thread, 22.2 x 20.9 cm, inv. no. P 870, © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

Robe with gold trim and blue velvet decorations.

Dalmatic from the Vestments from St. Andrew, vestment fabric: silk, velvet, Italy, c. 1450, borders: “Kölner Borten” (Cologne Orphreys), c. 1450, 110 x W 125 cm, Inv. No. P 389, © Museum Schnütgen, Photo: Thomas Zwillinger

Square piece of fabric. In the center of the embroidery is the image of a sitting woman. A unicorn has placed its front hooves in her lap.

Cushion Cover - Virgin with Unicorn,
Cologne (?), 2nd half 15th cent., knitted fabric in wool, silk and gold-wrapped thread, 59 x 62 cm, Inv. No. P 210, © Rheinisches Bildarchiv

Liturgical black robe with gold decoration and stylized skulls on sleeves and hemline

Mourning Dalmatic,
vestment fabric: silk damask, Spain, c. 1730, borders: embroidery with silk and gold-wrapped thread, end of the 16th cent., l. 135 cm, w. 150 cm, inv.no. P 235,
© Museum Schnütgen, Photo: Thomas Zwillinger

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