Intarsia embroideryMeisterinne Katheryn Hebenstreitz

Double Wars XXV

BibliographyMedeltida vävnader och broderier i Sverige, Agnes Branting & Andreas Lind-blom, Almqvist & Wiksells förlag 1928.Prydnadssömmar under Medeltiden, Anne Marie Franzén, Kungliga vitter-hets historie och antikvitets akademien, 1997.Historiska museets bildsamling, www.historiska.se

This style of embroidery was not used only in Sweden even if most my examples are Swedish. However the examples shown are most definitely made locally in Sweden which can be seen by materials used and text that occur on some of the canopies.

The same technique – mosaic embroidery with appliqué in combination with couched leather strips can be found on the continent during the midd-le ages – specifically in Germany, France and Spain. There however the fa-voured technique (especially in Germany) is the one used in the Gripenstedt canopy with contours of couched leather strips and rich silk embroideries.

The German textiles are usually called covers, wall hangings or antepen-diums (the altar decorations hanging around the altar – usually on three sides).The German textiles also display the same division in squares as the Swedish textiles of this type, however they usually depict heraldic charges or ornaments rather than animals.

Lady Racaire has kindly allowed me to use one of her photos of a Swiss cover that displays significant similarities to the Swedish textiles but that combines the technique with rich silk embroideries. The cover measures 155 cm x 221 cm, the materials are wool, silk and linen and it is dated to 1643.

Materials and techniqueIntarsia embroidery – also known as mosaic embroidery – is a technique where one pattern is cut out of two contrastingly coloured pieces of vadmal (frieze or home spun) and then swapped and sewn into the cut-out slots. The pieces are sewn together with whip stitch on the back side of the piece. Over the seam on the front a gilt leather strip is sewn on using couching. There are also items where a thin strip of linen has been used for seam cover instead of gilt leather.

The couching thread is always a rather thick white linen thread.The patterns are different animals, real or fictional – but usually symboli-

zing Lady Mary or Jesus. Their, mouths, tongues, claws and teeth are made by appliqué of white wool.

The couched leather strips are also used to add detail to the animals, like a lion’s mane.

Because of the nature of this kind of work it hasn’t been applied to every day items since the seams are fairly fragile.

Most of the surviving examples have been used as bridal canopies in chur-ches. Some pieces have later been taken out of the canopy and remade into pillows or cushions.

Some of the extant examples are fake intarsia where the pattern has been created by sewing the leather strips onto the fabric, creating just the outlines.

There are several extant examples preserved in Sweden and Finland, all from the late middle ages. Most are dated to the 15th century.

One canopy that unfortunately does not exist anymore (we only have a sketch from the 1866 made by N. M. Mandelgren) is believed to have been used as bridal canopy when Torgils Knutsson was married to Hedvig von Ravensburg in 1303. Whether it was the actual canopy used during their ceremony in Stockholm or one made in their honour or rememberance and given to their local church in Östra Stenby is not known, but the heraldry seen on the sketch matches the heraldry of Torgils Knutsson and Hedvig von Ravensberg.

There are indications that this canopy was supposed to be handed over to a museum but never made it. Instead it is believed that it was ruined when the church went through extensive renovations at the end of the 19th century. One source states that it was torn into rags (!!!!) and used during the work on the church.

Whip stitch

Couching

Canopy from Dalhems church II (Sweden) – this canopy is made out of 12 squares of blue and red vadmal that are each 36 cm x 36 cm. Some are cut on the bias. This is a ”fake” intarsia where the animals have only been out-lined with the couched leather strips and framed with circles of vines that are appliquéd. The frame has 2 types of decoration – the outline of a vine and the outline of thistles with letters inside. One short end shows no trace of these decorations and hence it is believed that the canopy was never quite finished. Even though this canopy displays many similarities with the above described canopy from the same church, the craftsmanship is consi-derably less advanced.

