Florentine embroidered hood: The Ascension

This embroidery is a hood, a piece of fabric shaped like a heraldic shield placed on the back of a cope (a ceremonial cape worn by clerics). It depicts the Ascension: Christ, surrounded by musician angels, ascends into the heavens represented by the golden background, while the apostles and the Virgin look up at him.

This exquisite Florentine embroidery was probably created between 1420 and 1440 during the height of the International Gothic style, close in style to that of the painters Lorenzo Monaco and Mariotto di Nardo.

The coat of arms suggests a commission by Francesco Arcieri, Bishop of Squillace (Calabria) from 1418 to 1430.