Shepherds Purse: stained glass - Annunciation

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This is an Annunciation scene in stained glass from ca. 1325-50, now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum (2270-1900). The original location of the window is unclear, but the style is English. This scene offers a rather confusing artifact. The shepherd on the left wears a deep, flapped pouch at the waist of a style that would not be considered within the Shepherds Purse range. However the pouch has a lattice design on it, suggesting the possibility of netting. If this work dated to a period fairly late in the development of the style, it would be very tempting to interpret it as carrying over the "netting" motif purely as an artistic convention, but instead it dates to a point before the heyday of the "netted crescent" style, when one would not expect it to have become a meaningless decoration style yet. If the lines do not represent netting, then the question arises whether they represent the fabric itself -- i.e., a checked fabric on the bias -- in which case, it may be that some of the other "netted" examples similarly represent fabric.

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References

Alexander, Jonathan & Binski, Paul eds. 1987. Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400. Royal Academy of Arts, London.