Animal finery known as ‘charlette’,
chiètre, or
cherlaz Erdesson, Vernamiège, Valais, Switzerland.
1940.
Carved and painted larch wood.
Height: 51.7 cm.
Width: 32 cm.
Depth: 22 cm.
The Georges Amoudruz Collection; acquired in 1976.
ETHEU 108172
Geolocate the object
In the Valais, Gruyère, Pays-d’Enhaut, Appenzell and Toggenbourg regions, husbandry activities were organised around two seasonal migrations, which were started and finished by the herd’s movements to and from the mountain pastures. The descent from the mountain pastures was a key phase in managing the livestock, but it was also a time for festivities and rituals. The finest dairy cows were given the distinction of wearing the charlette, a sort of helmet or diadem that was placed between the neck and the horns. This ornamentation served to give the animal an identity and provide some protection on the paths leading from the mountain pastures to the plains. It was often made from an inverted milking pail, which was then adorned with unique decorations. At the end of each summer, the charlettes were worked on and painted by the shepherds in honour of the most hardy, beautiful, or hardworking cow. Each winter, once the animals had returned to their stables, the charlette was thrown away or burned.
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The balance of work
There was little machinery in preindustrial Europe and the societies shared the same work ethic based on individual responsibility and community solidarity. In these agricultural and artisanal communities, the body – human and animal – was the first and sometimes the only tool available: its skill and dependability were key assets in a precarious economy. Knowing how to economise and use its strength led to a sense of well being.
Working with the seasons
Along the Mediterranean and in the Alps, the livestock is not kept indoors during the summer. To take advantage of the natural pastures, the animals were regularly taken from the plains to the mountains. The practice of moving the stock up to summer pastures and bringing them down again in the autumn, still found in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Balkans and even in Kurdistan, is known as transhumance. In Switzerland, this moment in pastoral life was often depicted in the nineteenth century. The pictures show how practices were changing and helped crystallise a certain image of rural life.
