Clothing the Sacred: Medieval Textiles as Fabric, Form and Metaphor

by Kapustka, Mateusz; Woodfin, Warren T.

• ISBN13: 9783942810203
• ISBN10: 3942810204
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-10-01
• Publisher: Dietrich Reimer Verlag GmbH

Summary

At their most basic level, liturgical vestments and textiles differentiate the sacred and the profane, the clergy and the laity. Not only are they sacred objects in their own right, being consecrated to a holy use, but they point beyond themselves to historical parallels—to events in the life of Christ or to the furnishings of the Jerusalem Temple—or to anagogical symbolism of the heavenly graces. This collection of essays explores the uses and meanings of these medieval religious textiles.

Author Biography

Mateusz Kapustka is a former assistant professor at the University of Wroclaw and a member and coordinator of the ERC/SNF TEXTILE project at the Art History Institute of the University of Zurich. He is also a research assistant in the department of early modern art of the University of Zurich. Warren T. Woodfin is Kallinikeion Assistant Professor of Byzantine Studies at Queens College, City University of New York. He is the author of The Embodied Icon: Liturgical Vestments and Sacramental Power in Byzantium and his articles have appeared in Ars Orientalis, Gesta, Cahiers archéologiques, and Dumbarton Oaks Papers. He also had a European Research Council–sponsored fellowship within the TEXTILE project at the University of Zurich.