Cap

Description

Unfortunately everyday clothes and working clothes from the distant past have rarely survived. There is scant interest for them in museums unless they coincide with a special focus, such as folklore. This cap was found during restoration work under the wooden floor of the choir screen, in a hollow of a cross vault, in the church of St. Leonhard, Basle. It had probably belonged to a stonemason: a contemporary carving of a mason on a keystone in the vault of the chancel of the Berne Münster depicts a similar red cap. These caps, like the berets of the time, were made by the 'Barettlimacher' who, like the 'Lismer' (knitters), were members of the Herrenzunft zu Safran. They were made in the same way as the North African skull shaped chechias of today. They were loosely knitted from woollen yarn, overlarge, and then shrunk and felted to their desired shape by washing in lye and mechanical milling. The fringe was cut later by the cap's owner.