Pronkrol by Anna Bennink

Detail of a pronkrol sampler of almost 9 m long, worked by Anna Bennink in the Netherlands in 1905/1906 Detail of a pronkrol sampler of almost 9 m long, worked by Anna Bennink in the Netherlands in 1905/1906 Courtesy Textile Research Centre, Leiden, TRC 2020.3535a.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden has a number of long samplers called, in Dutch, a pronkstuk or pronkrol. This particular example  (TRC 2020.3535a) is almost 9 m long and 30 cm wide. long and 40 m wide. It shows a wide variety of embroidery techniques.

When acquired by the TRC, the pronkstuk was some 6 m long, but when examined, it turned to be much longer. It was stitched into a cirlce in order to be hung up on a wall. When the stitches were removed, the original form became apparent.

The embroidery was made by Anna Berendina Bennink (1890-1918) from Brummen (near Arnhem in the Netherlands) in 1905-1906.

She died on 16 October of the same year, in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-1919, soon after she was married on 14 June 1918. Her photograph, dated c. 1914, is also in the TRC Collection (TRC 2020.3535b).

Photograph of Anna Berendina Bennink, 1890-1918 (TRC 2020.3535b).Another, comparable pronkrol in the TRC collection is TRC 2014.0938. This example was made by Cato de Keijzer.

See a TRC blog by Gillian Vogelsang of 26 July 2020: A Dutch pronkstuk and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919.

WV, 14 May 2021.

 

Photograph of Anna Berendina Bennink, 1890-1918 (TRC 2020.3535b).

Last modified on Sunday, 16 May 2021 11:22
Published in Samplers
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