My exploration (and attempts at reconstruction) of Early- through Late-Medieval purses, pouches, and bags with a focus on embroidery and other methods of surface decoration.
About This Blog
My current research obsession is centered around purses and pouches from the European Middle Ages, and the accompanying hardware and passementerie. It is my hope to not only study extant items but also learn via reconstructive experiments; these will be limited for the most part to the textile components, however in the future I hope to explore the production of the metal frames.
Another good one from the Royal Institute for the Study and Conservation of Belgium's Artistic Heritage webpage: An embroidered trapezoidal ring-framed purse (object 40752). Check out all the additional images; there are pictures of the individual pieces of textile (did they deconstruct it?!) and also a shot of the drawstring mouth (usually hidden under the flap). A close-up of the embroidery is included as well. All good pictures; just wish they were larger.
Yes indeed. My hope is now that I'm in the heart of Europe, and surrounded by all these great museums/resources, that I'll be able to do better than simply rely on whatever conservators' photos are on the web. Of course, I can't just walk into a museum and ask to snap some pictures myself. The fact that I haven't even completed a bachelor's degree yet will keep a lot of those opportunities closed to me - because as far as academics in the field are concerned, Who am I? Just a kid with a blog. But the good thing about the blog is that maybe I can network and find some contacts and work from there. Just like embroidery I suppose: start small.
Yes, it does make a difference to see things in person. Stanford lets its hospital employees use the university library so I have better than average access to published works, but it will be a long time before I can afford to travel to Europe again. When you go to museums take lots of pictures and post them on Flickr or someplace!
3 comments:
I like the heraldic motifs in this piece but my brain hurts just thinking of trying to recreate this pattern from the photos on the 'net.
Yes indeed. My hope is now that I'm in the heart of Europe, and surrounded by all these great museums/resources, that I'll be able to do better than simply rely on whatever conservators' photos are on the web. Of course, I can't just walk into a museum and ask to snap some pictures myself. The fact that I haven't even completed a bachelor's degree yet will keep a lot of those opportunities closed to me - because as far as academics in the field are concerned, Who am I? Just a kid with a blog. But the good thing about the blog is that maybe I can network and find some contacts and work from there. Just like embroidery I suppose: start small.
Yes, it does make a difference to see things in person. Stanford lets its hospital employees use the university library so I have better than average access to published works, but it will be a long time before I can afford to travel to Europe again. When you go to museums take lots of pictures and post them on Flickr or someplace!
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