A visit to the Rijksmuseum: medieval furniture

Last month I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This museum has recently been re-opened after several years of restoration and refurbishment. Part of the ground floor is dedicated to the middle ages, the place where I spend most of my time. Several interesting pieces of medieval furniture can be seen there - and taken photographs of. Among them a small strycsitten, one of my favourite types of medieval furniture.

 

This is the official photo of the strycsitten, which can be found in the online collection of the Rijksmuseum 

(Object nr. BK-NM-1971).

The strycsitten dates from around 1500 and is made from oak. The front and back panels of the chair are the same (except for the keyhole): two linenfold panels with a plain panel in the middle. Also both sides have the same panel pattern and arrangement: four linenfold panels that are uncarved on the inside. The chair has a height of 82 cm, a width of 80.5 cm  and a depth of 51 cm.

 

Left: the front of the strycsitten. Right: a closer at one linenfold panel look showing the dowels in the frame.

Left: The corners of the frame are chamfered. Each rail is secured by two wooden dowels. Right: one of the sides with four linenfold panels.

Left: The inside of the strycsitten with plain panels. The wooden pin of the hinge of the backrest does not go through the frame. The pin could be fixed by another dowel, but this cannot be seen from this side. Right: The armrest with the 45 angle resting point for the backrest.

Left: Front view of the backrest. Right: Detail of the backrest construction with two dowels.

There is a storage space inside the chair of which the lid is also in use as seating. The iron hinges and lock-plate as well as the nails are countersunk, thus increasing the comfort of seating. The keyhole is in the mid-front panel. It would be interesting to have a look at the inside of the box as well, but alas ...

Top view showing the complete armrests. The line is to prevent visitors sitting on the chair.

One of the top furniture pieces of the collection is a Gothic style cabinet that belonged to a militia company from Alkmaar, the Netherlands, and stored the company's valuables, such as drinking cups and guild chains. The cabinet is dated 1520-1530 are made from oak. The imperial crown and the lily on the front panels pay homage to the sovereign, Emperor Charles V. The fire-steel with crossed arrows point to the Burgundian background of the emperor. The cabinet has a height of 147.0 cm, a width of 110.0 cm and a depth of 80.0 cm.

This is the official photo of the cabinet, which can be found in the online collection of the Rijksmuseum

(Object nr. BK-KOG-656)

The cabinet is very richly carved at the front, but also at the back which is rather unusual for a piece of furniture that is commonly positioned against a wall. Also the frame rails are elaborately carved. The function of such a cabinet was not only to store the valuables, but also to show them. This is was possible at the bottom shelf or on top of the cabinet. When you look at the storage places, there is something curious: there are two drawers, but the main compartment does not seem to have a door. There is no lock or keyhole or hinge visible on all sides of the cabinet. So where is the hidden door? I only realised this after my visit, so the only thing I could do was to re-examine to photos for a clue.

 The backside with three large (double) linenfold panels.

A closer look at the front panels; from left to right the panels show lilies, a fire steel with arrows, a fire steel and an imperial crown, respectively. The red arrows show where there is a sawn line, a clue for the doors. You can also see thin openings around the two middle panels - they are not set into a frame. My conclusion is that this is a double door.

One of the middle front panels with tracery work showing the fire steel. If you look at the left frame top you notice a sawn horizontal line. A clue that the doors are here.

Left: The top of the cabinet. Above: The rim of the top is connected by a doweled mitre joint.

 The mid frame ends in a figure of an angels bearing a shield.

The cabinet is set on wooden sockets  with carved lions.

 

Left:  The bottom shelf is made of three planks and fixed with dowels to the frame. 

Right: one of the linenfold panels from the side of the cabinet.

 The tracery panel of one of the drawers of the cabinet. The panel is fixed with dowels to the drawer.

Both sides of the cabinet. The linenfold panels are the same, but the tracery panels below are different.

The Christmas crib - although the crib looks more like a state cradle - is a recent acquisition of the Rijksmuseum in 2013. The work is attributed to Jan Borman (II) and dated around 1500. Christmas cribs were used for private worship at home, as well as in cloisters and churches. Another medieval Christmas cradle is found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. This cradle is made from oak and is 62.5 cm high, 34.5 cm wide and 17.5 cm deep.

