Klexos: Views of the Death of Míriel by Chestnut_pod  

Klexos: Views of the Death of Míriel

Klexos: Views of the Death of Míriel Serindë

A Symposium
13-15 Narvinyë, 8 Fo.A.
The Valimar Civic Museum of Art and Culture
Hurintarwa Auditorium

Almost immediately upon Míriel Serindë’s voluntary exit from the body in Y.T. 1170, disciples, family members, political allies and opponents, and the general public began to make work responding to this then-unprecedented action. Unsurprisingly, given Serindë’s prominence as an artist and inventor, many of these artistic responses used textile media. Over time, and particularly in moments where Noldorin dynastic struggles impinged on the daily lives of other polities in Aman and Middle-earth, the Death of Míriel as a subject took on an enduring symbolic power and entered both the canon of Exilic Noldorin fine art and the symbologies of numerous other cultural groups.

Klexos: Views of the Death of Míriel (3 Narvinyë - 30 Víressë, 8 Fourth Age) represents the first public exhibition collecting textile-based approaches to the death of Míriel Serindë, including Amanyar and Middle-earth works spanning four ages. The symposium is held in conjunction with this exhibit through the generous collaboration of the University of Valimar.

The exhibition includes twenty textile-based artworks devised between Y.T. 1170 and T.A. 480 which engage with the motif of the Death of Míriel. Key pieces represent the change over time in the reception and historical import of Míriel’s death in various regions of the Western Lands. (A condensed catalog is appended to this symposium brochure.) The gathering-in of such disparate media, artistic styles, time periods, and perspectives allows scholars to explore unexpected congruences, divergences, and relationships via the genealogy of motif. Many of the fruitful explorations engendered by this exhibit are represented in the symposium of the same name held 13-15 Narvinyë, 8 Fo.A., to celebrate its opening and provide an opportunity for the Valinorean public to engage with the representational impact of Míriel’s death.

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Condensed Navigational Catalog

Central Gallery/Entrance Hall

1. VAIRË and ASSISTANTS. Y.T. 1171. The Death of Míriel, View 18. Valaquard-woven immersive tapestry of historical thread. A lifelike, full-scale, full-color depiction of the Bower of Míriel in central Lórien. Míriel Serindë lies supine with her arms crossed over her chest. Queen Indis, Prince Regent Arafinwë, King-in-Abeyance Nolofinwë, Findis Finwiel, and Lalwendë Finwiel stand at her feet. Late King Finwë and Fëanáro kneel on either side of Míriel, blocking the view of her face. It is noon. (Loan of the Halls of Mandos, on sufferance.)
2. TELEPALMA and NISSARATË VÁYALÓRIEL. Y.T. 1194. Allegory on the Death of Míriel. Silk embroidery on raw silk scroll. Backing of blue watered silk dates to S.A. 1001 restoration. An elf-sized silkworm cocoon rests on a flowered ground. Four figures stand in a line behind the cocoon, heads bowed. From the left: a woman holding a vat-stirring spoon, a man holding a drop spindle, an alnerwen holding a shuttle, and a woman holding a threaded needle with a pincushion bracelet. (Loan of the Silk-Weavers’ Guild of Alqualondë.)
3. FINDIS FINWIEL. Y.T. 1240. Detail of the Death of Míriel. Silk embroidery on bleached linen tabby, steel needle, set in a round frame of red-stained oak. The thread-painting depicts Míriel’s right hand resting on her chest. One lock of silver hair falls over the wrist near the edge of the frame in loose stitches. The threaded steel needle used to embroider the hand has been fastened to the embroidery near the index finger. (Permanent collection of the Valimar Civic Museum of Art and Culture. Gift of the artist, Y.T. 1495.)
4. LAIRELÓRË ORETARION. Y.T. 1342. The View from Lórellin. Needlepoint firescreen in wool with ashwood backing. A landscape depicting the Gardens of Lórien from the viewpoint of the Isle of Lórellin. The Bower of Míriel is visible in the distance in the center-left of the screen, glowing with silver light in a smaller echo of Lórien’s scrying pool at the apex of the screen. (Permanent collection of the Valimar Civic Museum of Art and Culture. Gift of the artist, Y.T. 1495.)
5. SINGENÁRO RUINÁRION. Y.T. 1475. Events in the Life of Fëanáro. Silk-embroidered woolen table-runner depicting episodes from the life of Fëanáro. The episode of the Death of Míriel is the first depicted episode at the far left of the runner. Míriel Serindë lies on her side with her hair over her face. The background depicts detailed blades of grass from edge-to-edge. The border is worked in thread of gold. The cool tones of the piece suggest the light of Telperion. The other scenes depicted on the runner include, in order, the invention of Tengwar, Fëanáro’s marriage, the birth of his children, his discovery of silima, the creation of the Silmarils, and the invention of the sword. (Permanent collection of the Valimar Civic Museum of Art and Culture. Gift of the Gemcutters’ Guild of Tirion, Y.T. 1497.)

