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Folding Multipurpose tool from Nuremburg circa 1560 to 1570 with iron case that is etched and some tools are blackened from the Gilber Collection in NZ
Gardening, carpentry and turning tools
Augustus Wettin (Saxon Elector from 1526-1586) had a great interest in all kinds of tools, including those related to mining and military needs, cabinet making, agriculture and gardening, some of which he used and even made himself in his own workshop. A fascinating section of the exhibition is devoted to these tools which are not only practical but also elaborately decorated and embellished. Many of these tools would not be out of place in a 21st century gardening shed or workshop, particularly the folding multipurpose tool (pictured right) dating from 1560-70, a remarkable forerunner of today’s pocket knife, with its fourteen small tools on a pivot.
The gardening tools include two iron spades, one of them painted with fruit and flowers on its wooden mounts; dibbles and rakes with turned wood handles; two long-handled clippers with cords for trimming trees and shrubs; and an adze, a tool combining a weeding blade with a little axe for cutting out roots and shoots, the shaft covered with floral bands of bone inlay. Another adze and a brass seeder of 1572, engraved with the initials AA for Augustus and his wife Anna who shared her husband’s passion for gardening, were both known to have been used by Augustus himself.
Folding Multipurpose tool from Nuremburg circa 1560 to 1570 with iron case that is etched and some tools are blackened from the Gilber Collection in NZ
Gardening, carpentry and turning tools
Augustus Wettin (Saxon Elector from 1526-1586) had a great interest in all kinds of tools, including those related to mining and military needs, cabinet making, agriculture and gardening, some of which he used and even made himself in his own workshop. A fascinating section of the exhibition is devoted to these tools which are not only practical but also elaborately decorated and embellished. Many of these tools would not be out of place in a 21st century gardening shed or workshop, particularly the folding multipurpose tool (pictured right) dating from 1560-70, a remarkable forerunner of today’s pocket knife, with its fourteen small tools on a pivot.
The gardening tools include two iron spades, one of them painted with fruit and flowers on its wooden mounts; dibbles and rakes with turned wood handles; two long-handled clippers with cords for trimming trees and shrubs; and an adze, a tool combining a weeding blade with a little axe for cutting out roots and shoots, the shaft covered with floral bands of bone inlay. Another adze and a brass seeder of 1572, engraved with the initials AA for Augustus and his wife Anna who shared her husband’s passion for gardening, were both known to have been used by Augustus himself.