Friday 10 March 2023

Updated medieval furniture books and articles page

I have updated the sources page for books and articles on medieval furniture; in fact I created a new separate page for it. We have acquired quite some information over the years on medieval furniture, in such a way that the original list on the 'Sources - books' page more than quadrupled. The list has become quite long and is now ordered alphabetically on the first author name. Most of the items are in English, French or German language. A few are in Dutch, Italian, Spanish or Scandinavian language. Some of the books and articles have annotations on the contents. I hope this may be of help to you to see if a book or article is worth reading.

One of our latest acquisitions is the book 'Corpus der Mittelalterlichen Holzskulptur und Tafelmalerei in Schleswig-Holstein - Band 4' by Uwe Albrecht (Ludwig Verlag, Kiel, Germany). I have included some furniture pieces from this book as an extra in this post.

Side, front and bookshelf of a15th century oak lectern from the Pfarrkirche in Schobüll. The backside is connected by a mortise joint, while the front of the lectern is nailed. Green paint added in the 19th/20th century. Height 35 cm, width 33 cm, and depth 29 cm.

Side and back view of a late 15th century lectern from the St. Nicolai church in Uelvesbüll where it resides on the altar. The lectern made from oak and painted in red, green and gilded parts.  The construction is relatively simple with mortises, while the rail to hold the book is nailed. Height 26 cm, width 53.5 cm, depth 30 cm. Note that the horizontal rail has some V-cuts to provide light for the pattern.

Note that many of the articles, and even some of the books, can be found on internet where they can be read and/or downloaded. The doi (digital object identifier) is a permanent link to such a source. 

Oak sacristy cabinet of around 1500 in the choir of the St. Andreas church in Haddeby (Hedeby). The outside was painted blue, but now mostly the black underpaint remains. The cabinet has two doors which are reinforced with iron strips, and stands on the socalled 'kufen' that protrude 14 cm from the wall. The inside of the cabinet has 4 parts, one of which can be locked separately. The upper door used to have two locks, the lower door one. The upper door is painted on the inside with an image of Christ in misery. The nails (of the iron strips) are bent on the inside of the door and hammered back. Although the cabinet now is fixed inside the wall, the presence of the kufen indicates that it used to be a free-standing armoire. Height 225 cm, width 95 cm, depth 50 cm.
 
Oak sacristy armoire in the choir of the St. Clemens church in Nebel auf Amrum. The armoire likely dates from 1486. Height 176 cm, width 88 cm, depth 51 cm. Upper door 62 cm height, 47.5 cm width; lower door 88 cm height, 47.5 cm width. Back, side and front parts made from vertical boards, connected with dowels. Thickness of the boards is 3.5 cm. The armoire has two doors, each with one lock. Behind the upper door another iron grilled door with lock exists. The lower part has 2 shelves, the upper part none. The iron bands are painted black, the wood on the outside blue. The inside of the doors are painted with a Christ in misery (above) and a resting Christ (below).

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the updated list :)

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    1. I had to add the updated furniture books and articles page as well to the pages list to make it visible. Done now!

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