Following an article about the TRC in a national Dutch newspaper (Trouw, 22 October 2011), the TRC was approached about the potential donation of a collection of European textiles from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. These pieces formed part of the collection of the Van Gerwen-Lemmens Museum, Valkenswaard, which was forced to close down in 2008. After a visit by TRC staff to Valkenswaard on November 12, Mrs. Van Gerwen very kindly donated 101 textiles to the TRC.

Most of the textiles date to the 18^thcentury and include velvets, brocades and damasks. In addition, there are a few printed and embroidered pieces. There were also several, very rare ‘Coptic’ silk embroideries dating from the sixth to the seventh centuries AD. These include scenes depicting what appears to be Christ and various saints.

The acquisition of these pieces means that the TRC’s collection will take on a greater depth with respect to quality and range of subjects. The textiles will be on display at the TRC Gallery as part of a special exhibition, from June to September 2012.

7000 years of hand woven textiles in one exhibition!

TRC Gallery exhibition, 26 May – 23 September 2014

Woman in Lima, Peru, with backstrap loom. Photograph: Jefke van ItersonThe Gallery exhibition at the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, is a must for textile lovers.

The exhibition includes some of the oldest textiles in the world. They come from Çatal Hüyük (Turkey). These tiny fragments are about 7000 years old, and what a story they tell about the long history of hand weaving! Other unusual items on display include textiles that were originally wrapped around the Dead Sea Scrolls, examples of Coptic tapestries from Egypt, as well as medieval and Renaissance velvets and silk woven textiles. All of them are hand woven!

A length of modern velvet from Italy with a classic flower design (TRC 2018.2510).Velvet is a rich, varied and versatile type of cloth that can be used in many different and at times surprising ways. Velvet is used for garments, covering the body literally from head to foot, and worn by men, women and children. Houses are also decorated with velvets and the material has been used for soft-furnishings as well as upholstery.

The TRC exhibition Velvet!, which was on display at the TRC from January to June 2019, included examples of velvet dating from the late fifteenth century to the present day. There were over 100 garments and textiles, ranging from samples of cotton, linen, mohair, silk and wool velvet (some of which visitors can touch), velveteens, kuba velvets, to children’s velvet garments, wedding dresses, not to mention a wide range of velvet hats! A real feast for the senses.

Postcard and stamp of a 19th century painting depicting a lady in a velvet jacket, Hungary (TRC 2018.2544).

The luxurious character of velvet was made clear by a length of so-called Utrecht velvet (made from mohair), and also by an example of a pressed velvet that is used in the Tweede Kamer, The Hague, for a wall hanging. There was even a sample of the velvet used to decorate the Throne Room of the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain.

The TRC exhibition VELVET! was officially opened on the 22nd January 2019 by the Wethouder for Cultural Affairs (Leiden), Ms. Yvonne van Delft.

For a brief introduction to the subject of velvet, please click here. For the complete list of objects that were being displayed, with direct references to the TRC online catalogue, click here.

The exhibition was made possible with the help of Lunsingh Meubelstoffering en Zitmeubelrestauratie, Leiden.

American quilt from the 1840s (TRC 2018.3119), displayed at the exhibition The American Quilt, at the TRC. 5 Febr. - 28 May 2020. For more information, please click on the illustration.A quintessential feature of many American homes is a bed covering, more generally known as a quilt. It has featured in many films, books and stories about rural and urban life in the USA. As part of the Mayflower 400 Year, commemorating the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in America in 1620, having lived in Leiden for some ten years previously, the TRC Leiden is presenting an exhibition that explores the history, meaning and making of these colourful objects over the last 200 years.

The exhibition includes examples from before the American Civil War (1861-1865), the late Victorian era, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the Revival of the quilt craft in the 1970s.

There is a Crazy Quilt from Minnesota made in 1890s (TRC 2019.2925), and another quilt from the late nineteenth century that contains an even older example. There is also a Native American Indian quilt (early twentieth century; TRC 2019.2041), an African-American example (1930s) and a glorious appliqué quilt from a grand house in the USA (1860s; TRC 2019.2402).

For a photographic impression, please click here.

For more information, click on the illustration.ESGUERRA, Clarissa M. (2019). Power of Pattern: Central Asian Ikats from the David and Elizabeth Reisbord Collection, Los Angeles: LACMA Collator. ISBN 978-1-943042-13-5, hardback, 112 pp., fully illustrated in colour, bibliography, glossary. Price US$ 50.

An exhibition catalogue to a lovely exhibition about ikat garments and textiles from Central Asia that date from the 19th and early 20th centuries. These garments formed part of the David and Elizabeth Reisbord collection that is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The exhibition was well worth seeing [see the TRC blog about the exhibition].

