Weaving is human
Isabella Ducrot…
Dear readers, here we weave for you a play:
Isabella Ducrot conceived the plot
and casts its stars: the Weft and Warp of cloth
[…]
Rag or brocade,
every woven textile thus results
from this enforced embrace, a grand design
that only human minds are meant to grasp
and execute; and thus a marriage that
could not in nature ever find its place.
Take the spider, poor thing. It dupes.
The spider does not weave; the spider glues.
(Patrizia Cavalli, from Tessere è Umano [Weaving is Human], in Isabella Ducrot. La matassa primordial [The Primordial Skein], nottetempo, Rome, 2008)
Indicating an indigo-colored Tibetan khatà she had collected, Isabella Ducrot observes how it represents “everything tangible and abstract I was looking for in a fabric” 1: emergence from the “weblike state” of many tangled threads into ineffable but consistent “textile structure” determined by the interweaving of these very threads with the interweaving of words, phrases, drawings. In the rustle between natural and artificial, past and present, warp and weft, they become writing, invocation, prayer. Unlike writing, however, or pictorial signs on canvas, the language of the fabric is not impressed a posteriori on the material but is articulated in the very act of weaving, and manifests in the material the ancestral alliance between “mind and fabric, thought and material…as the fabric grew on the loom, so the prayer grew to the heavens”…
This double exhibition focuses on the relationship between a selection of textile works from the Museum of Civilizations—some which only rarely, if ever, displayed—and the artistic research of Ducrot, who rediscovers her essential humanism in textile. Inviting Ducrot to open display cases and explore storerooms together with museum curators and listening to the stories they told of clothing and accessories, fine fabrics, and rags offered her another chapter in her own story and the deepening of a practice she has been conducting for decades. This afforded the museum the selfsame opportunity to tell its own stories through a shared gaze, as if the artist were the weft and the museum the warp in the same fabric. Proceeding along the itinerary, interconnected ideas emerge: on the way fabric structure is defined by the interweaving of warp and weft, and on its patterns, geometric, and modular motif, that is both simultaneously material and linguistic; on the distinctions between the gestures of weaving and painting; on the relationships between body and fabric, two-dimensional fabric and three-dimensional garment; on the role fabric plays not only in everyday use but also in communicating the sacred all fall into place.
She continues “I’ve been collecting fabric for years, sourced from markets, on trips, at antique shops, in department stores, on village stalls or by placing winning bids at auction” finding them later in the hands of pilgrims and other travelers, “around the necks of great lamas, threaded into the recesses of engraved pebble walls, in holes of stupas, in monastery enclosures twisted around temple columns and, especially, wrapped around the necks of countless sculptures that inhabit sacred places”. Like many explorers who created the textile collections of the Museum of Civilizations, Ducrot has been on the move for years, forming her own collection carefully folded up in closet drawers – that is now being publicly displayed for the first time. Her personal knowledge—another element celebrated by this exhibition—came into existence in the same way as her collection, tailoring her ideas to it.
In time, she has come to see that what fascinates in a textile is not its flashy and superficial decoration but its composition, the relationship between its story and its structure, its being a “complex artifact whose invention dates back to mythical epochs of human history”, a document that decrees “tastes, aesthetic rules, and signs of emigrations, perhaps ancient perhaps not, the visible and tactile evidence of an artisanal culture now definitively lost”. Fabric is a palimpsest, often as anonymous as it is masterly, in which the whole of human history and its countless individual stories are deposited: the material trace of immaterial cultures; the fleet messenger that brings handmade re-creation from the natural world; an only apparently mute sojourner from one culture to another; a chorus of private and public labors (gathering, washing, coloring, spinning, weaving, using, exchanging…) in which the uniqueness of the product is discarded in order for collective intelligence and sensitivity to prevail; a ceremony of simple yet radical gestures in search of contact with others, in hope of contact with the divine.
A traveler enchanted by the different textile traditions, Ducrot has gained intimate familiarity with these materials, finding in each one a detail, a color, a trace in which its symbolic value can be readily perceived. As she herself states, a fabric can be “almost nothing, hard to describe because we lack the adjectives: no colors, no decoration, no embroidery, just an affirmation of essence, simplicity pared back to a bare minimum, as grand and moving as some patriotic anthem”.
It might not appear to be anything, but fabric captures something intangible yet fundamental, albeit incompletely definable…spirit, air, soul, perhaps even the being posited by philosophers and mystics. Telling us she does not know which, Ducrot simply carries on collecting fabric and working on something that requires the re-composition of distinctions and oppositions in order to become… just fabric. This has led her to decompose even her own collection, using its pieces to reassemble into new forms, new works. In the process, these fabrics have become an archive from which to sample, on which to reflect. Ducrot gives them new meaning, frees them from their original places and uses, and reworks them by manipulating threads, overlapping one fabric over another, changing textures, and transforms them into artistic mediums to which she imparts bold and unexpected compositional coherence. Textile material is the point of departure of her labors between chromatic research and structural incursion. Along with an obsession for the beauty she finds in even the most trivial things, weaving lies at the heart of passionate dedication, with interpretations and insights that reveal what lies beyond the mere thing in itself.
