Take a moment to browse through this beautiful blog from one of my stops on recent travels.
Textile Travels, Stop 1: QSMT Symposium
Over 180 people from around the world gathered in Bangkok in November 2013 for the international launch of the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textile’s Symposium on royal textiles – Weaving Royal Traditions Through Time: Textile and Dress at the Thai Court and Beyond. It was truly the ‘who’s who’ of textiles particularly in Asia and the Pacific Rim – from Indonesia to Bhutan, there was great representation and enthusiasm, excellent lectures, and extraordinary visits to private collections. If that wasn’t classy enough, parties held at the Jim Thompson Museum and Home and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel put the icing on this multi-layered textile torte.
Her Majesty welcomed the attendees and gave a wonderfully personal, knowledgable and often humorous and self deprecating talk about the diversity of textiles in Thailand and her continued fascination with the production and weavers. She particularly paid homage to the Queen, who she often referred to as ‘my mother’, in her 50+ year effort to revive traditional textiles, nurture hand-made artifacts and provide an additional income. And of course honoring the establishment of HMQ’s new textile museum, a centre in Thailand now for textile study, display, and conservation. HRH set the tone for professional, but personal presentations. The presentations were rich and cross cultural, linking the production of trade of royal cloths between India, Siam, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia and Japan; and as well to sculptural and painted art.
A few of the highlights for me are mentioned here. One of the most fascinating talks was on the popularity of ‘sarasa’ or Indian block printed trade cloths made for the Siamese market, but sold in Japan in the 17th and 18th centuries. We know little about this particular trade route and these cloths became deriguer for tea ceremony and other religious uses. A big splash on the historic textile scene was the introduction of a collection of 300 batiks that King Rama V Chulalongkorn carefully collected during 3 trips to Java in 1871, 1896 and 1901. The cataloguing of this collection so far reveals that the cloths are mostly Solo, Jogja and North Coast Dutch Indonesian artists such as Carolina von Franquemont and others. Due to iron clad provenance, as well as notes and labels, this collection is a rich contribution to the scholarship of Javanese batiks. The Indonesian attendees were particularly thrilled, and look forward to contributing knowledge and expertise to the QSMT as research, comparisons, and exhibit design of these Javanese treasures continues in 2014.
Patricia Cheesman, scholar and weaver, kicked off the symposium with a particularly rich talk about the diversity and connections, and power and soul of Tai textiles. The conservation department of the QSMT gave a talk by about the gold netted robes made for royalty (and still worn by HMK today) and high ranking officials; including a case study on the stunning nautical motif robe given to the Danish Admiral of the Thai Navy in 1900. My article about the conservation of the Admiral’s robe have already been published in Textiles Asia, and a forthcoming article will appear in Arts of Asia in 2014. The curator from the newly opened Royal Textile Academy in Bhutan shared exquisite stories and images of the royal dress and recent wedding attire of the King and Queen of Bhutan. Conservator Sara Reiter, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, regaled the attendees with the ‘fairy tale’ gown of the Princess Grace of Monaco and it’s many campaigns of display and restoration. Finally, the colorful and creative fashion designer imprimenteur to the Sultana of Brunei and Sultanas of Malyasia, Bernard Chandran, showed us some of his high fashion modifications to the two traditional silhouettes of ‘kebaya and kurung’. Breaking boundaries! The last treat was a private show of the elegant classical Thai Kohn dance, including the dressing of the principal dancers. They are literally stitched into rich silk brocades, and we were five feet away to examine the entire process of dressing and dancing.
The Queen’s Museum closed to the public one day, allowing the symposium attendees a private unfettered visit, with tours of the conservation lab, storage, registration and the galleries. It was really an honor to host a group of such textile specialists, whose knowledge, aesthetics and eye are so sharpened. Everyone toured the exhibits – The Queen’s western style couture clothing made in the 60’s – 90’s by Pierre Balmain using Thai village woven silk ikat, is a testament to Her collaboration with the designer and determination to promote Thai cloth internationally. The eight styles of traditional royal dress were also co-designed with Balmain, and range from simple morning ensemble to very elaborate night and royal wear. However, it is all ‘ready-to-wear’ and has become fully popularized in Thailand over the years. The Queen’s attention to detail – from fine embroidery to the exact color coordinating of outfits, and direction of pattern are evident when carefully examining many of Her costumes. In the Conservation Lab, we made sure that some of HMQ’s exquisite couture cloths were available for close viewing, and it was a treat for everyone.
The symposium attendees were privileged to visit the private collections of Tilleke and Gibbins Law Firm, The Siam Society, Mr Udom Riantrakool, and one other private collector. Up close and able to touch and photograph these personal treasures – there were often stunned silences in the display rooms. This was a wonderful balance to closed museum displays and academic presentations. Cheers and congrats to the QSMT team and CDM staff for such a splendid symposium. The 4 days were truly a rich multi-course banquet of exquisite Asian textiles; and friendships and alliances were securely stitched together from east to west. The Symposium talks will be posted as videos on the QSMT website in 2014. Stay tuned for Textile Trip 2 to the famed Northeast region of Ikat and North region of indigo and intricately woven skirt borders by the Thai Yuan, and more.
A region that abounds in sericulture, natural dyeing, skilled ikat tying and weaving – it was textile heaven.
Magali An Berthon, of Tissues et Artisans du Monde, textile designer/traveller/
Happy New Year 2014!
