The Ursuline Vestment
The Ursuline vestment
Current location: Blairs Museum : The Museum of Scotland’s Catholic Heritage
Museum No.T8000: red velvet chasuble and chalice veil with applied silk medieval embroidery
Description: The pillar orphrey shows a dove (The Holy Spirit) surmounting the Crucifixion. The flanking arms of the cross have the figures of Our Lady and St Andrew. Below are the figures of Moses with the Ten Commandments and King David with the Psalms. The medieval panels were probably applied to the red velvet Roman shaped chasuble in the 19th century. The set is so named because the chalice veil features embroidery of St Ursula.
Provenance: The vestment appears in the inventory of the Leslie Family of Balquahain (Fetternear) in 1690 and may have come from an altar at St Nicholas Kirk in Aberdeen which was dedicated to St Anne, the patron saint of the Tailors’ Guild. (The chaplain priest for Fetternear came from St Nicholas Kirk and may have brought it with him). These embroideries are believed to have been later used on a vestment at Aquhorthies seminary near Inverurie (1799-1829) – probably donated to the seminary by the Leslies. In 1829, Aquhorthies was united with the Catholic seminaries of Chapeltown and Lismore, and moved with them to the Blairs Estate. The vestments were transferred into the care of Blairs at the same time.
Material: silk embroidery
Dimensions: 107cm x 68cm
Maker / Artist / Origin: English or Flemish
Date: late 15th – early 16th century panels