Distaff Collection

Ugly Duckling (Boyle)
The old cottage woman, with her distaff and her animal companions : often such solitary females were suspected of witchcraft

The Curse: Adam is digging in the ground, assisted by Death.. Handcolored engraving by Chretien de Mechel from Hans Holbein's The Triumph of Death

Adam and the skeleton of Death uprooting a tree
Condemnation to Labour: Adam and the skeleton of Death uprooting a tree, while Eve suckles a baby and holds a distaff. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Wenceslaus Hollar from The Dance of Death

Prosobranchia sea snail shells: triumphant star turban, Guildfordia triumphans 1, imperial cone, Conus imperialis 2, Madras harp, Harpa davidis 3, Venus comb, Murex pecten pecten 4, branched murex

Elderly woman with distaff and spindle, Auvergne, France
Elderly woman with distaff and spindle, Auvergne, Central France. 1922

Woman at a spinning wheel, Dinan, Brittany, Northern France
Woman at a spinning wheel near Dinan, Brittany, Northern France. 1922

Spanish Cantabrian Peasant Woman Spinning. 19th century

Cordwainers Hall, Distaff Lane

Old woman spinning in her cottage
An old cottage woman spins with a distaff at her fireside. Date: circa 17th century

Witch uses distaff summon up a storm, 1537
An old witch working magic, using her distaff to cause a storm. Date: 1537

Country people in the Middle Ages -- a woman feeds a hen and chicks, a man sharpens his scythe before continuing to cut grass, and an older man carries a basket on his back. Date: circa 13th century

Distaff Day
Women returning to work on Distaff Day (the day after Twelfth Day). Date: 19th Century

Yellow distaff thistle, Carthamus lanatus.. Handcoloured copperplate engraving drawn by John Curtis and engraved by Weddell from Curtiss Botanical Magazine, 1820, Samuel Curtis, Walworth, London

A Chinese Woman spinning, Qianlong Period (1736-96) (gouache on paper). Chinese art. SWITZERLAND. Bern. Bernese Historical Museum

Cordwainers Hall, Distaff Lane Date: 1830

Italian Girl Spinning with Distaff. Indoni, Filippo fl.1883-89

Manuscript Royal 10 E. (14th c. ). Distaff. Gothic
Manuscript Royal 10 E. (14th c.). Distaff. Gothic art. Miniature Painting. UNITED KINGDOM. London. The British Museum

Chodenland Girl Spinner
A girl of Chodenland, (Bohemia, Czechoslovakia), spinning flax wrapped around a distaff, which is always tied around a ribbon embroidered with many colours. Date: 1930s

Distaff Spinning
Spinning cotton with a distaff, in an English cottage

Spinning, Scotland
A girl spins with a distaff outside a Scottish cottage

Spinning, Austria
A Rockensitz - literally, a distaff session - among peasant women in lower Austria; the old lady tells stories as she spins, the young ones listen

First Distaff
THE FIRST DISTAFF

Witch Weidlitz
An old witch working magic, using her distaff to cause a storm

Swedish Cottage Interior
A peasants cottage in the Swedish countryside - a tranquil evening idyll

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