The woodcut is from the publication: Friedrich Frisius, Der vornehmsten Künstler und Handwercker Ceremonial-Politica, Leipzig 1708. It is an illustrated presentation of various crafts, guilds, and jobs, among which ropemaking is also described.
The ropemaking workshop is divided into two rooms. On the right, a ropemaker, with the help of a reel fixed on the wall, spins thread, pulling out hemp fibers, which he has wrapped around his waist and on his left arm. Behind him, a young helper brings a new batch of fibers. Coiled ropes hang on the walls. On the floor lies a cat (?).You can see a section of the window and the entrance to the adjacent room. On the left, a woman pours with a ladle a dark liquid from a bale into a bucket held by a man – perhaps a customer. Presumably this is a substance for impregnating ropes (tar, pitch, “oily”). Behind him, a second customer is selecting ropes. On pegs against the wall hangs the goods on offer: cordage, ropes, ropes and ropes (dangling or hanging freely). Some ropes lie on the bench, or are leaning against it. A tin watering can is also visible. The costumes of the five people are varied, characteristic of the 16th rather than early 18th century.
A graphic print with this depiction, which is in the Graphic Collection of the German National Museum in Nuremberg, dates to around 1550.
material / technique
paper, colored woodcut
dimensions:
height / width
11.6 cm (16.2 cm) / 29 cm (30.5 cm)