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Orphrey Band: The Tree of Jesse
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
From the 1100s to the 1300s in London, both men and women worked as professional embroiderers. Here, the Tree of Jesse, a favorite medieval theme illustrating the ancestry of Christ, appears as a grapevine with three ancestors—Achim, Ezechias, and Eliud—seated on tendrils. Painters often provided embroiderers with designs, revealing a close relationship between the professions.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineOrphrey Band: The Tree of Jesse, c. 1350. England. Silk, gold and silver thread, linen; embroidery: split and couching stitches; overall: 85.7 x 18.1 cm (33 3/4 x 7 1/8 in.); mounted: 109.2 x 28.6 cm (43 x 11 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1949.503
