Cope
AUTHOR
Giuliano Saturni (embroiderer), Francesco Giuliani (tailor)
PLACE/DATE
Italy, Rome, 1744-1749
MATERIALS
White silver lamé Gros de Tours, embroidered in relief (padding in moulded and cut yellow card) in gold (in metal wire, frisé, plate, purl and thin gold cord) laid stitch and relief, with various motifs created by the fixing stitches of yellow silk; fringes
DIMENSIONS
180 x 300 cm
INV
MT.2
This cope is part of a vestment made up of thirty-four pieces intended for the chapel of St. John the Baptist in the Church of São Roque and bears witness to the central role played by this space in the main festivities, in which the power of King John V (1689-1750) - its patron - and that of the official church were manifested at their highest level.
The white cope was worn over the dalmatic and tunic during the pontifical masses of Easter and Christmas, as well as on 24 June, the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist, to whom the chapel was dedicated, and the day of the king's name. On those occasions, the patriarch wore the buskins and liturgical sandals on his feet, the gloves on his hands, the mitre on his head, the gremial on his knees, the stole on his shoulders and the maniple on his arm. Being outside his cathedral, and thus deprived of his chair, he celebrated seated on the faldstool clothed with its very rich covering.
