Oh, I want a bench for my garden! With a few cushions and wrapped in three layers of mosquito netting I would be happy on this bench. It is the form known as a vendebenk and was made in Norway by Olaus Engelstrup.
The center carving of a daisy and foliage is framed by carved script (with the back flipped over the writing on the bottom is now right-side up). The carving was done on panels pieced together, not on one long board. The ornamentation on the bench edge and stretchers can also now be seen.
Olaus used the turning top of the vendebenk to full advantage. Along the top edge of the back is a boar hunting scene with more foliage at the bottom edge.
The top script for anyone interested in translating the Latin.
The script along the bottom edge (spliced together). Click on the image for a closer view.
Chaucer was enamored with the daisy, a flower that is open during the day (“eye of the day”) and closes at night. Like Chaucer, I don’t have words “suffisaunt this floure (or bench) to praise aright.”
Several months ago Klaus Skrudland sent me the link that led to finding this bench. Thanks, Klaus!
All photos are from the Norsk Folkmuseum.
You can read about some French, German and Swedish versions of the vendebenk here.
A constellation of carvers will soon be gathering in Plymouth, Massachusetts for Greenwood Fest 2018 so I thought a taste of non-European spoons, ladles and scoops (some ceremonial, some for daily use) might be in order.
Africa
Ladle (Wakemia), ca. 1870, the Dan People. Met Museum.
Let’s start big with the wakemia, or wunkirmian, of the Dan people of Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. These ceremonial ladles, which can be up to two feet long, are carved for the woman with the greatest reputation for hospitality. Wakemia translates as “spoon associated with feasts” and the large bowl of the ladle is a representaion of the generosity of the honored woman. In this example the bowl is shaped into a large leaf and the crest-like handle is intricately carved.
The wakemia can be carved in many different forms. The handle end is often carved with a human or animal head. One remarkable form is the handle carved to represent human legs. The photo above shows the detail on two different spoons (both positioned on stands).
Madagascar. Met Museum.
These two spoons are from Madagascar. The bowl shapes are different, but they share deceptively detailed handles.
Zambia, the Lozi people. British Museum.
Was the carver inspired by a lightning bolt? Was he following the zigs and zags of the piece of wood he chose to use?
It is not uncommon to see patterns, especially those with spiritual meaning, repeated in textiles, weavings and carvings. The spoon carver may have taken his inspiration come from one of the traditional patterns used in the woven baskets of the Lozi.
The shapes of plants and animals significant to the a culture’s religious beliefs and livelihood are often incorporated into items used in daily life.
Two very different spoons from Tanzania, with some similarity in the density of chip carving on the handles. Each spoon is likely from a different ethic group in Tanzania.
Tanzania. Both from the British Museum.
The top with its deep bowl and built-in spoon rest is the perfect serving spoon, while the porridge spoon on the bottom is more tour-de-force than spoon.
Ivory coast. Left: Sotheby’s, right: Bonham’s.
The innovative Kulango spoon from the Ivory Coast is a spoon on one end and pestle on the other. Although it is a utilitarian item it could easily be viewed as a sculpture. In fact, more than a few 20th century painters and sculptors were influenced by African art and everyday items.
A Dan spoon carver.
Two felines converse over a turtle, Lozi people, Zambia. British Museum.
Bird figure on handle, Zambia. British Museum.
An Asante spoon with zigzags and circles, Ghana. British Museum.
Perforated spoon and stripes on the handle, possibly Sotho, South Africa. British Museum.
Zimbabwe. British Museum.
Asia
This old Korean scoop has seen a lot of use and has a turtle shape. It is one of those things that gets passed down from one generation to the next and no one remembers who made it or when.
Toraja people, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Top: Met Museum, bottom: British Museum.
The Toraja live in a mountainous area of the island of Sulawesi. Although the top example appears to be the more elegant of the two, both spoons have a similar overall shape with a blunt end, are curved (the bottom one less so) and have a split-tail handle. The curve of these spoons is similar to the swooping roofs of traditional Toraja homes.
