A visit to Dordtmund: medieval furniture from the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, part 1

 

Detail from the "Entkleidung Christi" showing a man using an auger. 

                                                               Egg tempera on oak, around 1480. Painted by someone around the Master of Liesborn.

The "Christmas market" shopping trip of last year went to the German city of Dordtmund. I took the opportunity to visit the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, while the others were immersing themselves in glühwein and buying Christmas presents. The museum has a nice collection of medieval (and later) furniture, including a small strycsitten. I was able to make some rough measurements of the strycsitten, and of course took a lot of photos (without flash).

The Dordtmund strycsitten 

The Dordtmund strycsitten is not completely original anymore. Several pieces have been replaced - or are missing - for instance, the horizontal bottom rail at the back. I could make some rough measurements using my tape measure trying not to touch the actual item or standing on the display floor (the guardian was watching my back). The strycsitten has a width of 90 cm, wide enough to squeeze in two persons. It has a depth of around 49 cm and a height of around 88 cm. Seating height is around 43 cm. The strycsitten is of German origin and dated to 1400. It is made from oak. The information panel also mentions that traces of paint have been found on the oak.

The front side of the Dordtmund strycsitten. The horizontal board below the seating is a replacement.

Bottom and top of the swinging backrest. The actual swinging pin is located (and hidden) at the seating. 

The swinging pin is also not visible from the outside.

Three pins are used to secure the replacement front board.

The left and right armrests. Note that the top of the backrest has an angle.

This shows nicely the construction of the swinging arm. (On the wall an image of a quite different strycsitten is shown)

The sides consist of two panels decorated with a diamond grid with carved roses.

The bottom decoration on the side of the strycsitten.

The frame is decorated with twisted spiral columns (Left), at the top on which an animal figure (bear?) resides (Right). The spiral column on the right side of the struycsitten are largely detoriated.

The other side, unfortunately a bit unclear photo, but it shows a similar layout.

Writing desk

The view on the writing desk is a bit obscured by the iron strongbox in front of it. The writing desk consist of a small cupboard with a door, a movable writing plateau set at an angle, and a top shelf.

 

 

The panels in the frameword show intricate linenfold patterns. 

The top (left) and bottom (right) panels have different linenfold patterns.

The lock of the writing desk.

The hinge moves from outside on the door to inside on the frame. Note the iron nail that secures the inside part of the hinge.

The writing plateau is connected with two small hinges to the top shelf.

Triangular turned chairs

Triangular turned chairs are a common type of seating found from the late medieval period up to the 18th century. The construction of these chairs remained the same during this period. The Dordtmund museum has several turned triangular chairs on display, however they date from the 17th and 18th century. Fortunately they have some missing parts, thereby revealing some construction details of these chairs. This type is also called 'Ammenstuhl'.

The side view of the triangular turned chair

Back view of the chair.

This photo shows how the parts of the backrest are connected. The armrest goes through the board of the backrest. The four V-shaped supports end up in mortises in the backrest board and the vertikal stile. The vertikal stile is fixed with a wooden pin to the backrest.

A view of the underside of the backrest. The armrest goes through the backrest and is fixed with a small pin from the underside.

The horizontal rails for the seating are all set at the same height ...

...whereas the horzontal rails of the bottom are all set on different heights.

The underside of the seating. The seating board consists of three planks. The (one) horizontal rail goes through the vertical stile.

The top of the seating. This horizontal rail does not completely go through the stile(s), but stops somewhere halfway and is then fixed with a pin (can be seen left and right). The armrest goes through the lower stile and is fixed with a pin.

Sort of top view of the triangular turned chair. My Samsung S9 (~15 cm) was added for size comparison.

Sort of back view of the triangular turned chair. My Samsung S9 (~15 cm) was again added for size comparison.

This 18th century chair has a gap near the stile, and nicely shows the groove and how the horizontal rails go into the stile.

A second 18th century chair is missing some part of the seating board and more clearly shows the groove.

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).