A Set of Liturgical Vestments and Textiles Made for the Requiem Mass in the Early Eighteenth Century

Abstract

This article concerns a collection of early eighteenth-century embroidered liturgical textiles made to celebrate the Requiem Mass, belonging to the family of Edward Blount. Aspects of the family’s history, their Catholic faith and connections with the Southern Netherlands are discussed. Elements of the embroidery are described and influences on the design and making of the textiles are explored. The rarity of such pieces is discussed.

Acknowledgements

The author is most grateful to Lord Thomas Clifford and the Clifford Estate Company Ltd for permission to publish. Many thanks are due to textile historians in England: Clare Browne, formerly of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and Frances Pritchard, formerly of the Whitworth, Manchester. Also, to those in Belgium and Holland: namely Caroline Brasjen-Mudde, researcher in the Netherlands, Richard de Beer, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, René Lugtigheid, University of Amsterdam, and Frieda Sorber, ModeMuseum, Antwerp.

Photographic Acknowledgement

All illustrations by the author, published by courtesy of the Clifford Estate Company Ltd.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Blount textiles were rediscovered as a set in 2010 when the author was commissioned by the present Lord Clifford to catalogue, conserve and improve the storage for the long-established collection of ecclesiastical textiles in the family ownership. The Requiem items were conserved for display in the chapel with the help of The Arts Society Heritage Volunteers (Teignbridge branch). St Cyprian’s chapel at Ugbrooke was dedicated in the Anglican faith in 1671, but two years later re-dedicated to the Catholic faith and disguised as a hall because legislation did not allow a free-standing Catholic chapel. During the 1750s, architect Robert Adam constructed a new wing attached to the House incorporating the old chapel and enhanced its interior in the classical style. Ugbrooke House and Gardens (guidebook c. 2013), p. 20.

2 Thanks are due to Brother Daniel of Buckfast Abbey for this information; email message to author, May 7, 2013.

3 The term ‘fiddleback’ denotes the violin-like shape of the vestment. A stole is worn around the neck, a maniple across the arm. The burse is a folder to receive the corporal cloth and the veil covers the chalice during the service.

4 Edward Blount (c. 1650–1726) married Annabella Guise (c. 1675–1752) around 1700. R. Lonsdale, ed., Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 186.

5 J. S. Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon Barton, Near Totnes, and its Owners’, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 32, no. 2 (1900), pp. 296–300.

6 The information in Amery’s article was endorsed by the then Lord Clifford, Lewis, the ninth Baron of Chudleigh, who is known to have had an interest in ecclesiastical textiles. In 1913 he commissioned a cope and chasuble in honour of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost (to be made at Carmel of Wells) which are also now catalogued in the collection at Ugbrooke House (see note 1).

7 Elizabeth Blount (c. 1701–78) married Hugh Clifford (1700–32) in 1725. He took the title of third Baron Clifford of Chudleigh in 1730. Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 297; Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, p. 186.

8 Sir George Blount (c. 1605–67) married Mary Kirkham (c. 1607–68) in 1642. Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 296.

9 Sir John Guise (c. 1654–95) married Elizabeth Howe (b. 1651) c. 1674. Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, p. 185.

10 In a poem that survives, Annabella tells of the nurturing by her father and suppression by her brother. Years later she passed this to the Countess of Pomfret who visited her in Antwerp during August 1741. Pomfret wrote of the encounter, quoting the text of the poem in a letter to Frances, later duchess of Somerset: H. L. Pomfret, Correspondence Between Frances, Countess of Hartford, and Henrietta Louisa, Countess of Pomfret (London: R. Phillips, 1805), pp. 348–54. The episode is quoted subsequently in Sir A. Croke, Genealogical History of the Croke Family, Originally Named Le Blount, vol. 2 (London: J. Murray, 1823), pp. 335–37.

11 The poem was given the title [A Cure for Poetry] when published in Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, pp. 185–88.

12 Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, pp. 296–97. The arms are Barry nebulée of six, Or and Sable for Blount impaling Gules, seven lozenges vairé three, three and one for Guise. Crest, an armed foot in the sun proper, with the motto ‘Lux tua, via mea’, meaning ‘your light is my path’. Further account of the Blounts’ family life at this time can be found in R. Baird, Mistress of the House: Great Ladies and Grand Houses 1670–1830 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2003), pp. 118–19.

