Today’s random calendar post is about some garments from the 17th century.
It is King Gustav II Adolf’s doublet, his shirt and a pair of trousers belonging to a page. Here comes a mixed cavalcade of pictures of these objects. Today all can be found in the collections of Livrustkammaren.
Here is a link to the doublet
Here is a link to the shirt
Here is a link to the trousers
Today it will be a mix of slightly different medieval silk embroideries. Some display incredibly meticulous craftsmanship and astonishing detail. You can understand that they were produced in a studio. Others are perhaps not quite as professionally executed.. But, what they lose in accuracy, they make up for in charm.
Of the preserved embroideries found in Swedish History’s collections, the overwhelming majority are connected to Catholicism. The most common motifs are saints. Often the saint him/her-self has been embroidered separately and then applied to a background. Sometimes only the saint remains and sometimes only the background remains.
They have been embroidered on linen fabric. Very often it is reused towels or other rather worn fabrics that can be found on the backs of the embroidery. The backside of embroideries can tell a lot!
In addition to “painting” with the stitches, the gilded thread can be sewn down with different colors on the silk thread and thus create another possibility to create the pattern effect.
Our sewing teachers at school must have had a heart attack from the backs of the medieval embroideries. What the back would look like has been completely uninteresting and strikingly often it is pure chaos and maybe also a bit of glue to make sure the silk yarns wouldn’t unravel.
Dating on these are 15th century.
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/Amica and Maria
Today it will be a slightly younger item. But on the other hand, we can tell who the object belonged to, which makes it extra interesting. It is none other than a king, Gustav II Adolf, Gustavus Adolphus.
King of Sweden between 1611-1632, known as the king who is credited for the rise of Sweden as a great European power (Swedish: Stormaktstiden). During his reign, Sweden became one of the primary military forces in Europe during the Thirty Years’ War, helping to determine the political and religious balance of power in Europe. He was formally and posthumously given the name Gustavus Adolphus the Great.
He was shot and died on the battlefield in Lutzen on November 6, 1632. Many of his clothes are still in the collections of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm, Sweden. And also some clothes he wore when he was shoot. Still with stains of blood. Very dramatic.
We have taken a look at his collar with an absolutely astonishing bobin lace. The fabric is super thin linen and woven in plain weave. The collar is divided in 6 pieces with a lace in-between the fabrics. It’s sewn with superfine back stitches. The lace is made of linen, the threads are two plied. His portrait show how to use such item. According to tradition, it was worn by Gustav II Adolf at a ball in Augsburg on May 30, 1632, and was torn by the king’s dancing partner, maiden Anna Maria Breesler (Breissler) and given to her as a gift.
More pictures of the collar can be found here:
Photos from Historical Textiles, please cred.
/Amica and Maria
Today, on the fourth Advent, we think there needs to be a post that is a little “extra everything”. That’s why we bring out this wonderful tablecloth from Hammarby church, Sweden. Dated first part of 16th century. It’s a white weave in a goose’s eye, linen or possibly hemp. The tablecloth is incomplete but still measures an impressive 94 x 553 cm.
In terms of pattern, it consists of scenes with people who, among other things, appear to be attending a banquet. There are also outdoor scenes with animals. Between the scenes there are floral motifs, acanthus vines and the tablecloth is framed by an approx. 18 cm wide border with, among other things, lions on it.
It has also got a fringe in red and white, on one of the sides.
It is embroidered with stem stitch, chain stitch in silk and wool. It is assumed to be a work from northern Germany.
Today in the collections of Swedish History museum. You can see more pictures here
Strikingly often, textiles are found where you might not have initially thought they would be.
So in case with these three jousting shields. The core is made of hard wood and in order to create reinforcement, stability and a base to paint on, all three shields have been covered with a woven fabric. The fabric has been glued to the wood with an animal glue, over this a pigskin parchment and then coated with gesso and painted.
The fabric that can be seen where the gesso has cracked and fallen off is a relatively coarse linen/ hemp woven in plain weave.
The shields are called burial shields in the database but show all the identical features of jousting shields. The question of whether they were ever used for jousting may not be proven.
The shields date from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century.
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/ Amica and Maria
Today we will talk about a kind of medieval textile that often have been falsified and many fakes are found in museums all over the world. Printed linen fabric. These pieces are believed to be originals. They come from the medieval church Södra Råda. 2001 the wooden church was burned down. And 2003 a reconstruction started to rebuild the church. Happily all medieval textiles was already at museums when that happened.
The printed in is printed in black and appears to have been painted red and yellow in some places. We don’t know what kind of pigment that were used. The fabrics have been sewn together before the motif was printed. It’s believed to be a work produced in the west of Germany.
Agnes Geijer dated the print to mid 15th century.
Today in the collection of Swedish History Museum. Read more here
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/ Amica and Maria
In Italy there is a privat collection of medieval textiles. In this collection one can find a linen coif from 1470-1540. It’s beyond cool and we have written about it before, here you can find that.
We just wanna lift the fact the the tie bands and not made from fabric but from braided linen threads, and then attached to the coif. It’s started with a knot on the braid.
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/ Amica and Maria
Recycling. Perhaps the most obvious within the life cycle of a historical textile. Made, worn, mended, remade and used til all was gone…. And here we have a great example. A chasuble.
The embroidery of Jesus was probably made during the 17th century on a gold and silk relief velvet fabric from the 15th century. To consider during the 17th century that a then 200-year-old fabric was perfectly acceptable as a basis for the embroidery, is an attitude that is quite far from today’s ideas. We are both shocked by it, but also know that’s the use of such habits probably is the reason why they are still around… Ney but yay, in a way…
The velvet was probably already quite worn in the 17th century but didn’t stop the creator. We love the fact that Christ’s two legs are a recycled linen table cloth or a towel, a very rare kind from this time. Enlarge the picture for full visibility!
Dated 1350-1699
Now in the collections of The Swedish History museum.
More pictures here
/ Amica and Maria
Another day another dutch embroidery, this time a shield for a cope. From Grödinge church, Sweden. With checkred floor and surprised animals. Silk in satin stitch and couched gold thread. Background in plain weave linen, that can be seen where the embroidery have been damaged. .
We cannot understand how in the world they managed to dye such a wonderful orange and teal.
Dated 1450-1500.
Now in the collections of The Swedish History museum.
More pictures here
/ Amica and Maria
Please cred us if sharing the photos. And click the phots open för HUGE resolution.
Our twenty-third Advent calendar post 2021 is:
Bees wax. Sewing wax to be precise. It’s difficult to know people used sewing wax during the Middle ages, but a small lump of wax have been found at Läckö, Sweden. It’s both calming a charming to see that the historical person that once slid the linen thread over the wax created the same trace in the wax that we do today. This piece of wax shows in a wonderful way a contact with a human hand, even if the time elapsed is at least half a millennium.
The wax is from the collections of the Swedish History museum.
1- sorry for mixing days up for all you advent calendar people.
2- wax is an absolute necessity in the sewing box. Waxing linen thread before sewing starts is important so that the thread does not wear out more than necessary. That is why wax is very important in our sewing kit.
/ Amica and Maria
Photos by: Historical Textiles CC-by please cred if sharing the pictures
