Paradoxically, while the world around us marks the passage of time with calendars and centenaries, the Church measures her years by the rhythm of feasts and fasts, by the turning of the liturgical wheel that brings us always back to the same mysteries, yet somehow deeper each time. It was in this spirit that Watts & Co. marked its 150th anniversary in 2024.
Minster Cope in 'Pine' with Sarum Red 'Holbein' orphreys and Hand-Embroidery
To signal this milestone, we returned to the wellspring of our own tradition, reaching back across a century and a half to the vision of one of our founders, George Frederick Bodley, and to one of the most remarkable sets of vestments ever produced under his direction. In short, our Minster Cope in 'Pine' with Sarum Red 'Holbein' orphreys and Hand-Embroidery is a unique vestment that speaks with the voice of our beginning.
The ancient liturgies and rhythmic rituals of the Church are some of the most rich in the Christian liturgical calendar. For many, they are the ultimate reminder of what it means to be Christian. We are transported through the quick succession of heralded procession, anointed hands, broken and shared bread, and the crescendo of Christ's presence until we keep our hopeful vigil to finally be met by the jubilation of the Sanctus. Encouraged to experience Christ's presence through simultaneous senses, we feel, hear, taste and see Christ with unparalleled proximity. Our vestments are pivotal to evoking this long-shared emotional response.
The original cope for St Paul's Knightsbridge, designed by Watts & Co. founder G.F. Bodley.
This sense of continuity is neatly envisioned with clarity in our 150th Anniversary cope. As a one-off piece crafted to commemorate our sesquicentenary, the cope punctuates the emotional weight of the liturgy, utilising a deep black tapestry that is equally solemn and magnificent.
The use of black for vestments carries a venerable history. Traditionally, the vestments of the Roman rite for Requiem Masses and certain penitential occasions utilised black to reflect the Church's sobriety in the face of mortality and sin. Yet black has also served as the ground upon which gold embroidery achieves its most radiant effect, the darkness making visible the light that shines in it. It is in this tradition that our cope follows. Here, the depth of the Black 'Pine' creates a richness to the reading of the vestment as a simulacrum for the hidden glory of Christ and the anticipation of his revealed majesty.
The anniversary cope, handmade in the Watts workroom in London.
But this cope is almost unique in that it does not isolate the historic tradition of sombre ground. In addition to the black of the tapestry, Sarum Red 'Holbein' silk damask is incorporated into the orphreys and the hood of the cope, placing both traditions side-by-side so that the gravitas of the emotional tone is duly emphasised. Whereby, the crimson-red of the damask marks the blood of sacrifice that pre-empts the triumph of the resurrection.
On the cope's hood, the material scheme of red and gold is surmounted by an embroidered angel holding aloft the IHS Christogram, held in the form of a heraldic shield. Surrounding the resplendent angel - the soldier of Christ - are refined scrolls that recall the vegetation and heraldic roses of Bodley’s vestment. In particular, the IHS monogram - derived from the first three letters of the Holy Name in Greek - has served since the Late Middle Ages as a visual shorthand for the presence of Christ, a device that concentrates the eye and the devotion of the beholder upon the person of the Saviour.
As such, embroidered in gold, the iconography lifts the emotional effect of the cope. Instead of solely contemplating Christ's hidden glory, one is reminded of the anticipation of Christ's kingship, first as he rode into Jerusalem and culminating in his resurrection and ultimate triumph over mortal death. It is this strength of heraldry that is so strongly emboldened in our cope.
The dichotomy of the hidden glory of Christ and the revelation of his majesty takes on a meditative tone in the Victorian poem The Dream of Gerontius by John Henry Newman:
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:
and the work of our hands, establish Thou it.
Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and on Thy work:
and direct their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:
and the work of our hands, establish Thou it.
Here, as the soul of Gerontius is borne toward judgment, the Angel speaks of the "keen sanctity" that surrounds the Crucified, a holiness so intense that it "has seized, / And scorched, and shrivelled" the soul even as it draws it onward. Yet Newman also knew that this sanctity is encountered not only in the direct vision of God but in the "signs and types," the "presentations of most holy truths" that surround us in the liturgy. The cope, with its symbols and its gold, is one such sign. It does not replace the reality it signifies; rather, it prepares the eye and the heart to receive that reality.
