Month: February 2024

NOW: Cap with Puppies 1964.52.1

The collection of Peruvian nalbinding is full of beautiful figural work. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is one of my favorites: a small cap with a dog nursing her puppies.1

A small dark brown cap/fascinator with a light brown edge and a striped mother dog nursing her three striped puppies.
Photo: The Textile Museum – Public Domain

Object: Peruvian cap with puppies

Description: The cap is a slightly ovaloid shape just under 6 inches in diameter (5.5 x 5.75 inches) and 1.5 inches high (3.81 H x 14.60 W x 13.97 D cm).2 On top of the cap is a striped “dog” nursing three striped “puppies” worked in 3 dimensional figural nalbinding.

We know of several other caps from Peru in this time frame with figural work on them. One in purple and white stripes with a chicken head. Another in red and yellows with two birds on top.

Dated to: 1000-15003

Find location: Peru, probably coastal4

Material: camelid5 (meaning unspecified fiber off the alpaca or llama or other variety of camelid animals6)

Stitch(es) used: S-crossed Simple Looping, B1 U, (museum record says Cross-knit Looping,7 but image shows a surface texture of Simple Looping or possibly Pierced Looping)

Inventory number: Accession Number: 1964.52.1

Current location: The Textile Museum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Rogers, George (Author). “Calendar” in The Textile Museum Bulletin, The Textile Museum Bulletin, Washington, D.C., 1990, vol. Spring, p. 8.

The Textile Museum. An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997.

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  1. Looping in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997. ↩︎
  2. Dimensions: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  3. Date: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  4. Geography: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  5. Materials: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  6. An interesting article regarding the difficulties in identifying between the 4 types of camelids in South America in the archeological record can be found in Paloma Diaz-Maroto, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Isabel Cartajena, Lautaro Núñez, Michael V Westbury, Valeria Varas, Mauricio Moraga, Paula F Campos, Pablo OrozcoterWengel, Juan Carlos Marin, Anders J Hansen (2021) Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes eLife 10:e63390 at https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63390/ ↩︎
  7. Structure: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/, but the diagram in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997 for Looping, which is illustrated with this cap, shows alternating rows of S- and Z-crossed Simple Looping, not Cross-knit Looping. ↩︎

NOW: Ancient Puebloan Sock P89.231, 13th cent

Our next Nalbound Object of the Week is one of the Ancient Puebloan socks from what is now known as the Southwestern United States. There is not a lot of detail available about this sock. What differentiates it from the other socks found in Ancient Pueblo contexts is the very interesting detail of its material.

Ancient Puebloan Sock as on display in July of 2019 at the Bata Shoe Museum.
Photo: Anne Marie Decker 7 July 2019

Object: Ancient Puebloan Sock

Description: A dark brown above ankle sock with a light brown tie at the ankle laced between the stitches. According to the Bata Shoe Museum, it may have been worn alone or with sandals.1 However, unlike several in the Arizona State museum, this one is entirely Simple Looping and is not worked off a braided or woven sole.

Dated to: c. 1200 CE, 13th century CE2

Find location: Southwestern United States3

Material: Human Hair4

Stitch(es) used: Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O (Stitch determination by Anne Marie Decker)

Inventory number: P89.231

Current location: Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada

Link to museum catalog or other data: Scroll through the online exhibition about socks to find the Ancient Puebloan sock: https://batashoemuseum.ca/socks/ (Click the next link 11 times)

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Arizona State University has a nice article on related Ancestral Pueblo Shoe–Socks, including some really lovely photos of some in their collection.

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  1. The exhibition label in 2019 and https://batashoemuseum.ca/socks/ ↩︎
  2. The exhibition label in 2019 and https://batashoemuseum.ca/socks/ ↩︎
  3. The exhibition label in 2019 and https://batashoemuseum.ca/socks/ ↩︎
  4. The exhibition label in 2019 and https://batashoemuseum.ca/socks/ ↩︎

NOW: Kinzembe, Nkutu, or Zamba kya mfumu – Kongalese Prestige Cape 1962.1.14

This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week comes from Central Africa. There are quite a few of these beautifully fine Prestige Capes from the former Kingdom of Kongo now in museums around the world. I was honored to be able to examine this particular one closely. Until you are in the presence of one, it is hard to comprehend just how delicate and fine this complex compound nalbinding is; and then you add in the openwork patterning. Definitely breathtaking.

Photo Credit: Textile Museum Acquisition – Public Domain

Object: Kinzembe,1 Nkutu,2 or Zamba kya mfumu3 – Kongalese Prestige Cape

Description: A stunningly fine raffia cape worked in a trebly intralaced compound nalbinding stitch with an openwork zigzag pattern. The neck opening has a layer of Simple Looping around the edge. The outer edges have raffia fringe knotted onto them. The front and back rows have strings knotted on every few stitches from which the handle-like tassels are suspended. This cape has one both front and back. Some also have them off the sides.

