Opus anglicanum, or “English work,” is a term first found in documentary sources outside of England to refer to English embroidery of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Distinguished by its underside couching, this work is of the highest quality and materials, including gold and silver thread, and was prized throughout Europe. Although the term was first used to refer to work up to the later fourteenth century, it is now widely applied to the succeeding two centuries as well. The term opus anglicanum is largely applied to liturgical paraphernalia, but it originally included secular textiles as well. Much of what survives is fragmentary, and a substantial amount perished entirely in the Reformation.
This database is based on the pioneering scholarship of Grace Christie, whose Brief Survey of English Embroidery Dating from the Beginning of the Tenth Century Until the End of the Fourteenth: Together with a Descriptive Catalogue of the Surviving Examples was first published in 1938. Christie’s work provides not only a catalogue raisonné of all known pieces of opus anglicanum to the end of the fourteenth century, but also an iconographic and stylistic analysis of each piece, and the techniques of the craft, a particular strength and interest. The Index database represents an updated digital version of Christie’s work, with the addition of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century opus anglicanum.
Approximately 2,200 records of medieval English embroidery dating from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century on both secular and liturgical objects.
The database includes images when available, both black and white from Christie’s volume as well as color images graciously provided by several curators and photographers. Copyright is held by the individual institution and use beyond study purposes is not permitted.
Evelyn Thomas generously agreed to give his archive of nearly a thousand slides to the Index of Medieval Art to be digitized. His collection was developed for research on Opus anglicanum, comprising images taken at several museums and collections. Thomas’s knowledge of these works is unsurpassed; the Index is most appreciative of his generosity in sharing carefully identified images and supporting material. For this reason, the database has been dedicated to him. Many thanks also to Dr. M.A. Michael, Research Fellow and Professor, School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow and Academic Director, Christie’s Education who, with the assistance of Glyn Davies of the Victoria and Albert Museum, organized the British-Academy funded Opus anglicanum symposium in 2013 that inspired this database.