Annatextiles VOCABULAR - Embroideries
Index---alphabetical order---Embroideries
             

Weissstickerei:
früheTambourstickerei in der Schweiz
Whitework:
early Swiss Tambour Embroidery

Broderie blanche:
point de tambour en Suisse
Ricamo bianco:
punto tamburo in Svizzera
             
   
  Early Whitework Embroidery of 18th century: coton fabrics and embroidery

In India, the muslins of Dacca have long been famous. The finest of all Dacca muslins was "the king's muslin" which was made in a length of approximately 10 yards by 1 yard and it contained from 1000 to 1800 threads in the warp. It could only be made during the monsoon season when the moisture in the air enabled the thread to be woven. The "Jamdani" or figured muslins have been spoken of as the chef-d'oeuvre of the Indian weaver. They employed a very fine brocading technique practised only in Dacca and they are still made there. Two men work together at the same loom, one at each side. The pattern drawn on paper is placed below the warp. With two pointed bamboo sticks the men draw the threads between the warp as may be equal to the width of the figure which is to be formed.

The so-called chrisam gown from the middle of 18th c. is preserved in the Historic Museum of St. Gallen. Chrisam is a balsamic oil and it was used in the church. For instance, fabrics were dipped into a liquid mixture of water and this oil. According to an old tradition, babies who cried a lot and did not put on weight had to wear this kind of garment in order to be cured. According to the Museums' inventary book the fabric is linen and the small motives were added in cotton thread. In eastern Switzerland such simple ornamented fabrics were called "gmügglet" which means decorated with small, mosquito-like motifs. This term can be found in San Gall chronicles since 1726.

The use of the tambour frame on cotton fabrics can only be found as from the second half of 18th century. In Switzerland since 1750, in Germany since 1775, and in Scotland since 1782.
In St.Gallen some merchants first saw textiles embroidered using the tambour frame from Lyons. It is said that these merchants brought Turkish girls to St.Gallen and in about 1750 they taught the women there how to do tambour frame work. In 1753 the St.Gallen trading house of Gonzenbach placed an order to have East Indian Muslin embroidered in Vorarlberg. Swiss merchants did not seem to have problems buying Indian muslin and some Indian fabric was more suitable for embroidery than native fabric.

   Some examples of embroidered textiles from the Textilmuseum in St. Gallen present different kind of cotton fabric. A fragment from the 2nd half of the 18th century worked in running stitch and chain stitch does not show evidence of tambour frame work. The rather coarse fabric points to a European and not to Indian production. In the museum however no documents referring to its origin have been found. It is hoped that a technical analysis will be possible one day, to get better results.

A coverlet from the end of the18th century shows tambour frame work. The very fine ground fabric suggests to East Indian muslin which was possibly embroidered in Europe. And finally the shawl of Trogen, from beginning of the 19th century, today in the library of Trogen, was produced in Eastern Switzerland and was a gift to Napoleon I, as a result of which the Swiss merchants hoped to receive some customs privileges. But the delegacy sent to Paris in 1805 was not sucessful, therefore they brought the embroidery back home again. A letter explaining these events by Georg Zellweger, son of Jacob, has been preserved. The ground fabric could be made from english machine-spun yarn.
Very probably most of the cotton fabrics used in embroidery in the 18th century were imported from India, and this only ended, when mechanical weaving in Europe progressed. In Europe, after initial attempts to copy Indian woven patterns - the jamdanis - it seemed more appropriate to decorate the fabrics with embroidery. Requiring no loom embroidery was often a cheaper copy of a woven decoration.
Fibre analyses could possibly provide new and better results about the origin of the fabrics and the embroidery.


Literature:
- Hermann Wartmann, "Industrie und Handel des Kantons St.Gallen", St.Gallen 1870
- Leopold Iklé, "Vergleichende Daten zur Entwicklung der Mousseline-Weberei und -Stickerei", St. Gallen 1915
- U. Reich-Langhaus, Beiträge zur Chronik der Bezirke Werdenberg und Sargans, Laupen bei Bern 1929
- Walter Bodmer, "Textilgewerbe und Textilhandel in Appenzell-Ausserrhoden vor 1800", Appenzellische Jahrbücher, 1959, p. 3-75
       
 
          Die nachfolgenden Beispiele stammen, wo nichts anderes angegeben, aus der Sammlung des
Textilmuseums St.Gallen (Schweiz)
Details von Weissstickereien in Baumwolle und Leinen
   Unless otherwise indicated, the examples belong to the collection of the

Textilmuseum St.Gallen (Switzerland)
Details of whitework embroideries with embroidery in cotton and linen threads.
     


Corner of head covering (oradhni or chadar), depicting board border of zigzag pattern and squares on the field.
Cotton, white muslin, brocaded with white cotton in Jamdani weaving, warp 69 and weft 64 threads per inch. Dacca, 18th c., (size 307,5 x 124,5 cm)
National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi, Inv.Nr. 59.4/56


Detail of "Chrisam robe",
Historic Museum of St.Gallen, Inv.No. 498


"Chrisam robe", woven pattern, linen fabric,
probably eastern part of Switzerland, mid 18th c
Historic Museum of St.Gallen, Inv.No. 498
 


chainstitsch, hand embroidered on linen, 1742, privat







Detail of 1742, private


probably hand embroidery: running stitch, chainstitch, pulled and drawn work, 18th century, Inv.TM

tambour work, 2nd half 18th c., swiss embroidery on indian cotton fabric


detail of tambour work, Inv.Nr. TM 21358


detail of tambour work, Inv.Nr. TM


christening veil, 2nd half 18th century, Inv.Nr. TM


Detail of tambour work, Inv.Nr. TM


Detail of tambour work, Inv.Nr. TM

 
tambour work, around 1800, Inv.Nr. TM


detail of tambour work, around 1800, Inv.Nr. TM


tambour work, around 1800, Inv.Nr. TM


Cap from traditional Appenzell costume, around 1800, Inv.Nr. TM


Detail of a shawl in the library at Trogen, 1806


Detail of a curtain in Herisau, tull and musslin, with the mountain "Jungfrau" and groups on their way to the top, probably chainstitch machine, made for world exhibition 1889 in Paris by J.G. Nef & Co. in Herisau. Museum of Herisau.
   


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 Last revised August, 2016 For further information contact Anne Wanner wanner@datacomm.ch