Modelbuch captured patterns utilized in Neuper’s convent (St. Clare – Nürnberg, Holy Roman Empire). Her book has since been transcribed and edited by Nancy Spies and Ute Bargmann for translation and pattern clarity. Modelbuch’s patterns were designed for gold brocaded tablet woven bands and the book, itself, is among the earliest pattern books for any textile technique. The provided example is created with 13 tablets of 60/2 red silk (warp/weft) and No. 21 Hakkin artificial gold wrapped thread for the brocade weft. These materials were selected to reflect the general size of Spies’ envisioning of the bands and notes relating to a 15th century brocaded band affixed to a chasuble (documented in Spies’ Ecclesiastical Pomp and Aristocratic Circumstance and on display in Stockholm, Sweden) and art (painting by Cranach) depicting tablet woven brocade from the 16th century.
For this project, I created two practice pieces attempting to work with artificial gold wrapped thread (Japan Thread #7 in antique gold). I did some research on what would be the best artificial gold wrapped thread to use and despite completing my final object with the Hakkin thread, I’m still not fully satisfied with the final result. I will likely purchase additional artificial gold wrapped thread to test and would be delighted for suggestions as the quantity of gold I’d need to complete a project isn’t available at a realistic price point!
Issues I encountered during this project:
- Neither of artificial gold brocade thread options tested yielded close to historically accurate results. Brocade during this time period was thin and very delicate in appearance unlike the displayed object (though you can see the pattern clearly with the thread used, which is nice!). Neither of the artificial threads behave like metallic wire or a metal wrapped thread, and were honestly difficult to work with. Happy to accept suggestions for alternatives!
- Most brocade pieces during this time period were silk (60/2 in size or smaller). I did a test with 30/2 purple silk, but found it far too large, so I elected to try with a 60/2 silk since it would be the appropriate size.
- I elected not to hide the sides of the brocade due to the size of the band, though this would have likely been done during this time period (at least it was common on larger pieces that extant examples are available on – these tend to be 40+ tablets). I was mainly curious to see how the brocade thread acted and if it would be suitable for a reproduction (it isn’t). The future “belt reproduction” of the “Bildnis einer Frau” – Portrait of a Woman painting by the Master of the legend of St. Ursula (Cologne) c. 1500 will have the brocade borders hidden.
