Title

Textile Fragment from the Tomb of Don Felipe. Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia)

Generic classification

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

Kufic inscription: al-Yumn (felicity), in mirror image.

Object history

Fragment of the clothing with which the infante don Felipe (died in 1274) was buried in Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia). By 1920 this fragment was in the Italian collection of Giorgio San Giorgi and later the antiquarian Adolph Loewi, whose firm was based in Venice and Los Angeles, acquired it in 1946 and sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pieces of the clothing from the tombs of Don Felipe de Castilla and his wife, Doña Inés de Guevara y Cisneros, in Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia) are today distributed among various museum institutions. Most of the fragments of that collection are preserved in the National Archaeological Museum. In 1844 this textile treasure was transferred to Madrid by order of Queen Isabella II. But the truth is that, apart from the repertoire destined for the aforementioned public collection, many other fragments of the same origin were dispersed among different dealers and collectors. For this reason today there are testimonies of the same trousseau scattered in various places in the United States and Europe. Apart from the one in question, fragments of this textile treasure are preserved in the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan in Madrid, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in The Art Museum, London, and in The Art Museum of the United States. Albert Museum, London, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, the Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis Brussels, The Hispanic Society of America, New York, the Musées de la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Lyon, the Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil de Terrassa (Barcelona) (num. 2977, no. 300, no. 66, no. 6363), or in the Museu Episcopal de Vic (Barcelona) (no. 10545, no. 6390, no. 6391).

The tomb of the infante Don Felipe, and that of his second wife, Doña Inés de Guevara y Cisneros are in Santa María la Blanca de Villalcázar de Sirga (Palencia). The prince married several times, the first time with Cristina de Noruega -who is buried in the collegiate church of Covarrubias (Burgos)-; although who accompanies him in his resting place in the church of the Templar order, is his second wife, Doña Inés de Guevara y Cisneros, as revealed by the coats of arms on the sarcophagus and the checkerboard of the mortuary cushion. Amador de los Ríos identified the Infanta with Doña Inés de Castro (Amador de los Ríos, 1878, pp. 109-126). Faustino Menéndez Pidal refuted this attribution, pointing to Doña Inés Cisneros Guevara, an identification endorsed by Franco Mata (Franco Mata, 2024, pp. 1605).

The clothing that both spouses wore in their tomb was exhumed in the 19th century and transferred to Madrid. Although there were two transfers to that institution, the first was in February 1845 by the political chief of Palencia to the Ministry of the Interior, from where it went to the National Museum of Natural Sciences; later, in 1867, it went from there to the recently founded National Archaeological Museum. These were the pieces: "a piece of dress, another of the tonelete, another of the veil, another of the ruff, another of the cheeks, another of the shirt, another of the cord or girdle, a bag or ridicule, a piece of the armor of his cap, a shoe without sole, a small sole found in his tomb, a cap of tissue of the infante D. Felipe, husband of the infanta Daisy, the infanta of Palencia, and a piece of the armor of his cap. Felipe, husband of the Infanta Da. Ines de Castro, a piece of shirt (exp. 1868/103-B-XI) ("Inventory of objects deposited in the National Archaeological Museum from the Museum of Natural Sciences and the National Library"). Two years later, on October 20, 1869, other textiles from Villalcázar de Sirga, donated by the notary of Palencia, Don Juan Martinez Guerra, entered the same museum. In the book of donations of the museum it barely appears" piece of fabric taken from the tombs of Villasirga, belonging to...". Several blank lines follow the text without completing the expected references (Franco Mata, 2024, p. 1606).

The infant's cape has been recomposed with the existing fabrics in the National Archaeological Museum (Inv. Nos. 50.549 and 51.016), during which process the existing fragments were documented in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, in the Musées de la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie in Lyon, in The Art Institute of Chicago, in the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire in Brussels, in the Valencia de don Juan Institute (Inv. No. 2.069) and in the Cooper Union Museum. It was woven in a single piece and cut in a practically semicircular shape. It is woven in silk in shades of blue, ecru, red and yellow, and also in gold thread. At the ends it has two wide strips on which the word "baraka" (blessing) is repeated in kufic inscriptions.

Another fragment of fabric preserved in the National Archaeological Museum corresponds to half front or half back of the infant's or his wife's garments, perhaps the pellote (Inv. No. 51010). It is a brocade with a long taffeta weave and a lace pattern of eight in gold; the background is in ecru and blue tones. Pieces of this same fabric are conserved in the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan (Inv. No. 2079) and in The Hispanic Society of Art, New York -probably corresponding to the lower edge of the dress-. A band of quatrefoils appears after the lacquer drawing, between two rows of inscriptions in which the kufic references to "blessing" are repeated. Other similar fragments are also preserved in the National Archaeological Museum (1976/130/2 and 1976/130/3). As for the piece that is inventoried in the same museum with the number 51049, it is a silk brocade with parallel stripes of lively colors and different drawing, but where laceria and kufic motifs are still combined.

The hood of the Infante Felipe (National Archaeological Museum, Inv. No. 50869) came to the institution through the Natural History Cabinet. For its part, the cushion on which Doña Inés rested her head has a checkered motif, related to her lineage, in gold and black. The National Archaeological Museum also has the infanta's chapín (Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Inv. No. 51884), which came to the institution after passing through the Cabinet of Antiquities of the National Library (Franco Mata, 2024, pp. 1605-1610).

Locations

• ca. 1274

  church

  Church of Santa María la Blanca, Villalcázar de Sirga (Spain)

• 1920 - 1946

  dealer/antiquarian

  Giorgio Sangiorgi, Roma (Italy) *

• 1946

  dealer/antiquarian

  Adolph Loewi, Venecia/Los Ángeles (Italy) *

• 1946 - present

  museum

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (United States)