A sewing pillow

A sewing pillow

An oblong wooden casket covered in green velvet and decorated with border embroideries of stylized tulips, ears of grain and scrollwork, in the opposite center parts a stylized vase with a double flower bud. The whole consisting of two halves, connected to one and other by a piano hinge, on the other side there is a lock. On the inside there is a red paper interior with various compartments, all covered with leather-lined covers, decorated with gilt-tooled stamps. The decorations on the cover are inspired by the prints by Étienne Delaune (circa 1518-1583), whose output was often used as an example for decorating motifs on artworks. At the center of the cover a mirror is attached, which makes the pillow reminiscent of a lady’s beauty-case, however, it is something else: we are looking at a sewing pillow.

Such very rare objects are known to us since around 1580 until well into the 18th century. It was a very practical object, where in the reserves all sewing utensils such as buttons, yarn and tape could be kept; at the same time, the sewing could be pinned onto the outside. In fact it was an extended version of the pincushion.

The first sewing cushions were probably manufactured in Antwerp during the second half of the 16th century. At the time Antwerp was one of the most prosperous cities in Europe. Various kinds of precious materials were supplied and used.

The luxurious pillows, which also served as a sewing box, were, according to the accounting records of the Forchondt firm in Antwerp, a popular export product. In their records a number of pillows is mentioned: 2 naeycussens tot 20 gl. Stuck (two sewing pillows of 20 guilders each) mentioned in an invoice addressed to Mr Joannis Vlooitz in Vienna, dated 9th October 1635. Apparently the cushions were well received since on 30st March, 1637 Forchondt delivered two further sewing pillows to the same: Frawele Naeycussens met cant en stoeffwerck van sielver met gedreven plaeten a 54 gl. En 2 fluwele cussens met cant met leren cassen a 18 gul. Stuck (Beautifull sewing cushions with lace and silver and with turned plates at 54 Guilders and 2 velvet cushions with lace and leather reserves at 18 Guilders each).

Another invoice was sent around 1639, however unknown to whom, for 6 froweele geborduerde naeycussens a 20 gl  (6 velvet embroidered sewing cushions at 20 Guilders each). Although the Forchondt family, that existed of fine furniture makers, painters and art dealers, continued to deliver goods to clients all over Europe until around 1700, after 1640 there are no more entries for pillows in their records. They also trade less and less in furniture. Clearly the focus turned to painting. The regular supplier of small furniture, who probably manufactured these cushions, may have stopped at the time. Unfortunately only a few examples survived; partly because of this, the object is better known through paintings than as a physical item.

© Kunsthistorische Museum, Wenen, Gerard ter Borch II, The Apple Peeler, oil on panel, 36.5 x 30.5 cm, inv. n° 588 (detail).

It is remarkable that the painter Gerard ter Borch depicts a sewing cushion as an attribute on various of his paintings. In The Apple Peeler, a canvas in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the pillow lies in a basket next to the woman who is peeling an apple.

© Mauritshuis, The Hague, Gerard ter Borch II, Woman sewing at a cradle, oil on panel, 46,5 x 38 cm, inv. n° 1133 (detail)

Gerard’s half-sister, Gesina, also drew a sewing pillow in the family sketchbook.

© Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Gesina ter Borch, Man reading to a woman, watercolour on paper, Zwolle circa 1660, inv. n° BI-1887-1463-30

© Palais du Louvre, Paris, Johannes Vermeer, The lacemaker, oil on canvas, 24 x 21 cm, inv. n° MI 1448

It is remarkable that in nearly all of these paintings the pillow is always depicted as a closed attribute on the woman’s lap, or next to her, on a table of in a basket between other fabric. Only a few times the pillow is actually used, as is the case on a painting by the relatively unknown Johannes van der Aack, in the National Gallery in London, and also on a painting by Caspar Netscher, missing since the Second World War from the Gemäldegalerie Dresden (inv. n° 1353).

