(Click for Big)
This image of a family of Zuiderzee (a historic region of the Netherlands and now part of North Holland) is a hand-colored print from a steel engraving drawn and engraved by Rouargue Frères in 1857 in Paris.
Sunlight floods through the leaded glass window as the child plays in the background, the man concentrates on lighting his clay pipe, and the woman, keeping an eye on the artist, industriously spins flax on her flat-rim treadle wheel. All is not labor for the dear lady, however--note the glass of a little something close by on the sideboard to her left. Some things do not change. She looks like good company, doesn't she?
I like how the woman has tilted her stool forward on the front legs to reach the wheel more comfortably and how the wheel sits on a small patterned rug to keep it from skidding across the floor. I also note the simple distaff with the line flax tied in a knot at the top. Although it is tempting to put this down to a lack of accuracy on the part of the artist, I have seen a few other images of spinners with the flax tied in just this way.
A few years ago I attended a symposium at the Coverlet Museum in Bedford, PA, at which a Dutch woman spoke re linen production in the rural Netherlands. Up to the beginning of WW2 it was still common for women in some rural villages to spin and weave all the linens for their trousseau. Some traditions die hard, I guess.
Considering that rural electrification in the U.S. was still going on through the '50s, and that I saw a house on the market in So. MD a few years ago that didn't have indoor plumbing (!)...
Posted by: Mara | October 31, 2011 at 07:40 AM
Her distaff dressed in that manner, indicates her level of expertise..or that she is highly skilled at spinning flax.
Love the glass on the sidebar. (good company? yes.)
Posted by: cyndy | October 26, 2011 at 03:11 PM
Nit picking here, but the times I've been instructed on spinning linen, the teacher mentioned keeping a cup of water nearby and wetting the fingers while spinning. Could the glass be holding something to wet the hands instead of the throat?
Posted by: Judith | October 16, 2011 at 11:43 AM
@LaurieM I agree. By this time in Europe textiles would have been readily available. I expect she spins to make special linen goods for her family.
Posted by: Marcy/Habetrot | October 14, 2011 at 01:38 PM
Does she spin for pleasure, or necessity? I'm guessing the former.
Posted by: LaurieM | October 14, 2011 at 01:16 PM