A long, narrow rich belt, as worn by well-off middle class German women in the early 16th century.
A few months ago I made a wide brocade belt, to go with my fur lined-Goller. I really like the belt, but it is too wide and rich for everyday wear – a narrower one would be a useful addition to the wardrobe.
I needed a quick project and had a buckle I’d bought years ago, and all the other materials ready in stash. So, a nice quick project, I thought….
Research
My inspiration for the project was the Portrait of a Woman by Albrecht Altdorfer – who wears a rich narrow belt to complete her outfit. Similar long, narrow brocaded belts are seen on other portraits of middle class German women, such as these artworks by Dürer and Schöpfer.
Altdorfer’s subject is wearing a belt of gold brocade (possibly band woven) with gold edges , while Schöpfer has gold brocade with green edges. This latter portrait also shows an ornate gold buckle with a decorative buckle plate, and mounts acting as grommets.
Zander-Seidler (1990) notes that the diminutive forms, ‘Portlein’ and ‘Gürtelein’ refer to long narrow belts, with a long end chape. The fittings were made of gold for the elite, but more often of silver or brass, sometimes gilded. Extant examples show a buckle plate in box form, with the belt totally enclosed.
Some years ago I had purchased a bronze buckle advertised as ’16th century German’, with an ornate buckle plate – perfect! My buckle has an open back with pins, so I’ll need to make a back plate. I did not have a belt chape, but thought I could make one up to match well enough.
Construction
Rather than the stiff canvas I used on the wide belt, I went for heavy twill tape which matched the buckle width – 1.5m long. The original brocaded ribbon would probably have been woven on a band loom or tablet woven. I’m using woven ribbon from stash in a sympathetic pattern, bordered in contrasting silk.
To bind the edges, I machine sewed the strips of red silk to the twill tape, then turned them over the edge and basted in place. I basted the ribbon down the centre, then slip-stitched it to the silk and twill tape. The main belt is done!
Buckle I
The bronze buckle was very dark, despite a good clean, so I’ve polished it up with gold buffing wax. I considered gilding it with gold leaf, but it’s too complex!
My buckle didn’t come with a buckle plate, so I’m making one from sheet brass, to enclose the textile belt and provide a sturdy base for rivetting. Once I’d made a paper template, I trimmed the end and oversewed it to fit behind the plate.
This buckle was cast with split rivets, so I’m converting it to a more medieval style, trimming the splits off to form integral rivets. I don’t want to try and anneal them, so they will be a bit tough to peen.
I don’t have a belt chape, so I made one up from sheet brass – cut, annealed and then bent in half to enclose the belt end. For decoration, I’m using half of a cloak clasp (with the loop cut off) to make it more ornate, pinning this on as I rivet the sides together. A longer chape would be better, but I don’t have anything long to make the decoration.
Now I just need to do the eyelets…
At this point, one of my Facebook readers said that he thought this was a 13th century buckle – and sent me the detailed reference, which showed it was indeed Swedish, 1220/30. I really appreciate that he took the time to look this up and send me a picture of the page!
I know that very few people would realise it was wrong, but it matters to me! So now I need a new buckle for my belt…
(I did write to the original supplier with this information, suggesting they correct the labelling on this product, but they did not reply.)
Buckle II
After some online searching, I ordered a new buckle and chape set from Lemberg Armour in Ukraine, which is consistent with the extant German Renaissance examples. Love the polished brass and long chape!
Once they arrived, I stripped off the old fittings and started the process again, making I new back plates from sheet brass, as before. These castings had simple pins, so I could snip them to length before peening.
The Altdorer image doesn’t show the eyelets, but related paintings show decorative eyelets, often with a flower motif. I didn’t have any flower mounts small enough, but I did have some jewellery end-caps (used to finish the ends of necklaces) of about the right size with an indented edge.
I squashed the caps flat with a pair of broad pliers, then tried to drill out the centre. No luck – they were just too small and fine to hold while I drilled them, even with pliers. So instead I punched the centres out into a swage hole, which worked just fine!
To get the right size, I tried the belt and marked the points – snug fit and looser. I made a hole with my awl, a bit bigger than the eyelet, to make it easier to get the eyelet in. I pushed an eyelet into the flower mount, threaded it on the awl and then pulled it all through – the awl keeps the hole open. Then I set the back of the eyelet with a matching punch.
Finally, the belt is complete! Not the simple project I had planned for, but happy with the end result.
And I’m sure one of my friend who does 13th century will enjoy the original buckle…
