Friday, November 14, 2008

Another German Tapestry... the Thomas Teppich from 1370



From Kloster Weinhausen comes the Thomas Teppich, embroidered wool, circa 1370.  This image of the full tapestry is from the book Meisterwerke der Niedersächsischen Kunst des Mittelalters.  I have some other scans of tapestries I think are more interesting, but this one is color and the the other ones I liked are black & white.

The detail picture is from the same tapestry but published in a different book, Kloster Weinhausen by Horst Appuhn (ISBN 3-9801316-0-2).  I actually own this one so can scan from it at will, instead of traipsing over to the library.  This book has 72 photographs (many in color) in addition to the German text.  The photographs are of textiles, the exterior and interior of the kloster including many wonderful wall paintings, furniture (chests), stained glass, sculpture, illuminations, etc.  I'm sure I'd learn a lot if I read German, but I get what I can from the pictures.  I'll have to start learning German in my spare time... heh, heh, heh...

One of the things I love about the Weinhausen book is the variety of things included in the photo section.  It is easy to see the continuation of the design aesthetic in everything that was made there, from the wall paintings, painted furniture and sculpture, stained glass, illumination, metalwork, and needlework.  If I were going to design an embroidery somewhat based on embroideries of the time I would also use these other objects as design inspiration. The wall paintings are especially inspiring to me.

I have scanned several examples from Weinhausen and will post those next.

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