Carpet thumbnail 1
Carpet thumbnail 2
+6
images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at Young V&A
Design Gallery, The Factory, Case 1

Carpet

1781 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

To gain full membership of the Hand-Knitters' Guild of Strasbourg, journeymen knitters had to produce masterpieces including a cap, a woollen jacket, a pair of gloves with fingers, and a wallhanging patterned with flowers, like this one. This carpet or hanging is of multi-coloured stocking stitch made on needles, or possibly a peg frame. We do not know who made it. Adam and Eve appear beneath a central panel depicting Jacob's Dream, from the Old Testament, with the inscription "hilfe wirt gott ferner schicken meinen feinden zum verdus" : God will continue to send help in despite of mine enemies.

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read The history of hand-knitting While the origins of knitting are unclear, we know it has been practised in many different parts of the world, over many centuries, producing objects of great beauty as well as items fulfilling practical needs. When done by hand, it has used simple tools, such as hand-carved sticks of wood...

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Knitted wool. Appearance is consistent with use of both intarsia and stranded colour work techniues. It is possible the work was knitted in the round and then steeked (cut into a flat piece of knitting). During conservation in 2023 small pieces of linen were found to be machine stitched to the top edge, possibly an old hanging system. These were timmed down and the blue edging applied. There it can be stated that the blue edging is not original to the object and likely dates from the latter 19th century, due to the drastic colour fading present.
Brief description
Carpet of knitted wool, Strasbourg, 1781
Physical description
Carpet of hand knitted wool.
Dimensions
  • Height: 169cm (Minimum) (Note: Measured flat - may stretch a little when vertical)
  • Width: 169cm (Minimum)
Measured by conservation
Marks and inscriptions
'hilfe wirt gott ferner schicken meinen feinden zum verdus' (Inscription on carpet)
Translation
God will continue to send help in despite of mine enemies
Credit line
Given by Eric Pasold
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Literary references
  • Genesis 28:10-19
  • Genesis 3
Summary
To gain full membership of the Hand-Knitters' Guild of Strasbourg, journeymen knitters had to produce masterpieces including a cap, a woollen jacket, a pair of gloves with fingers, and a wallhanging patterned with flowers, like this one. This carpet or hanging is of multi-coloured stocking stitch made on needles, or possibly a peg frame. We do not know who made it. Adam and Eve appear beneath a central panel depicting Jacob's Dream, from the Old Testament, with the inscription "hilfe wirt gott ferner schicken meinen feinden zum verdus" : God will continue to send help in despite of mine enemies.
Bibliographic reference
Hinchcliffe, Frances (ed.), Knit One, Purl One : Historic and Contemporary Knitting from the V&A's Collection. V&A, London, 1985 p.7
Collection
Accession number
T.375-1977

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Record createdJuly 11, 2003
Record URL
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