Month: June 2024

NOW: Estonian Fringed Mitten with Embroidery ERM 7952/ab

Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week is from the islands off Estonia. It’s a lovely white mitten with a large extended cuff decorated with both embroidery and fringe. It was collected in 1912, but was made in 1762 CE.

Photo Credit: kindad, nõelkindad, ERM 7952/ab, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, http://www.muis.ee/en_GB/museaalview/556524 (CC0 1.0)

Object: Fringed Mitten with Embroidery

Description: A white wool mitten with a rounded oval tip that increases smoothly to an extended cuff. At the wrist there is red, blue, and yellow alternating fringe sewn into the underside of the mitten. There is also embroidery at the wrist consisting of a wavy blue line forming rough triangles between two lines of red running stitches with blue lacing around the red. According to the online catalog, the mitten is 36 cm long,1 which is just over 14 inches.

Dated to: 17622

Find location: The mitten was collected in the summer of 1912 by Richard Willems and Paul Ruus from Timofei Tänav, called Tähve, (1837-1914) at the Marti farm in the village of Külasema in Muhu Parish, Estonia, but was noted as being manufactured at Jaagu farm in Sõrve parish on Saaremaa, Estonia.3

Material: 2 ply (Z-spun, S-plied) Wool4

Stitch(es) used: unspecified. I suspect Finnish 2+2 F2, UUOO/UUOOO F2, but would need to analyze more.

Inventory number: ERM 7952/ab

Current location: Eesti Rahva Muuseum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://opendata.muis.ee/object/556524

Photographs: Larger versions of the photos are available from the museum’s online catalog.

Photo Credit: kindad, nõelkindad, ERM 7952/ab, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, http://www.muis.ee/en_GB/museaalview/556524 (CC0 1.0)
Photo Credit: kindad, nõelkindad, ERM 7952/ab, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, http://www.muis.ee/en_GB/museaalview/556524 (CC0 1.0)
Photo Credit: kindad, nõelkindad, ERM 7952/ab, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, http://www.muis.ee/en_GB/museaalview/556524 (CC0 1.0)
Photo Credit: kindad, nõelkindad, ERM 7952/ab, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, http://www.muis.ee/en_GB/museaalview/556524 (CC0 1.0)

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://opendata.muis.ee/object/556524 Accessed 16 June 2024 ↩︎
  2. https://opendata.muis.ee/object/556524 Accessed 16 June 2024 ↩︎
  3. https://opendata.muis.ee/object/556524 Accessed 16 June 2024 ↩︎
  4. The museum catalog simply notes Wool https://opendata.muis.ee/object/556524 Accessed 16 June 2024. Analysis of the photographs by this author shows that it is 2 Z-spun yarns plied S. ↩︎

NOW: Wari Four-cornered Hat 1983.497.7

Sometimes nalbinding is combined with other techniques to make a artifact. My sincere thanks to Niina-Hannele Nuutinen for bringing this particular artifact to my attention. Generally the four-cornered hats of the Wari, from 8th-10th c. Peru, are knotted. This one is knotted with pile sides, but the top is Simple Looping. So this week’s Nalbound Object of the week is actually only partially nalbound.

1983.497.7 Wari four-cornered hat with Simple Looping top.
Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Public Domain CC0

Object: Wari Four-cornered Hat with Simple Looping top

Description: A four-cornered brightly colored hat made with knotted pile in a lozenge pattern. The four corners have colored tassels. The top is Simple Looping worked in four differently colored bands from the sides of the hat to the top. The hat is 5 1/2 inches high and 5 3/4 inches wide (14 × 14.6 cm).1

Dated to: 8th–10th century2

Find location: The Wari culture was centered in the central Peruvian highland valley of Ayacucho. Wari pile hats with provenance come from the south or central coast of Peru.3 The exact provenance of this hat is unspecified.

Material: camelid hair4

Stitch(es) used: Larkshead Knotting with supplementary pile sides5 with Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O, in for the top (Top stitch determination by Anne Marie Decker from photographs)

Inventory number: 1983.497.7

Current location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314624

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Frame, Mary. Andean Four-Cornered Hats: Ancient Volumes: From the Collection of Arthur M. Bullowa. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990, pp. 18–19, pl. 8.

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://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314624 Accessed 9 June 2024. Mary Frame gives different measurements, h. 15.2 cm; c. 50.2, in Andean Four-Cornered Hats: Ancient Volumes: From the Collection of Arthur M. Bullowa. ↩︎
  2. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314624 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
  3. Frame, Andean Four-Cornered Hats: Ancient Volumes: From the Collection of Arthur M. Bullowa pg. 10 ↩︎
  4. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314624 Accessed 9 June 2024 ↩︎
  5. Frame, Andean Four-Cornered Hats: Ancient Volumes: From the Collection of Arthur M. Bullowa pg. 28 ↩︎

NOW: Morakarlen’s White Exhibition Mittens

Last week’s brown mittens with red embroidery on the white cuffs were not the only pair that Erik Säterbeck made for Jacob Brandberg’s museum at Ornässtugan. He also made this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week, a pair of white mittens with a large long cuff.