First Western Gallery

6. IDRIL CELEBRINDAL. F.A. 119. Namárië. Mastery Mantle submitted to the Artisans’ Circle of Gondolin in partial fulfillment of the degree of Materials Synthesis. Double-weft two-sided woven mantle, alpaca and vicuña qombi. Designs are geometric, stylized, and repeating. A supine figure of a woman (cochineal red) alternates with individual qantuta flowers (dodder yellow) between bands of black descending-step patterns in the “Mandos” form. The background is collpa sulfate blue. (Loan of the Academic Archives of Gondolin-That-Was in Aman.)
7. UNKNOWN ARTIST. F.A. 416-432, approx. Devotional doll of Hadorian origin. Felted woolen doll six inches in length with rigid wooden armature and ears. Dressed in red brocaded silk of Amanyar origin. The figure has silver hair, taking advantage of the sheen of undyed flax, and is clearly pregnant. Her arms are crossed and she holds the traditional funerary crook of the House of Hador in the left hand, while the right hand gestures open-palmed towards the viewer. (Personal collection of Elrond Peredhil, on loan.)
8. UNKNOWN ARTIST. F.A. 497, approx. Pall of Nargothrond. Tapestry fragment, s-twisted woolen yarn. A life-sized figure of a pale-haired woman lies supine on a base of green with her arms crossed on her chest. Black spears and yellow suns alternate in bands framing the central image. One black spear pierces the figure. (Loan of the Royal Archives of Nargothrond-That-Was in Aman.)
9. BARNEN MITHONIEL, COURT ARTIST of DORIATH. F.A. 71. A Scene of Family History on the Occasion of the Marriage of Curufin Faenorion. Raw silk tabby weave embroidered with many colors of single-stranded s-twisted silk floss framed in a three-panel beechwood folding screen. The rightmost panel contains a finely detailed portrait of a silver-haired woman in First Age Beleriandish Noldorin dress lying in a bower of niphredil, with her eyes closed and arms crossed over her chest. The botanically accurate flowers and deciduous trees surrounding her continue onto the central and leftmost panels. (Personal collection of Nerdanel Mahtaniel, on loan.)
10. UNKNOWN ARTIST. F.A. 590. Child’s sampler. Undyed white-gray felt embroidered with undyed brown woolen thread. The first eight tengwar appear in the top lefthand corner of the felt. Subsequently, rough outlines of figures appear below the column of letters. The first figure is a long-haired woman lying supine with crossed-out eyes and crossed arms, with her tongue drooping from one corner of her mouth. The second is a man with three legs (or perhaps a sword) with one arm in the air and fire for hair. The third is a striped cat. The tengwar resume at the bottom right and complete the syllabary. (Personal collection of General Tulkalassë Ingwiel, on loan.)

