Liturgical Collar (Amiss)

Description This embroidery depicts Christ flanked by his twelve apostles, some of whom are identified by their attributes: Peter holds two keys, while Andrew carries the X-shaped cross on which he died. The piece was once part of a set of church vestments. At the beginning of the liturgy, a priest would have put it over his neck and shoulders while saying the prayer: "Clothe my neck, O Lord, with righteousness . . . ." The Armenian text along the lower edge records that the collar was given in 1774 to the Monastery of the Virgin near Ankara, metropolitan see of the Armenian diocese of Galatia. It was originally paired with an episcopal crown or a miter (similar to Walters 83.309).

Exhibitions

• Ottoman Embroideries and Other Ornament. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2007.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions Translation: "This crown and amiss [set] is a memorial gift to the Holy Mother of God Monastery of Galatia. 1774."

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters