Master Of Saint Gilles - The Mass of St Gilles - WGA14485

A Dossal (or dossel, dorsel, dosel), from French ''dos'' (''back''), is one of a number of terms for something rising from the back of a church

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

. In modern usage, it primarily refers to cloth hangings but it can also denote a board, often carved or containing a painting, that rises vertically from the back of the altar and to which the cloth is attached. Retable and reredos are alternative terms for solid structures, as is altarpiece, all of them rather more commonly used today. Dossal remains the usual term for an ornamental cloth suspended behind an altar, probably attached to the wall behind. This is often called a dossal curtain, and altar screen is also sometimes used as a synonym for a cloth dossal, as well as, more dubiously, for wood or stone screens in various locations in the sanctuary. Curtains at the side of an altar may be called

riddels In ecclesiastical architecture, a ciborium ("ciborion": in Greek) is a canopy or covering supported by columns, freestanding in the sanctuary, that stands over and covers the altar in a basilica or other church. It may also be known by the mor ...

; these may be suspended between riddel posts at the corners of the altar. More rarely, a cloth dossal may continue as a horizontal "tester" hanging immediately over the altar, giving the cloth of honour configuration typical for enthroned monarchs and others in the Middle Ages, and often seen in medieval and Renaissance paintings of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

in particular. "Dossal" may also be used for a secular vertical cloth of honour, or the vertical part of one. A refinement of the definition of a painted dossal is that it could be easily detached and fitted between poles (or some similar arrangement), and was carried in processions on particular feast-days. This definition is especially found relating to medieval Italy, and the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, who are thought to have begun this practice, commissioning Berlinghiero Berlinghieri soon after St Francis' canonization in 1228. The Bardi Dossal illustrated is such a piece, typical in that it shows a saint, here Saint Francis of Assisi, as the main image, surrounded by scenes from his life. In a larger altarpiece, these would be

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

scenes running below the main painting. However, dossal is used of some large

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a " triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapt ...

s which could not be taken on procession in this way. In academic art history, "dossal" is today only likely to be used for such paintings, or the textiles. Cloth dossals rarely achieve much individual notability, but the "Lanercost Dossal" at Lanercost Priory,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, was specially designed by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

and embroidered by local ladies. It is 24 feet wide, in " worsted wools on a felted ground". In 2012 it was removed for restoration, which was completed in 2014.''The William Morris Lanercost Priory Dossal - History and Conservation''
by Christine Boyce (27 pages).

Notes

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References

*"Guild"
"Dossals, and Riddles and Testers"
The Altar Guild Resource for the Diocese of Rhode Island Altars Altarpieces