Textile fragment of the week

A printed chasuble from Husaby church, Sweden

/ Maria / 1 Comment

We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with a very rare object.
A block printed chasuble in linen from Husaby church, Västergötland, Sweden. Dated early 15th century.
The chasuble is in a remarkable condition considering it’s age. And it has kept it original medieval shape and have not been remade in any matter.

The chasuble consists of six different pieces sewn together and then printed on top of seams and everything. The fabric is woven in two shaft/ plain weave, and is a fairly even weave with high class spun threads. No lumps on the threads!

Originally it was printed with black paint, but it also show signs of being painted with a red, yellow and green paint on some places. The green paint have eaten the fabric and today the fabric is broken where it was painted.

The pattern bring to mind 14th century Italian silk weaves and it’s very easy to understand where the inspiration came from.

The print believes to be either Swedish or German. The print size is 44 x 15 cm.

Today the chasuble is to be found in the collections of The Swedish History Museum.

/ Amica and Maria

Photos by Historical Textiles and Historiska
Please use CC-BY if reposting.

  • Photo: Historiska
  • Photo: Historiska

46/2018- A good quality wool fabric from Uppsala

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Denna textil är hittad vid utgrävningarna i kvarteret Rådhuset i Uppsala. Textilien är daterad till 1200-1500. Idag är den en del av samlingarna från Historiska Museet.

Fragmentet är ett ylletyg, vävt i  2/2 kypert och är av en relativt fin kvalité, även om den i dag är mycket tunnsliten. Varptråden är tunn och jämn, den är Z-spunnen med många snoddvarv per cm. Inslaget är lite tjockare än varpen. Inslaget är S- spunnet och har inte heller lika många snoddvarv per cm, detta medför att inslaget är lösare och fyller ut mer än vad varpen gör, i tyget. Därför är det också färre inslag per cm än det är med antalet varptrådar per cm. Att förhållandet mellan inslag och varp är så här pass olika är mycket vanligt under medeltiden.

Tittar man noga längs kanterna finns det på sina håll tydliga lämningar av tidigare stygn. Dessa stygn syns idag som ett antal runda små hål, och de är placerade på rad efter varandra. Jämnt fördelade.

Fragmentet räknar vi till grupp 3 – fragment av utslitna klädesplagg. Det skulle mycket väl ha kunnat varit ett klädesplagg ursprungligen. Vilket plagg tror du att det kan ha varit en del av?

Trevlig helg,
Amica och Maria


Photo: Ola Myrin, SHM

This textile fragment was found at the excavations at Rådhuset (City Hall) in Uppsala. The textile is dated to 1200-1500. Today it is part of the collections at The Swedish History Museum.

The fragment is a woolen fabric, woven in 2/2 twill and of a relatively fine quality, although today it is very worn and thin. The warp threads are thin and even, they are Z-spun with a high twist per cm. The weft is a bit thicker than the warp. The warp is S-spun and does not have as many twists per cm, which means that the warp is looser and fills out the fabric more than the warp does. Therefore, there are also fewer weft threads per cm than warp threads per cm. This kind of sett is very common during the Middle Ages.

Looking closely along the edges, remains of previous stitches are plainly visible. These stitches can be seen today as a number of small round holes, evenly spaced in a row. We classify the fragment as group 3 – fragments from worn-out garments. It could very well have been a garment originally.
What do you think it may have been a part of?

Happy weekend!
Amica and Maria

42/2018- Close up Birka

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We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with some close up pictures of some finds from the excavation from Birka, Björkö, Sweden.

The finds from Birka are world famous. Not only the amazing metal finds with brooches, swords and a lot of bling. But also for some breathtaking tablet woven bands with brocade in both silver and gold. Not to mention the super cool posaments finds attached to hats and other items.

Today we focus on the lovely small pieces of decorative wool textiles. And a lovely deer in gold thread. The first two pictures are both pieces of woven tapestry, the third picture is a brocaded tabby/type “krabbasnår”  and the fourth is the weird deer.

Dating 850- 1000 AD.
We have now over 11.000 followers on our Facebook page and we are super happy that you follow the page and that you share and comment on the posts we add. You all are very precious to us <3

Hugs,
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.

