Braun et Schneider is really Victorian, the plates you mention are available on-line at http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME4_INDEX.HTML
Personally, I see a short length of decorated, CENTERED opening at the top neck. I do not get any impression of off-centered-ness from this gold-colored artifact. I don't believe I've ever seen a period gardecorps image with an off-center neck opening. IF there are "buttons" they may or may not be functional, vs decorative, at this period. I see the bottom of a center front opening; which, specifically for riding, MAY be mirrored at the back, although there is no indication of this in the illustration. I do not see anything that looks like it is opening a side seam in the main body of the garment. I see very ordinary looking hanging sleeves (thanks, Sharon) with an upper front opening for the arm. This type of opening is usually cut in the body of the sleeve, nothing to do with any sleeve seams. So, I googled the name from the Manesse Codex plate originally posted, Ulrich von Gutenburg, and scanned images until I found something that had a similar garment, but wasn't old Ulrich, and I found a term in the thumbnail labels that caused a BIG face-palm: GARDECORPS. So then I googled "gardecorps". Google wants to break that term in half, apparently because "garde corps" is modern french for "balcony railing" (that "guards" your "body" from falling off the balcony, eh?) In any case, there IS another of these garments in the MC, worn by a woman riding, see here http://www.manesse.de/BildSuche.php?id=358&s=Gardecorps%20Garde-corps%20%DCberkleid&a=erg&; which appears to be a page from the german website that is illustrating examples of garments... and there's this German costume history page, http://www.monacensis.de/tipps/gewand/Das_Frauengewand/index.php?title=Das_Frauengewand which, way down at the bottom, pattern #10, shows the original riding lady, who ... is in the Heidelberg site at 183v, Herr Wachsmut von Muhlhausen. Apparently ladies don't slit the fronts of their gardecorps, for riding or anything else, but the sleeve is there. (All the other ladies in gardecorps I found this morning have floor-length, NOT SPLIT main bodies.) The first 5 pages of images at (google gardecorps) will show you many modern reconstructions, more-period-than-B-n-S drawings, patterns, etc. For example: modern German re-enactor: Hochmittelalterlicher Garde-Corps (Reisemantel), down at the bottom of http://www.gewandschneider.de/referenzen/body_referenzen.html a construction diary for the hot pink gardecorps, from Sweden, I think, SCA http://web.comhem.se/~u31138198/gardecorps.html this writer appears to identify a second female MC figure as also wearing a gardecorps, the first ill. in her piece. http://www.revivalclothing.com/article-pencloaks.aspx has an interesting theory that the gardecorps combined cloak and surcoat... well, the brown one on the left is not slit anywhere on the main body of the garment. I find the under-arm opening interesting, but not recognizably similar to Ulrich's sleeves the only off-center neck opening I have found is in a woodcut of JOHANNES von Gutenburg! May be a descendant of Ulrich's? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg says that is a 16thC engraving! this looks more like a Russian princeling to me, than either Mr Printing Press, OR Ulrich! well, except for the slit sleeve. oh well, consistency is the downfall of small minds. or something. http://curiavitkov.cz/clanek24.html - clothing page from Curia Vitkov (google this and ask for translate), 11-12thC Bohemia, modern Czech Republic. There IS a gardecorps section on this page. and lots of unfamiliar period illustrations, GRIN!!! as always, beware the Hill & Bucknell drawing, it is VERY pretty. but the pattern that goes with it is probably the usual level of garbage. some German page about dyeing with walnut husks, the garment they tried it on was a gardecorps (!) http://www.familia-ministerialis.de/faerbenwalnuss.html OK, OT: several pages, heavily photo-illustrated, about dying with natural materials, in Berlin, in the early 2000's; kind of hard to find, the familia seems to have destructed, with only a few pages left on-line. search by David & Suzi names -- OK, I think that's most of it. Sorting from the images took a while. Hope these help. chimene On Jan 11, 2013, at 12:29 PM, Sharon Collier wrote: > Looks like a typical hanging sleeve, with an opening in front to allow the > arm to come out (not necessarily on the seam). The body of the garment > looks like it fastens offset, on the left front side, kind of like a double > breasted cloak. Similar to a Russian shirt, with the fastening on the left > side front. At least, from what I can see from the illustration. If you have > the Braun and Schneider book "Historic Costume in Pictures", look at plates > 22, lower right--the judge has a similar garment and plate 23, lower right, > French noblemen, for better examples of the sleeve. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
