Nightrails, night sholder coverings

Two nightrails, 'nachtmantels' in the Great Hall, room I.

This item is listed under the linen clothing. items. It will therefore be a night rail which is worn in bed by women. This item is called 'nachtmantel' in Delft and Dordrecht and it is named 'Night neck cloth' or 'nachthalsdoek' in Amsterdam. (Information Marieke de Winkel, 2002)

Note : This object was part of the Vermeer-inventory as listed by the clerk working for Delft notary public J. van Veen. He made this list on February 29, 1676, in the Thins/Vermeer home located on Oude Langendijk on the corner of Molenpoort. The painter Johannes Vermeer had died there at the end of December 1675. His widow Catherina and their eleven children still lived there with her mother Maria Thins.

The transcription of the 1676 inventory, now in the Delft archives, is based upon its first full publication by A.J.J.M. van Peer, "Drie collecties..." in Oud Holland 1957, pp. 98-103. My additions and explanations are added within square brackets [__]. Dutch terms have been checked against the world's largest language dictionary, the Dictionary of the Dutch Language (Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal , or WNT), which was begun by De Vries en Te Winkel in 1882. In 2001 many textile terms have been kindly explained by art historian Marieke de Winkel.

See also Marieke de Winkel, 'The Interpretation of Dress in Vermeer's Paintings' in Vermeer Studies, edited by Ivan Gaskell and Michiel Jonker, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1998,327-339.

Research copyright by art historian Kees Kaldenbach. Email kalden@xs4all.nl Back to the Welcome page: click Welcome. Thanks to industrial engineer and web-wizard ir. Allan Kuiper for his wonderful navigator and 3D movies.

Launched December, 2002.