There is an illustration of an etching, based on a photograph, that was made ca. 1880 of a Chief in Full Dress Attire wearing a nkutu on page 73 of Kongo: Power and Majesty.

Dated to: 19th century CE4

Find location: Democratic Republic of Congo, what was southern Zaire.5

Material: raffia6

Stitch(es) used: B1 UU/OO/UU/OOU as determined by Anne Marie Decker during her examination of the object on 14 June 2023. The row heights are very fine for this compound of a nalbinding stitch; around 5/8ths of an inch. There is a single row of Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O, around the neck opening.

The Textile Museum specifies that the structure is “looping,” but not the specific stitch used.7 This type of cape has also been misidentified as sprang8 in other examples, but they are not.

So far, the only other place where we see other stitches in the same trebly intralaced family of stitches is in the Omani stitch sock as described by Peter Collingwood (the only example of that particular stitch out of Oman that has been found so far).

Inventory number: Accession Number: 1962.1.14

Current location: The Textile Museum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/

Some sources in which more information can be found:

LaGamma, Alisa, ed. Kongo: Power and Majesty. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. ISBN 978-1-58839-575-7

Photographs:

Photos of this and several other examples of Kinzembe, Nkutu, or Zamba kya mfumu can be seen at Some of the fashion accessories used in the Kongo Kingdom – Raffia textiles

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/ ↩︎
  2. The Brooklyn Museum uses the term nkutu for the Prestige Cape in their collection: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/13009 as does the British Museum with the one in their collection: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1853-0713-1 ↩︎
  3. https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/ ↩︎
  4. https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/ ↩︎
  5. https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/ ↩︎
  6. https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/. This is not the only type of fiber in which we find this type of cape worked. ↩︎
  7. https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/11243/ ↩︎
  8. For example, the British Museum’s Af1853,0713.1 lists its technique as sprang: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1853-0713-1, but also provides clear and close photographs that show it is worked in exactly the same interlinking nalbinding stitch as this one in The Textile Museum. ↩︎

NOW: Uppsala Sock UM11107

The Uppsala sock now joins our Nalbound Object of the Week collection. I had the pleasure seeing this sock on display during my first trip out to view extant objects back in June of 1999.

Photo: Upplandsmuseet Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

Object name: Uppsala Sock

Description: A light brown sock with a spiral heel (10 rows), slit at the ankle (7 rows), and a darker brown embellishment along the cuff/slit. The toe of the sock has 17 rows.1 The heel is worked in a beautiful perfect spiral; a photo of which is included in Anne Marie Frazén’s article “En medeltida socka i nålning” linked below (as well as other photos taken during conservation). The sock is 21 cm long with a 5 cm ankle shaft.2

Dated to: Found in late medieval layers3

Find location: Excavated in December of 1961 in plot 8 of the excavations of Duvan quarter in Uppsala, Sweden, amongst a large quantity of leather shoe remains.4

Material: now light brown S-spun Wool. The ankle decoration is a now dark brown S-twisted, fairly thick, wool yarn.5

Stitch(es) used: Mammen, UOO/UUOO [F2] (Frazén’s article shows a diagram of the stitch (upside down), but does not specify the connection used. However, she does say it is the same stitch found in the Mammen pennants and in the Egyptian sock described by Schinnerer in Antike Handarbeiten.)6

Inventory number: Uplandsmuseets inventarienummer UM11107

Current location: Upplandsmuseet (not on display)

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://digitaltmuseum.se/011023866712/socka

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Frazén, Anne Marie. “En medeltida socka i nålning” in Uppland: årsbok. Upplands fornminnesforening, 1963. Pgs. 38-47.

Kania, Katrin. Kleidung im Mittelalter: Materialien, Konstruktion, Nähtechnik : Ein Handbuch. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 2010. ISBN: 978-3-412-20482-2.

Rothquist, Linnéa, Anita Andersson, Håkan Liby och Olle Norling. “SÖMA, NÅLA, BINDA nålbundet från Uppland”. 2003.

Additional Photographs:

Anna-Märta Berg shows the Uppsala sock in the exhibition at the Upplandsmuseet in 1964.
Photo: Upplandsmuseet Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

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  1. Frazén, Pg. 39. ↩︎
  2. Frazén, Pg. 39. ↩︎
  3. Frazén, Pg. 41. ↩︎
  4. Frazén, Pgs. 38 & 41. ↩︎
  5. Frazén, Pgs. 38-39. ↩︎
  6. Franzén, Pgs. 40 & 44. However, Katrin Kania lists UOO/UUOO F1, which would be Korgen, in the entry in her book Kleidung im Mittelalter: Materialien, Konstruktion, Nähtechnik : Ein Handbuch. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 2010. ISBN: 978-3-412-20482-2 on page 398 when citing from Anne Marie Franzén’s article. ↩︎