Extant Medieval Hairnet photos on the Web

February 20, 2011 at 6:16 pm | Posted in Netting | 17 Comments

I have been trying to track down as many extant hairnets from the middle ages as possible, to use in my research of medieval netting. I thought that since I am hopefully not the only person interested in such things that posting a listing of as many of the hairnets as I could find might be helpful to others. Because I am unsure of exactly how the copyright laws work, most of these are just links to where you can actually find the pictures.

1. a hairnet made of silk (1300) that is apparently in the Germanisches National Museum in Nurmberg. The black and white picture shows even square mesh with lacis designs.

2. An early 16th century hairnet from Linz. The black and white photo shows one side of a hairnet that appears to have been done with a decorative netting technique (mezza mandolina) of large and small diamonds.

3. A hairnet made of red silk from sometime in the 16th century found at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Belgium. The mesh alternates between plain mesh diamonds and mesh diamonds that have been split into smaller pieces for a highly striking visual effect. This is my personal favorite.

4. A hairnet from St. Truiden, also at the RICH in Belgium, dated approximately between 1200-1400. The incredibly fine mesh (64 holes per square centimeter, if Google Translate is correct!) is almost completely covered in colored lacis.

5. Another hairnet from St. Truiden, with lacis birds decorating it. The picture is black and white but I think from Google Translate that the net is done in green silk while the birds are done in white. Updated: Alwen gave me a link to a color photo.

6. Fragment of a hairnet patterned with lacis birds  This was also found at St. Truiden and dates to about 1200-1400. Updated: Alwen found a link that is in color, but the photo is upside down.

7. A tiny fragment of a hairnet that appears to have been embroidered on with gold thread. Also from St. Truiden and found at the Royal Institute of Cultural Heritage in Belgium.

8. A hairnet from St. Truiden with lacis fleur de lis and bird designs.  Also from St. Truiden and found at the Royal Institute of Cultural Heritage in Belgium. Google Translate suggests that the plain mesh is red dyed with madder and the embroidery is white and yellow dyed with weld.

9. Yet another hairnet from the Abbey of St. Truiden, this time with swastikas embroidered on it.

10. An embroidered hairnet from the 14th century located at a museum in Nurnberg. Embroidered with designs.

11. A hairnet from before 1570. My bookmark has it listed as “found down a well in Prague”, but I’m not sure why I labeled it that way based on the information on the website.

12. A 16th century child’s hairnet. Found in the tomb of Count von Stubenberg and now at the Johanneum Regional Museum. A very large mesh with a honeycomb-like pattern. The edging has jewels or metal details attached to it.

13. A 14th century hairnet that does not appear to be knotted netting.  There appear to be small appliqued designs attached at each of the intersections of the diamond meshes.

14. A 14th century hairnet done with large white meshes, small green meshes, and decorated with embroidered shields that were attached to the hairnet.

15. A roman hairnet done in patterned netting, seen on page 2 of A History of Handmade Lace. It only says “found in a Roman cemetary”, so there is no real time period associated with it.

16 A border(?) of netting with lacis designs, found at St. Truiden, dated between 1200-1400.

17. One of the London hairnets at the V&A, a picture taken by visitors to the museum. The book Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450: Medieval Finds from Excavations in London has more information about this and other hairnets.