ANNE WANNER'S Textiles in History / cieta 2005 summaries of papers with embroidery theme
21th General Assembly of Cieta, Lyon, France - 2005
History of Textile Research
Since its beginnings in the 19th century, textile research has gone a long way and yielded important results. During the last 50years, CIETA and its members have made a great contribution to this field. To mark the 50th anniversary of CIETA, participants are invited to give papers on topics as diverse as:
- the development of research tools and methods
- people and institutions involved in textile research
- discoveries and studies of particular consequence

Summaries of papers dealing with embroidery, by members of the embroidery group:
  - Lotika Varadarajan, New Delhi, India
Discoveries and studies of particular consequence: Indo-Portuguese embroideries - An Indian perspective
  Conventional scholarship attributes a Bengali provenance to Indo-Portuguese embroidery. Recently researched ethnological evidence suggests a larger context.
The Chalukyas of Kalyan played a central role in the elevation of a rural embroidery tradition to courtly status. The Kalyan dynasty had links with Mithila (Bihar) and Bengal. The Portuguese in Goa were thus exposed to a composite palette of embroidery based on orientations developed by different elite groups.
My analysis is based on a study of these elite groups. The evidence suggests that Indian participants were as pro-active as their Portuguese patrons in the evolution of this category in textiles.
 
   
  - Pascale Gorguet-Ballesteros, Paris, France
The history of textiles and the history of costume: a joint contribution
  The history of textiles and that of costume are often viewed as two separate disciplines. However, there is often much information to be gleaned from the study of fabrics used for dress concerning the origin of the clothes themselves, their date, their use and/or their social function. Likewise, clothes provide evidence of the employment of the textiles used to make them. The last two exhibitions of 18th century costume at the Musée Galliera have enabled research in this direction to be carried out. The reconstruction of "families of clothes" has, for example, revealed the recurrent use of certain figured silks, indicating the existence in France of local textile fashions, as distinct from the hegemonic Parisian norm.
 
  - Dela von Boeselager, Cologne, Germany
A jewelled embroidery given by the Elector of Cologne to the Madonna of Telgte
see also: book reviews 2006
  On the death of his mother, the Electress Therese Kunigunde of Bavaria in 1730, Clemens August, Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, inherited more than forty pieces of jewellery made of turquoise. He commissioned an embroidered garment to serve as the support for the jewels and gave it to the Madonna of Telgte, a place of pilgrimage in the diocese of Muenster in Westphalia. A series of written sources, previously unknown, now let us recontruct the story of this votive gift. A French goldsmith and a German embroiderer had the task of making this extraordinary garment.
  - Babette Küster, Leipzig, Germany
"Journal für Fabrik, Manufaktur, Handlung und Mode" - a German trade journal from the end of the 18th century as a source for textile history
  This magazine was published monthly in Leipzig from 1791 to 1806. It contains accounts of international trading centres, commercial laws, fairs and newly-developed products. In addition, the manufacture and improvements in production techniques for all sorts of goods are introduced.
In each number several illustrations of the latest news in fashion, interior design and architecture as well as four samples of fabrics complete the reports. The added explanations name the manufacturer, materials, measures, and price of the respective item.
This combination of written articles and illustrations give extensive information about manufacturing and distribution, which can be important for the study of historical textiles and their restoration.
  - Maria-Anne Privat-Savigny, Lyon, France
A New Look at the Empire: little-known Lyon fabrics from the early 19th century
  The Empire ranks as one of the most sumptuous periods in the history of Lyon silks, as brilliantly illustrated by the studies published by Jean Coural and Chantal Gastinel-Coural into Imperial commissions. If the famous Pernon, Grand Frères, Bissardon, Cousin, Chuard and Seriziat dominated silk manufacture, the archives reveal, in addition to the workings of the different silk manufactories, the existence in Lyon of numerouus specialities such as net, gauze, chintzes, not forgetting the essential role of the men and women embroiderers who represent one of the little-known aspects of the history of the Lyon manufactories under the Consulate and the Empire.
 
