Silk Chasuble

Look what I found in the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, MA.  This is a chasuble from the 18th-19th century, in China.  It's made of silk.  It was probably made in Canton or Macau.  Chinese textiles made for foreign patrons often featured vines and leaves and peonies.

Just imagine the history this chasuble went through, giving glory to God.

The style of needlework on this piece is typical of the time.  The embroidery thread is silk, as well as the material it is sewn on.  IHS is a Greek monogram for the name, Jesus Christ.  The Greek monograms were used even in Latin.  Even St. Vincent Ferrer used IHS, and it became a characteristic iconographic image associated with him, before the Jesuits adopted the symbol as their seal.