Sarawak, Baram River District, Borneo. British Museum.
The generous bowl and beautifully carved handle make this one of those spoons that complements the act of cooking and serving food. The ethic origin of the spoon is not definitive but the carving has similarities to a Melanau badek (dagger) sheath (left) and the carved crest of a hornbill bird made by the Iban (right).
Ifugao people, Luzon, Philippines. Left: British Museum, right: Sotheby’s.
The Ifugao from the northern part of Luzon decorate spoons with images of deities, an ancestor or a prominent person of the community. Pork or duck fat was traditionally used to polish the spoons. The area is known for its rice terraces and these spoons were used for serving rice and soups.
Spoons from indigenous groups of Taiwan. Top: Museum of Ethnic Cultures, Minza Univ., bottom: British Museum.
The spoon at the top is from the Paiwan. Many of their carvings are of snakes and this spoon captures the coil and scale pattern of a snake. The spoon on the bottom is from the Rukai. The Rukai often used boxwood, the bowl shape is leaf-like and the handle has geometric carving.
Ainu, Hokkado, Japan. Brooklyn Museum.
The Ainu are an indigenous people of northern Japan. One line of “spoon evolution” goes something like: cupped hand, shell, shell with handle, carved spoon. Here you go, shell with handle.
Ainu, Hokkaido, Japan. Brooklyn Museum.
If you look closely, there is carving on the handle of this Ainu ladle. In the gallery are two more Ainu spoons with some nice carving.
Tea which, spoon and bowl. Bottom: Met Museum.
Some spoon forms rarely change. The painting at the top is by Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942). The bowl, jointed bamboo tea spoon and whisk are from an Edo era (18th century) traveler’s tea set.
The world’s largest rice spoon.
I have two of these rice spoons or scoops (regular size) made of bamboo and use them all the time, not just for rice. Next trip to Japan I am going to Miyajima to see this giant rice spoon made of zelkova wood. It is 7.7 meters long, 2.7 meters wide and weighs 2.5 metric tons (25’3” x 8’10” and 5512 lb). If there is a giant ball of string nearby I’m going there, too.
Bunum indigenous group of Taiwan. Minza University.
Rukai indigenous group, Taiwan. Minza University.
Honey spoon in a woodblock by Kubo Shunman (1757-1820), Edo era. Met Museum.
Two Ainu spoons. Top: British Museum, bottom: Brooklyn Museum.
Postcard from Itsukushima (or Miyajima), late Meiji-Taisho era. MFA Boston.
The “New” World
Wari spoons. Left: Met Museum, right: Archivo Digital de Arte Peruano.
The Wari pre-dated the Inca (early Wari culture is dated around 1200 B.C) and had a rich craft tradition of carving, ceramics, weaving and stonework. As you can see below, they made an awesome hat-no way I would leave that out.
Like many cultures there is a repetition of design that gives a unity to their work.
Archivo Digital de Arte Peruano.
Whether the spoon handle is topped with a bird (top) or a human the design is part of a cohesive whole. There is uniformity but no dullness in the repeated forms.
Now that we have verified there was spoon carving in the New World well before any Europeans arrived, let’s head to the far north.
Tlingit, all collected in Alaska. National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).
The Tlingit are known for carving animal forms and totems. The top left spoon incorporates a painted raven into the handle, while the spoon on the right has a totem. These two pieces were likely reserved for feasts or ceremonial use. On the bottom is a spoon that probably saw use every day.
Northwest Coast Peoples. British Museum.
I found many Northwest Coast spoons and ladles in British museums. One curator (I forget which museum) remarked there was a collection frenzy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because of fears some of the Northwest Coast peoples would go extinct. Identification of cultures was not always exact or correct.
In the four spoons above there is a wonderfully rendered wolf, a halibut and an “every day” spoon. The long-handled spoon has a pleasing carving of a plant.
Detroit Institute of Arts.
