Leather Embroidery to 1600 CE

Last updated: Nov. 1, 2024, by Ken Stuart (kps1@cornell.edu)

This site presents an ongoing effort to catalog every known embroidered leather item up to about 1600 CE. Pending publication, the catalog is not yet available publicly, although a list of items that can be found online is. Check back or contact the author to be informed when it opens.

To-date, over 130 primary archaeological sources and summaries have provided information about various kinds of embroidered leather items, mostly shoes. Over 275 articles and books have been consulted while tracking down details of these artifacts and looking for potential additions to the knowledge base. About a dozen digital collections have been located and accessed to view and learn about their holdings via high-resolution photographs and item dimensions. Further, some museums have helpfully provided modern high-resolution, colored photos of various items, greatly clarifying details not apparent in old publications.

Criteria for inclusion / exclusion

Table of helpful terms

When researching scholarly articles, it can be helpful to have a table of words and phrases that might be useful in searching them for relevant discussion. So far, articles in the following non-English languages are included.

LanguageEmbroideryLeatherDecorative thread / seam
Czech (cs)výšivka / vyšívanékůžeozdobná nit
Dutch (nl)borduurwerk / borduursel / geborduurdeleer
French (fr)broderiecuir
German (de)stickerei / bestickung / besticktlederZiersteppereien / Ziernaht
Italian (it)ricamopelle
Lithuanian (lt)siuvinėjimasodą
Norwegian (no)broderi / brodertelærpyntesøm
Polish (pl)haft / haftemskóra
Russian (ru)вышивкакожадекоративный шов
Spanish (es)bordadocuero
Swedish (sv)broderiläderdekorsöm
Turkish (th)nakışderi

Copyright 2023-2024 Ken Stuart (kps1@cornell.edu)