Special Presentation Gold, Silk, Glue. An Embroidered Altarpiece and the Story of its Conservation 17 September to 10 November 2024

In 2008 the Abegg-Stiftung was able to acquire a fine, artfully embroidered altarpiece. The 121 x 210 cm triptych shows the Adoration of the Magi on the central panel, the Virgin’s Adoration of the Child on the left and the Presentation in the Temple on the right. The scenes are embroidered in extremely fine silk threads with numerous metal threads. The exquisite materials in conjunction with the meticulous and imaginative workmanship make this embroidery a work of art of the first order. Little remains of its erstwhile magnificence, however. The altarpiece is in a poor state of preservation in part as a result of natural ageing but mainly owing to its inexpert conservation in the 1960s. In the course of that work, any loose metal threads were glued back onto the linen ground with synthetic adhesives.
This small exhibition hails this 500-year-old altarpiece as a work of immense cultural significance. After all, only three other objects with a comparable material composition and comparably labour-intensive embroidery are known to have survived worldwide. The exhibition includes two short films that present the retable and explain the embroidery techniques used to make it, as well as shedding light on its problematic conservation. Press Release