A friend very kindly forwarded to me an online article about an exhibition of embroidered Victorian altar linens and other related items that has been put together at Pusey House in Oxford from its archive and collection. These are fine examples of the ecclesiastical style of the mid- to later nineteenth century, and indicate, as was clearly intended, serious devotion and skill.
The items are particularly associated with Dr Pusey himself and Mother Marian Hughes, the first professed Anglican religious since the dissolution of the monasteries. Her vocation was nurtured by Dr Pusey, who had a strong interest in establishing such Sisterhoods. When Mother Marian died in Oxford in 1912 she was perhaps the last living link to the early days of the Oxford Movement.
The identification of these pieces is a reminder that there are still treasures - relics even - to be found in a collection as rich as that at Pusey House
The article, with some fine illustrations, can be seen at Stitching Together Past and Present: Nuntastic Textiles and Victorian Medievalism
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