This is the official photo of the cabinet, which can be found in the online collection of the Rijksmuseum (Object nr. BK-2013-14-1).

The stand for the cradle has two "floors" with openwork tracery panels in between.

The cradle feet are four carved lions.

Two photos of the bottom openwork tracery panels. The panels slightly fold inside, forming a kind of alcove.

The The crib itself is completely made from openwork tracery panels.

This devotional crib originates from the Grand Béguinage of Louvain, Belgium, established for lay women in the twelfth century (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA). It is decorated with carved representations of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi on either end. The biblical family tree of Christ is illustrated on the embroidered coverlet. The crib is made around 1500 from painted/gilded wood with added pearls, enamels and silk. The crib measures 35.4 x 28.9 x 18.4 cm.

This type of folding chair is called a sedia dantesca. These chairs started to appear during the late 15th century and remained popular for several centuries. This particular chair dates from 1620-1650 - not really medieval - but still interesting because the construction details remain the same. Here, the front legs and posts are decorated with dolphins and crowned tritons (or mermen). The hinge on the front is fitted with a lion’s head. Near the leather backrest are two lions holding a shield. The chair is made from walnut and has a height of 100 cm, a width of 74.5 cm  and a depth of 44.3 cm.

This is the official photo of the sedia dantesca, which can be found in the online collection of the Rijksmuseum

(Object nr. BK-15337)

This is another sedia dantesca from the Rijksmuseum - but not on display (Object nr bk-16634). The decoration style is Spanish and the chair looks like the one in the Museum fur angewandte kunst in Koln. The chair is made from elm and decorated with mother of pearl and bone. It is dated between 1500 and 1600. Height 88.5 cm, width 63.5 cm, depth 49 cm.

 Left: The side rails are fixed with two dowels to the X-legs. Right: The underside of the seating.

Left: The end of the armrest is decorated by carved flowers (just like my savoranola chair). Right: The leather seating is nailed to the rail with large bronze nails. The leather is also nailed to the legs.

Left: The lions head at the front hinge. Dolphins can be seen on the lower part of the X-legs.
Right: No middle pin is needed for the hinge (or it is hidden between the two legs of the X); the chair is held together by the armrests, the seat rails and low rails.

Nicely carved feet of the chair.

 The chair seen from the side. You can see the backrest is nailed to the sides of the armrest, but also at the back with the same large nails used for the seating.

The Rijksmuseum has also some very nice medieval cassones, but I will dedicate another post to this type of chests. Also for one of the next posts are the other smaller medieval furniture pieces from the museum.

The furniture at the Engelanderholt klaarbank - Part 2

The previous post on the klaarbank dealt with the benches and the ceremonial chair of the duke/stadhouder of Guelders. In this post I will continue with the remaining furniture at the klaarbank.

The table of the registrar and writer

Left: The side of  the table ; detail from the sketch by Master Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-003).

A typical 16th century table for a writer or steward would be one where the table board is also used as a lid for a box that could hold important papers and money pouches. These tables were especially popular in Germany and called 'Kastentisch'. However, given the    size of the table used at the klaarbank (3 by 6 feet, roughly 1 by 2 meters) this is not likely. The table top would be too big and too heavy to be feasible as a lid for a box underneath.

Two writing tables (Kastentisch). Left: An opened lid showing the different boxes inside. 15th centur.y Historisches Museum Basel, Switzerland. Height 77 cm, width 79 cm, length 102 cm. Image scanned from Otto von Falke - Deutsche Mobel des Mittelalters und der Renaissance. Right: Late 16th century oak writing table with (top) panels from linden wood and (lower) from pinewood. Height 80 cm, width 99 cm, length 106 cm. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Neuremberg, Germany. Image scanned from F. Windisch-Graetz - Mobel Europas von der Romnaik bis zum Spatgotik.

If we look closely at the rather sloppily drawn table side on the sketch, there seems to be two oblique legs that are connected to each other at the top and the bottom with a horizontal beam. This looks a bit like a fixed trestle-style table, that also was found throughout 16th century Germany. The Duchy of Guelders - with the klaarbank - is relatively close to Germany and such tables could be found here as well.

