Blog

A white felt hat from the Svan in northwestern Georgia, early 21st century (TRC 2015.0344).The three traditional hats from Georgia in the Caucasus, now in the TRC collection, namely TRC 1998.0027, TRC 1998.0028 and TRC 2015.0344, come in three colours; white, black, and brown. Each of these hats has clear features associated with the styles of the ethnic group of the Svans, or Svani.

The hats from the Svaneti region, in the northwest of Georgia, are made by felting. Felting is the technique of fusing protein fibres, typically sheep’s wool, to create a non-woven fabric. The Svan people tend to press their felted wool into a curved wooden block in order to shape their unique headwear.

The hats are typically hard and rigid: a product of the vast amount of wool compressed firmly into shape. They are fused into a near solid, curved form which is then further supported by cords, which extend from the pinnacle down its sides. Svan hats can feel scratchy to those that don’t wear them every day, however people are known to keep their own specific hats for years or more! So we can imagine that the hats, like shoes, mould to the wearer's individual head.

Georg Stark is a German, UNESCO-recognised block printer and indigo dyer who promoted the historic craft of textile indigo dyeing in Germany and beyond. The TRC has recently started exploring another subject within the large field of textiles studies. We want to focus on the craftsmen and craftswomen who actually do or did the work and made a difference. We are looking for people who are willing to contribute with a blog. Please let us know whether you can help.

Most textile studies tend to focus on specific techniques, local characteristics, materials that are being used, the tools, the dyes, the uses of the textiles, the garments that are being made, the ornamentation, the household goods and ornamental cloths, and their trade and movement all across the world.

Far less attention is being paid to the people who actually did the work, the men, women and sometimes the children who spun the fibres, dyed the threads, wove the textiles, embroidered and painted them, and sewed them into garments and other objects. Who were these people, who often spent many years learning their craft? Many worked in dusty workshops, in relative anonymity and with very little compensation. Others gained enormous prestige and were employed in royal households. Many of them made a difference. Who were they?

Turkey is famous for the production of oya, which is a form of lace that is often found on the edges of women’s headscarves. Oya has been produced in Turkey for at least 400 years and is probably much older. Its production and use (with a variety of different names) can be found throughout the eastern Mediterranean and indeed all over the former Ottoman Empire.

An oya-maker's library, showing a selection of oya edgings that she could make, for customers to choose from. Turkey, 2008/2009 (TRC 2009.0291).

The TRC depot in Leiden houses many treasures. The treasures I am most in awe of are the archaeological textiles. Sometimes they do not look like much, being scraps rather than a complete garment, but they can have an incredible history and often point to milestones in human technology. And stories of lost cities and cultures.

Silk cloth fragment from Xinjiang, probably Niya, dug up by Aurel Stein. The sample may date to the 2nd century AD (TRC 2000.0009).

I am thinking especially of a cluster of small silk fragments excavated in the early 20th century by the famous archaeologist and geographer Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943), and around 1945 given by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the then director of the Indian Archaeological Service, to Robert Charleston, who was an officer in the British army in India, but in later life the curator of glass in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Charleston gave them to Gillian Vogelsang, now director of the TRC, in 1985.  

The fragments (TRC 2000.0009, 2000.0010, 2000.0011 and 2000.0012) are all warp-faced compound weaves, with designs that include zig-zags, paired dots and what may be dragons; TRC 2000.0009 also includes some traces of woven Chinese characters. The fragments are all dated to the second century CE, and are believed to have been excavated from the lost city of Loulan.

Loulan was an oasis settlement along the southern desert route of the Silk Road. It was part of the Kroraina Kingdom, which flourished from circa 200 CE to 400 CE. In 1897, when Stein asked the British Government of India for funding for his first expedition, the area was called Chinese Turkestan. Today it’s known as Xinjiang ("New Frontier'), the westernmost part of China.

In 2020 the TRC received six samplers from Mrs. Trees Verberne-Van Hamersveld, The Hague (for more information, click here). One of them was an interesting darning sampler, TRC 2020.3687, dated to 1765, making it more than 250 years old. The large ‘nine patch’ in the centre and the many cross stitch motifs between the darning blocks make it rather unusual for a Dutch darning sampler. So what is it, and who made it?

Sampler dated 1765, Leiden?, worked in a Roman Catholic context (TRC 2020.3687). 

Title page of Olfert Dapper's Naukeurige beschrijving ... (Amsterdam 1672).Last weekend I was browsing through a 17th century Dutch encyclopedia about Mughal India (as one does in the weekends), and to my surprise I came across a rather detailed account of the production and use of Kashmir shawls. Having a closer look at the text  and doing some Googling I found out that the Dutch text was almost a verbatim translation of information contained in the work of a French physician and traveller, François Bernier (1620-1688).

I had known about the French record, and ploughed through it a long time ago, but the passage about Kashmir shawls had obviously escaped me. It often amazes me how much information and knowledge about Asia was available in Europe, and in particular in the Netherlands in the 17th century. In this case, his information about the Kashmir shawls I had missed completely; I am sure others writing about Indian textiles or Kashmir shawls in particular, will know about it, but still, many seem to have missed it as well. It remains fascinating, for me, to read these early details in a Dutch publication of the 17th century.

Bernier visited Kashmir in 1664-1665, and his report, Histoire de la dernière Revolution des États du Grand Mogol .... appeared in 1670 and 1671, while a more complete version, in 2 volumes, called Voyages dans les États du Grand Mogol was published in 1699, in Amsterdam, and abain in 1724. Other editions in various languages were published for many years.

We are sometimes asked how a particular object found its way to the TRC Collection in Leiden? Who are the donors? How do people hear about the TRC? Sometimes it is very simple and there is direct contact, or a parcel arrives in the post. On other occasions it can be a little more convoluted and involves the help of various people in different parts of the world.

Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago, 28 December, we published a blog by Shelley Anderson about the French designer, Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) and her fashion house.

Sample of the 'Tears & Lace' design, Darquer & Méry, Calais, France (TRC 2022.0003a).

For the last year the TRC Leiden has been cooperating with the indomitable Yasmine El Dorghamy, who is the editor of RAWI: Egypt’s Heritage Review series, based in Cairo, Egypt. More specifically, we have been working together on vol. 11 of the series, with the title: Egypt’s Costume History (2021). The project was supported by the Drosos Foundation and a grant from the Dutch Embassy in Cairo.