The top left ladle is Powawatomi with a bear effigy and the top, the top right spoon is Chippewa with either an owl or a feline effigy ( I vote for feline). On the bottom is another Chippewa spoon (or ladle). It is a bit chipped, but who cares? Those curves above the bowl are lovely.
National Museum of the American Indian.
Three feast ladles. On the left is a ladle with a bird effigy and speckles from the Iowa people was collected in Oklahoma; top right is an Osage piece, also collected in Oklahoma. On the bottom right is a Fox ladle with a horse effigy collected in Iowa.
National Museum of the American Indian.
The top spoon is Wampanoag from Fall River, Massachusetts; the bottom piece is Mohegan from near Norwich, Connecticut.
Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, NY.
Both ladles are Seneca from New York. The spoon at the top has a bird effigy, as do many North American spoons, and here you can see a close-up. Without intricate detail the bird is captured perfectly. The spoon handle on the bottom is a bit unusual, with the lower leg of a human and a hook added for hanging.
The wide bowl of the ladles, especially from the East Coast, are known as clam shell bowls. If we go back to “spoon evolution” there are many shells in museum collections labeled as “spoons” or “shell spoons.” The mighty quahog clams of the Atlantic coast were a perfect implement for use as a spoon or a small shovel. The Seneca ladle above is included to show you both its heft and the six-inch wide bowl.
Detroit Institute of Arts.
This masterpiece is from the Yankton Sioux in South Dakota. Glass beads were used for the eyes of the bird.
Tlingit, soapberry spoon. NMAI.
Chippewa, birch bark spoon, Minnesota. NMAI.
Cheyenne ladle. NMAI.
Seminole dipper, Florida. NMAI.
Back to the “Old” Old World
Ancient Egypt. Met Museum.
And we are back to hands and clam shells. There are several variations on the Egyptian “clam spoon” from a dog handle to a woman swimming handle to these two hand-handles. Note the top spoon has the index finger supporting the bowl from below, while the spoon on the bottom has the thumb above and the rest of the fingers under the bowl.
Met Museum.
Sometimes, the hand is the spoon!
In hieroglyphics the hand translates as the letter ‘D’ or, depending on context, “by the hand of.” For the Toraja people of Sulawesi the word for woodcarving is Pa’ssura which translates to “as writing.” Wood carvers, ancient and modern, are using their hands to write their culture, whether it be spiritual, artistic, or both. Carving a spoon is your writing.
To wrap this up: “Spoonful” as Willie Dixon wrote it and Howlin’ Wolf sang it:
While researching “Ingenious Mechanicks” Chris Schwarz and I found many workbenches with face vises and some of them actually had vise nuts.
In the montage above there are selections from paintings from Spain, Italy and what is now present-day Ecuador. As you can see, they range from the basic steering wheel to the curvy hurricane. The nut on the lower left is the shape Chris chose for his Holy Roman/Löffelholz workbench (and he provides the pattern in the book).
My particular favorite is a form that may have originated in Spain and made its way to Spain’s New World colonies: the double-bunny ear. The double-bunny ear provides an easy grip for tighting or loosening the vise.
The top right image is from a 17th-century Spainish painting. The next two vice nuts on the right are late 19th-to-early 20th century from Guatemala and Mexico. The vise nut on the left is of a similar date and also from Mexico.
“Ingenious Mechanicks” explores a multitude of workholding methods early woodworkers devised to enable them to work more easily and efficiently. The book offers the modern woodworker options, including what form or shape you chose for vise nuts.
The Playfair Hours, MSL/1918/475 fol 1r, French, 1480s. Copyright the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Medieval homes were sparsely furnished, and each piece usually would have more than one function. One of the intriguing bench styles that can be found in many manuscript images is the bench with a flip-able back rest. The form seems to have become popular in the early part of the 15th century.
The manuscript and the real thing. Top: February from the Hours of Henry VIII, Tours, MS H.8 fol 1v, France, ca. 1500. Morgan Library, New York. Bottom: Bank mit Faltwerk, Gothic, Kunstgewerbesammlungen, Berlin.
