Grooming Tools-- Combs

[bunnyjadwiga]

I've been amusing myself looking up Combs in the Index of Christian Art. Among the items indexed with the term comb are of course depictions of Saint Blasius of Sebaste martyred with wool-combs, but also a goodly number of highly-decorated combs themselves. Some of those combs are 'Liturgical Combs', used in preparing the priest for Mass-- but some have general pictures or even ones from Roman mythology and so are suspect in my book.

Here's an example of a Liturgical Comb with a scene from a saint's life:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/euwb/hod_1988.279.htm

The majority of these combs appear to be double-ended, with a fine and a wide toothed side. Earlier combs, especially the Coptic examples, tend to be longer in than they are wide, so that the non-toothed section is narrower-- perhaps these combs were used similarly to modern pick-combs. The depictions of combs in later (14th century and following) manuscripts show double-ended or double-sided combs, generally as wide as or wider than they are long, the user grasping the comb the long way, with the unused set of teeth in the palm of the hand. Surviving art combs are usually ivory or bone. Double-sided combs generally are either straight-sided, or have the comb teeth fanning out slightly from the body of the comb at one end, and narrowing at the other.

Karen Larsdatter points to an excellent selection of comb pictures here: http://www.larsdatter.com/combs.htm
These combs are ivory, bone, composite or wood. Some of these are single-sided, most double.

Idlenesse, from the Romance of the Rose, is depicted extensively with her comb and mirror, as are mermaids andsirens; numerous depictions of the personification of the astrological sign Virgo also show her with a comb.

A significant number of combs were found at various sites throughout the wreck of the Mary Rose, suggesting that many if not most of the men had their own comb. Examples: http://www.maryrose.org/lcity/barber/health2.htm

There were so many examples of combs found at Novgorod that there's a whole book on the industry:
Comb-Making in Medieval Novgorod (950-1450): An Industry in Transition. Examples of the combs are shown here: http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/gim/novogorod.html

A number of the pictish standing stones include items that the analyzers believe depict comb and mirror sets.

Comments

[strawberrykaren.livejournal.com]

Huh ... most of the Virgo illos I could find had her carrying a palm branch in one hand. (Just did a quickie lookup on the Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Museum Meermanno Illuminated Manuscripts site, which, granted, is not exhaustive.)

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

I have been doing some work on combs as well, and have reference in the Jorvik series of books, particularly http://www.iadb.co.uk/pubs/pubs.php?Action=Details&PID=62

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Whoa, dude. I'd never heard a thing about liturgical combs....

[mamaalanna.livejournal.com]

HOW is one martyred with wool-combs? Scratched to death?

[stringlady.livejournal.com]

Not hardly. You should see my wool combs... Here's a handy modern picture.

http://www.bountifulspinweave.com/images/forsyth_wool_combs.jpg

Sorry - don't seem to see how to make a link, here.

Mine are a row of about 6 inches of *very* sharp steel teeth. Other, later models have multiple rows. They are used to prepare wool - align the fibers for spinning. They were used long before the cards we all saw as schoolchildren, and continued to be used professionally into the industrial age.

I used to be confused as a kid by seeing references to women in attacked villages defending themselves with their combs (as I also thought hair combs.) Made more sense when I saw these - a man would think twice about going against a desperate woman swinging a tool that would tear flesh!

Oh - Blaise is, of course, the patron saint of wool combers. The Medieval church had a rather interesting sense of the appropriate... *G*

[mamaalanna.livejournal.com]

Wow. I see, thank you! I was thinking about the kind of wool-carders that look like those wire-bristle dog brushes. Hm -- combs instead of carders. As I understand it, combs make long smooth strands for a tightly spun thread, as opposed to carders for a fluffier, fatter yarn?

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Out of the blue, a bolt of happiness strikes me in the form of a comb with the life and martyrdom of Thomas Becket. Or the stuff from Novgorod. Thank you.