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Miter from the abbey church of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter

Austrian (Salzburg)
13th century
Object Place: Salzburg, Austria; Place of Manufacture: Germany (miter); Place of Manufacture: Near Eastern (textile)

Medium/Technique Silk compound weave embroidered with silk and gilt-silver metallic thread
Dimensions Miter: 22.5 x 28 cm (8 7/8 x 11 in.); Lappets: 48 x 6 cm (18 7/8 x 2 3/8 in.)
Credit Line Helen and Alice Colburn Fund
Accession Number38.887
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsCostumes

DescriptionBishop's miter from the Benedictine Monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria, probably made in Germany of Near Eastern silk. Ground fabric is of cream white silk patterned with large medallion enclosing heraldic eagles, embroidered in gold metallic threads with eight-pointed stars and small disks of green and violet silk edged with gold; above each star is a six-petalled rosette worked in faded orange silk and also edged in gold. Two lappets of light orange silk patterned with animals and trees in medallions hang from back; relined.
ProvenanceUntil 1933, the abbey church of St. Peter, Salzburg, Austria; 1933, sold by the church of St. Peter to Adolfo Loewi, Venice [see note 1]; 1938, sold by Loewi to the MFA for $3900. (Accession Date: June 9, 1938)

NOTES:
[1] On the dispersal of art objects from the church of St. Peter, see Franz Wagner, "Zu den mittelalterlichen Insignien der Benediktineräbte von St. Peter in Salzburg," Alte und Moderne Kunst 27 (1982), p. 4 and Ernst Hanisch, "St. Peter in der Zwischenkriegszeit," in Der älteste Kloster im deutschen Sprachraum: St. Peter in Salzburg (exh. cat. Dommuseum, Salzburg, May 15 - October 26, 1982), p. 218.