To make the bench even more useful, the base could be a storage chest. In manuscripts, the bench is normally seen in front of a fireplace. Warm up facing the fire, and when you were warm enough and it was time to dine, flip the backrest and face the table.
Décaméron de Boccace, MS 5070 réserve fol 314r, 15th c. Bibliothèque de Arsenal, Gallica BnF.
Banc à Tournis The France banc à tournis (or banc-tournis) typically has a thin backrest that turns inside the side panels. Although they are found in manuscripts, I did not find any French versions with the lower storage chest.
16th c. Northern France, probably Normandy, oak. Sotheby’s.
The side panels serve as the legs of the bench and often bear the only decorative element, in this case, linenfold carving.
16th c. Northern France, oak, from Chateau de Cornillon, Loire. Sotheby’s.
The pair above with carved panels on the side are a bit longer and a central support is added.
Here you can get a better look at two versions of the turning arm. The center dowel in the pivot does not pierce the side panel. In the (sharper) photo on the left it is easy to see how the side panel is constructed to include a vertical stop for the turning arm of the backrest.
Saint Barbara, 1438, by Robert Campin, Flemish. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Flemish artists were notoriously good at fine details. In this painting which is the left side of the Werl Altarpiece, Saint Barbara sits on another French-style banc à tournis. In this case the backrest is an six-sided bar with a metal turning arm and mounted on the outside of the side panel.
Banc à tournis, early 15th century from Tour sans peur, Paris.
The open sides of this bench preclude mounting the turning arm on the inside. Another feature of these benches is a footrest. They can be hard to see in paintings due to the voluminous clothing worn by the bench occupants. The footrest is also one of those pieces that gets broken off – or intentionally taken off – as these benches moved through the centuries.
A comparison of the metal turning arm in the painted version and the real thing.
In the Sotheby’s notes about the two benches from Northern France it gave the 1589 inventory of a banc à tournis owned by Catherine de Medici: ‘un banc à dossier mobile e pouvant faire face à la chiminée ou tourner le dos.’ At the time (2007) this was the last known record of one of these benches.
Styrcsitten The German version of these benches are the strycsitten, identified by the turning mechanism mounted atop the side panel.
As with the French benches, there are variations in the side panels, decorative elements and whether there is a storage chest.
Pilgrimage to Santiago Compostella, part of an altarpiece, 1460 by Friedrich Herlin. Archive Gerstenberg-ullsteinbild.
The pilgrims are sitting on a plain styrcsitten with a narrow backrest and we can definitely see the hinges of the chest.
Two paintings by Gabriel Mälesskircher from Munich. Left: Saint John the Evangelist, 1478, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Right: Mary Magdalene washes Christ’s feet, 1476, German National Museum, Nürnberg.
Based on his painting style, Mälesskircher was probably trained by Flemish masters. He shows us two strycsitten without chests, but with great decorative work on the side panels.
Tirol Landesmuseum, Innsbruck, Austria. Photo from St. Thomas Guild blog.
A plain bench with storage chest. The backrest is wider than what is usually seen in manuscripts and paintings and would likely be more comfortable.
Photo from St. Thomas Guild blog.
This second bench from the 15th century has a beautifully-carved backrest and, as you can see, a storage chest. There are color photos floating around that may or may not be the same bench. I have seen notes that the pictured bench may have been destroyed in WWII.
Mälesskircher’s painting vs. an actual bench (photo from St. Thomas Guild blog).
The turning mechanism of the strycsitten sits on the central point of the side panel. The two outside points serve as the rests. Variations will be the depth of the curves and height of the three points, and carvings or piercings on the side panels.
If you are shopping around for a flip-able bench to make and so far you aren’t wowed by the banc à tournis or strycsitten, let’s go north.
Vändbänken
From Hälsingland/Dalarna, 1800s. Photo Stadsauktion Sundsvall.
The vändbänk is a Swedish bench with some interesting details. No side panels to worry about, as much turning detail as one might want and a very cool turning mechanism.
These benches were painted in the folk tradition and the seat might have an apron. In the bench above you can still see remnants of paint. The apron is carved with a leaf pattern.
