[HNW] Re: Opus Teutonicum

[Sarah Randles]

>At 2:13 PM -0400 9/24/02, Carol Hewett wrote:
>>Have a look at the...errr, 15th-16th century, I believe, Swiss and South
>>german "whitework" (I believe also referred to as opus tutanicum--and I
>>know I've spelled that wrong) hangings.

opus teutonicum (= German work).


  Most of the existing examples are religious picutres, but I'm
>>planning to take a secular story from a manuscruipt and do that instead.

There are quite a lot of embroideries in this style which are heraldic or
simply feature beasties.


>>Looks to be a farily fast-working style.

Not particularly.  Not dreadfully slow either, but if you want fast for
wall hangings I'd recommend one of the couched woolwork styles - you get a
lot of coverage for your time.



>>
>>Anyone who can point me at books with more details, please do--I haven't
>>had much luck researching!


The two best books I've come across for this style are:


Grönwoldt, Ruth, Webereien und Stickereien des Mittelalters,
[Weaving and Embroidery of the Middle Ages]
 Kestner-Museum, Hannover, 1964.


Kroos, Renate,  Niedersachsische Bildstickereien des Mittelalters,
[Lower Saxon Embroidery of the Middle Ages]
  Deutcher Verlag Fur Kunstwissenschaft, 1970

Neither will be easy to find, but I think the copy of Kroos that I borrowed
came from the UC Riverside library, so there's definately one in the US.
Both are in German, obviously, but both have good pics.

Chris said:

>Not to toot our collective (guild) horn or anything, but you can find
>some "starter" ideas and a bit of documentation in:
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WKneedle/files/Guild%20Kits/Opus-Teutonicum/

This is great, Chris.  I'm about to teach a class on this style for the
Worshipful Company of Broderers for the Guilds' event in Lochac - would you
mind if I printed copies to hand out?  I will do my own handout too, and
would be happy to send you a copy.  OTOH, I could just point people at the
website if you would prefer.


Sarah

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Sarah Randles
School of Language, Literature & Communication
University College ADFA
Canberra ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
email: s.randles at adfa.edu.au    phone: 02 6268 8387  fax:   02 6268 8899
Note: on Mondays and Tuesdays I work at the Australian National Dictionary
Centre - phone: (02) 6125 0476.