While preparing last week’s Nalbound Object of the Week, I discovered another fascinating piece of nalbinding in the MAK. This week brings us a new (to me) Peruvian cap with figural work on it. In this case, it’s a lizard! You will need to go to the MAK’s online catalog to see a photo, https://sammlung.mak.at/sammlung_online?id=collect-100216, as the MAK’s photos are not CC or public domain.
Object: Cap with Lizard
Description: A brown cap with a row and the central top in cream and brown lizard with cream highlights standing on top.
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Sometimes I know very little about an object. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week appeared in news articles about شهر سوخته Shahr-e-Sookhteh, Iran’s “Burnt City” published in January of 2022. I also discovered that in 2018 there was a multidisciplinary project run by the Iranian Archaeological team during which there was conservation and micro analysis of the textile collection in Shahr i Sokhta. I’d be very interested in learning about the results of those examinations. Periodically I do another search on these fragments to see if more information pops up. Last July a new article turned up on the web with some very interesting references to try to track down.
Object: Fragment from شهر سوخته Shahr-e-Sookhteh
Description: There are apparently several fragments of Simple Looping with large multi-row bands of alternating color, light (cream) and dark (brown). The third & fourth articles linked below show the one fragment that first brought my attention to this artifact. The first and second links, one from the multidisciplinary project, include a photo that looks to be different fragments and a larger section of the same textile. These are some of around 47 fabrics (techniques unspecified but clearly including more than just the nalbound fragments), consisting of 265 fragments, that were found in Shahr-e-Sookhteh.1
Dated to: Shahr-e-Sookhteh was occupied between 3200-1700 BCE (early articles indicated the city was abandoned in 2100 BCE2, but later articles indicate the city was last occupied in 1700 BCE3)
Find location: شهر سوخته Shahr-e-Sookhteh, Iran’s “Burnt City.” شهر سوخته is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.4
Material: unspecified
Stitch(es) used: Z-crossed Simple Looping (analysis based on photograph by AnneMarieDecker), F1 O
Inventory number: unspecified
Current location: likely at the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) multi-disciplinary Base at Shahr-i Sokhta
Link to museum catalog or other data: unknown
Some sources in which more information can be found:
1. https://amordadnews.com/172355 This is the most recent article released and it lists several references that look to be very interesting.
The web pages on which the earlier news articles were published are no longer live. The Internet Archive did save copies as part of their Wayback Machine project.
Photographs: There are a couple of interesting photos that were published, but as I don’t have contacts to request permissions, you’ll need to explore the links above to see them.
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From 1872 CE we get this week’s Nalbound Object sewn by P. Nilsson’s daughter in Äspö in Skåne Sweden:1 the remains of a beautifully colored singlad ball.
Description: Not much of the nalbound exterior remains, but what does remain shows colorwork in multiple patterns involving two colors being used in the same row in several places. The ball is 6.5 cm in diameter2; divided into 8 sections, each worked from the edges into the center. The center is presumed to be cork, wrapped with possibly flax cord.3 It was then covered in course cloth, partitioned into eights and then the Simple Looping outer layer was applied.
Material: The nalbinding was worked in multiple colors of wool.5
Stitch(es) used: Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O (determination from photo by Anne Marie Decker) called “langettstygn”6 [langett stitch] in Swedish
Singlade balls are very similar in concept and style to Temari balls from Japan. However, Temari balls primarily use wrapped patterns, while Singlade balls are worked in the Simple Looping structure that can be considered a variant of Nalbinding when creating a fabric, but embroidery when worked into the ball base as seen in some of the more complicated modern designs.
In 1932 Mina Lundberg of Gävle, Uppland, Sweden gave this ball she used in her childhood in the 2nd half of the 19th century to the Upplandsmuseet. It is made with a center made of a broken celluloid ball with peas in it. It otherwise made in the same way as the old catalogue records that peas would be put in a goose’s throat, one end stuck in the other, that was then wrapped in yarn and the singlade cover worked over it in buttonhole stitches. https://digitaltmuseum.se/011023861906/boll
Some of the wide variety of patterns that can be worked in Simple Looping on Singlade balls. Photo from a class that was taught at Brodericaféet på Regionmuseet i Skåne in 2018.
