[HNW] Consulting the collective: coifs

[Leif og Bjarne Drews]

Dear Catherine.
I know that in Denmark it was not worn. Only plain white coifs with a different look........

Bjarne 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Catherine Kinsey 
  To: h-needlework at lists.ansteorra.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 4:21 PM
  Subject: [HNW] Consulting the collective: coifs


  I've been digging through resources for over a year for extent examples of embroidered coifs and nightcaps from the 16/17C.  Found quite a few actually, both surviving pieces and examples in portraits (mostly nightcaps).  The vast majority of these, especially the surviving pieces, seem to be English.  I will be the first to admit that my language skills are weak however so I may not have really searched the European museum websites as thoroughly as I had hoped.  Does anyone know of any examples of an embroidered coif or nightcap, 16/17C era, in a European museum?  If so, could you please share a link :)??

  Interesting enough, while I can find quite a few portraits of gentlemen in the embroidered nightcaps, similar paintings of the embroidered coifs are harder to find.  There are a couple of english portraits where the sitter is wearing an embroidered jacket and sometimes an embroidered coif as well, and a lot of needlelace coifs in Dutch paintings, but still not a lot of coifs.  Here are some of the best European examples, in paintings, that I have found:

  "Last Judgement", by Jacob de Backer, Belgium.  1580.  6 of the ladies kneeling on the right side panel could have blackworked coifs under their wired headresses.
  http://www.wga.hu/index1.html

  Portrait from the French school, c.1585.  Originally in the Weiss gallery, copy of pic in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 4

  "Girl chopping onions, Gerrit Dou, Dutch. 1646.  
  http://www.artinthepicture.com/paintings/Gerrit_Dou/Girl-Chopping-Onions/

  The lace maker, Caspar Netscher, Dutch, 1662-4
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Netscher_Lacemaker.jpg

  So the fashion for embroidered coifs was not just in England, but where are the surviving European examples?  Anyone able to give me a clue?

  Thanks!
  Catherine


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