Opus Teutonicum: The Mirror Image of Opus Anglicanum
How To Save Money and Have a Cool Looking Altar
Opus Teutonicum was a type of embroidery that was popular in Germany, especially in Lower Saxony. (Germany had a weird history of coming apart and joining again, so let’s just call it the German-speaking part of the Holy Roman Empire. This type of embroidery really becomes popular during the 12th through 14th centuries, which includes the Interregnum and several civil wars.)
Particularly, they became common as altar cloths, frontals, Lenten veils, and lectern hangings.
So, What Does It Look Like
This is a type of embroidery called ‘white work.’ It’s white thread on white linen, which is elegant and simple. It has a textured, subtle look.
You can see an example of an altar cloth at : Sophia, Hadewigis, and Lucardis | Altarcloth | German | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)
It’s not nearly as nice as the V & A museum exhibit. Sorry.
By the 14th century, they started adding some light-colored threads to their designs and depicting more secular designs.
Techniques and Materials Used
They used satin, chain, chevron, and Roumainian stitches. They also used the gobelin, stem, and buttonhole stitch.
What is a gobelin stitch? It’s a stitch that goes over a few other threads.
Silk and light-colored thread was used as highlights, and they used buttonhole stitches to outline figures and then the surrounding area was used to make net-like designs using pulled thread techniques. They really loved filling figural and abstract designs.