The Cathedral of Siena (Part 14): Vestments in the Cathedral Museum

This is the final post in our series on the cathedral of Siena, which started just over two months ago on November 18, the anniversary of the church’s dedication. Here we show a few of the very nice vestments displayed in the cathedral museum; these are kept behind glass for protection, obviously, which makes for less-than-ideal photography. (The museum also doesn’t provide much information about them.) Thanks once again to Nicola for sharing these pictures with us.

A burse embroidered with images of two early local martyrs, Abundantius and Abundius; originally made for a monastery dedicated to them, which was the oldest in the city. (The relics of these Saints were translated to the main Jesuit church in Rome by order of Pope Gregory XIII in 1583.)

A chasuble decorated with images of the Last Supper, Resurrection and Ascension, evidently designed to be used on the relevant feast days. This is known as “the Raphael chasuble” from the tradition that it was designed by the painter Raphael while he was in Siena as a young man, and working as an assistant to Pinturicchio in the decoration of the Piccolomini library.  

An unusually well-preserved late medieval chasuble, made in Lucca in the early 14th century.

A red chasuble decorated with images of the Passions of Ss Abundantius and Abundius, part of the set to which the burse shown above belongs, designed to be used on their feast day.

An embroidered frontal of the 17th century.