Exhibition "Splendour and glory of the Middle Ages, Koln Germany

This is just a quick post to tell you about the Exhibition "Splendour and glory of the Middle Ages", in the beautiful Schnutgen Museum in Koln, Germany.

In their own words: "In its heyday from 1000 to 1550, Cologne was one of Europe‘s leading art centres. Today, the master- pieces stemming from this creative period are scattered throughout the great museums of the world. However, around 160 superb works from, among others, Berlin, Bonn, Darmstadt, Budapest, London, Vienna, Paris, Lisbon, New York, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles are now returning to the Rhine River and will be on exhibit with 60 works from the museum‘s own collection. The Museum Schnütgen will be presenting great works from Cologne‘s best period in a superlative special exhibition - but only for a short while" 

Image from Museum Schnütgen

I hope to visit the exhibition this weekend, and of course I'll write about that. I'm really interested in the piece of embroidery shown above :-)

Printed linen - little bits from my craft room

Some time a go I purchased some pretty printed linen fabric from here. I'm still not sure what I will make of it, possibly a wall hanging of some kind to hang inside our tent. It reminds me a bit a a printed linen Italian wall hanging in the Historical museum in Basel. For now it is just being pretty in a corner of our craft room.

Online articles from the 'Textielhistorische Bijdragen'

Quite recently, the Historisch Centrum Overijssel, has made all the back issues of the Textielhistorische Bijdragen available online (see complete list here). I made a selection for you of all the articles of interest for the late medieval and early modern period. Sadly all articles are in Dutch (so this is especially for our Dutch and Flemish readers or anyone adventurous enough to try his/her hand at reading them anyway).

• Laura van Aert & Danielle van den Heuvel, Sekse als de sleutel tot succes? Vrouwen en de verkoop van textiel in de Noordelijke en Zuidelijke Nederlanden 1650-1800 (On female textile sellers in the Low Countries between 1650 and 1800)
• M. Balkestein, De plaats van de textielproductie in de rangorde van beroepen. Een drietal prentenreeksen uit de middeleeuwen, de 17e en de 18e eeuw (The place of textile production in the order of professions based on print series from the middle ages, the 17th and the 18th century)
  
• Paul Brusse & Margreet Windhorst, 'Tot welvaren van de stadt ende verbeteringh vande neringhe.' Arbeidsmarktregulering en economische ontwikkeling in de Amersfoortse textiel 1450-1800 (Labor market regulations and economic developments in the textile industry of Amersfoort, 1450-1800)
  
• Sjoukje Colenbrander, 'Zolang de weefkonst bloeijt in't machtig Amsterdam.' Zijdelakenfabrikeurs in Amsterdam in de 17e en 18e eeuw (Silk fabric production in 17th and 18th century Amsterdam)
  
• Marianne Eisma, Met reclame door het lint, lint en passement in Amsterdam in de 17e en 18e eeuw (Ribbons and passementerie in Amsterdam during the 17th and 18th centuries)
• Henk van Haaster & Maarten van Bommel, Botanisch en chemisch onderzoek aan de 17e eeuwse lakenweverij in Gouda (Botanical and chemical analysis of the 17th century cloth weaving mill in Gouda)
• Judith H. Hofenk de Graaff, Veranderend kleurstofgebruik in de Leidse textielververij in de 16e en 17e eeuw (Changing use of dyestuffs in Leiden, 16th-17th century)
  
• E.J. Kalf, Een interessant borduursel in het Rijksmuseum in Twenthe (An interesting piece of embroidery in the Rijksmuseum in Twenthe)
  
• A.C.M. Kappelhof, Enige aspecten van de produktie, handel en consumputie in wollen en linnen stoffen in Den Bosch (1435-1650) (Production, trade and consumption of wool and linen fabrics in Den Bosch, 1435-1650)
• Anique C. de Kruiff, In stof zijt gij ... Enkele textiele vondsten in de reliekschat van de Utrechtse Gertrudiskathedraal (Textile finds from the reliquary treasure from the Gertrudis Cathedral in Utrecht)
  
• Bianca M. du Mortier, Tweedehands kleding in de 17e eeuw (Second hand clothing in the 17th century)
• Roger de Peuter, Mooie kleren voor hoge heren. Beschouwingen over de textielhandel te Brussel in het midden van de 16e eeuw (The Brussels textile trade in the 16th century)
  
