Saint John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist lived in the wilderness with no comforts, preaching and baptizing Christian converts with the water from the river Jordan. His clothes were just a tunic of rough camel hair, but in this work his garment is represented like a soft fur stole dragging on the floor. The saint’s body is wrapped in an additional, more refined floral fabric, and the desert where he lived is transformed into a blossoming lawn. Late Gothic elegance supplanted the rigors of the hermit’s life in the early 15th century.   This embroidery was likely part of an orphrey, a decorative border on an ecclesiastical garment or hanging.