  - Marie Schoefer, Lyon, France
A Specialized Vocabulary for Textile Conservators, Partially illustrated by the treatment of a tapestry from the Musée des Tissus in Lyon: the Bacchus by Francesco Primaticcio (Le Primatice), Court painter to the Valois, which was exhibited at the Louvre in 2004
  The treatment carried out on this highly-degraded tapestry demonstrates the different methods available and their respective limitations.
The terms defined by Ségolène Bergeon in her work "Science et patience" ou la restauration des peintures, RMN, Paris, 1990 are used as far as possible in the field of textiles. However some modifications have been made to adapt this vocabulary to our needs. The latter came to the notice of all our colleagues in the profession in the last few years. A specialized, European vocabulary for conservators has therefore been created with the aim of improving communication in the same way as the establishment of the Vocabulary of Technical Terms by CIETA 50 years ago.
  - Florica Zaharia, New York, United States
Research on traditional technology of hemp fibres in Apuseni Mountains, Romania
  I propose a presentation of the onsite research of the traditional technology of hemp production in the Apuseni Mountains area of Romania.
This material is based on more than ten years of research on the villages of the Apuseni Mountains. Over this period of time, working with women from the villages who were involved for decades in the home textile industry, I learned the essential steps in traditional hemp fiber production. The years covered, reflecting the experience of a generation of women in their 70 - 80s, as well as their parents' knowledge, took my research, chronologically, back to the second half of the 19th century. The traditional textile technology practiced in these particular villages was common to a much larger area in Transylvania, as well as other areas in Romania. The purpose of this study is to give an overview of this technology up to the penetration into the area of industrial products.
  - Jennifer Barnett, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Six embroideries of Emile Bernard : characterization, investigation and research
  The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has five framed embroideries designed by the French artist Emile Bernard made between 1892 and 1927. They share the same embroidery technique which has been carried out in woollen yarns on various canvases. A white deposit is evident on the inside of the three of the framing glass plates. One canvas has been enlarged with strips of fabric, some of which are printed. All the works are in a good condition except for the earliest which ist badly faded by light.
The author proposed that the works be characterized and investigated to the same degree as is often done with paintings. The paper outlines the aims and methods of the proposed procedures and reports the results. The 'hidden agenda' of the author, is to demonstrate that the academically trained textile conservator can bridge the gap between art historians and conservation scientists in the investigation of historical textiles. In addition to textile science, textile conservators know the characteristics of the wide range of textile types and are alert to signs of historical evidence.
The dyestuffs of some works and the white deposit on the glass have been analysed. The deposit seems to be due to fatty acids and salts from the wool reacting with the glass. The dyes are natural and early synthetic dyestuffs.
Photography under ultra-violet and infra-red light was carried out and the sensitivity of the dyes to water, acidic and alkaline solutions and detergent was determined to complement the dye analyses. The prints and under drawings were tested for iron (Fe2) which causes ink corrosion. A comparison of style and execution between the five embroideries was made to ascertain whether they were made by the same person. A replica was made of the faded work in order to indicate the original appearance intended by the artist.
  - Anne Wanner-JeanRichard, Rheinfelden, Switzerland
Vestments made around 1900 for Fraefel & Co, St Gall, Switzerland,
  It is known that "Fraefel & Co, St.Gallen" sold embroidered vestments all over the world. Last year a vestment with the label "Fraefel & Co, St.Gall" was discovered in Philadelphia USA. New research further show that a group of nuns in the Benedictine convent of Glattburg near St. Gallen were embroidering vestments: In the archives of the convent, designs for embroidery were discovered, and the cloister's account books clearly show the relationship to Fraefel's manufacture. Most of the works was done by hand embroidery, but the convent itself also preserves chasubles with machine embroidered motives.
   
 
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