The apostle Johannes writing at a fixed trestle table.  A copperplate engraving by Johannes Wierix from 1579 from a book by Nicolaes de Clerck. Image from Rijsksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

 

A long fixed trestle table from the Rathaus in Goslar, Germany. The table top has a breadboard end. Image scanned from Otto von Falke - Deutsche Mobel des Mittelalters und der Renaissance.

Left: A scribe working at a fixed trestle table ('wangentisch'), oil painting on a pine panel from the Mömpelgarder Altar, Kunsthistorisches museum, Vienna, Austria. Painted around 1536 by Heinrich Füllmaurer. Right: A simple fixed trestle table from pinewood. Burg Kreuzenstein near Vienna, Austria. 15-16th century. Height 77 cm, width 96 cm, length 106 cm. Image scanned from Otto von Falke - Deutsche Mobel des Mittelalters und der Renaissance.

This kind of table has a simple construction, in which the two trestles are connected to each other by 1 to 4 beams with mortise and tenon joints which are fixed by wedges. The table top consists of several boards which are usually connected at both ends with a breadboard. The underside of the table top has two bars that are fixed to the table top by concealed dovetails. These bars secure the tabletop to the trestles with loose pins. Taken together, it is an easily removable and transportable table. The only limitation could be the length of such a table. Long tables with a thin tabletop have a tendency to sag in the middle, though the long table from Goslar shows a remedy for this.

The proposed table for the registrar at the klaarbank (© St. Thomas Guild).

The chair of the sheriff

Left: Detail of the plan of the klaarbank 592-0001. The top shows the position of the Ducal chair and the stairs. Directly below in the middle of the row of benches the word 'drost' (sheriff) is shown with a backrest of a seat.

On closer inspection of the plan of the klaarbank, between the two sides of the first bench for the nobility, there appears to be a chair. We first mistook this as part of a row of steps leading up to the Ducal chair. The plan, however, shows a semicircular line, as with the seat of the duke. Moreover, the word 'drost' is written here, so it likely represents the seat of the sheriff of the Veluwe county.

The office of the sheriff is of lower esteem than that of the Duke, but more important than the other participants (seated on benches). Therefore, it seems more likely that the seat of the sheriff represents a simpler type of armchair, instead of a second high boxed chair. Armchairs, during the 16th century in the Netherlands, usually have a leather seat and backrest which is attached to an open frame using brass or gold plated nails. The leather of the backrest can be richly decorated, e.g. with heraldic signs. This type of chair is probably also brought from the ducal inventory, like the high chair of the duke.

Left: An early 17th century oak armchair with leather upholstery from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The armrests and the backrest have carved lions. Right:A 16th-century armchair with leather upholstery in the town hall of Lübeck, Germany. The backrest is heavily decorated with the arms of the town.

The sauvegarde

Left: The sauvegarde hanging above the Ducal high chair. Detail from 529-002.

A sauvegarde (safeguard) is a letter of protection granted by a ruler, such as the Duke/Stadholder of Guelders, that provided a group of people or an institution (such as a monastery or a place of justice) a protection from persecution and violence. A kind of sanctuary or asylum. In order to show that a building and its residents were under the protection of such a sauvegarde, a clearly recognizable sign was attached to the structure. A sauvegarde often showed the heraldic shield of the person that provided the protection. Also the klaarbank contained a sauvegarde, which was hanging above the ducal chair. 

Left: Sauvegarde of Charles V in the rectory of St. Peter's Church, Den Bosch, the Netherlands (1593). Photo copyright Stadsarchief 's-Hertogenbosch, No. 0,048,668. 8. Right: Another image of a sauvegarde found on internet.

A sauvegarde letter granted by the Duke of Leicester in 1586 to the area around Dongen, the Netherlands. 
The letter is preserved in the archive of Oosterhout, the Netherlands.

To create the sauvegarde for the klaarbank a commission was given to an artist, Mr. Johan Houten. He was also paid for drawing the design and painting of the final object. The accounts concerning the sauvegarde have been preserved. The design of the sauvegarde would have included, among others, the arms of Guelders and the Veluwe county.

Detail of one of the accounts involving the sauvegarde. Photo by E. de Jonge, Gelderland Archive, inventarisnrs. 1729 and 1743.

