Medieval & Renaissance illustrations and artifacts on 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
- 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), 1st quarter of the 14th century
- Fols. 30v, 32r, 34r, 64v, 70v, 113r, 114r, 114v, 133r, 133v, 140v, 190r, 195r, 216r, 242v, 259v, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17), 1st quarter of the 14th century
- Detail from The Annunciation to St. Anne by Giotto, 1304-1306
- Eve (fol. 4v) and Rebecca (fol. 13r), 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, 60r, 116v, and 166v, the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130), c. 1325-1340
- 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
- Annunciation fresco at San Gimignano, c. 1333-1341
- 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, northern France, 15th 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
- Signs of the Zodiac: Virgo, Liber Physiognomiae (Biblioteca Estense Alpha. W.8.20;Lat. 697), c. 1401-1450
- 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 keeping sheep, the book of hours of Étienne Chevalier, c. 1453-1460
- 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
- Gerard enters Cologne while a farmer tends to a windmill and a spinner tends a flock of geese, 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, Les Fais et les Dis des Romains et de autres gens (British Library Harley 4375, fol. 179), c. 1473-1480
- 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; see also the artisan or labor, the four states of society
- Tarot of Charles VI: The Sun (BNF RESERVE KH-24-4 fol. 18), end of the 15th century
- February in The Grimani Breviary, c. 1490-1510
- Annunciation, c. 1495-1505
- A house where husband and wife agree, Le roman de la rose (Douce 195, fol. 67v), end of the 15th century
- 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
- Hero laments, Héroïdes (BNF Fr. 874, fol. 132v), 1504
- Tapestry: Scene from the legend of St. Margaret of Antioch, 16th century
- An old woman spinning, 16th century
- 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
- Roundel with an allegorical figure, South Netherlandish, c. 1510-1515
- Spinners in The Metamorphoses, 1518
- 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
- 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
- Interior of a household by Jacopo Bassano
- Detail from Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Younger
- Interior scene with an old man, a spinning woman, a sewing woman and a leaning man by Ottavio Leoni
- 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
- Apes use spinning wheels on fols. 5r and 92r, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17), 1st quarter of the 14th century
- A woman using a spinning wheel, the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130, fol. 193r), c. 1325-1340
- Spinning wheels on fols. 137r, 139r, 142r, 146r, 147r, 147v, the Smithfield Decretals (Brit. Lib. Royal 10 E IV), 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 spinning by Maerten van Heemskerck, c. 1531
- The lady at the spinning wheel by Lucas van Leyden
- A family of weavers by Jodocus van Winghe
- Man and Woman by the Spinning Wheel by Pieter Pietersz, c. 1570
- Interior of a household by Jacopo Bassano
- Spinning and weaving by Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, c. 1594-1596
- Spinning-wheel from a dollhouse, southern Germany, 17th-18th century
YARN-WINDERS This section has moved to its own page.
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