26 January 2016

Drawing Tuesday - Europe 1600-1815 at V&A

Though the ornamentation may look elaborate, the gallery has much of interest. I settled down in front of a case holding domestic items from the Dutch golden age - the 17th century.
A linen press; you can see a bit of the curfew next to it

Ornamentation on the brass of the curfew

Venus and Cupid on a warming pan (note the snail in the upper left,
its companion gone missing

A foot warmer - a ceramic bowl holding glowing coals was put inside

A set of tiles, 1610-40, on which the animals seem to wear little knitted jackets
The textile details were interesting -
Drawn thread work, bobbin lace, and the red stitches denoting ownership of a large linen sheet

Amsterdam Town Hall, then the 8th wonder of the world, woven into a damask towel

Lace on a ladies' collar
 Grander things were within view - these worthies, for instance (keep the terracotta cardinal in mind) -

Buttonholes stitched into marble, marvellous
 Everyone chose a page of their morning's work for photography -
Jo's terracotta cardinal

Janet K's Norwegian ale bowl

Sue M's Norwegian powder flask


Sue S's ironwork from a gondola

One of three view of "the horse" by Janet B
 
Marina's crossbows

Mags' drinking vessels

Carol's jacket, and some silk lining
 I produced a total of three pages -
Three (charcoal pencil) views of the linen press
Getting to grips with the patterning on the curfew
(a metal cover for the fire overnight ('couvre feu'), to keep the
 embers glowing ready for morning; another such is shown here)
The animals from the set of tiles
 Some items were obviously very appealing, as they showed up in several sketchbooks -




 Tool of the week - Carol's favourite pen -
And another sketching stool, which folds into a compact bag, but is only about 40cm high -



3 comments:

Kathleen Loomis said...

OK -- I'm confused and ignorant. I thought a curfew was a bell -- if it's a fireplace screen how can it toll the knell of parting day?????

Charlton Stitcher said...

What an inspiring set of artefacts and drawings. That lovely marble jacket with its buttonholes especially amused me.

Margaret Cooter said...

Kathy, this is how it started, according to Wikipedia -

The word "curfew" comes from the French phrase "couvre-feu", which means "fire cover". It was later adopted into Middle English as "curfeu", which later became the modern "curfew". Its original meaning refers to a law made by William The Conqueror that all lights and fires should be covered at the ringing of an eight o'clock bell to prevent the spread of destructive fire within communities in timber buildings.