Altarcloth

In the late 1300s, three nuns named Sophia, Hadewigis, and Lucardis embroidered this elaborate linen altar cloth in the convent of Altenberg, in what is now Germany. Using white satin thread on white linen, the nuns embroidered images of the three magi as well as Christ, Saint Nicholas, and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and Thuringia, a Catholic Saint and the mother of a local Altenberg abbess. Despite their restrictive nature, convents were one of the few places where elite, medieval European women could escape marriage, become literate, and acquire skills in artmaking. The nuns signed their names on the piece alongside a prayer that Christ find their work acceptable. Their signatures imply a desire to gain favor in heaven and perhaps recognition on earth.

Altarcloth