Central Exhibition Room

11. TINDÓMIEL ELROSIEL. S.A. 121. Queen Míriel. One-eighth-scale cross-stitch portrait in cotton floss on sturdy canvas of Eressëan origin. A woman with dark hair lies on a flower-bedecked marble bed with her eyes closed and arms crossed. Two dark-haired men in circlets kneel behind her at chest level. A group of three female figures and two male figures stand at her feet. The greens are significantly discolored, as the dye used was not lightfast, giving the portrait a dark aspect that is not original to the piece. The name is given in a legend at the center-bottom, in Tengwar. (Personal collection of Elrond Peredhil, on loan.)
12. PSEUDO-PHARÂZINDIL of RÓMENNA. S.A. 400. Refresh Yourself in Rómenna! (Lonely Island Travel Destinations #4). Single-weft woven Númenorean card-punch tapestry booklet at folio scale, in black and white cotton. The cover shows a pale-haired Elven woman lying in a bower of flowers. Her eyes are closed and her arms stretch above her head. Tengwar script on the cover reads “Refresh Yourself in Rómenna!” Subsequent pages depict scenic locations around Rómenna, such as the harbor promenade and the municipal cemetery. (Personal collection of Canyahen Piasalmion, on loan.)
13. TIRNEL HALFONIEL. Circa S.A. 787. The Death of Míriel. Masterwork tapestry submitted to the Gwaith-i-Mírdain in partial fulfillment of the degree of Applied Chemistry. Silk single-weft tapestry with aniline dyes. Halfoniel’s tapestry is well known as the first publicly viewable application of several important aniline dyes of her own invention, including mauve, yellow, and green. The brightly colored scene is otherwise nearly identical to The Death of Míriel by Vairë and her assistants. (Loan of the Academic Archives of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain-That-Was in Aman.)
14. VALIMAR ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS. S.A. 1573. The Death of Marriage. Bleached canvas banner five feet wide by eight feet long, oriented vertically, block-printed with indigo. The banner reads: “The Death of Marriage is Preferable to the Death of Mothers.” Beneath "Marriage" and above "Preferable," and again beneath "Preferable" and above "to," is a simplified outline of the familiar motif: a long-haired woman lying supine with arms crossed on her chest. This banner is one of a series which hung on the pediment of the VAWL’s headquarters from S.A. 1572-1573, currently held by the VCMAC and viewable by appointment. (Permanent collection of the Valimar Civic Museum of Art and Culture. Acquisition sponsored by Aredhel Írissë Ar-Feiniel, T.A. 901.)
15. ADUNABÊTH of RÓMENNA. S.A. 3317. Ingratitude (Avarice Defeated #6.) Single-weft woven Númenorean card-punch tapestry booklet at quarto scale, in black and white cotton. The fourth page of this moralistic pamphlet shows a pale-haired Elven woman lying in a bower of flowers. Upon closer examination, the flowers grow from the cracked domes and headstones of the municipal cemetery of Rómenna. (Personal collection of Elrond Peredhil, on loan.)

Second Western Gallery

16. MÍRIEL SERINDË. T.A 442. View of the Death of Míriel. Four framed needlepoint panels in wool yarn, separated by cherrywood lathes. Sunwise: Taniquetil in the style of a popular intermediate learner’s sampler published by Ferneliltë & Daughters. A scale schematic of a drawloom. A facsimile of the official portrait commissioned by King Finwë on the coming of age of Fëanáro, presently hanging in the King’s House in Tirion. A spectrum of colored yarn running from red to goldenrod. (Loan of the artist.)
17. MÍRIEL SERINDË and ASSISTANTS. Y.T. 1182. View from the Death of Míriel. Valaquard-woven tapestry of historical thread. A lifelike, full-scale, full-color depiction of the Bower of Míriel in Lórien. A gray sky is framed by tree branches and the faces of King Finwë (left) and Fëanáro (right). (Loan of the Halls of Mandos, on sufferance.)
18. MÍRIEL SERINDË. T.A. 446. View from the Death of Míriel. Blue cotton tabby and silk floss. Plain blue cotton tabby is framed by silk floss branches on both sides. (Loan of the artist.)
19. MÍRIEL SERINDË. T.A 454. View from the Death of Míriel. Silk satin and Elven hair. A corkscrew of golden hair rests on a background of deep brown silk satin. The hair is anchored in the silk backing in three locations and otherwise stands out from the substrate. (Loan of the artist.)
20. MÍRIEL SERINDË. T.A. 480. View of Míriel. Linen shift and silk floss. A square-cut white linen shift is suspended upright from the ceiling with hempen twine, stiffened with wire armature. Its skirt is belled, while the arms stretch outwards and backwards. Almost the entire surface is embroidered with silk floss in a dense network of overlapping flowers, flames, stars, and spears. The cuffs alone remain white. (Loan of the artist.)

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