Credit: Engström, Ebba, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)

Object: Morakarlen’s White Exhibition Mittens

Description: A pair of white mittens with a wide cuff. These mittens are shorter than last week’s; coming in at just under 18 1/2 inches, 468 mm. They are wider. The cuff being just over 1o 1/2 inches, 270 mm.1

Dated to: 1750’s CE2

Find location: Ornässtugan,3 Sweden

Material: white wool

Stitch(es) used: Misidentified as knitted4 in the museum catalog

Inventory number: 19206_LRK and 19207_LRK

Current location: Livrustkammern, Stockholm, Sweden

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://samlingar.shm.se/object/72DAD6A6-26D7-4EE8-B287-686D63403EAF

https://samlingar.shm.se/object/6702FDC1-B154-432D-A7E2-EAFCDF8B2E08

Some sources in which more information can be found: There is a literature reference in the online catalog and additional literature references as well as additional photos are included in:

De märkliga allmogedräkterna i Ornässtugan.

Photographs (if permissions allow):

Back of 19207_LRK
Credit: Engström, Ebba, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)
Palm side of 19207_LRK.
Credit: Engström, Ebba, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)
Palm side of 19206_LRK.
Credit: Engström, Ebba, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)
Back of 19206_LRK.
Credit: Engström, Ebba, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)

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://samlingar.shm.se/object/6702FDC1-B154-432D-A7E2-EAFCDF8B2E08 and https://samlingar.shm.se/object/72DAD6A6-26D7-4EE8-B287-686D63403EAF Accessed 4 June 2024. ↩︎
  2. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/6702FDC1-B154-432D-A7E2-EAFCDF8B2E08 and https://samlingar.shm.se/object/72DAD6A6-26D7-4EE8-B287-686D63403EAF Accessed 4 June 2024. ↩︎
  3. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/6702FDC1-B154-432D-A7E2-EAFCDF8B2E08 and https://samlingar.shm.se/object/72DAD6A6-26D7-4EE8-B287-686D63403EAF Accessed 4 June 2024. ↩︎
  4. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/6702FDC1-B154-432D-A7E2-EAFCDF8B2E08 and https://samlingar.shm.se/object/72DAD6A6-26D7-4EE8-B287-686D63403EAFAccessed 4 June 2024. ↩︎

NOW: Morakarlen’s Brown Exhibition Mittens

In the 1750’s, Erik Säterbeck crafted a beautiful pair of long mittens for the Vasa museum at Ornässtugan, commissioned by Jacob Brandberg. Made of brown and white wool, with intricate red embroidery, these mittens were displayed for 200 years before going to the Livrustkammaren’s conservation studio in the 1950s. They are now in Stockholm’s Livrustkammern.

It’s not often that we know the name of the person that nalbound a particular artifact. Especially not for an artifact made in the 18th century. However, this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a beautiful pair of long mittens made in the 1750’s by Erik Säterbeck. The mittens were commissioned by Jacob Brandberg to accompany the Morakarlen’s robes made for the Vasa museum he established in the Ornässtugan where Gustav Vasa ostensibly spent the night during his time in Dalarna in the early 1520’s.1 The mittens were on display for around 200 years before they were sent to the Livrustkammaren’s conservation studio in the 1950’s.

Credit: Livrustkammaren, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)

Object: Brown and white, embroidered mittens for the Morakarl exhibition.

Description: Long, brown wool mittens, with a wider white cuff embroidered with red thread in a wide band. The mittens are just under 26 inches long, 660 mm, and just under 9 1/2 wide, 240 mm.2

Dated to: 1750’s CE3

Find location: Ornässtugan,4 Sweden

Material: brown and white wool5

Stitch(es) used: Misidentified as knitted6 in the museum catalog, this pair appears to be made using the Dalby stitch, F1 UOU/OUOO, based on the images.7 (Stitch identification by Anne Marie Decker based on photographs)

Credit: Livrustkammaren, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)
Credit: Livrustkammaren, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)
A close-up of the red embroidery on the cuff.
Credit: Livrustkammaren, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)

Additional photos of the embroidery are on SHM’s site here and here.

Inventory number: 19207_LRK and 19208_LRK

Current location: Livrustkammern, Stockholm, Sweden

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA

See also https://samlingar.shm.se/media/71766506-FB55-48D9-8F38-49FCFC684BCF

Some sources in which more information can be found: There is a literature reference in the online catalog and additional literature references as well as additional photos are included in:

De märkliga allmogedräkterna i Ornässtugan.

Photographs:

Morakarlen’s garments, including two pairs of nalbound mittens in the upper left. You can clearly see that the embroidery on the white cuff of the brown mittens is red. Credit: Livrustkammaren, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: Livrustkammaren, Livrustkammaren/SHM (CC0)

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://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA and https://kuragehistoria.com/2019/03/14/de-markliga-allmogedrakterna-i-ornasstugan/ both Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎
  2. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎
  3. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎
  4. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎
  5. https://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎
  6. “Stickad” https://samlingar.shm.se/object/AFAE0473-2929-411A-A72F-7EE307B6A2AA Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎
  7. https://samlingar.shm.se/media/3A307160-92C5-424B-BE42-2F23080D153D and https://samlingar.shm.se/media/11D6D624-8F96-48AB-BBBB-6A4559126F32 Accessed 3 June 2024 ↩︎