A pair of Singlad boll by Zadig Art purchased in the Kulturen gift shop while I was in Lund in 2023 to examine the mitten. I was so excited to find traditional nalbinding available. I had heard of the Skånsk tradition of singlad balls, but hadn’t seen them in person. The yellow and brown one on the left rattles. Photo: Anne Marie Decker
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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
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.
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)
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.
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.
Looping in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997. ↩︎
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/ ↩︎
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. ↩︎
Anne Marie Decker with the Tarim beret as it was taken out of the display case for her to examine in order to determine the stitch used. 21 June 2000.
The Tarim Beret is a beautifully fine example of what kinds of designs are possible using even the simplest variants of nalbinding. This hat was on display in 2000.
Object: Tarim Beret
Description: A finely nalbound brown wool beret stretched over a felt roll. The stitch patterning leaves a visual impression of four striped quarters, but it is worked in the round.
Dated to: ca. 1000 BC (wood of the tomb calibrated C14 results date to 2960 ±115 years Before Present* (published 1999))
Find location: Zaghunluq Cemetery, Chärchän/Qiemo County, Tarim Basin (central southern edge thereof), Xinjiang, China
Material: Wool
Stitch(es) used: Space patterned Z-crossed Simple Looping, F1 O (as determined by Anne Marie Decker 2000)
Current location: 新疆维吾尔自治区博物馆 Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum, 581 Xibei Rd, Saybag District, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China, 830000
*王炳华 = Wang, Binghua. 新疆古尸 : 古代新疆居民及其文化 = Xinjiang gu shi: gu dai Xinjiang ju min ji qi wen hua = The ancient corpses of Xinjiang : the peoples of ancient Xinjiang and their cvlture [i.e. culture]. Wulumuqi-shi: Xinjiang ren min chu ban she, 2001. ISBN 7-228-05161-0
Festive Koteka from Papua New Guinea on display in The Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. Photo taken by Anne Marie Decker August 30, 2022.
Traditional forms of nalbinding are used for a wide variety of purposes around the world. One area with a strong continuous tradition of nalbinding is the highlands of Papua New Guinea and West Papua, Indonesia. While one is most likely to be familiar with the Bilums from the region, another usage of nalbinding is found covering some Koteka.
A Koteka is a traditional penis sheath worn by some ethnic groups of Papua; mainly in the highlands. One may also see the koteka referred to as a horim. While often made of a particular gourd, the ones of most interest to this blog are the ones that have an outer layer of nalbound textile.
I have not yet had the opportunity to travel to Papua to see the amazing amount and variety of nalbinding that their traditions have and continue to produce. I do hope to make it to their annual Bilum Festival and Gala someday. And yet, Papuan nalbinding has been collected by colonizers and purchased by modern tourists for centuries and thus found its way into some of the most unexpected places. So much so, that when I once again find nalbinding where I didn’t expect it, I’m not surprised to often find that the example in question is Papuan.
On my most recent trip to Iceland, where I was honored to be able to examine the mitten from Arneiðarstaðir in Iceland, I also took the opportunity to go to several other museums. I picked up a new nalbinding needle at the Saga Museum. But having entirely forgotten about nalbound koteka covers, I was rather pleased and surprised to find nalbinding in The Icelandic Phallological Museum. Probably the last place I expected to find nalbinding. Even more so than finding nalbinding in a Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
The Festive Koteka in The Icelandic Phallological Museum uses both the Simple Looping variant (often called Blanket or Buttonhole Stitch) and a spaced and staggered Cross-Knit Looping variant. The Danai tribe Koteka shown in the Ripley’s Believe it or Not! video has the Simple Looping variant on the sheath itself and what looks like a compound variant (undetermined) in the strap.
