Wulsthauben and Steuchlein
February 14, 2005
According to Jutta Zander-Seidel in Textiler Hausrat (TH) the basic structure for all the hauben (caps or coif) during this time period consisted of a wulsthauben (bulge/support cap/coif) for the supporting understructure that forms the distinctive shape for each headdress and then outer veils to cover the under cap to make the head covering complete and nice looking. There were several types of standard head covering, but the most common of the hauben (caps or coif) was the steuchlein
Basic Types of Steuchlein
These are just a couple of types of Steuchlein, in chronological order. You'll notice that they go from large to small, the opposite of most fashions.
Figure 1: Dürer- Portrait of Elsbeth Tucher 1499 , Oil on wood, 29 x 23 cm Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel
Figure 2: Cranach, Anna Putsch 1502-03, The Art of the Portrait: Masterpieces of Europeon Portrait Painting 1420-1670 pg 83
Figure 3: Wolf Traut: Portrait of a Woman, 1510 The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Early German Painting 1350-1550 pg. 384
Figure 4: Praying lady with a steuchlein with a veil by either Hans Suss von Kulmbachs or Hans Leonhard Schaufeleins. 1510-1520 From Die Zeichnungen, plate #72
Definition of a Wulsthaube (bulge cap) or Unterhaube (under cap)
The wulsthauben and unterhauben (under cap/coif) appear throughout the period clothing inventories in TH as separate articles for the use of the different styles. There is a distinction made between the wulst (pad) and the wulsthauben which leads me to believe that the wulst was a separate piece and was somehow attached to a haube and thus it became a wulsthabe.
From Textiler Hausrat, Section 5.1.1 Steuchlein – Wulsthauben
"Katharina Wagner in 1529 left behind 3 “Wulsthauben“ and 2 “Wulst” valued together at 15 Pfennige, (249) Barbara Schauer in 1531 “1 woman's wulst (Frauenwulst) with velvet – the coif/cap (Hauben)” valued at a Groschen, (250)and also in the tax list of Maria Sitzinger in 1588 is found “Wulsthauben” and “Wülste”. “11 Wülst and 1 Wulst for a servant’s steuchlein 10 Wulsthauben 22 Wulsthauben 2 broken apart Wulsthauben 1 broken apart Wulst 1 double folded cloth with cotton coming from under the wintertime Wulst which needs it.”
Its really not her hair under there!
One of the most common mis-conceptions of this style is that all that bulk under the pretty outer covering was the womans hair. The following pictures and the above text detailing the inventories should hopefully convince you otherwise.
Figure 4 : Sebald Beham, Woman with two children in the bath, Engraving. From The World in miniature: engravings by the German Little Masters, 1500-1550
This is a picture of a woman in the bath. I include it to show that women then had normal sized braids, not the gargantuan ones that would be needed to create the needed height for the various styles of steuchlein.
Figure 5: Albrecht Altdorfer, Badende Frau, um 1520-1530, engraving 153 from Graphik: Holzschnitte, Kupferstiche, Radierungen. Gesamtausg
A picture of a woman in the bath with her steuchlein on and her hair running down her back. This is also a good clear picture of what the back looked like.
Figure 6: Detail from Altdorfer, Susanna in the Bath and the Stoning of the Elders, 1526, of a steuchlein taken off the head and lying on a table
Here we get a view of a steuchlein and unterhaube taken off the head together and lying flat on a table. As you can see in the detail picture, its not flat, there is a shaped form inside the linen or silk that is producing the characteristic bulge.
So what did the shaped under cap look like?
Figure 7: Durer, Etching of what is thought to be a wulsthaube draped over a box. Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
An interesting find from Bildindex. An etching by Durer of what looks to be a unterhaube, with ties, draped over a box. If you look at the large size image, you can see that the ties are wrapped around the wulst, lacing it into the cap. This would certainly make a lot of sense and make washing the cap a lot easier when it gets dirty.
Figure 8: Altdorfer, Albrecht Lovers c. 1530 Fresco, 36 x 40 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
This is the only clear image that I have seen of a women wearing an unterhaube, without a veil over the top of it. You can clearly see the white under cap, and then a brownish roll that appears to be laced with criss-cross ties onto the cap. Click on the image for a better view of her head.
Figure 9: Albrecht Altdorfer, Badende Frau mit badhut und badhemd, um 1525, Textiler Hausrat pg, 281
Although this picture shows a woman in the bath and is labled "A bathing girl in bath hat and bath shirt", her bathing hat outline bears a distinct resemblance to the outline in figure 8 above.
Figure 10: Dürer- The Women's Bath 1496 Pen, 231 x 226 mm Kunsthalle, Bremen
Another bathing hat picture were the bathing hat bears a distinct resemblance to the profile of the popular style of steuchlein at the time. Notice the veil or cap showing under the cap on her forehead. Who wears veils in the bath?
Figure 11: Dürer , Frau with Wulsthaube, 1503, Textiler Hausrat pg 107
Textiler Hausrat has this listed as a woman wearing a wulsthaube, but I have my doubts. In another book containing Durer's etchings (which I have lost the name of, bad me!) there is this picture, and another of the same women, with the same head dress, except that one has a wide black border and then there is this one which is plain white without borders. I think this is probably an undecorated steuchlein.
A view of the back
Figure 12: Dürer – Detail from the The Four Witches, The Complete engravings, etchings and drypoints of Albrecht Dürer, pg 38-39
A nice view of the side and back of a steuchlein which gives a great look at how the veil was structured.
Figure 13: Kampfrauen, detail of the back of the head
A good view of how and where the veil was attached.
References
(TH) Textiler Hausrat, Kleidung und Haustextilien in Nurnberg von 1500 – 1650 by Jutta Zander-Seidel. English Translation by Katherine Barich. See section 5: Kofbedeckungen - Headcoverings available on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GermanRenCostume/files/Textiler Hausrat Translations/
Pictorial Sources
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Early German Painting 1350-1550, by Isolde Lübbeke, translated from the German by Margaret Thomas Will
The Complete engravings, etchings and drypoints of Albrecht Dürer edited by Walter L. Strauss, Dover 1973
Jost Amman’s Frauen-Trachenbuch Liebhaber-Bibliothek Alter Illustratoren in Facsimile-Reproduction, 1880 (?)
The Art of the Portrait: Masterpieces of Europeon Portrait Painting 1420-1670 by Norbert Schneider, Taschen 1999
The World in miniature: engravings by the German Little Masters, 1500-1550 edited by Stephen H. Goddard, essays by Patricia Emison..
Hans Mielich 1516-1573, by Kurt Locher "Bildnismaler In Munchen" "Berlin" "Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2002
Graphik: Holzschnitte, Kupferstiche, Radierungen. Gesamtausg. by Franz Winzinger München, R. Piper [1963]
Winkler,Friedrich Die Zeichnungen Hans Suss von Kulmbachs und Hans Leonhard Schaufeleins Deutscher Verein Fur Kunstwissenchaft, Berlin 1942