13 Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 298.

14 P. Johnstone, High Fashion in the Church (Leeds: Maney, 2002), pp. 95–96.

15 Ibid., p. 86.

16 Ibid., p. 79.

17 Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, p. 186. The Southern Netherlands was controlled by Spain (1556–1714), then Austria and France, rejoining the Dutch provinces in 1815 and, as Belgium, became independent in 1830. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Netherlands (accessed February 12, 2024).

18 G. S. Fraser, Alexander Pope (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 1.

19 A. Pope, Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence for Thirty Years; from 1704 to 1734 (London: E. Curll, 1735), pp. 167–68.

20 Ibid., p. 169.

21 Ibid., pp. 173–74.

22 See note 7.

23 Mary Blount (c. 1702–73) married Edward Howard (1686–1777) in 1727. Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 297; Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, p. 186.

24 C. Haynes, ‘Of Her Making: The Cultural Practices of Mary Blount, 9th Duchess of Norfolk’, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 31 (2012), pp. 77–98, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43653590 (accessed February 12, 2024).

25 The ‘wonderfully embroidered bed’ worked by Mary Blount is referred to in Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 297. See R. Baird, ‘The Duchess and her Menagerie in Stitches’, Country Life, June 26, 2003, pp. 108–10 and Baird, Mistress of the House, p. 127.

26 Henrietta Blount (1709–82) married Philip Howard (1688–1750) in 1739. Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 298; Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, p. 186.

27 Anne Blount (c. 1704–79) is completely overlooked in Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’. However, several earlier accounts praise her achievements and her character: R. Carruthers, ed., The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, 1 (London: Ingram, Cooke & Co. 1853), p. 338; Croke, Genealogical History of Family Blount, pp. 150–51; J. Greig, ed, Diaries of a Duchess (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1926) p. 65, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210905/page/n19/mode/2up (accessed February 12, 2024). Several daughters of the extended Blount family (including the Sodington Hall branch) entered convents in the Southern Netherlands and France around this time. See: QMUL database Who Were the Nuns? Anne Blount of Blagdon is not documented here as it seems she had joined an established convent rather than one founded by the English in exile. However, it is noted that sister Mary, Duchess of Norfolk, sponsored education in one such exiled English convent school. https://wwtn.history.qmul.ac.uk/search/nsearch.php?uid=PA017&quote=no&surname=&variants=on&place= (accessed February 12, 2024).

28 Greig, Diaries of a Duchess, p. 65.

29 Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, pp. 92, 98; W. Schulten, Das ehem. Ursulinenkloster in Neuburg und sein Paramentenschatz (München: Schnell & Steiner, 1984). pp. 27–35.

30 Pomfret, Correspondence Between Frances, pp. 348–54.

31 The ground silk has a loom width of 43 cm.

32 Gold content of threads was not analysed but the condition suggests a high level of purity.

33 Elsewhere in Europe, the cross orphrey had given way to the Italian-style pillar orphrey. Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, p. 95.

34 artsymbol, ‘Compostela, The Joining of Heaven and Earth’, https://compostela.co.uk/symbols/scallop-shell/(accessed December 2021).

35 Within the collection of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Belgium (KIK-IRPA) similar imagery can be found in object no. 45677 and no. 31750 which interestingly also displays a trailing geometric border containing lattice filling, comparable with motifs in the Blount pieces: BALaT (Belgian Art Links and Tools) Photo Library search, http://balat.kikirpa.be/search_photo.php (accessed February 13, 2024).

36 Similar imagery is found in KIK-IRPA object nos. 45739, 79152, 10109065, 54786 (accessed as note 35).

37 Incidentally, Saint Michael is the patron of the city of Bruxelles, Southern Netherlands.

38 KIK-IRPA object no. 24592 (accessed as note 35).

39 The embroidered Archangel Michael on the chasuble back carries the Resurrection cross and banner with a red cross.

40 Similar imagery is found in KIK-IRPA object nos. 29322, 101192, 20016405, 20049592 (accessed as note 35).

41 Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, p. 98.

42 The set at Kerk Onze Lieve Vrouw, Scherpenheuvel, comprises a chasuble, two dalmatics, a cope, two stoles, three maniples, a burse and a chalice veil. KIK-IRPA object nos. 11006613, 11010926-28, 11010942-46 (accessed as note 35).

