Medieval & Renaissance illustrations and artifacts on three related topics: spinning with a distaff & spindle, spinning with a spinning-wheel, and thread-winding.

See also these links on spinning and making distaffs & spindles.

• Eve spinning, The York Psalter, c. 1170
• October, The Fécamp Psalter (KB 76 F 13, fol. 10v), c. 1180
• Abû Zayd et al-Hârith arrive at a village, Maqâmât (BNF Arabe 5847), 1236-1237
• Illustrations on fols. 153r and 179r of a psalter (ÖNB 1898), c. 1265-1275
• Eve spinning in a church wall-painting, Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, England, c. 1300
• Woman with a distaff, the Ormesby Psalter (Douce 366, fol. 71v), c. 1300-1310
• Two men speak with a woman, a book of trouvère poetry (Douce 308, fol. 239b r), first quarter of the 14th century
• Detail from The Annunciation to St. Anne by Giotto, 1304-1306
• St. Gertrude of Nivelles spinning, the Maastricht Hours (British Library, Stowe 17, fol. 34), 1310-1320
• Eve (fol. 4v) and Rebecca (fol. 13), the Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Royal 2 B VII), c. 1310-1320
• Border, bible (BNF Fr. 13096, fol. 25), 1313
• St. Denis in front of Fescennius, The Life of St. Denis (BNF Fr. 2092, fol. 14v), 1317
• Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: preparing flax for the distaff (?), and spinning
• Fols. 48r, 74v, psalter (Douce 6), c. 1320-1330
• Eve spinning (fol. 4v) and a woman (probably a descendant of Cain) spinning (fol. 6), The Holkham Bible (British Library MS Add. 47682, fol. 4v), c. 1320-1335
• Fols. 30v and 60 and 116v, The Luttrell Psalter (British Library MD Add. 42130), c. 1325-1335
• A pig holding a distaff and spindle (St John's College, MS B.9, fol. 1r), second quarter of the 14th century
• Adam and Eve, the Taymouth Hours (British Library Yates Thompson 13, fol. 23v), second quarter of the 14th century
• Adam and Eve, Speculum Humanae Salvationis (ÖNB s.n. 2612, fol. 5r), c. 1330-1340
• Renart chased by a peasant woman, Romance of Reynard the Fox and Isengrin (Douce 360, fol. 21r), 1339
• Three queens spinning, weaving, and embroidering, Avis aus Roys (PML M.456, fol. 56r), c. 1340-1360
• Fols. 2v, 35v, 42r, 84r, 113v, Voeux du paon (PML G.24) c. 1350
• Solomon and the virtuous woman, Franciscan missal (Douce 313, fol. 291v), middle of the 14th century
• Eve spinning, Speculum humanae salvationis (MMW 10 C 23, fol. 6r), 15th century
• Labor in the city, Aristotle's Ethics, Politics, and Economics (BNF Fr. 22500, fol. 2), 15th century
• Eve spinning in a church wall-painting, Broughton, Cambridgeshire, 15th century
• Hercules spinning, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598, fol. 33), beginning of the 15th century
• Hercules (fol. 24v) and Tanaquil (fol. 56), De mulieribus claris (British Library, Royal 16 G V), beginning of the 15th century
• Tanaquil, De mulieribus claris (British Library, Royal 20 C V, fol. 75), beginning of the 15th century
• Sardanapalus spinning, De casibus (BNF Fr. 226, fol. 46), first quarter of the 15th century
• The Virgin at the Spinning-Wheel, 1420-1430
• Distaff-makers in the Mendel Hausbuch: Francz (c. 1425), Werenlein Reinmon (1457)
• Sardanapalus spinning, De casibus (BNF Fr. 232, fol. 49), second quarter of the 15th century
• Troilus and Aeneas with Hecuba and Helen, The Trojan War (ÖNB 2773, fol. 137r), c. 1445-1450
• Eve spinning, Speculum humanae salvationis (MMW 10 B 34, fol. 3r), c. 1450
• Sardanapalus spinning, The Fall of Princes (British Library Harley 1766, fol. 116), c. 1450-1460
