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Bouquet de Moisson,

Corn dolly: ‘Bouquet de Moisson’ with the date ‘1976’ spirally woven below the centre. Design from Pas-de-Calais in France.
This corn dolly is known as a ‘Bouquet de Moisson’. It consists of a diamond-shaped straw frame surrounded by a fringe of corn ears, inside which is a circular fan of corn ears and the date ‘1976’ spirally woven below the centre. The design of this dolly comes from Pas-de-Calais in France, and was introduced to England in the 1970s.

1 corn dolly: corn

MERL miscellaneous note Greta Bertram, 20 August 2013 – The 'Coker Collection' of corn dollies was bequeathed to the Museum by Alec Coker, who devoted his retirement from 1965 until his death in 1986 to spreading knowledge of and teaching the craft of corn dolly making. He first became interested in the craft when working at the BBC when he encountered dollies as props on the set of ‘Lorna Doone’ in the 1930s. ‘Corn’ is a term for the family of grains which includes barley, oats, wheat and rye. ‘Corn dolly’ is a wide-ranging term which includes figures, love tokens, crosses, Scandinavian star designs, and Far Eastern shrine dolls made from ‘corn’ straw. Techniques used in the craft include tying, plaiting, weaving and marquetry. The corn dolly was originally an object used in rites and rituals, and in many parts of the world it was believed that the ‘Corn Goddess’ lived in the crop and died when it was harvested. Images of the Goddess, or other talismans, were woven from the last sheaf to be reaped and carefully preserved to ensure an abundant crop the following year. By the twentieth century, corn dollies had lost their ritual associations, and from the 1950s there was a concerted effort to preserve the craft of corn dolly making., MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Institute of Agricultural History) – ‘Description: Bouquet de Moisson // Diamond shaped straw frame surrounded by a fringe of corn ears. Inside the frame, a circular fan of corn ears with a basket-like centre. Below the centre, spirally woven numbers, 1976. // Dimensions: 60cm x 40cm // Associated information: The Bouquet de Moisson is from the Pas de Calais and introduced by Sali Shields in the 1970’s. // References: …’

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