Anna Elisabeth Sarauw née Elberling (1839–1919) was a Danish

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials u ...

who collaborated with Kristiane Konstantin-Hansen and

Johanne Bindesbøll Karen Johanne Bindesbøll (1851–1934) was a Danish textile artist who specialized in embroidery. Together with Kristiane Konstantin-Hansen, from 1873 she ran a retail business in Copenhagen, selling embroidered goods and training young women t ...

in running a successful embroidery business in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. She designed sewing patterns, with naturalistic motifs and stylized Egyptian, Indian and Pompeiian figures.

Biography

Born in Frederiknagore (now Serampore) in

Danish India Danish India () was the name given to the colonies of Denmark (Denmark–Norway before 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish colonial empire. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, i ...

, Anna Elisabeth Elberling was the daughter of the Danish government representative Frederik Emil Elberling (1804–80) and Harriet Anna Fjellerup (1821–59). The oldest of nine children, she was brought up in the west of India. She learnt to sew as a child, completing a finely embroidered gown for her mother before she was 10 years old. The family moved back to Denmark in 1851. She helped to bring up her sisters, teaching them embroidery, especially after her mother's early death in 1859. In 1870, she married the estate administrator Carl Harald Sarauw (1839–1909) with whom she had four children. As an embroiderer, Sarauw was noted for her light touch and her talent for creating her own designs, some of which she sold commercially. She befriended

Constantin Hansen Carl Christian Constantin Hansen (Constantin Hansen) (3 November 1804 – 29 March 1880) was one of the painters associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He was deeply interested in literature and mythology, and inspired by art hist ...

and his daughters Elise and Kristiane. After they opened a needlework shop and studio together with

, she joined them to create their ''Kunstbroderiforretningen Konstantin-Hansen, Bindesbøll & Sarauw'', commonly known simply as ''Boden''. It is difficult to know which of the embroiderers created the various items but from Sarauw's sketchbooks it can be seen that many of her designs were inspired by her travels abroad. They include stylized figures from Egypt, Pompeii and India. She also created geometrical designs as well as rosettes and lilies. In 1878, she represented ''Boden'' at the Paris World Fair and in 1888 she participated in the Nordic Exhibition in Copenhagen where she received a medal for an embroidered box. In 1881, she left Boden and moved with her husband to

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality in Region Sjælland on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in east Denmark. The population is 7,999 (2022).

. Anna Sarauw died in Vissenbjerg Sogn near Assens on 11 September 1919 and is buried in Sorø Cemetery. Her family maintains a large collection of her embroidered textiles, drawings and sewing patterns.

References

1839 births 1919 deaths People from West Bengal Artists from Copenhagen 19th-century Danish artists Danish embroiderers Danish women artists Danish textile artists 19th-century women textile artists 19th-century textile artists {{denmark-artist-stub