The Ur Poodle

This is a story, a longer one — with pictures! — about the origins of our fascination with Poodles of God (most recently mentioned here). This bit of photoblogism is thanks to Chris Ambidge, who supplied the photographic treats.

In June of 2000, Isaac and I were visited by friends Chris and Bill*. Exactly how the subject came up is anybody's guess at this point, but up it came. Isaac related the tale of how there was this needlepointed kneeler in a nearby church# that had an excellent representation of a Poodle of God on it. We suspected that the image was meant to evoke the image of the "Lamb of God", but this animal had much floppier ears than a lamb and looked distinctly like a poodle.

Off we went to observe the evidence, and you can judge for yourself provided you can see what I'm pointing at in the top-most picture: the Ur-Poodle! Right there is where it began, an obsession that's lasted for years now as we roam the world seeking to expand our collection of images of poodles both ancient and modern.

It was only a day or two later that we took a little trip to Annapolis (a short drive from where I write) and while we were there we visited historic St. Anne's church, a lovely little old building, properly located on Church Circle in the oldest part of the city, right across from the Maryland State House (on State Circle naturally, maintaining, as Isaac points out, separation of Church and State).

What a surprise was in store for us. In the dim recesses of the church we discovered a plethora of individual kneelers stored underneath the pews. The kneelers were rather like footstools from the fifties, neat and rectangular and upholstered in vinyl, but all of them had hand-made needlepoint tops, which must represent an extensive investment of time by the church auxiliary, no doubt motivated by an extensive investment of donations by the benefactors whose names or initials — of the names or initials of a departed loved one, perhaps — appeared on each kneeler. They were charming and lovingly executed and carried a profound air of history about them.

But our great joy was discovering the number of kneelers that presented images of the Poodle of God. There were dozens! Or more! We did our best to document with the camera. Second down from the top is Isaac with one poodle, then yours truly, Bill, and Isaac with yet another Poodle. Below that a photo of Chris with not a poodle but an eagle — that one slipped in because it had his name on it. He says that his expression is meant to suggest that he has been praying piously since 1692, the date worked into the design on the left side. What it was meant to represent was never clear to us.

But, to my mind, the pièce de résistance is shown in the lowest photo where I am holding a kneeler with an image of what we could only think must be a pack of feral Poodles of God, looking as a group slightly disreputable and a bit scary, like a gang of poodle Jets getting ready to rumble with — I don't know — a gang of shark Sharks, perhaps.

Since then our quest has been unending, our thirst unquenched when it comes to locating, documenting, and sharing images of Poodles of God.

Please, thank Chris when you see him for locating and resurrecting these photographs. How could that have been seven years ago already!
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* Chris & Bill are two of my four regular readers, so I have to be judicious about my commentary although they are, of course, free to amplify for themselves in the comments.

#Not mentioned by name so as not to offend our friends who designed the kneelers and executed the fine needlepoint work, like that's going to fool anyone.

Posted on June 1, 2007 at 23.20 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Reflections

3 Responses

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  1. Written by rightsaidfred
    on Saturday, 2 June 2007 at 05.56
    Permalink

    I, coming from the other end of the spectrum, have much more experience with sheep(!) than poodles, so I imagine I would see lambs where the auxilary was needlepointing poodle iconography.

    I go by the legs (hooves).

  2. Written by Bill Morrison
    on Saturday, 2 June 2007 at 10.37
    Permalink

    The eagle-winged bird in the kneeler Chris is holding, is (the clue is the olive branch in its beak) a dove. I hadn't noticed the dates before, but they suggest a project to mark the 300th anniversary of the church, and of prayer on that spot. So while we make merry with the iconography, we need to honour what they represent. And the people at that other church much closer to where youj live who made the kneeler cushion that started all this.

    Then, of course, there are the iconographic sheep in the 6th century mosaics we saw in Rome, which look much more like greyhounds than either poodles or sheep; though now, in the light of rightsaidfred's comment, I'll have to take a closer look at their pedal extremities.

  3. Written by jns
    on Saturday, 2 June 2007 at 10.44
    Permalink

    A leg man, eh? Goodness but you did give me a turn: usually remarks about sheep [!] and "other ends" would be made about my lifestyle. You're not from New Zealand, are you?

    Agreed, the hooves would be a good indicator although the sheep are not always standing up with hooves visible, alas. However, an image comes to mind of the beautiful and old mosaic of a parade of poodles in the apse of SS. Cosma et Damiano, in Rome. Visible hooves, curly fur indicated, and sheepish ears. Perhaps, later, a picture.

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