This antique fragment from a French pastoral or preaching stole dates to the late 1800s, early 1900s. The elaborate design may point to the Napoleonic III era. It is linen backed and comprised of velvet, gold and red bouillon threads, and sequins. The tiny background decorations that appear to be seed beads are actually individually twisted gold bouillon threads.
The color symbolism is as follows: Gold and white are for use on feast days of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary, and Saints who were not martyred. Red is for use on days associated with the Holy Spirit such as Pentecost, feasts of the Apostles and days dedicated to church martyrs.
(Thank you to https://sites.google.com/ushaw.org/fabricofresistance/understanding-vestments and www.liturgicalartsjournal.com for their valuable sites, and a special thank you to Liturgical Arts Journal founder Shawn Tribe for his expertise.)
This fragment measures 40.5" in length and approximately 4" wide. According to Shawn Tribe of the Liturgical Arts Journal, it was not uncommon, unfortunately, from the 1970s onward to find these stoles taken apart and re-purposed.
*****Condition: Please note that there are areas of wear with loose threads and missing threads, loose and missing bouillon, and loose and missing sequins. Please examine the photos carefully and do let me know if you need more as I'll be happy to oblige.
Thank you for looking.
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