'The work of our hands' — hand-craftsmanship in the Watts workroom.
The poem is rich with theological language that removes the soul from the arid landscape of mere aestheticism to the verdant fields of sacramental encounter. With phrases like "the work of our hands, establish Thou it," Newman invites us to hear the embroiderer's needle as an instrument of prayer, each stitch a petition that the beauty wrought by human fingers might become a vehicle of divine grace.
The hand of the craftsman is also seen in the gold-threaded orphreys on our cope. Popular, especially in the Late Middle Ages, the orphrey was the richest part of the vestment, the place where the most precious materials and the most skilled labour were concentrated, so that the message of Christ's glory might remain clear and succinct.
Hand-embroidered 20th chasuble designed by G.F. Bodley for St Paul's Knightsbridge.
As can be seen in the original Bodley vestments at St Paul's, Knightsbridge, the embroidery is laid out in a plain and self-explanatory fashion. Nothing is left for misinterpretation, so that the message of Christ's presence remains clear and succinct. On the chasuble, the crowned IHS, the descending dove with its startling blue eye, the scrolling acanthus and heraldic roses- all are rendered with a precision that speaks to both devotion and artistry.
This is further emphasised by the hand-embroidered hood, where the IHS monogram is framed by the sunburst that signifies the uncreated light of the Godhead. As the central symbol of the cope, the monogram concentrates the devotion of the beholder, encouraging a contemplation of the Holy Name in the contrast of gleaming gold thread against the deep black ground, deepening in richness to convey the unfathomable depth of the divine mystery. Read in conjunction with the orphreys, the graphic symbols engage their viewer in an intense emotional contemplation of Christ's glory.
Ultimately, despite the fact that these items are rendered in gold and silk, as the prayer of the Dream of Gerontius dictates, these so-called "works of our hands" are arms in which, Christ as King, achieves his conquest over mortal sin through beauty.
This triumphal duality is the prevailing theme present in Newman's poem. Ultimately, what the Bodley vestments and the Dream bring to life are these deeply sacramental sentiments burgeoning in Victorian sensibilities, which in turn, are perfectly encapsulated in our cope.
Whilst it might not be immediately obvious, there is a strong medieval voice to the detailing of our cope that helps to reinforce this sacramental topos.
Altarpiece of Saint Nicolas, 15th Century.
For example, our 'Pine' tapestry, based on a Fifteenth Century velvet pattern, is among the earliest textiles produced by Watts & Co. in 1874. A product of the Gothic Revival's fascination with the Northern Renaissance, the fabric was re-drawn from an Altarpiece depicting St Nicholas with a more pointed stylised design and re-imagined in pure silk and metal thread, offering a Gothic and Anglicised dialect to the floral sensibility of late medieval Europe.
The accents of medieval England can also be seen in the 'Holbein' damask that forms the orphreys. Redrawn from the Duke's Closet wallpaper in Ham House, the fabric is named after Hans Holbein the Younger, the great portraitist of the Tudor court, the fabric carries within its weave the memory of an age when sacred art and royal patronage walked hand in hand. Whilst no direct influence is cited, it can surely be no coincidence that, with Watts & Co.'s headquarters in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, there is a striking similarity between the damask's geometric precision and the architectural vocabulary of the Gothic Revival that surrounds us.
Duke's Closet, Ham House. 'Holbein' is used on the walls in Black & Gold. Image courtesy of Loretta Chase.
Much more than just a beautiful design, the 'Holbein' damask's floral unfurling is representative of the living and breathing church. In that, the church building, filled with the breath of life of singing Christians, comes to life with the shared voices of acclamation. Thus, when we sing the Sanctus during the Eucharist, for the glory we owe to the presence of Christ sustained on our behalf, we in turn sustain the life of the church. As such, Christ's victory, as marked by the poem and vestment, is also present in the essence of the 'Holbein' design.
Ultimately it is this victorious tone that our 150th Anniversary Cope presents. Recalling the resounding words of Newman and embodying the rich palimpsest of Bodley’s designs, our cope is richly rooted in our Victorian foundations. It is in this tradition that we proclaim the dichotomy of Christ the King and Christ the Man. This is a cope that, in order to look forward, takes joy in looking back: it is tradition that we embrace in our future.
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