The Gripenstedt canopy (Sweden) – Like the Dalshem II canopy it is not really an intarsia embroidery but it uses the contour technique from in-tarsia with the leather strips and also uses the same depictions of animals. The canopy is then richly embroidered with silk. It was made in the 16th century – most likely for the wedding between Kerstin Eriksdotter (Gyllen-stierna) and Knut Bengtssson (Sparre) on the 22 of October 1515, the con-clusion drawn from the arms depicted and by looking at how these families connected.

Other extant examples of intarsia work

The Masku canopy (Finland) – each square is about 69 cm x 69 cm and hen-ce slightly bigger than most of the canopies of this kind found in Sweden. A lot of the text on this type of canopies is in Swedish which means that these textiles were genuinely Swedish handicraft. The Masku canopy has text in both Swedish and Latin – which is not surprising considering that Finland was an integrated part of the Swedish kingdom at that time. The animals depicted are all similar to the Dalhem canopy – the largest and most well preserved canopy in Sweden. The total size of the Masku canopy is believed to have been 209 cm x 277 cm or bigger. The colours are slightly different from the Swedish radiant red and blue. The Masku canopy has blue/green combined with blue/black and white and an insignificant red colour.

Canopy from Dalhems church I (Sweden) – each square measures 55 cm x 55 cm. Red and blue vadmal has been used to create 12 squares with ani-mals within a circle or in one case in an octagon, with fleur de lis deco-rations. There are 6 animals – each twice due to the reversed nature of this technique. All outlines are couched with gilt leather and a thick linen thread. The Greek vines on the frame are appliquéd with white vadmal just

riska museets picture archive. The book states that this item – just like the Ilsbo canopy, has the edges of the embroidery covered with white twisted linen strips. The text coming with the picture states that the edging is done with leather. This canopy does not display the animals within circles in the differently coloured squares. The squares are small – the sides being bet-ween 28-31 cm. The seams between all squares are covered with a wider strip of white vadmal and the strips edges have been couched down with either the leather or the linen – whichever theory is true. There ar 4 x 6 squares making the whole canopy measure 163 x 225 cm. It has been dated to the late 15th century – possibly even 16th century.

Cushion from Hög (Sweden) – 58 cm x 58,5 cm. Made of blue, red and green vadmal. The deer-like animal is red with a green eyebrow and the background is blue. As most items it combines the intarsia and appliqué techniques. The edges are couched with gilt leather and thick linen thread. Was found under the backside of a cushion in the church. Dated to the 15:th century.

The Ilsbo fragment (Sweden) – this one is interesting since the seams on this intarsia embroidery aren’t covered with gilt leather but instead with white linen strips that have been twisted and couched down with a thick white linen thread. This piece has been hard to date but it is believed to be 15th century or possibly even 16th century.

The Skeppstuna canopy (Sweden) – Again we have two different descrip-tions – one from the book ”Medeltida vävnader och broderier i Sverige” (page 58) and one in the text accompanying the picture of the item in Histo-

as the animals eyes, mouths, tongues and claws. The work has been dated to end of 14:th century or the very beginning of the 15th century.

2 cushions from Skokloster (Sweden) – the first cushion comes with two different theories. One presented in the book ”Medeltida vävnader och broderier i Sverige” (page 58), the other is presented in the text accompany-ing the picture in the Historiska Museets picture archive. The first theory states that it is clearly a cushion that has been used by a priest in a chair. This conclusion drawn from the latin text in caps SACERDOTES ET LEUITE MINISTRI DOMINI. The other text suggests that this is a textile that once was a part of a large canopy but has been remade into a cushion. It is about 62 cm x 68 cm.

The other cushion depicts 4 cinquefoil roses in red and blue vadmal. The work is rather course and pieced together of second hand fabrics not taking any notice of what direction the warp or weft is going. Two roses are placed in cut out circles while 2 have appliquéd white decorations. All roses have a centre of white or orange vadmal appliquéd.Both cushions are dated to the 15th century.