• Herman Roodenburg, Over korsetten, lichaamshouding en gebaren. Een cultuurhistorische verkenning van de 'nieuwe fatsoenen' tussen ruwweg 1580 en 1630 (About corsets, posture and gestures. A cultural history of the 'nieuwe fatsoenen' between 1580 and 1630)
  
• Thera Wijsenbeek-Olthuis, Gestolen goed, diefstal van textiel in Den Haag 1600-1800 (Stealing textiles in The Hague between 1600 and 1800)

Rags to Riches: dress and dress accessories in social context

I am just passing this on to everyone interested: today I received an email with a call for papers for a interdisciplinary conference to be held at the University of Reading (UK) on the 21st April, "Rags to Riches: dress and dress accessories in social context".

This one day conference at the University of Reading aims to bring together archaeologists, anthropologists and others from related disciplines to discuss current issues of methodology, theory and interpretation of dress and dress accessories, from prehistory to the present day.

More details and the call for papers can be found here.

I regret not being able to submit a paper or attend the conference myself!

A book of old embroidery, 1921

It was a such a surprise to find this book on-line. I borrowed it from the library a couple of years ago, and it's great to have a pfd copy! Click on the link to browse and/or download it for free:

Holme, C., & Kendrick, A. (1921) A book of old embroidery, London, New York: The Studio.

This book is a collection of embroidered pieces, some of them from the Victoria and Albert Museum. It focuses on different countries and different historical periods. What I like about this book is that it contains some images that I haven't seen elsewhere. When it comes to Medieval embroidery, some pieces keep popping up over and over again, so it's really nice to see something “fresh”.

My favorite is this German 14^th century whitework wall hanging. Apparently, back in 1921 it was part of the V&A collection... I wonder whether it's still there, because I'd love to see it . (I wrote a tutorial about this type of border here). Click on the image to enlarge:

 image taken from Holme, C., & Kendrick, A. (1921) A book of old embroidery, London, New York: The Studio.

note: kbsalazar pointed out in the comments section that you can find this piece in the V&A on-line database here. Thanks for sharing!

 image taken from the Victoria & Albert database

Reference for ca 1340 French pouch in Krakow

Finally, I've found the reference for the ca 1340 French pouch in Krakow (I wrote about that one here). It's in this book:

Von Wilckens, L. (1991). Die textilen Künste von der Spätantike bis um 1500. München: Verlag C. H. Beck. ISBN 978-3406353635

On page 206 you will find two small b&w images of this pouch, one of the front and one of the back. On the side that I didn't get to see, the cap of the bearded man is pulled down. I must confess that the meaning of this all is a bit of a mystery to me :-) I scanned the German text, but so far, I haven't read anything related to this pouch. If anyone of you knows more, we'd love to hear about it!

By the way, this book is a real must-have if you're interested in medieval textiles. The book covers the following chapters:

• weaving up to the 7th century
• woven silks 7-13 th century
• woven narrow bands and borders
• woven silks 1300-1500
• woven fabrics, linen ,wool and mixed fabrics
• dyed and printed fabrics
• embroidery
• tapestry
• “other” techniques (sprang, knitting)

It contains a lot of images, both b%w and in color, and is has a substantial amount of images I haven't seen in other books, or only in references which are hard to find and/or very expensive. I really enjoyed the chapter on embroidery, with quite detailed images of German 14th century whitework. 

Building a wardrobe: a mood board

One of the things Isis and I are working on now is making warm winter cloths. Isis just finished a pair of lovely needlebound mittens and is now sewing a woolen overdress. I'm making a liripipe and a linen chemise, and I also need a really warm dress to wear over my brown one.

But, I must confess I don't really like making clothes: it's so difficult to get the shape and size right.... I'd much rather do some embroidery:-) So, when I cut the fabric for my liripipe, I indulged in a little procrastination by making a dress mood board :-)

brown fabric: my current dress (from a shop in Rijswijk, NL)

dark purple fabric: my liripipe (from a merchant in Visby)

hair pins: from merchants in Nijmegen and Visby

pouch hanger: from Handelsgillet, see more extant pieces in Kunera database

silk, gold and linen thread: thrifted

wooden spool: Bikkel en Been

pouch: embroidery pattern by Wymarc

wool and linen samples: from Naturtuche