• St. Margaret and Olibrius, the book of hours of Étienne Chevalier, c. 1450-1460
• Sardanapalus spinning, De casibus (BNF Fr. 233, fol. 46v), third quarter of the 15th century
• Shepherdess spinning, book of hours (Rawl. liturg. f. 13, fol. 36v), third quarter of the 15th century
• Sardanapalus spinning, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 288, fol. 232), second half of the 15th century
• An ape spinning (fol. 46r) and a woman spinning (fol. 108v) in the borders of a book of hours (MMW 10 F 50), c. 1460
• Exterior scene, Roman de Girart de Nevers (Bibliothèque Royale Albert ler MS 73, fol. 43v), c. 1460
• Conventionality lectures Comradery on love, Le Roman de la Rose (Douce 364, fol. 97r), c. 1460-1470
• Adam and Eve at work, Speculum humanae salvationis (Douce f. 4, fol. 1r), c. 1460-1470
• A seated woman with a distaff, Historia Alexandri Magni (Laud Misc. 751, fol. 173v), c. 1470-1480
• Sardanapalus spinning with women
• A group of virtuous women spinning, The City of God (MMW 10 A 11, fol. 69v), c. 1475-1480
• A satirical coat of arms, c. 1485-1490
• Eve spinning, Speculum humanae salvationis (British Library Harley 2838, fol. 5), c. 1485-1509
• The family of the joiner, Les États de la société (BNF Fr. 2374, fol. 1v), end of the 15th century
• February in The Grimani Breviary, c. 1490-1510
• Annunciation, c. 1495-1505
• Pamphile of Kos, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 40), 15th-16th century
• Marketplace frescoes at Issogne, late 15th-early 16th century (detail)
• Annunciation to the Shepherds (fol. 56v) and St. Margaret and Olybrius (fol. 189v), Hours of Henry VIII (Morgan MS H.8), c. 1500
• Jar with a woman and geese from Deruta or Montelupo, c. 1500-1525
• November in a book of hours (Douce 72, fol. 6r), first quarter of the 16th century
• Angel fortells the death of Mary, altarpiece at the Church of St. Agidius at Bardejov, 1505
• June, book of hours (PML M.632, fol. 6r), c. 1520
• Woman with distaff and spindle, The Tudor Pattern Book (Ashmole 1504, fol. 34r), c. 1520-1530
• January in the Hennessey Hours, c. 1530-1540
• Portrait of a lady with spindle and distaff by Maerten van Heemskerck, c. 1531
• Hercules at the Court of Omphale by Hans Cranach, 1537
• Hercules with Omphale by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537
• Stained-glass design for a married couple by Hieronymus Lang, 1553
• Detail from Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Younger

• Savinian, Potentian and Modesta Window at Chartres Cathedral, c. 1215-1225
• Woman using a spinning-wheel, Al-Maqâmât (BNF Arabe 5847, fol. 13v), Baghdad, 1237
• A woman using a spinning-wheel, The Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add. 42130, fol. 193), c. 1325-1335
• A woman at a spinning-wheel (fol. 146), a woman at a spinning-wheel (fol. 147), a man and woman at a spinning-wheel (fol. 147v), Smithfield Decretals (British Library, Royal 10 E. IV, fol. 147v), c. 1340
• Making snares and feeding dogs, Livre de la chasse (PML 1044, fol. 45), c. 1410
• Spinning wheel from The Housebook, c. 1475-1485
• Preparing the traps for hunting, Livre de la chasse (BNF Fr. 617, fol. 39), beginning of the 16th century
• Portrait of a woman by Maarten van Heemskerck, 1529
• Portrait of a lady with spindle and distaff by Maerten van Heemskerck, c. 1531
• A family of weavers by Jodocus van Winghe
• Man and Woman by the Spinning Wheel by Pieter Pietersz, c. 1570
• Spinning-wheel from a dollhouse, southern Germany, 17th-18th century

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