This Embroidered Scarf Celebrates Medieval Handcrafting

An Art Scarf Makes a Unique Gift for Her

Introducing The Met Cloisters Garden Embroidered Linen Scarf, a fresh addition to our collection of spring designs.

The Met Cloisters Garden Embroidered Oblong Linen Scarf

 

Its 100% linen fabrication makes for an easy, breezy accessory in warmer weather; while the artful embroidery above its fringed edges pays homage to an astounding French book of flower studies at The Met Cloisters—and medieval artistry at large.

 

Our scarf specifically plucks two flower studies from the Museum's 16th-century book by the Master of Claude de France—Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum) and Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys)—and reinterprets them as a united floral motif.

Folio 5: Snow in Summer (Cerastium tomentosum) with blue, orange and yellow butterfly from the Master of Claude de France's book of flower studies, ca. 1510–1515. Purchase, The Cloisters Collection, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, and Rogers Fund, 2019 2019.19
Folio 38: Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) with a grapevine snail in a blue shell from the Master of Claude de France's book of flower studies
A detail of The Met Cloisters Garden Embroidered Oblong Linen Scarf

 

In its entirety, this magnificent manuscript belongs to what's been called "the last flowering" of northern European manuscript illumination in the medieval tradition. Using opaque watercolor, organic glazes, ink, charcoal, and glimmering gold and silver paint, the French artist immortalized these flora in wholesome witness to their beauty. More than 500 years later, visitors to The Met Cloisters can admire each species for themselves in the Museum’s gardens.

The Judy Black Garden in the Cuxa Cloister at The Met Cloisters. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

The Met’s Upper Manhattan location devoted to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages boasts meticulous gardens within reconstructed Romanesque and Gothic cloisters. Horticulturists actively research and develop this living collection to evoke the authentic medieval gardens that provided physical and spiritual sustenance for monks and nuns living in monasteries. Designed as an integral feature of the Museum, the gardens have been a major attraction of The Met Cloisters since it opened in 1938, enhancing the environment in which the Museum's collection is displayed as well as the visitor's understanding of medieval life. 

The Bonnefont Cloister Herb Garden at The Met Cloisters. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

Inside the Museum, the original book of flower studies can be viewed in Gallery 10

Book of Flower Studies (detail), ca. 1510–1515. Master of Claude de France. Purchase, The Cloisters Collection, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, and Rogers Fund, 2019 2019.197

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