Crafting Sacred Blooms: Late Medieval Mystical Floriculture as Tactile Devotion

초록

The Besloten hofjes (enclosed gardens) of Mechelen are cabinet-shaped altarpieces that feature miniature garden spaces filled with an assortment of handmade silk flowers, devotional images, and relics. This article examines the process of creating these silk flowers and their impact on the presumed crafters or restorers-the professed nuns at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwegasthuis (Hospital of Our Lady), where the Gardens were housed. It argues that this craftwork was a contemplative and tactile activity analogous to the rosary, a prayer method that involved reflection on exegetical understanding and constant touching of the prayer beads. Similar to the rosary, the silk flower craftwork enabled the nuns to enter a supernatural state where they experienced a profound connection with sacred entities. This article reinterprets the silk flower crafts in the cabinets not merely as decorations, but as tools for personal devotion.

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