The John of Thanet Panel

This panel is one of the most impressive examples of opus anglicanum (the Latin for English work, the high quality English embroidery noted in documents between about 1250 and 1350) to survive. It would originally have been at the centre top back of a cope, a cape-like ecclesiastical vestment worn for Christian church ceremonies. The blank triangular panel above the figure of Christ would originally have been covered with a vestigial hood (the hood, formerly functional, had by this time become purely decorative).

The image on this panel shows Christ in Majesty beneath a Gothic arch; in his left hand he holds an orb with EVROPA AFRICA and ASIA on it, and his right hand is raised in blessing. To left and right of the top of the arch are the sun and moon. Above these are, on the left, the Angel Gabriel and, on the right, the Virgin Mary and a dove. The horizontal band directly above the arch is inscribed in Latin with JOHANNIS DE THANETO, John of Thanet, a monk of Canterbury Cathedral. He was described as 'Monk and Chaunter of this Church, well vers'd in Mathematicks'. He may have commissioned the cope from which this panel came, although it is not specifically identifiable in an inventory of 1315, which includes a chasuble and alb belonging to him, though there are pages missing from the inventory.

Stylistically and technically the embroidery is of excellent quality; the graceful pose of the figure and the folds of the garments, the softly waving hair and other details have
strong links with illuminated manuscripts of the so-called East Anglian school.

The large scale of the figure (which is about 75cms in height) is matched only by the group of figures of the Crucifixion on a chasuble now in a Vienna museum and found in a monastery in Melk, Austria. The two pieces may be related and have come from the same workshop.