Textiles and Dress

Fermo chasuble of St. Thomas Becket

The Fermo chasuble of St. Thomas Becket is a garment belonging to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. On display at the Museo Diocesano in Fermo, the chasuble is among the possessions of the treasury of the Fermo Cathedral (Duomo di Fermo). It was donated by Presbitero, bishop of Fermo (1184–1201), who, scholar David Storm Rice suggests, had received it from Thomas Becket himself, when they were both students at the Studium of Bologna. Other sources dispute this claim, and instead suggest that the chasuble was donated by the Cult of Saint Thomas as they passed through Fermo. The textile is one few surviving from the medieval period, and is believed to one of the oldest examples of Islamic embroidery used for a Christian purpose. This textile also serves as evidence to corroborate a coexistence between the Middle East and Europe during the medieval period. Most modern knowledge of the chasuble is credited to the efforts of Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of London, David Storm Rice and textile conservator, Sigrid Müller Christensen, through their collaborative research efforts in the 1950s.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Frederick's of Hollywood
• ▸Cynomorium
• ▸Culture of Hong Kong

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.