In general, the book is based on the main types of motifs (ram, tree, etc.,) associated with Central Asian textiles, including ikat forms. In addition, the exhibition and book stress the aesthetics of ikat textiles, which is always a difficult subject as what is acceptable in one culture may not be deemed correct in another. The grouping of some of the objects in the exhibition and the book was deliberately meant to challenge Western (American) viewers.

Recommendation: This book is worth having in any library dedicated to Central Asian textiles and ikats in particular. There are some very interesting and visually pleasing garments presented in the publication. It should be noted, however, that there is very little information about how ikats were physically produced and by whom. In addition, this is a print-on-demand publication and it looks it: there are many blank pages, etc., in the copy now in the TRC Library.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, March 2020.

MASKARELI, Draginja (2019). МОΔΑ (Fashion in Modern Servia), Belgrade: Museum of Applied Art. ISBN 978-86-7415-217-1, soft back, fully illustrated in colour and b/w, 143 pp., bibliography, no index.

This is a catalogue to an exhibition held at the Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade from November 2019 to the end of January 2020. The text is in Serbian with an English summary. The exhibition is based on items in the collection of the museum and includes a wide range of items for women from the 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition at the back of the book there are a few items for men, but not many.

For historical and geographical reasons there are items of Ottoman and Balkan styles, as well as West European fashions. Some of these garments were worn together. In addition, a wide range of accessories are illustrated including hats, glasses, hair combs, shawls, parasols, belts and footwear. The boots, shoes and slippers show a wide range of influences, including knee-high boots decorated with Central Asian suzani-style embroidery and ankle boots in the French style.

The whole exhibition stresses local, national as well as international forms worn by urban women in what is now Serbia. Not a remote part of Europe, but a cross-roads between Asia, the Balkans and Europe.  

Recommendation: A book that will be of interest to anyone intrigued by fashion, and what may now be called fusion fashion, the combination of various traditions brought together by political, economic and geographical reasons. A visually inspirational book.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, March 2020.

CONTESSA, Andreina (2016). The Jewish Court of Venice: The heritage of Jewish Venice 500 years after the establishment of the first ghetto, Jerusalem: National Museum of Italian Jewish Art. ISBN 978-965-572-097-6, soft back, 55 pp. in English, 35 pp. in Hebrew, fully illustrated in colour and black/white.

A small catalogue to an exhibition held at the National Museum of Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem [see TRC Blog]. There are many synagogue (notably scroll covers) and private textiles illustrated and described in the book. In addition, it looks at the role of women in making, using and in some cases, re-using textiles. It includes woven, embroidered as well as lace forms (including needle laces). In addition to the textiles, various other items such as scroll crowns and finials, contemporary illustrations, manuscripts, and so forth, are illustrated and described.

Recommendation: There are various books on Ashkenazim and Sephardim Jewish textiles, but comparatively very little about another important group, the Italian Jews. This booklet helps to redress this imbalance. It will be of interest to anyone working or interested in the role of textiles in Jewish synagogues, Jewish life in general, as well as those specifically interested in the Italian Jewish tradition.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, March 2020.

BÜHL, Gudrun, Sumru Belger Krody and Elizabeth Dospel Williams (2019). Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt, Washington: The Textile Museum, ISBN 978-87405-040-0. Soft back, fully illustrated in colour and b/w. 124 pp., bibliography, no index.

A catalogue to a travelling exhibition initially held at The Textile Museum, Washington D.C., between August 2019 and January 2020. The exhibition included a range of public space and household objects made from various types of material, including curtains, wall hangings, cushions and floor coverings. Most of the items are woven, but there are also some less well-known resist-dyed pieces that include religious scenes and figures (pp. 67-68). The range of objects on display include some very famous items from the Dumbarton Oaks collection, such as the Hestia Pikyolbus (no. 29) and the Nereids and Dolphin hanging (no. 13), as well as many lesser known items. The text is supported by relevant, contemporary objects such as stone tiles, spoons, containers, etc. The objects come from various North American museum collections, including The Textile Museum, Washington DC; Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

There are six essays included in the catalogue that cover various subjects, including architecture, public buildings and the use of space; private buildings and their spaces; Christian sacred imagery, as well as comfort in the home, an appraisal of textile aesthetics in the early medieval period in Egypt, and finally continuity and change in textile production, trade and use. There are some technical details, but not very much.

Recommendation: Well worth having if you are interested in early medieval Egyptian textiles, the use of religious textiles, textiles used for interiors of public and private spaces. It is also a must for any library dealing with early medieval archaeological material from the Middle East.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, March 2020.