Month: July 2018

29/2018- The display is everything

/ Maria / 2 Comments

We would like to wish you all a very late happy weekend with some reconstruction pictures.

We have just visited Kalmar castle and Roskilde cathedral.

Both places have in their exhibitions a reconstruction of “Queen Margareta’s golden gown”. Roskilde had the original until the 30year war ( in the 17th century) when the Swedes was passing the cathedral on the way home from the war, and just stole the kirtel. Today the original can been seen in Uppsala cathedral.

The kirtel in Kalmar is a printed silk fabric. The fabric is very thin and light.

The one in Roskilde is a reconstruction made by Borås textile University in 1993. That means silk warp and gilded silver thread and silk in the weft. That fabric is very stiff and have more in common with tin foil then a smooth silk.

Here are the different displays:

Kalmar

Roskilde

We are very happy to show how different fabrics drapes. When made out of the same pattern it’s very obvious.

Medieval gold brocade does not really drapes, it’s more like wearing a traffic cone…

Happy weekend ( well…. Tuesday 😉 )

/ Amica and Maria

27/ 2018- A Swedish point

/ Maria / 2 Comments

We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with a historical textile related artifact!
This week we show you a lace end, a point.
We would also like to celebrate that we have now over 10400 followers on Facebook <3

The lace end, the point,  is excavated from the nunnery of Gudhem, Västergötland, Sweden. Dating 1100-1500 AD. The nunnery was closed 1529 AD. We guess that the item might comes from the 14-15th century.

It’s a simple piece of twisted brass or copper wire, leaving an opening for the lace thread. The cut end have been hammered so that the metal wires are smooth and form a point. There is no traces left of textile on this particular piece. But there are other twist point’s that still have a textile cord attached to it, so we are certain that this kind of twist points were used as lace points. Approx. size 4cm.

This piece can be found in the collections of Historiska museet in Stockholm, Sweden. Here is a link to the find in the database ( no picture).

Happy weekend!
/ Amica and Maria

ps. sorry for the crappy picture- we are gong to give you more pictures of twist points in the future.

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26/ 2018 – Eric of Pomerania’s Belt

/ Maria / 3 Comments

We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with a historical textile!
This week we focus on another celebrity from Denmark, from the exhibition at National museum in Copenhagen. The belt of Eric of Pomerania.
We would also like to celebrate that we have now over 10300 followers on Facebook 😀

The belt is tablet woven in silk and gilded silver. Originally the silk was very colourful in red, blue and green. The gold have fallen off but on some places one can see traces of it. The belt is dated to: girdle and belt mounts- early 13th – early 14th century.
Buckle and strap end- mid-15th century (Fingerlin 1971; Nørlund 1937)

A full analysis have been done by Viktoria Holmqvist and her article is published in: North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X Series: Ancient Textiles Series Volume: 5, Copyright Date: 2010, Published by: Oxbow Books
Thank you Viktoria for an amazing job <3

Happy weekend!
/ Amica and Maria

 

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