Before Covid-19 turned the world upside down the TRC Leiden was in discussion with the Bijbels (Bible) Museum, Amsterdam, about a group of objects they were de-accessioning. They were reorganising their whole structure and way of working and numerous items were looking for new homes, including a variety of textiles and garments. Last week the objects in which we had shown an interest arrived and we were not disappointed.
The objects include several 18th century samplers, notably a beautiful example (TRC 2020.3317) that dates to 1737 and has a central design of two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments (in English, and with embroidered corrections of the spelling), which are surrounded by embroidered flowers in silk.
The other sampler dates to 1793 (TRC 2020.3321) and depicts a range of plants, animals, birds and the image of two men carrying a large bunch of grapes (King James version, Numbers 13:23: “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.”).
The motif of the grapes-carrying Israelites was very popular in Western Europe. The TRC has another example that is worked on a sampler from The Netherlands, which dates to the latter half of the 18th century (
It also occurs, so it happens, on a plague that was placed in the wall of a house in a 'new' part of Leiden (completed in 1611). The plaque refers to the new neighbourhood that was being built to accommodate the large numbers of immigrants from the southern Netherlands and from England, who came to Leiden, attracted by the booming textile industry.
The donation from the Bijbels Museum also included several 19th century Berlin wool work pictures (not samplers) that depict Biblical scenes (TRC 2020.3318 and TRC 2020.3320). These appear to date from the 1870’s and we are going to try and identify the paintings they are based on. One of these pictures (TRC 2020.3320), for example, is a depiction of Ruth and Naomi, looking over a (painted) landscape.
There is also a set of nine Christian mandala-style embroidered pictures (TRC 2020.3322-3330). They date from the 1960’s onwards and illustrate various subjects, including Noah’s Ark and the Four Evangelists. They are placed in a range of symbolic motifs.
TRC 2020.3332a and -b), which immediately brought to (my) mind the classic British film Major Barbara, starring Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison and Robert Morley (1941, and based on a play by George Bernard Shaw; does knowing about this film date me?). It’s fascinating seeing one of these bonnets close-up, the basketry work is so very fine. I would love to know more about where these bonnets were made and by whom.
A totally different group of objects includes a Salvation Army bonnet in its original box (There is also a Dutch judge’s outfit (TRC 2020.3333a-e) consisting of a shirt, separate collar, bands, cap, and a woollen robe, known as a toga, with velvet edgings. These togas are very heavy and warm because the design of these garments dates back to the period before it was common to having heating in a courtroom and judges needed something warm to wear while they were sitting still for hours on end in a cold, draughty room. This outfit complements a British judge’s outfit with a woollen robe, which we already have in the TRC Collection (TRC 2005.0350a-d).
We would like to thank the Bijbels Museum for these kind donations, which help to add to the TRC’s ‘broad based encyclopaedic collection’, which is growing in its size and more importantly, its depth and diversity.
Gillian Vogelsang, 4th July 2020.