© National Gallery, London, Johannes van der Aack, Woman sewing, oil on canvas, 108,8 x 82 cm, 1655, inv. n° 1397

On the woman’s lap lies a simple pillow. Probably it could not be opened. Here we can clearly see how the cushion and the craftsmanship on it were handled. A craft was pinned onto the pillow so that it could be pulled tight with one hand, and a thread could be embroidered through with the other hand. The pillow had to have a considerable weight to ensure not to stretch the embroidery too much while putting stitches.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam owns two sewing pillows (inv. n°s BK-NM-3582 en BK-NM-5169), both datable to circa 1580-1620. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston owns a late-17th century cushion (inv. n° 43.321) with an embroidered interior, and the museum Kasteel Sypesteyn at Loosdrecht  has an example that is lined with marbled paper (inv. n° 5821). The first three cushions all have almost the same size and layout. The Loosdrecht cushion has a variant layout. It turns out that there were variants, which is emphasized by two miniature cushions found in two Dutch doll’s houses. These have a different interior, which is also known from a portrait by Joachim Wtewael of his daughter Eva, dated 1628, in the Centraal museum, Utrecht (inv. n° 18022).

Sewing pillow, Rijksmuseum Inv. No. BK-NM-3582

Luxurious cushions made of velvet were not only beautiful to look at but also had advantages: the bombé pillow had to be made of such material that that pins could easily be stuck into it. The roughness of velvet also had a practical use, the embroidery could slip away less easily, it was, as it were, stuck to the cushion. Moreover, pin holes are invisible in velvet, so that the cushion remained beautiful even with frequent use.

Women’s virtue

In art history needlework has been an emblem of women’s virtue woman since the late middle-ages. On the earliest representations the Virgin Mary is sewing linen, with Child Jesus sitting next to her. Here no sewing cushion if present, just a basket with fabric and a pair of scissors. Only at the end of the 16th century the sewing cushion emerges in the arts. On a 1573 print we see a woman embroidering on a cushion. Is this indeed a sewing cushion or an ordinary pillow? It remains uncertain, because on the angles of the bed identical pillows are laid.

The fact that in 17th-century painting various women are depicted either as well-to-do or more common, carrying a sewing cushion does not implicate that this attribute was in use among all sections of the population. Probably such utensils were much too expensive. Without doubt there existed variations which may or may not have been less luxurious, and the example presented here is an extremely opulent version.

From estate inventories it is usually impossible to determine whether or not it concerns a sewing cushion or a sewing casket. There must have been several variants, given the valuations in estate inventories and the prices the Forchondt firm asked for a cushion.

In an Amsterdam inventory, made up for the remarriage in 1613 of the owner Sara Berwijns, we find a naeymantgen met twee naeycussens op drye guldens f 3:- (a sewing basket and two sewing cushions, estimated at three guilders). On 29 January 1615 the merchant Michiel van der Straten of Haarlem died. In his estate was a naijmantgen met naijcussen ende doex lappen (sewing basket and sewing cushion as well as pieces of fabric). However, there is no mention of their value.

Sewing cushions such as the present piece were most probably meant for nobility and the upper class of society. These ladies did not mend clothes of linen, but practiced lace making or embroidery, hence demonstrating their virtue. With the sewing cushion as a tool and elegant decorative object on one’s lap, decorative needlepoint and sewing were applied. To be active in such ways was held in high esteem.

Working together was a form of social competition and sharing knowledge. All decorative needlepoint was regarded as more sophisticated that ordinary repair work or making garment adjustments, which had to be done invisibly, so that no one could see that patched clothing was worn.

Sewing pillows such as this have become a rarity. In miniature only a few examples have survived: the well-known collection of Clementine Kuttschrütter – Brenninkmeijer, Draiflessen Collection Das Forum at Mettingen (Germany) holds a miniature piece by Wessel Jansen, Amsterdam, circa 1660. However, she never was able to acquire a real 17th-century sewing cushion. The miniature piece is illustrated on the cover of the exhibition catalogue Ariadne’s naaikussen (Ariadne’s sewing cushion). A few other examples in miniature are known, one of which is offered by Endlich Antiquairs, as part of a miniature collector’s cabinet.

Based on the patterns on the outside, we now attribute this pillow as being Dutch and not from Antwerp.