Thread winder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Swifts had to open and shut in the same way as an umbrella. The axis spoke or central rod facilitates this movement. The strips are joined with steel rings, and a thumbscrew set on the lower shaft keeps the swift in the desired position. A skein of silk thread or tapestry yarn was wrapped tautly around its extended frame, which would then rotate as the thread was wound around a sewing spool. Tula is a region in Russia in the Srednerossky hills to the south of Moscow whose capital town of Tula has been famous for the remarkable metalwork it has produced since the construction of the armoury by Peter the Great in 1712. The mastery of the craftsmen and their diamond cutting of the steelworks of art, as well as arms and armour, was unrivalled throughout Europe.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art