Fragment of Church Vestment

This fragment may have been taken from an ecclesiastical textile used in Roman Catholic missions. The crimson silk ground indicates that the textile may have been used on the feast day of a martyr. The repeat pattern of double-headed eagles over a stylised vase may have been intended to be an emblem adopted by the Order of St Augustine under Hapsburg patronage. The original emblem is the Royal Hapsburg eagles standing over a Cardinal's hat (probably symbolising the authority of the Crown and the Church), which rests over the Augustinian crest of a heart pierced with arrows. This vestment was probably woven in the East, in Macau, for Augustinian missionaries stationed in the Philippines. The finished textiles were probably brought via Chinese junks sailing to the Philippines. Fragment; probably from ecclesiastical textile. Patterns of the Hapsburg arms (double headed eagle) over a stylised vase motif woven in blue and yellow on a red satin ground; selvedge on LHS

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