Frances Pritchard - Crafting Textiles: Tablet Weaving, Sprang, Lace and Other Techniques from the Bronze Age to the Early 17th Century

Published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by

OXBOW BOOKS

The Old Music Hall, 106-108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JE

and in the United States by

OXBOW BOOKS

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Oxbow Books and the individual contributors 2021

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-759-5

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78925-760-1 (epub)

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942856

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Front cover: Detail of bobbin-made braid, c. 1600, Ytterjrna church, Sweden. Lena Dahrn

Back cover: From top to bottom: Tablet-woven band from Hallstatt salt mine, c. 800-400 BC ( Natural History Museum Vienna, photo A. Rausch); Tablet-woven band from Drrnberg salt mine, c. 350 BC ( Natural History Museum Vienna, photo A. Schumacher); Marble bust, The Cloisters Collection 66.25, Metropolitan Museum of Art ( Metropolitan Museum of Art); Modern sprang hairnet ( Anne Kwaspen)

Contents

Karina Grmer

Claire Grentet-de-Saluneaux and Fabienne Mdard

Frances Pritchard

Regula Schorta

Petra Linscheid

Anne Kwaspen and Kristin South

Dagmar Drinkler and Carol James

Joy Boutrup

Beatrix Nutz, Rachel Case and Carol James

Lena Dahrn

Katrin Kania

Acknowledgements

This volume, which is a product of the Early Textiles Study Group, is the result of the input of many people, who have generously given hours of their time to it. Penelope Walton Rogers, current chairman of the Early Textiles Study Group, ably supported the publication process and due to her computer skills came to the rescue on many occasions. Michael Pollard ensured that all the images met the requirements of the publisher. Greta Bertram, Curator, Crafts Study Centre, very kindly supplied the image of Peter Collingwood during a very difficult period. Grateful thanks are due to the specialists who peer reviewed the individual papers. Grants from the Pasold Research Fund and the Abegg-Stiftung Foundation enabled a considerable number of colour images to be included in the volume making it a more worthwhile resource. Julie Gardiner and the team at Oxbow Books guided the volume through to publication. The greatest debt is owed to the authors of each chapter who have waited patiently to see their research in print.

Introduction

This book is dedicated to Peter Collingwood, who was an inspiring weaver, teacher and author, and whose curiosity about textile structures led him to analyse ancient and historic textiles as well as creating new ones. An exceptional craftsman of the second half of the twentieth century, among his outstanding achievements was to invent a new type of loom and to take weaving techniques in fresh directions.

His interest in ancient textiles is self-evident from his publications and often formed the starting point for his creativity. In the late 1980s he became a member of the Early Textiles Study Group and actively contributed to its mission. Not only did he lecture at one of the Groups conferences held in Manchester in 1994 but he also invited members to join him at his home at Nayland, Essex, where he discussed items from his own collection gathered from all parts of the world with considerable enthusiasm and technical insight.

His books have been mainstays of much textile research as demonstrated by the range of papers included in this volume. By writing on techniques such as sprang and ply-split braiding he brought a fresh impetus to these subjects which have been taken up creatively as well as aiding a better understanding of ancient methods.

The first of his series of books on techniques was rug weaving and although the study of early rug-making attracts considerable interest and archaeological material has been explored to some extent, it has not proved possible to obtain a paper containing new research on the subject here. Sprang was his next choice of subject for investigation. This was not a technique that he particularly relished doing himself but his book provided a sound basis for analysing many aspects of the technique, which he developed alongside the noted Swiss scholar Nomi Speiser, and it has acted as a stimulus to all subsequent research in this field. The Techniques of Tablet Weaving first published by Faber and Faber in 1982 became a best seller and led the way to much experimentation and creative work as well as providing a guide to reconstruction attempts. This in turn has led to further research and has enabled the subject to be studied in much greater depth.

This publication demonstrates the wealth of new research carried out on an international scale into subjects in which Collingwood took such an active interest. Some discuss recently excavated material while others investigate textiles that have been stored for many years in museum collections and offer new interpretations and insights informed by technical expertise. Early versions of eight of the chapters were presented at an Early Textiles Study Group conference held at the Wellcome Collection, London, in October 2014. To these have been added research by Claire Grentet-de-Saluneaux and Fabienne Mdard in France, Petra Linscheid in Germany, and Anne Kwaspen and Kristin South in Egypt. It is a great sadness that Collingwood is no longer here for us to share this volume with him but his legacy in the field of early textiles continues to act as inspiration to textile scholars and craft practitioners.

List of contributors

J OY B OUTRUP

Design School Kolding

Kolding

Denmark

R ACHEL C ASE

Independent scholar

Hampden

USA

L ENA D AHRN

Independent scholar

Stockholm

Sweden

D AGMAR D RINKLER

Textile Conservator

Bayerisches National Museum

Munich

Germany

C LAIRE G RENTET - DE -S ALUNEAUX

Independent scholar

France

K ARINA G RMER

Curator

Prehistoric Department

Natural History Museum

Vienna, Austria

C AROL J AMES

Independent scholar

Winnipeg

Canada

K ATRIN K ANIA

Independent scholar

Erlangen

Germany

A NNE K WASPEN

Marie S. Curie Fellow

Centre of Textile Research

Copenhagen

Denmark

P ETRA L INSCHEID

Research Assistant

Institute for Archaeology & Anthropology

University of Bonn

Germany

F ABIENNE M DARD

Independent scholar

France

B EATRIX N UTZ

Independent scholar

Schwaz

Austria

F RANCES P RITCHARD

Honorary Research Fellow

The University of Manchester

UK

R EGULA S CHORTA

Director

The Abegg-Stiftung

Riggisberg

Switzerland

K RISTIN S OUTH

BYU Egypt Excavation Project

Brigham Young University

Utah