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Woodworkers guild chests
Not only wills and inventories are are great sources of information for which tools medieval woodworkers used, also images of woodworkers at work with their tools can provide knowledge of how and which...
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An Italian sgabello
'The so-called Strozzi-chair, above all, a pearl of the collection, a world-renowned uniqueness, a truly enchanting masterpiece, one of the most beautiful Florentine pieces of furniture. Under the hand...
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Revisiting the medieval turned chair of Duchess Agnes
Recently, due to a comment on my blog, I have bought the article of Horst Appuhn that had appeared in the Aachener Kunstblatter band 48 of 1978/1979. The article, Beitrage zur geschichte des...
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Medieval tapestries in the other Luneburger convents
At the end of April we again visited the Luneburger moor in northern Germany to have a look at the medieval tapestries in the other Luneburger convents. Around the Luneburger moor are six protestant...
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The crow's hammer
The crow, a medieval machine of war, used to hammer and break the top of the walls during a siege. It was named after the powerful beak of a bird. Why did we discover last weekend in the Eindhoven...
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Armoires in the Luneburger convents
The Luneburger convents house a large collection of medieval furniture. Some of the chests and armoires and cabons of Kloster Isenhagen and Wienhausen have already been shown in previous posts. With...
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Thomas tapestry project: choosing the tapestry wool
Last months we have been busy testing several types of wool on the linen we will use for our recreation of the Saint Thomas tapestry. There were great differences between the wools from different...
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Another carpenters guild chest with tools
I had overlooked this great carpenters guild chest from 1600 with many tools depicted on it when I showed some other tool chests in a previous post. This guild chest is from the Lubecker...
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Thomasteppich wool has arrived
Today we received a parcel from Renaissance dying from France containing the wool hanks for the Saint Thomas tapestry project. It is amazing that all the kilometres of wool fit it a relatively small...
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The Thomasteppich project: the embroidery frame
One of the other prerequisites for embroidering a large tapestry is that you also need a large embroidery frame. We liked to make an embroidery frame based on historic evidence (read images) and have...
View ArticleProgress on the Thomasteppich: June-July 2013
We have taken one photograph each day when Anne did something with her part of the Thomasteppich and turned these into a small video. Anne first outlined the scene in black and then started filling the...
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Grande Acredex (medieval great chess)
The Libre de los Juegos commissioned by King Alfonso X the Wise of Spain in 1283 contains many descriptions of medieval games of chess, dice and back-gammon like games. However, it also contains some...
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Two identical chests from the citymuseum of Koln
There are two large identical medieval chests in the city museum of Cologne, Germany (Kolnischen Stadtmuseum), which originate from the medieval tax office. The chests were used to hold the payments...
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Four-season chess
This is another game that is found in the medieval manuscript Libro de los Juegos of Alphonso X, the Wise of 1283. The game of the 'backgammon'-like Game of the four seasons called the world, and...
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Esparaguat
Although the asparagus season is long at its end this year (April-June), I would like to present this medieval asparagus recipe, which is a bit unusual compared to our modern asparagus recipes. We did...
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The game of Astronomical Tables
At the end of the Libro de los Juegos of Alfonso the Wise, the game of astronomical tables is described. It is a game in which the number 'seven' is central: it is played by seven players, each setting...
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The medieval toolchest: the level and plumb bob
The level and the plumb bob are two instruments using the same principle - gravity and a weight - to establish straight horizontal and vertical lines, respectively. In medieval times, both tools were...
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Medieval tables in Kloster Lune and Kloster Medingen
The Luneburger kloster contain an enormous amount of medieval furniture: hundreds of chests, cupboards and armoires, but also some interesting medieval tables. These are not like the trestle type table...
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I give you my heart with all my love….
I give you my heart with all my love….How often will that have been said over the centuries. Very, very often probably. And is still said…. Sometimes the sentence may have been accompanied with a gift....
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The medieval toolchest: the awl and the gimlet
Awls or 'prickers' are small pricking or scratching tools used in woodworking, but also in leather working. An awl consists of a long pointed iron spike set into a wooden handle. The spike may be round...
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