And here is how it turns. I don’t know the Swedish term for the turning arm so I am naming it Thor’s Hammer. Many examples have the same staked legs in what looks like the start of a ballet second position demi-plié. These benches have personality and turnings, lots of turnings.
1800s, collection of the Nordiska Museet. Photo by Skansen Digitalt Museum.
Another variation is a fence-like apron attached to one side.
When the backrest is turned to the other side the apron is left behind. Here you also get an idea of the heft of the burly turning arm.
Kalmer läns museum.
This bench appears to be older than the previous two and is from Norra Bäckbo. In the local dialect it is known as a rall. No turnings but a nicely figured backrest.
Dated 1680 from Junkboda Bygdea. Collection of Nordiska museet.
In the Junkboda Bygdea dialect this bench is a brudsärla and has a heavier build. The legs extend above the level of the seat and act as the stops for the backrest. The backrest is more solid than previous examples and has wonderful quatrefoil piercings while the apron has simple beading. The turning mechanism is the same but without any apparent decoration.
Two more non-Swedish benches with a similar turning arm are from Hungary and Russia.
Dated late 19th century.
The Hungarian bench variation has staked stick legs instead of the more substantial Swedish bench legs. The seat is also less substantial but has a nice frilly apron. The backrest has deeply carved and pierced panels. This may have had some repainting, however, it still gives us a good idea of the folk painting found in Eastern Europe.
This beefy Russian bench almost looks like a church pew, except for the legs. The back rest has a carved and pierced design that can also be found in textiles.
The bench shows another variation of how to turn the backrest.
With some similarity to the German styrcsitten the backrest turns atop the side panel and together they give a solid side to the bench end.
The St. Thomas Guild has been exploring the strycsitten for several years and they have a ton of photos of the benches (and other furniture) they have found. You can take a trip over to their blog here. If you get lost they have an alphabetic directory that will help you get redirected on their blog.
As with many folk crafts this bench is disappearing. Whatever your preference in style or decoration I urge you to consider making one of these versatile benches.
There are a few more examples of these flip-able benches in the gallery.
— Suzanne Ellison
16th century, Dutch.
16th (?) century, French. Linenfold side panels, noted central supports.
French, 15th century from Chateau de Martainville, Normandy.
Swedish, 1700s (?), from Kalmer läns museum.
Swedish, the other side.
Swedish, 1700s. Photo by Berit Bryntse.
Hungarian. Note similar backrest decoration as the Swedish bench.
Another Hungarian. Shapely turning arm. Did this backrest come from another bench?
Circa 1500, oak chair version of strycsitten with chest. Rijksmuseum.
Top: House of the Vettii, Pompeii, March 2017. Bottom: Saalburg, Germany, June 2017.
This time last year Chris Schwarz and Narayan Nayar were in Naples, Italy. In between consuming vast quantities of pizza they made a visit to Pompeii to study and photograph a fresco depicting a Roman workbench (Daedalus and Queen Pasiphae are also in the picture). Not long after Chris returned from Italy his limited edition letterpress book, “Roman Workbenches” went to press. And in June, Chris and his friends Görge Jonuschat and Bengt Nilsson traveled to the Roman fort at Saalburg to meet with archaeologist Rüdiger Schwarz to study and photograph two extant Roman workbenches.
The transformation of the planned expanded version of “Roman Workbenches” into “Ingenious Mechanicks” started in mid-July. Things, lots of things, started turning up in our research. While putting together a couple blog posts on Latin American workbenches during the Colonial era, this 18th-century workbench from Colombia turned up.
San Jose carpentero, artist unknown, Museo de Arte Religioso, Duitama, Boyaca, Colombia.
One of the mysteries of the Saalburg workbench is the two dovetail-shaped notches found on the long side of the bench. Half a world away, the Colombia bench had a similar notch and was equally perplexing. Was it for riving, securing a piece for tenoning, a place for a jig or other device? A few days later a different notch showed up, this time from Italy.