43 Many thanks are due to Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld for information about the Oxburgh pieces; email messages to author September 2012 and February 2022. Also to Tessa Murdoch for images of these textiles and further information; email messages to author March 2022.

44 V&A accession no. T.298-1967. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?q=T.298-1967&page=1&page_size=15 (accessed February 14, 2024).

45 V&A accession no. T.766-1919. https://www.vam.ac.uk/search?q=T.766-1919&astyped= (accessed February 14, 2024).

46 R. Boak, Sacred Stitches (Waddesdon: Rothchild Foundation, 2013), pp. 51–55.

47 The Whitworth, accession no. T.8045.1; J. M. Glover, ‘Conservation of a Sixteenth-Century Spanish Funeral Cope’, Costume, 19 (1985), pp. 30–39.

48 Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, p. 95.

49 M. and D. King, European Textiles in the Keir Collection 400BC to 1800AD (London: Faber and Faber, 1990), pp. 187–88. (The Keir Collection is on long-term loan to Dallas Museum of Art.) Similar imagery is seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 16.32.319. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=16.32.319 (accessed February 14, 2024).

50 Examples of armorials are seen in KIK-IRPA object nos. 40906, 40921 (accessed as note 35).

51 Examples of skull imagery are seen in KIK-IRPA object nos. 67716, 67719 (accessed as note 35).

52 I. Lüders, Der Tod auf Samt & Seide: Todesdarstellungen auf liturgischen Textilien des 16. bis 19. Jahrhunderts im deutschsprachigen Raum (München: Schnell und Steiner, 2009), pp. 128–34.

53 KIK-IRPA object nos. 10055114-6 (accessed as note 35). A cope with almost identical imagery — probably made in the Netherlands — is in the Diözesanmuseum, Osnabrück, Germany. Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, p. 95.

54 KIK-IRPA object no. 58777 (accessed as note 35).

55 KIK-IRPA object no. 10055085 (accessed as note 35).

56 Museum Catharijne Convent, Utrecht: accession nos. BMH t10a &b. https://adlib.catharijneconvent.nl/Details/collect/42364; https://adlib.catharijneconvent.nl/Details/collect/41009 (accessed February 14, 2024). Illustrated in Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, p. 96.

57 Ste Gertrudiskathedraal, Utrecht, inventory no. T44. R. de Beer, email messages to author July 2015.

58 Lüders, Tod auf Samt & Seide, pp. 154–55; Johnstone, Fashion in the Church, p. 96.

59 The British Academy, ‘Fabric of Resistance’ (online exhibition) https://sites.google.com/ushaw.org/fabricofresistance/home (accessed February 14, 2024). Durham University, ‘Revealing Hidden Catholic Liturgical Vestments and Practices, c. 1530-1829’, https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/archaeology/research/archaeology-research-projects/material-culture-under-penalty/ (accessed February 14, 2024).

60 As found in 2010, only the altar frontal of the Blount textiles showed signs of having been repaired with the central embroidered roundel reapplied to a later ground cloth.

61 Jesuit Collections Podcast, ‘The Significance of Vestments’, https://soundcloud.com/user-15373540/the-significance-of-vestments/s-VbuxFf3b9x2 (accessed February 14, 2024).

62 J. Grafffius, ed., Plots and Spangles: The Embroidered Vestments of Helena Wintour (Stonyhurst College: St Omers Press, 2015).

63 Amery, ‘Notes on Blagdon’, p. 297.

64 When widowed, Annabella Blount chose to live a secluded life near Antwerp. The unmarried daughter Anne took the veil at an Ursuline Convent in Antwerp rather than one of the many English convents established on the Continent at that time. Lonsdale, Eighteenth Century Women Poets, p. 186. See also notes 10 and 27.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicola Gentle

Nicola Gentle trained as a painter at Winchester School of Art. In 1978 she joined the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Textile Conservation Department, later becoming head of the Osterley Studio and specialising mainly in textile furnishings. Since 1994, Nicola has worked as a freelance conservator-researcher based in Devon. Her particular interest is in sixteenth- to eighteenth-century objects. Throughout her career, she has been involved with several significant projects concerning textiles surviving from those centuries.