Sometimes I am so distracted by the beauty of the shapes and colors in a transparent tapestry that I don’t fully register the image. With Frida Hansen’s Nellik og Hane, I knew that hane was a rooster. But I only learned what nellik means after seeing the transparency in person, and thinking to look it up. It means clove. It’s the clove plant that is depicted between the roosters. I certainly hadn’t recognized the plant. Cloves are often fed to poultry to promote gut health and boost overall immunity. Cloves have natural antibacterial and antifungal properties.
The transparency is owned by the Norsk Folkemuseum; this is their photo as found on the Norwegian digital museum site, digitaltmuseem.no.
I visited the Norsk Folkemuseum in August, 2024, and was privileged to visit the storage area and see Nellik og Hane. I was completely unprepared for the vibrancy of the colors!
Don’t take my word for it — that I was stunned by the colors. You can see it in this Facebook video posted by the Norsk Folkemuseum after my visit.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/8289788427709022
Here are some details from Nellik og Hane.
And this was not the only remarkable transparent tapestry I saw on my behind-the-scenes tour with Textile Conservator Anna-Maria Østlund! I’ll post more soon.