San Giuseppe nella Botega di Falegname, 1640-1692, Francisco Refini. Fondazione Zeri Photo Archive, Bologna.
A notch on the end of the bench was not so unusual and was normally used for riving or tenoning. This image went into an ‘X-file’ until we had other images or information to help decipher the possible uses of the notch.
Mid-July was blazing hot and humid and as I ran workbench searches (in air-conditioned comfort) a flurry of images were turning up. Anything without a date, artist, title or location went into a ‘Find It’ file. I sent Chris pdfs of benches from Italy, Spain, Germany and other European countries. While trying to verify if one particular painting was Italian or Spanish and its physical location, I just stopped to take a good look at the detail. I was drawn to the toolbox to left of Saint Joseph.
The Dream of Saint Joseph, ca. 1700, Luca Giordano (Neopolitan), completed in Madrid. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Photo by Christopher Schwarz.
Next, because Chris and I have discussed baskets for tools, I took a look at the tool basket…and there it was. Holy Cow! At the end of the bench a wedge was in a notch. I sent this off the Chris. He had it one of the pdfs I sent but now I was sure he had not yet seen this detail.
Was this a wedge in a dovetail- shaped notch? Could it be used as a planing stop? Could the wedge be taken out and the notch used for tenoning or something else?
Chris was on his way out of town but quickly replied. He was stunned. Very soon after he returned from his trip he drove the two hours to Indianapolis to see the painting for himself. In the blog post he wrote about it he said he almost wet his pants. Huh. I am pretty sure, although he was over 500 miles from me, I heard him shriek like a little girl, a 6 foot-3 inch-ish little girl.
One detail, well to one side of a painting, opened the door to further workbench explorations and discoveries.
On the end: notch, wedge in notch.
One of the paintings in my ‘Find It’ file was found on a Spanish site. It turned out to be German, part of a ten-panel work by 16th-century artist Bernhard Strigel of Memmingen and in the collection of the German National Museum in Nürnberg. It has a squared notch on the long side of the bench the painting is dated in the same year as the Löffelholz Codex.
Top: Löffelholz Codex, 1505, Nürnberg. Bottom: Hans Kipferle guild table, 1561, Bolzano. Right: Holy Family, 1505-1506, Bernhard Strigel, Memmingen.
Two other images of workbenches with the straight-side and square notch have long been known to woodworkers: the Löffelholz Codex from Nürnberg and the guild table from Bolzano/Bozen.
Strigel’s painting helps to confirm the presence of the notch on workbenches, at least in this southwestern part of Germany and/or Löffelholz wasn‘t crazy. Additionally, the Hans Kipferle table tells us that a half-century later the side notch was still in use.
Map by Brendan Gaffney.
If we step back to the time of the Roman Limes Germanicus and the Roman road network you can see another dimension to the European workbenches with side notches: where the workbenches are located.
So what happened next? Chris went to the shop to try out the theory of the ‘notches and wedges’ on the Saalburg and Holy Roman (Löffelholz) workbenches.
Saalburg workbench. Dovetail-shaped notch ready to cut.
The side notches with the wedge in place serve as side stops for traverse planing.
Wedges in side notches and Roman iron planning stop in place.
On the Holy Roman workbench notches were cut on the end and one on the side.
The notch cuts in progress and the finished bench.
Several weeks before he finished “Ingenious Mechanicks” Chris invited some woodworker friends to a Benchfest. He challenged them to use and critique the three workbenches, French belly and shaving horse attachment that he built for the book. He took notes and Narayan Nayar took photos. The notches with wedges and the notch as vise (with a small wedge) worked beautifully. It was another example of a seemingly simple workbench feature having multiple uses in the shop.
Since the publication of “Roman Workbenches” and the Saalburg visit a cornucopia of workbench and workholding ideas have surfaced and are packed into the forthcoming “Ingenious Mechanicks.”
If you are still on the fence, undecided or torn about adding “Ingenious Mechanicks” to your library Chris will post a short video later in the week to illustrate some of the features of the workbenches.
