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Dr Willem Vogelsang, Lt Col. (ret) and former Cultural Advisor to the Dutch armed forces in Afghanistan. 8 August 2024

Wood engraving based on a photograph of the Kandahar citadel where Harry Lumsden and his team stayed in 1857-1858. The Illustrated London News, 14 August 1880, p. 157. Public domain. Inside the citadel was a filature for sericulture.

While preparing a manuscript for a book about 19th century foreign perspectives on Afghanistan, I came across an intriguing passage in Major Harry Lumsden’s report of his mission to Kandahar (in southern Afghanistan) in 1857-1858. It reminded me of a series of articles about modern sericulture in Herat, in the west of the country, recently published in the Kabul Times (compare ‘Sericulture turning common in Herat’, 22 July 2019, and ‘Herat’s silk industry offers women opportunity to work outside home’, 16 August 2022).

De afgelopen dagen hadden we een Indiaas tintje op het TRC.

Rechthoekig stukje stof versierd met geometrische en zeer gestileerde mensfiguren in verschillende kleuren, en met kleine glazen spiegeltjes (shisha-werk). India, 2017 (TRC 2017.2653).

Afgelopen week kregen we bezoek van Lipika Bansal (van de Textielfactorij in Amsterdam), die verschillende groepen Indiase ambachtslieden naar Nederland brengt om speciale workshops te geven. Vroeger omvatten deze lessen blokdrukvormen, maar Lipika breidt nu uit met verschillende Indiase borduurtechnieken.

Ze georganseerd momenteel de overkomst naar Nederland van een Kutch-borduurster, Geetaben Meriya, die in september komt om lessen te geven over shisha-werk, op verschillende locaties in het land. We hebben afgesproken om een ​​van deze masterclasses bij het TRC te houden. Meer specifiek zal de bijeenkomst gaan over Kutch-spiegelwerk (shisha), waarbij glazen spiegeltjes op een stoffen ondergrond worden bevestigd met behulp van verschillende borduurtechnieken.

A Japanese woodcut by Kano Yoshinobu (1552-1640) depicting a stencil dyeing workshop with a range of textiles drying in the sun Kita’in temple, (20th century reproduction, private collection).Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director TRC, 28 July 2024

In 2023, Sytske Wijnsma donated a group of 28 Japanese textile stencils (katagami; TRC 2023.0197 - TRC 2023.0225) to the TRC. A few weeks ago she gave another 40 examples (TRC 2024.2008 – TRC 2024.2048). Most of the stencils have been used, but some are pristine. They represent various forms of stencils used for paste-resist dyeing (katazome), which was and still is used to create intricate patterns and motifs for a range of garments and soft furnishings.

A brief history

It is not clear when the use of paper stencils for paste-resist dyeing was first used in Japan, but it is likely that they were in use by the end of the Murimachi (period 1336-1573). More details are available from the Edo period (1603-1868), which is regarded as a golden age for stencil dyeing. It would appear that by that time the technique was applied in various Japanese towns and cities, as well as temples.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 23 July 2024

Pockets – hmmmmm, even though I have pockets on many of the garments I wear on a daily basis, it is not a subject I have ever given much thought to, let alone realise how many different types there are! But over the last few weeks I have been seeing pockets all over the place.

Two miniature school samples of pockets. The Netherlands, c. 1915 (TRC 2024.0873.27).

It started with a box of school samples from the former Naaldkunst Museum (TRC 2024.0873.27), which include some ordinary pockets on garments, as well as some underskirt pockets, which are known in Dutch as a rokzak (literally ‘skirt bag’). They came in both miniature practice pieces and in full-scale examples and were probably made by girls ranging in age from about 10 to 14.

Sample of worsted cloth (stuff) with narrow black stripes on a purple ground. Norwich, 18th century (TRC 2023.0877).by Willem Vogelsang, 12 July 2024

Last year Dr Michael Nix from Norwich, England, gave a lecture at the TRC in Leiden about historical textiles from Norwich and their connections with the Netherlands, in particular with the historical town of Leiden.

My attention was drawn to the terminology he used for some Norwich textiles made from wool, in particular his use of the two words ‘stuff’ and ‘cloth’. I was intrigued. The English ‘stuff’ has various meanings (compare ‘I am stuffed’), but as a term for a specific type of textile, I was wondering whether there was a link with the common Dutch word for textile, namely stof.

According to Dr Nix, the English word stuff is an old word for a fabric made from combed wool fibres, never fulled. They produce a thin, fine and strong thread, for instance used for men’s suits. The textiles are generally known as worsted fabrics (named after the village of Worstead in East Anglia, not far from Norwich). The word cloth, on the other hand, is often specifically used for textiles made from carded wool, often fulled. This fabric is soft and fluffy and used for items such as blankets, jumpers, scarves, etc.

Yet, it is not that straightforward. Historical records indicate that the word stuff was also sometimes used for textiles that were made of other types of fibres, such as a mixture of combed and carded wool, or even of combed wool and silk.

Recently acquired 20th century Japanese kimono with ikat patterns (TRC 2024.1477).Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director, 12 July 2024

The TRC Collection is an essential and important aspect of the work of the TRC – in managerial terms, it is our unique selling point. Details about the individual items in the collection can be found in the online catalogue, while an updated (per 11 July 2024) appraisal with information and highlights about different aspects of the collection can be downloaded here.

Many of the items in the collection have been donated by individuals, groups and museums, and represent Citizen Culture and Heritage actively at work. More details about such donations can be found by browsing through the TRC Blog pages.

By Dr. Willem Vogelsang, Lt Col. (ret) and former Cultural Advisor to the Dutch armed forces in Afghanistan. 10 July 2024

A few days ago, Gillian and I returned from a short trip to France, where we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry (we had seen it before, but it remains a spectacular piece of early cartoon work and well worth another visit), Chambord Castle along the Loire (where we admired the chintz wall coverings), and the fascinating fortress of Carcassonne in the south of the country.

And before seeing Joanne and Luc Aujame in Lyon (whose parents used to work in Afghanistan), we went to visit our dear friends, Rolando and May Schinasi, in Nice, the main reason for our trip (and they remember Luc Aujame as a young boy in Kabul). Over the years they have donated many textiles and other items from Afghanistan to the TRC, including a marvellous collection of Turkmen and other jewellery.

Set of prayer beads made from Shah Maqsud chrysolite stone, from southern Afghanistan, pre-1965 (TRC 2024.1940).

by Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director TRC, 18 June 2024

We are currently working on another of the many (and often intriguing) boxes of items from the former Naaldkunst Museum, Winschoten, which were donated to the TRC in October 2023.  In this particular box there were a number of school samples in the form of semi-formal work pieces, rather than the more formal samplers with alphabets, numbers, names, dates, etc.

Fig. 1: School sample, worked by a young girl, with six types of patching, stitched with red yarn, and with a crochet inset (insertion) down the middle of the cloth. The Netherlands, early 20th century (TRC 2024.1633).

All of the school samples date to the first quarter of the 20th century and show a diversity of skill levels. They were made by young girls between the age of 6 and about 12, who were learning about textiles and needlework and how to sew cloth for later domestic and professional use. The techniques include the making of basic seams, hems, buttonholes and eyelets, as well as the sewing on of items such as buttons, hooks and eyes, loops and ties.