Haute Bordure: Catalogue to the exhibition with the same titel in the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (2021).Willem and I have just returned from another visit to Friesland, both to see an embroidery exhibition at the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, and to hear further details about Akke Scheepsma from the village of Schettens, who stitched a sampler in 1852. We were also privileged to go to the village of Pingjum in order to see an early Mennonite chapel that is ‘hidden’ behind a small private house (more below on all these subjects).

For over a year we have been unable to go anywhere, let alone see exhibitions, so it was with great relief when on Friday we went to the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden to see Haute Bordure, about 400 years of hand embroidery in the Netherlands, and especially that associated with Friesland. We were shown around by Eveline Holsappel, the curator of the exhibition.

It is a lovely exhibition that is well-worth seeing. It shuts on the 18th July, so you have to be quick. You need to book in advance and we were told that many tickets are already booked. The exhibition includes examples of embroidery of various types that date from the early seventeenth century to ‘yesterday’, including regional, fashionable and royal forms for men and women. I have been asked to write a review of the exhibition for Selvedge, the London based textile journal. As soon as it is published I will let you know.

Photograph of Simon van 'Zet, son of Akke Scheepsma, and his wife and children, in the 1920s -1930s. Courtesy André Buwalda, Schettens.And then back to Schettens and Akke Scheepsma, who was the subject of an earlier TRC Blog about a 19th century Fries sampler that was recently given to the TRC Leiden. Thanks to the help of André Buwalda, the local historian, we know that Akke married in 1865 when she was 25 and later had 10 children (four of whom died young). At one point, she and her husband ran a small farm in nearby Abbega, but they lost their farm in 1881 and all their household and farm goods, including a horse and cattle, were auctioned. It would appear that they never really recovered from the shock. Akke died in 1900, five years after her husband.

André Buwalda sent us some pages from a little exercise book in which a grandson of Akke writes about his family. It tells about the sad story of Akke and her husband, who seems to have been a very strong man. When he was about to lose his farm in 1881, his in-laws refused to support the family financially; the reasons remain unknown. He became a labourer. He died in Bolsward. His widow, Akke, moved in with her son Simon (1868-1937), who lived in Schekkens (where she was born and where her family still lived). The writer, who was a son of Simon, said about Akke: "'t was een lief mens, en moeder kon goed met haar opschieten" (she was a gentle person, and mother got on well with her). It seems that Akke died in Schettens of tuberculosis.

André has actually found a photograph of Simon van 't Zet, Akke's son, and his wife and their extended family. The photograph was taken in the 1920s or 1930s and shows the clothing worn at the time very clearly, including the type of oorijzer and lace cap that the couple's mother and mother-in-law, Akke, would have worn. We are slowly getting a better understanding of Akke, her life and times.

Bedstee in the living room of the 'hidden' Mennonite church in Pingjum, Friesland, c. 1600. Photograph Willem Vogelsang.We also had the opportunity to visit the Mennonite (Doopsgezinde) chapel in nearby Pingjum. This is the place where Menno Simons in the sixteenth century developed his religious thoughts that would give rise to the Mennonite community. A member of the local Mennonite community, Afke Kuipers, very kindly opened the doors for us and explained many of the details of the building.

The Pingjum chapel is also the place where a number of Mennonite quilts are stored that have been on display in two TRC exhibitions, namely 250 years of American quilts (2020) and Textile Tales of the Second World War (2020).

The chapel is a typical 'hidden' sancturary, one of many built in the Netherlands from the sixteenth century onwards when the Mennonites and many other religious groups were forced to congregate in buildings that were hidden from public view. The Pingjum chapel dates from around 1600 and looks from the outside like  a 'normal' private home.

The front room along the street includes various interesting features, including three bedstee (bedstead or box bed), which are beds set within a wardrobe or cupboard. Two of the bedstee are actually now used as cupboards. They are very small; people used to sleep sitting upright.

Pulpit in the 'hidden' chapel of the Mennonite community of Pingjum, Friesland, c. 1600. Photograph Willem Vogelsang.Behind the front room there is a lovely little chapel with benches and seats for the brothers (sitting on benches arranged around the walls) and sisters (sitting in the middle) attending the services, all facing the pulpit for the preacher to deliver his sermon.

In Dutch the pulpit had the nickname of ‘wooden trousers’ (houten broek) as the lower half of the preacher was hidden by the pulpit or ‘trousers’.

Gillian Vogelsang, Director TRC, 13 June 2021