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Historical Embroidery News...

Book review: Kaisergewänder im Wandel

3/5/2021

5 Comments

 
By now, I have written a couple of blogs about the gold-embroidered garments held at the Diocesan Museum in Bamberg. These embroideries are about a thousand years old and are associated with Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and his wife Kunigund. For the past five years, the vestments were part of an interdisciplinary research project. The results are now being published in three volumes. Although these vestments are unique, with very few parallels elsewhere in the world, these volumes are unfortunately being published in German. Just like the Dutch thought it a brilliant idea to publish their unique collection of late-medieval vestments in Dutch in 2015 and the Italians cleverly published a monograph on the unique orphreys designed by Pollaiuolo in Italian in 2019. How about making it mandatory to publish in English for all scholars in the world? Enough of a rant. Let me review the first of the three volumes (the other two are not yet published). It is a beautiful book, even if you are condemned to only admiring the many detailed pictures.
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This first volume "Kaisergewänder im Wandel - Goldgestickte Vergangenheitsinszenierung. Rekonstruktion der tausendjährigen Veränderungsgeschichte" (Changing imperial garments - staging of the past in goldembroidery. Reconstruction of a 1000-years of change) came out in 2020 and is written by Dr Tanja Kohwagner-Nikolai. The book is very well structured with a detailed chapter each for the six garments that make up the Kaisergewänder. Additional detailed information on a very specific aspect of a particular garment is published in an "Exkurs" or sub-chapter. There are a whopping 10 of these. There is also an introductory chapter and a concluding chapter.
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Tanja is an art historian who has specialised in epigraphy (the science of letters). This specialisation comes in handy as there are many embroidered texts on some of these garments. Using her expertise, Tanja found parallels in other textiles and manuscripts which meant that she could narrow down where a particular garment was likely made or designed or by whom. She also carefully studied all the available historical documents on these garments. Church accounts document the many instances when these garments were being repaired. Revealing who did the work (women were often involved) and how much it cost and how long it took.
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Luckily, Tanja also reveals a lot of the details a typical stitcher with an interest in goldwork embroidery wants to know. Goldthreads, fabric, silken embroidery threads and stitches are described in detail. And although there will be a separate volume dedicated to the subject, there is already a lot of information woven into the narrative of this volume. And then there are the many detailed close-up pictures of the embroidery. Quite a few have been taken through a high-resolution microscope. Four folded-up A3-ish maps of three of the garments are tucked in two pouches on the inside of the cover. These are absolutely brilliant. They show a picture of the garment with a simple outline drawing of the whole design and a description of each scene. This makes talking about a particular part of a garment so much easier.
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No negatives? Oh yes, it is written in German. And although I am a near-native speaker, I had to look up some words. Written German is somewhat different from spoken German. Scholarly written German is a whole lot different from spoken German. Additionally, when Latin is cited, it is not always translated. After all, Tanja writes for a scholarly German audience. Latin is mandatory for them (the fact that I hold a doctorate, but never had a Latin lesson in my life, is quite incomprehensible to German colleagues).

Personally, I do not like the way sources are cited. Only the last name of the author without the year of publishing is stated. This bugs me. I like to know who wrote what when. This shows me in an instant if a particular scholar could have known the source cited.

As I know Tanja personally, I do know that she can embroider and do other forms of needlework and sewing. However, I feel that the research project would have benefited greatly by adding professional goldwork embroiderers to the team. Replicating small parts of each of these garments with materials that come close to the originals would probably greatly enhance our understanding of the embroidery. Being able to repair or conserve historical needlework is not the same as being able to make a replica. It would also have given us a better idea of what the original embroidery once looked like. After all, the colourful silken threads that were used to couch down the near-pure goldthreads have faded considerably or are completely gone. This means that the intricate couching patterns are nearly invisible. These patterns would have dominated the fresh embroidery and would have given it a completely different look.

Kohwagner-Nikolai, T., 2020. Kaisergewänder im Wandel - Goldgestickte Vergangenheitsinszeb´nierung. Rekonstruktion der tausendjährigen Veränderungsgeschichte. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg. The book is available directly from the publisher and costs €69 + shipping.
5 Comments
Bernadette Adams
3/5/2021 16:28:47

I thought Harvard standard citation criteria were universal these days! Like you, I would have thought that having a goldwork expert collaborating, is a no-brainer.
Perhaps, this is why I am constantly disappointed with many so-called 'expert' books these days. One is left with so many questions left unanswered, that, inevitably, one is left with the feeling that one 'has been had'!
B

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
3/5/2021 16:34:16

Oh no, almost every Journal has its own citation format. However, not stating the year seems to be common in the world of epigraphy (I contributed a paper in one of their journals and had to abide by that rule, very weird!). Although experimental archaeology is gaining more and more popularity with scholars, this does not seem to be the case in art history. Especially not with such a "female pasttime" as embroidery. After all, everybody can stitch!

Reply
Claire de Pourtalès
3/5/2021 16:31:24

What a pity it's in German!!!! So sad! I feel like you, books of this level should be available in English. I know it is a very narrow niche market but the less they are available, the more narrow the field gets, no? Culture should be available to most! But thank you very much for sharing so much! Just wished I could read German... Zu späte!

Reply
Dr. Jessica Grimm link
3/5/2021 16:36:22

Thank you Claire! There is such a wealth of information in this book, and no doubt in the other two volumes too. However, there is not even an English summary.

Reply
Rachel link
4/5/2021 20:10:12

I imagine it's next to impossible to find a translator who can cope with the specialist language!

But I agree, it should be a minimum for them to have an overview in another language (English is probably still the best candidate at present) and if ever there was a opportunity for experimental reconstructions, this is it! When I think of how much insight we get from our Lady's Magazine Stitch Off, or how much the experimental archaeologists have learnt about flint knapping or ancient building techniques, it should be an automatic part of any project!

Reply



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