Embroidered Garment from Bronze Age Skrydstrup

The Skrydstrup woman, buried in her oak coffin. Southern Jutland, Denmark, c. 1300 BC.

The Early Bronze Age burial mound of Skrydstrup, southern Jutland, Denmark, has yielded a very early example of needlelace, from the sleeve and neckline of a garment buried together with a young woman in an oak coffin. The burial mound was excavated in 1935 and the remains have been dated to c. 1300 BC.

The neck of the short-sleeved woollen garment was decorated with a row of buttonhole stitches overcasting the edge, followed by other rows of buttonhole stitches attached to the preceding row. Three threads were finally woven through the loops of the buttonhole stitches. The sleeves were also embroidered: three rows of buttonhole stitches, as with the neckline, the central area being filled in by another variation of the buttonhole stitch.

Museum of Denmark online catalogue (retrieved 5th February 2017).

Detail of the embroidered sleeve of the Skrydstrup woman's blouse (c. 1300 BC). Source.

Last modified on Thursday, 11 May 2017 20:19

Published in Fragments and panels