The furniture at the Engelanderholt 'klaarbank' - Part 1

While the outlines of the klaarbank at the Engelanderholt are more or less straightforward, the furniture within is based on much speculation and assumptions. However, keeping this in mind, Bram and I think that the furniture within the klaarbank could have looked like those presented below. We did have some clues, however, as the backside of one of the sketches made by the carpenter shows some side-views of the furniture pieces. For the rest, we looked at contemporary pieces of  furniture that might be similar to those of the klaarbank. One of the assumptions made was that the furniture pieces had to be constructed in a relatively short amount of time, and that they should easily be disassembled and stored for reuse.

A cross section of the finished klaarbank at the back of one of the sketches made by master carpenter Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-003). The large chair with canopy for the Duke can be seen on the left, as well as five sets of benches. On the far right you can see a table.

The chair of the Duke (or Stadhouder)

Left: Detail of the chair from the outline sketch by Master Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-002).

On the sketch containing the structure of the side walls (see previous post), the seat of the Duke is shown in more detail. It is a richly ornamented chair with a high panelled backrest and armrests. The top of the back rest has a pair of ornamented pinnacles. The backrest is horizontally divided into two parts; the lower part seems to consist of a linenfold pattern, while the top part has a carved appearance. However, the cross-section (see figure above) shows the chair having a canopy.

Chairs of a ruler (like the stadhouder or the Duke) that were used for official meetings needed to be representative and impressive. During the larger part of the Middle Ages this was almost always a throne or a sella curulis (a type of folding chair) decorated with lion heads at the ends. At the end of the 14th century and early 15th century the chair type changed to a folding chair with a high backrest, which in turn in the 15th and 16th centuries was succeeded by a box- or panelled high chair. It is probably this last type of chair that was used by the Duke at the klaarbank.

This kind of chair can be equipped with a storage compartment under the seat; most of the surviving examples have such a compartment. In such cases, the chair is called a box chair or in Dutch a 'sittekist'. The photos below show several extant examples of such chairs. Basically this chair consists of a frame, where the backrest, front and sides are filled with panels. In the late Middle Ages (15th century) these were often parchment and linenfold panels, while in the 16th century more figurative carved and X-shaped panels were used. The outline of the seat of the Duke (the detail from 529-002) shows a nice transition between the two panel styles: the bottom half uses a linenfold panel and the upper half a figurative carved panel. This figurative panel could for example be the heraldic shield of the Duchy of Guelders. The components of the frame itself are joined using mortise and tenons, secured by wooden nails. For the decorations on the top of the backrest we propose (Guelders) lions. The boxed/panel high chairs could also be fitted with a balcony at the top of the backrest (see photo below).

(Left) Oak box chair (1490-1500) from Chateau Martainville, France with a large carved panel in the backrest.  Two lions can be found at the top of the backrest. Height 186 cm, 74 cm wide. (Middle) Oak box chair with an attached canopy. Height 227 cm, width 71 cm. Image scanned from J. Boccador - Le mobilier Francais du moyen age a la renaissance. (Right) Oak box chair with linenfold panels from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Photo copyright Rijksmuseum). The chair is dated around 1500. Also here two shield bearing lions are found at the backrest. Height 143 cm, width 73 cm.

Such box seats were variable in size. The width varied between 60 and 90 cm and the height between 1.13 and 2.26 meters. The seat height is generally 45 cm and depth of the seat between 45 and 59 cm. However, the space for the ducal seat in the klaarbank is limited due to the restricted surface area of ​​the plateau on which the seat stands (4 by 2 feet). For a stable placement, the chair must have been smaller than the platform; a chair with a width of 75 cm and a depth of 45 cm with a height of 1.85 meters, like the one shown below, may well have been used at the klaarbank.

High-backed panel chairs from that time are invariably made of oak. Since the construction of such a chair relatively takes a long time, and since the chair has a representative and impressive function, it is more likely that the ducal seat was taken from the ducal inventory and not constructed on site. To make such a chair, one needs a good joiner, rather than a master carpenter who also needs to put together a klaarbank. Furthermore, spruce or poplar (the wood used for the klaarbank) is inappropriate and unsuitable for such an important seat.

The proposed seat of the duke at the klaarbank (© St. Thomas Guild).

The benches for the counselors, nobility, peinders and registrar

Left: The side of one of the benches; detail from the sketch by Master Aelbert (Photo copyright Gelders Archive, detail of 529-003).