SparaSpara

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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25/2018- From Herjolfsnes, Greenland

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We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with a historical textile!
It’s late and we have been working hard in the dye pots all day long. But to keep our promise, to give you nice pictures once a week, we just post pictures of a celebrity everyone already know.

From the exhibition at National museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. A children’s kirtle made in wool from Herjolfsnes on Greenland.
Check out the lovely 2/2 twill and the nice front gore. The kirtle is dated to late 14th century ( please tell us if we are wrong- can’t find the book at this hour…) !

Happy weekend!
/ Amica and Maria

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23/ 2018- The weekend picture – Relic box from Vadstena

/ Maria / 2 Comments

We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with a  historical textile.

This week we focus on a relic box from Vadstena abbey church,  Östergötland, Sweden.
The abbey was founded in 1346 by Saint Bridget with the assistance of King Magnus IV of Sweden and his Queen Blanche of Namur, who made a will donating ten farms, including that of Vadstena in Dal Hundred, Östergötland, to the abbey founded by Bridget.

The relic box is dated to mid 15th century and it was made by the nuns at the abbey. The surface is covered in silk embroidery with additional details in gold. The inscription on the box says: stud capud est onnis sancti martiris qui suit de co(n) soriis sancti gereonis martiris
The box have got a pale red linen lining. The box and the foot is made out of wood.

The relic box can be found in the collections of Statens Historiska museum in Sweden.
Here is the link to the object in the database.

Happy weekend!
/ Amica and Maria

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22/2018 – The weekend picture’s- New photos

/ Maria / Leave a comment

We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with  historical textile news.

This week we focus on the textile collection at Statens Historiska museum in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the working place of Amica Sundström, from Historical textiles, where she works as the textile curator.

Right now the museum are taking new photos of the textile collection. That means high resolution pictures of the textile collection that can be found online in the near future.

Happy weekend!
/ Amica and Maria

 

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18/ 2018- The weekend picture’s

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We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with a  historical textile.

This week we focus on a chasuble in silk from Ösmo church, Södermanland, Sweden. The church is whose oldest parts are from the 1100s, is mostly famous for it’s paintings  made by Albertus Pictor.
The fabric is a silk damask in a pomegranate pattern, from Italy. Now pale red/ pinkish.
It’s decorated with two different tablet woven bands.  The band that is attached to the back of chasuble, in the shape of a cross,  is woven in silk with gold thread in the brocading weft. Green and blue silk is still visible on that band. The band that is attached around the neck line is possibly made from linen and have a gold thread in the brocading weft. We find is quite amusing that the neck band is not at all centered in the front.

The shape of the chasuble have been changed and some material have been cut off. The item shows some interesting piecing and give us an idea that the fabric was once very valuable. There are no traces of pattern matching. The seams shows that the silk fabric was sewn together with back stitches.  One can see the characteristic V-shaped stitches through the gap in between the pieces.
The linen lining is very impressive with it’s dark blue colour. Most likely dyed with woad.

The chasuble can be found in the collections of Statens Historiska museum in Sweden.
Here is the link to the object in the database. The chasuble is dated to mid -to late 15th century.

Happy weekend!
/ Amica and Maria

All images subject to CC BY SA. Photographer: Historical Textiles, specified at sharing of images. Make sure to do the same with the pictures from Historiska

Picture from Historiska museets database
Backside. With the decoration in shape of a cross
Detail of vertical part of cross
Detail from horizontal part of the tablet woven decoration
Detail from horizontal part of the tablet woven decoration
Detail from the tablet woven band attached to the neckline.
Picture from Historiska museets database
Detail of piecing, with stitches
Detail of piecing, with stitches.
Detail of piecing, with stitches
Detail of piecing, bottom end.
Linen lining in dark blue

17/ 2018 The weekend picture- Fringe frenzy

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We would like to wish you all a happy weekend with some  historical textiles.
We would also like to celebrate that we have over 10.000 followers in Facebook.
We could never have thought that there were so many textiles nerd’s out there. <3

This week we focus on fringes on various historical textiles.  All, except one, are woven in silk. The last one is woven in linen.

The fringes are attached to various items all related to church textiles.
The fringes  can all be found in the collections of Statens Historiska museum in Sweden.
The items are dated to 14-17th century.

/ Amica and Maria

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