Sprang Bonnets from Late Antique Egypt

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

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The research focuses on the analysis of Coptic sprang bonnets from Late Antique Egypt, specifically a collection of nine bonnets housed in the German Textile Museum in Krefeld. By examining their structures and designs, the author emphasizes the importance of hands-on replication in understanding textile construction. Additionally, the investigation highlights the historical provenance of these artifacts and describes distinct aspects of their design, contributing to the broader knowledge of sprang techniques and Coptic textile traditions.

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The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan Global

Some bonnets have other interesting features. Some have designs in the main body, distinct from the border pattern and also distinct from the pattern near the brim and top of the bonnet. Differences can be seen in the treatment of the cloth as the bonnet nears the top of the head, and in the brim, the part that goes around the face and the back of the head. Sometimes there is a small chain line, sometimes a woven band has been sewn on, and sometimes there is a drawstring at the back.

cloth a with the pattern. As the space gets smaller, the worker generally opts to ad oubling up the threads, thereby creating a narrowing in the cloth. Sometimes the worker often d doubles, and then doubles again and again and again. The worker makes t of the the rectangle along the line of symmetry at the middle and sews up the sid pproach each other, the space in the middle becomes tight. It is then difficult to carry on opt a simpler pattern, he front and the back bonnet at the same time, creating, for example, a long rectangle. When the worker folds bonne results. When significant narrowing occurs as the middle gets tigh es, a rectangular , the hourglass shape results. When the hourglass is folded over to sew up the bonnet, the triangular-shaped bonnet results (Diagram 2). Two different bonnet shapes, obtained by two different manners of working near the center of the warp. Drawings by Carol James

The Krefeld Collection contains bonnets, which illustrate each of the elements discussed. The third aspect I will discuss is the type of stitch in the body of the bonnet. I identify three categories of design stitch used in the bonnets of the Krefeld collection. Lace patterns feature a series of holes comprises the first category. The second category of design stitch is the use of a solid color, decorated using the lean of the stitches, S-lean or Z-lean. The third category of surface design uses colors. Two types of stitch are used to create these colored designs, twining and double-cloth worked on a background of interlinking.

The nine bonnets in the Krefeld collection are presented in this paper in three groups, following the category of their surface design: lace, S&Z, and polychrome. There are two bonnets in the collection featuring lace surface design, 00203 and 00204 (Images | and 2). We see the multiple decreasing happening at the top, making them triangular in shape. Bonnet 00204 has a brow band, and they both have drawstrings at the back of the neck and drawstrings at the top. Upon mapping the lace patterns, it became clear that these represent two different types of lace

Working to make a replica, I found by far the easiest way to insert this red line is by a two-step process. The first step is to leave a thread in the row where the chain will eventually be located. The second step, creating the chain, is executed after the cloth of the bonnet has been completed. The thread left in the shed of the first step will be manipulated into a chain, visible on only one side of the cloth.

Decreased room to maneuver at the middle. Photo by Carol James

At the brim of bonnet 12729 all threads are visible, inside and out. Threads move in a relatively vertical line. Then for a few rows, the brown threads go to the inside, and the other colors to the outside of the bonnet. Then all colors are present side-by-side, and select threads are twined, giving us diagonal lines. This pattern repeats several times. At the top of the hat the patterns changes and we have a pattern of vertical lines at the top of the hat. This is the decrease where threads are taken in pairs. As a worker, I can tell you that this vertical-line pattern is far easier to do than the patterns in the rest of the hat. It comes as a relief, getting close to the apex, to return to this pattern when the working gets tight. The work ends in a chain line and drawstring that secure the work, preventing unraveling. the hat (Image 10) reveals horizontal brown lines. This is an example of double-cloth. The ide is that threads divide into two groups. One group forms a layer on the outside of the bonnet, th other group forms an inside layer. At these places you have a hollow horizontal channel (Diagram 5).

