knitting-sheath (?) | British Museum

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knitting-sheath(?)

Object Type
Museum number: 1856,0612.6
Description: Knitting sheath/spindle (?); box-wood; baluster shaped bottom with turned finial, surmounted by elaborately carved shaft, acanthus leaves surmounted by two lovers with a dove scrolled finial at top, ending in hole; signature; ring of carved wood, standing free, around central baluster. Inscription.
Production date: 16thC
Production place: Made in: Italy
Materials
Technique: carved; lathe-turned
Dimensions: Diameter: 1.80 centimetres; Length: 26.40 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Used for knitting, silk as well as wool. Worn on the belt. Shakespeare mentions knitting as one of the pastimes of Sylvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona. For a similar piece see E Pinto, 'Treen, and other wooden byegones', London 1969, plate 327.
Bibliographic references: Evan-Thomas 1932 / Domestic Utensils in Wood (plate 54); Pinto 1949 / Treen (plate 77, pp.62-3)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 1978 11 Sep-22 Oct, Llangollen, European Centre for Folk Studies, Spinning a Yarn
Subjects: leaf; bird; classical deity
Associated names
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1856
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1856,0612.6
Conservation