May it abound with fabulous textiles!
Amacetta’s Wedding Dress Tells Us Its Secret!
Throughout the fall season we were able to work on the extraordinary wedding gown of Amacette Laidley Summers. The dress itself, to say the very least, stunning… It is made from a cream colored silk faille and silk sateen with cheesecloth lining. The gown is floor length silk, with long slender sleeves extending from underneath two billowing puff shoulders. Each edge of the dress is charmingly scalloped and a series of applique of silk petals and vines cover line the cuffs and skirt.
Surviving since 1833, the dress needed the nimble fingers in our studio to help it out. The silk was very brittle and also had acidic soiling throughout. The entire hem was split from the permanent crease and from contact with the floor. Below are some pictures of the dress before and after conservation. We used treatments old and new, a few we borrowed from other conservators, but nothing blue!
Left, the back waist silk is shattered and fragile. Right, the silk is secured with a Beva adhesive patch and covered in netting for added protection.
Left, damaged and vulnerable cuff. Right, cuff and diamonds are covered in silk crepeline.
A small and tender surprise, awaits anyone lucky enough to see the inside of the dress. There is a small patched stitched into front of the dress near the neckline. The name “Lewis Summers” is written in iron gall ink. We believe it is the name of her only son to have lived to adulthood (named for her husband George’s brother, Judge Lewis Summers).
Amacetta Laidly Summers and her beloved husband, George W. Summers were married in 1833 a few months after Amacetta’s 15th birthday. They made their home for many years in West Virginia, at Glenwood. Today, the house is a historic home, Glenwood Estate.
Police Matron “Sadie” Hill
In 1854, the first known police matrons (also called jail matrons) were hired by New York City to search and guard female prisoners, but they were civilians with no law enforcement powers.
Sarah “Sadie” Hill (pictured) became the second police matron in Davenport, Iowa, hired in 1893. She married George Washington Hill in Fairfield, Iowa. The couple had one son, Luther, before George died of a heart attack at the young age of 43, leaving Sarah Hill a widow.
We have recently completed conservation of a collection of Matron Hill’s affects sent to us by The National Law Enforcement Museum (http://www.nleomf.org/museum/). Among the artifacts are commemorative ribbons and Hill’s “widow’s weeds.” To the right is a photo Matron Hill in the very weeds we worked on.
We were very interested in the term “widow’s weeds” so we looked into it.
One might assume that “widow’s weeds” must be connected in some convoluted fashion to the sort of weed one finds in the garden. However, this assumption is incorrect. “Weeds” the plants and “weeds” the mournful getup worn by widows in days of yore are entirely separate words with unrelated origins.
The plant kind of “weed” comes from the Old English word “weod,” which meant “grass, herb or weed.” “Weeds” aka “mourning clothes,” comes from a very old Germanic root meaning “clothing.” and when this “weed” first appeared in English around A.D. 888, it was used in the singular to mean simply “an article of clothing”– kind of like “threads.”
By about 1297, “weed” or “weeds” meant a style of clothing typical of an occupation or station in life. One might speak of a priest’s “weed” or a beggar’s “weeds,” for instance. The phrase “widow’s weeds,” denoting the black veils and other accouterments of deep mourning, first appeared around 1595, and is the only use of “weeds” in this sense still commonly heard in English.
Come all button collectors!
The Rabbi’s Hat
This remarkable Rabbi’s hat, circa 1850-1900, arrived in the studio just in time for the Jewish High Holidays. It belongs to the Jewish Museum in Baltimore and may have once belonged to local Rabbi Benjamin Szold. Time is typically hard on delicate fabrics like velvet, but after extensive conservation the hat is whole for 5774!
Before conservation, top picture, and after conservation, lower picture
Meridian House Hunt Tapestry: Going Home
The Meridian House Hunt Scene Tapestry was re-installed in March of 2013! This tapestry has been in the studio for about 7 months and Jane has spent hundreds of hours making repairs. It took up a good third of the studio, but up on the wall it began to look small. Goodbye Meridian Tapestry, we’re glad you’re home!
Julia Marlowe
The New York Sun once wrote, “There is not a woman player in America or in England that is – attractively considered – fit to unlace her shoe.”
Julia Marlowe was an English-born American actor known for her interpretations of William Shakespeare. She often played Juliet with real life partner, E. H. Sothern as her Romeo.
Caring for Textiles is conserving a Julia Marlowe costume belonging to The Folger Shakespeare Library (http://www.folger.edu) going on exhibition in September 2013.
The dress is covered in gelatin sequins and around the studio we are fondly calling it “The Scale Dress.” We think she might be wearing our dress in this picture with Sothern.
Wedding Season is ringing…
It is finally Spring and three gorgeous wedding dresses have found their way to our studio! All of these little beauties have a different style.
This first dress was worn by Mary Roberston, a recent Norwegian immigrant, who married a Wisconsin native in 1910. The dress was passed down two more generations in a pillowcase. We did extensive repair work on the degraded silk under the arms. This bride must have been nervous!
This second dress is from 1919. It is embroidered cotton voile. It is in 2 pieces, with a removable bolero top–It looks very Daisy Buchanan… perfect for a breezy summer wedding.
Our last dress is a beautiful little number form the early 20’s. We don’t know much about it, but it is made of silk and lace, and has the sweetest drop waist!
“S”
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 8
- 9
- 10