Bonnet 12773 features a clever combination of twined diagonal lines and double-cloth (Image 11). There are vertical lines at the brim, and then the white threads begin to wander diagonally. This is the twining structure. When the white threads meet again, the dark threads come in front of the white and yellow, a kind of double-cloth for one row. Then we see all threads again, returning to single-layer cloth. On the inside of the hat (Image 12), at the place of the double- cloth, the dark threads disappear and we see only white and yellow. The worker was clearly skilled at several structures, and combined them to form this pattern.

Krefeld 15204 and author’s replica, photographed side-by-side in the Krefeld Museum. Photo by Carol James

The red and white threads appear and disappear from the outside of the bonnet. This bonnet again reinforces the need for replicas. The historic bonnets are too fragile to handle. Curators familiar with this motif were very surprised to handle this bonnet, as the red-and-white threads on the inside are loose, only occasionally attached to the hat. Image 15 reveals the manner in which the red and white bits can be separated from the bonnet inside.

When working on 12774, I discovered a very clever innovation used by the makers of this hat. The double-cloth has a problem in that only half of the threads are at the front, half at the back. The cloth wants to be either narrower or else quite loose at this point in the hat. When working on 12774, I realized that the original artisans had devised a simple solution to this. On bonnet 12774 there is a denser, over-3 stitch used at the point of double-cloth. This allows for increased opacity, better obscuring the lower layer.

The bonnet that is 15203 (Image 18) has a structure that was a bit of a surprise to me. Looking at it I saw 1950s-era polka dots. Comparing outside against inside (Image 19), I assumed that this is double-cloth throughout. There is an initial set of red and green threads, then they divide, half to the inside of the cloth, half to the outside. I assumed that the pattern is created when threads switch sides, depending on the pattern. I made up a sample and found this is not the case, the number of dots with respect to the number of lines at the brim does not match up.

Not quite explained as yet is the chain line near the brim. This occurs in several of the bonnets. What can be the reason for this feature? As discussed with bonnet 15202, the chain line is perhaps used to even out areas of disparate width. I find that one result of making this chain is

hat it shrinks the initial loops (Image 20). This creates a much more firm border to which the prowband can be stitched. In view of the fact that this chain line is almost always located within a few rows of the edge, I am assuming this could be a reason for the chain line. Bonnet 15204 has a chain line with an additional red chain line worked down the middle (Image 20). Might the purpose of this second red chain line be to enhance the take-up of the first chain line? This same ponnet 15202 also has a chain line at the back brim, a rather unusual find. This bonnet has neither browband nor drawstring. There is, however, a bit of red cord through the loops at the front (Image 21), which could indicate that browband and/or drawstring have been removed. Th chain all around the brim, front and back, can in itself give a certain amount of stability to the eee More puzzling yet are the selvedge motifs. Of the wide variety of patterns seen and noted in these bonnets, there are but six or eight “border patterns’ hat is, designs at the selvedges of the cloth described by Petra Linscheid and Anne Kwaspen. * There are far fewer patterns seen at the selvedges than patterns seen in t different selvedge motifs. We have dots on three of the bonnets (Image 22), we have a and a chain line (Image 23), and curious as to the need at all for t the remaining two bonnets have no pattern (Image 24). hese selvedge patterns. There does not seem to be any s he body of hats. The Krefeld bonnets feature four of the six attice lam ructural reason for these selvedge patterns. The reason must lie within the artistic license of the maker. The bonnet designs in the Krefe d collection are not unique. For each of these bonnets t nere are several similar bonnets in other collections. I refer you to a Petra Linscheid’s excellent book Friihbyzantinische textile Kopfbedeckungen (Early Byzantine Textile Headcoverings), which describes many of these bonnets , and includes photos.°

ieee eatialiicieatinie’' =~ eaiineniimiiieiies* Sniimiliiadiaenal Replicas and photo by Carol James

Selvedge Motif: Plain Replicas and photo by Carol James Selvedge Motifs : Chain and Lattice Replicas and photo by Carol James