Adventures in extant textiles

So I have been on a research binge for the past few months,  hence the radio silence on the blog.  I did make it to the Moroni exhibit in NYC -which was every bit as enthralling as I expected it to be. There were no photos allowed, but I highly encourage picking up the exhibition catalog.  There were a number of us that travelled to see it and Mistress Leda and I were discussing the various lace and needlework details that you could see in the portraits.  After about the 4th portrait, a lovely little British lady asked politely:  "Pardon me.  Do you always go to exhibits and look at the needlework?"
Leda and I looked at each other and rather guiltily said:  "Um.  Yes."  We might have declined to mention that we'd flown in from Atlanta to do just that.

Jay and I also spent a long weekend in LA.  The Getty was beautiful (as always) but their layout is so frustrating.  LACMA was a real disappointment. While there was no discount on the admission, easily two thirds of what we wanted to see wasn't open (they're doing a big construction project)  I will try to post photos from our recent trips..at some point. *wry chuckle*

What is my research binge, you ask? I've been focused on a topic that I've been casually researching for a couple of years: Islamic influence on the textiles and clothing of Venice and the other Italian city states. 

I'm teaching a class on the topic at the Known World Costume and Fiber Arts Symposium this coming weekend.  There is a link at the top of the blog to the Islamic/Italian Influence page where I will be posting my class outline and presentation of extant examples after the Symposium and I will be updating those as my research continues.  I've really only uncovered the tip of the iceberg here -every source I find leads me to several more. This is a topic I could easily spend years on. My plan is to write up my "talk track" as a series of blog posts in the coming months and add future info in a similar manner.

Through a serendipiteous series of  "days like this I love the internet" events, I "met" Mistress Annetje from Northshield and she was kind enough to give me access to her personal collection of extant textile images.  The ability to scroll through hundreds of images from multiple museums was a huge boon in choosing examples for my presentation but also provided some interesting observations.

1.  There are some decidedly Islamic looking motifs in some of the 12th century German textiles.  I must explore this rabbit hole further at a later date.

2. Multiple museums have pieces of the exact same fabric... and none of them entirely agree on it's origin!

Victoria and Albert Museum Inv. No. 769-1894

14th century probably Iran

(but in the summary it says probably Italy 

so the V&A doesn't even agree with itself)

Metropolitan Museum of Art Inv. No.  46.156.43 

14th century Spanish or Italian

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum Inv No. 1902-1-271-a/d

14th century, Italy

Both the V&A and Cooper Hewitt say it's silk lampas with a gold/gilded parchment wound round a linen core.  The Met only comments: "Medium: silk, metal thread"  Reading the provenance for each piece, they were all acquired at different times (1894, 1902 and 1946) from different sources but the pattern and colors in each are all so very similar as to almost appear identical.  All three museums says the pieces are probably Italian...  but the V&A and Cooper Hewitt also entertain the possibility of it being Iranian (14th century would be late Il Khanid period or very early Timurid) or even Spanish.

You can definitely see the similarity  to a 13th century Syrian textile at the Met, so I can understand thinking it could be from Iran.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Inv. No. 47.15

13th century, Syria

Silk; warp faced plain weave

But Spanish? I'm not so convinced.  While there is this piece at the Met that has some similarities

Metropolitan Museum of Art Inv. No. 46.156.42

14th or 15th century, Spanish or Near Eastern

satin and plain weave, silk and metal threads

The majority of the extant pieces from Spain that I've seen are far more geomeric.

Cleveland Museum of Art Inv. No. 1946.417

14th century, Spain, Granada, Hispano-Islamic

Lampas weave, silk

Cleveland Museum of Art Inv. No. 1939.42

14th century, Spanish

Lampas: silk and gold thread

My knowledge of medieval Spanish textiles is almost entirely visual, but the original three pieces just don't feel Spanish to me.  Not that any of the museums are asking my opinion, but I'd have to agree with the V&A and say: "Probably Italian. definitely inspired by an Islamic pattern"

Wish me luck on the maiden voyage of the class!