The plan of the klaarbank shows six long forms meant for the counselors, the knighthood and the representatives of the Veluwe cities (peinders). The seventh, a much smaller stool behind a table, was intended for the registrar and the writer. The backside of the sketch of the floor plan shows the sides of the various benches, which all look similar. They consisted of (two) uprights that were connected to each other by two smaller boards (an sometimes a stretcher) where the seating board rested on top. This construction is called a 'wangenbank' or boarded stool, a type that was first seen in the 15th century and remained popular two centuries afterwards. This seating type existed in all sizes, from a single-seated stool to a bank for dozens of people, and was made in various types of wood. Examples of such banks from the 16th century can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (see below); a simple version of a boarded stool was fished out of the wreck of the Mary Rose.

The construction of a boarded form is simple and consists of five boards: the seat, two uprights (sides) and two cheeks on the length of the bench to support the seat. The boards [wangen] are fixed to the uprights with nails or could be hooked together cross-wise. The latter is most likely when the banks quickly had to be disassembled. For added reinforcement often there was also a low stretcher through a mortise and secured with  a wedge to the uprights. These banks could easily be extended by adding extra uprights and stretchers with wedges to support the longer seating. The scheme below shows a possible construction of the long forms. As mentioned previously, these benches are easy to make (by a carpenter), disassemble, transport and store, which also happened to the klaarbank.

Two 16th century oak forms originating from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. The cheeks of these forms are hooked into the uprights. (Top) Object W.78-1924: Height 45.7 cm, 1.55 m long and 26.8 cm deep (Photo copyright V & A, London; http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113387/bench/). (Bottom) Object W. 67-1921. Height 53.4 cm, length 2.36 m and depth 28 cm. Image scanned from C. Tracy - English medieval furniture and woodwork.

(Left) The elm boarded stool from the Mary Rose. The standing panels are slightly notched to accomodate the side boards. These are nailed to the uprights. Image scanned from 'Chapter 9 Plain and Functional: Furniture on the Mary Rose' by V. Chinnery in 'Before the mast: life and death aboard the Mary Rose'. (Right) The underside of an elm boarded stool dating from 1550. item no 1136. 22 inch wide, 21.5 inch height, 11.5 inch deep. Photo from Period Oak Antiques, UK. 

A boarded oak stool from 1600 joined by a stretcher and fixed with a wedge. 20.5 inch high, 21 inch wide and 13 inch deep. Item nr. 1046. Photos from Period Oak Antiques, UK.

The measurements of the benches are provided in the text on the sketch of the klaarbank [no. 592-0001] or can be deduced from these measurements. Thus, the height of the bench must be 1.5 feet or 45 cm, the same as the depth of the form. The length of all banks is given in the text:

De Bank van de Kanselier en Raden, lang 40 voeten;
Bank van de ridderschap, lang 52 voet;
Tweede bank van de ridderschap, lang in alles 40 voet;
Bank van de peindere, dr. etc. hoog 1,5 voet, lang 27 voet;
Elk van deze banken is breed 1,5 voet en staan van de andere 1,5 voet;
Bank van griffier (en) landschrijver etc. lang 8 voet.

[The Bank of the Chancellor and Council, 40 feet long;
Bank of the Knighthood, 52 feet long;
Second bank of the Knighthood, all 40 feet long;
Bank of peindere, Dr etc. 1.5 feet high, 27 feet long;
Each of these banks is 1.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet in front of the other;
Bank of the Registrar (and) writer etc. 8 feet long.]

The proposed form for the nobility at the klaarbank (© St. Thomas Guild).

Only the number of uprights for the long benches are unknown. The stool for the registrar probably had two, the distance between them is little more than 2 m. The number of uprights for the long benches were probably 5 for the peinders, 11 for the second bench of the knighthood, twelve (2 x 6) for the first bench of the knighthood and eight (2 x 4) for the bank of the chancellor and council. The nobles and dignitaries had to attend the entire session of the klaarbank. You can imagine that prolonged sitting on a hard wooden bench was not very comfortable. Probably the forms also  had cushions, whether or not taken with them by the delegates.

A next post will concern the remainder of the furniture in the klaarbank at the Engelanderholt.