Gathering African, American, Asian, European, and Oceanian works from the Museum of Civilizations’ textile collections, works that may be precious and complex or rudimentary and humble, ancient (even prehistoric) or modern, intact or frayed by use, placing the works of others alongside her own, Ducrot takes us on a longer journey through time and space. Analyzed in the essence of their material and alphabetic language in this show, in the end, weft and warp turn into even architectural language, rising into space and becoming a column themselves of fabric – in complement to the orthogonal pattern of the Gallery’s brickwork columns and contradicting its immobility. Recognizing warps and wefts familiar to her, making astonishing new discoveries and welcoming into her story testimonies that in turn reveal, even in the smallest details, many other stories, Ducrot’s journey also becomes the Museum’s ongoing journey through epochs and geographies, cultures and natures, collective and individual histories all woven into our boundless ancestral connective tissue.
FROM AN IDEA OF
Isabella Ducrot
CURATED BY
Anna Mattirolo, Andrea Viliani with Vittoria Pavesi
RP
Serena Francone
CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION
Giulia Cervi, Serena Francone, Alessandra Montedoro
LAYOUT PROJECT AND SUPERVISOR OF WORKS
Dolores Lettieri
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Andrea Pizzalis
EDITORIAL COORDINATION ASSISTANT
Caterina Venafro
WITH THANKS TO
Nora Iosia, Isabella Ducrot Studio
Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne-Berlin
… and the Museum of Civilizations Textile Collections
Spanning disciplines, ages, environmental and cultural contexts—from prehistoric archaeology to modern ethnography, from Italian folk arts and traditions to various systems of thought and symbolism, narratives and rituals of African, American, Asian, and Oceanian cultures—the Museum of Civilizations’ textile collections are among its most fascinating, yet fragile collections, a latter characteristic that also places them among the most rarely exhibited.
Clothes, artifacts, and even sometimes mere swathes of cloth inform us that a fabric is—even prior to being a functional or decorative element—a physical structure, a form of language to which human beings have entrusted the multiple narratives—both material and immaterial, religious and civil, individual and collective—of their cultures.
Textile artifacts therefore tell us not only their own stories but also those of the communities from which they come, transmitting habits, needs, knowledge, values, and connections, dictated by trade and commerce across time and space. These stories—told in this double exhibition by some of the most precious and complex but perhaps the most straight-talking and modest specimens in all the Museum’s collections—narrate how its encyclopedic collection was formed over time, dedicated to the stories of all human beings: stories that we inherited since the dawn of history and that were gradually composed through dialogue between cultures, materials and living species.
Beginning with those of non-European origin, these textiles bring their own autonomous historical value to documenting the institutional relations between the Museum and the different cultures it illustrates and examines. The exhibition could be read as a possible diary of a journey through the Museum’s space and time, both interwoven in the structure, warp, and weft of its textile collections.
These textiles also unveil the complex story behind the formation of the collections of the former National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography ‘Luigi Pigorini’, where additional artifacts were brought together between the 19th and early 20th centuries through gifts or purchases by diplomats, travelers or military personnel and, more recently, those of the former National Museum of Oriental Art ‘Giuseppe Tucci’. In dialogue with one another for the first time here, textiles from African, American, Asian, and Oceanian Arts and Cultures, Italian Folk Arts and Traditions, and the Prehistoric Collections of the Museum of Civilizations now invite us on a journey that parallels humanity’s passage through space and time.
FROM AN IDEA OF
Isabella Ducrot
CURATED BY
Francesca Manuela Anzelmo (FMA), Paolo Boccuccia (PB), Gaia Delpino (GD), Maria Luisa Giorgi (MLG), Laura Giuliano, Vito Lattanzi (VL), Gabriella Manna (GM), Loretta Paderni (LP), Massimiliano Alessandro Polichetti (MAP)
RP
Serena Francone
CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION
Giulia Cervi, Serena Francone, Alessandra Montedoro
LAYOUT PROJECT AND SUPERVISOR OF WORKS
Dolores Lettieri
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Andrea Pizzalis
CURATORIAL AND EDITORIAL COORDINATOR
Vittoria Pavesi
EDITORIAL COORDINATION ASSISTANT
Caterina Venafro
WITH THANKS TO
Valeria Bellomia, Valentina Scazzola
CAPTIONS
Tibetan thangka drapes
Thangka in Tibetan means “flat surface” in the sense of portrait (zhel thang) or representation of a deity (thang sku or sku thang). The devotional image in Tibetan Buddhism, the thangka is used for meditation, prayer and worship. Typically, thangkas are presented as paintings on a canvas prepared on both sides, but those in which the image is embroidered, printed, woven, or patchworked are not uncommon. An integral part of a thangka is its complex array of textile surfaces that assumes particular meanings and functions, and that may frame or conceal with one or more veils the image at different points. The frames (thang mtha) are much more than mere decorative elements: as an integral part of the work of art, in fact, they assume profound religious and symbolic significance, and their creation follows canonical rules that reflect Buddhist cosmology and Tibetan artistic tradition. When not in use, a thangka is stored or transported rolled up with the image inside (this functional aspect has resulted in thangka sometimes being translated as “roll”). For these reasons, the thangka is never stretched on a frame, as is usually the case with paintings on canvas, even if its support had been stretched over a frame during its execution. The exposed drapes were most likely used to frame a thangka. Often, other cloths in the possession of the monastery and the temple were reused for this function, either prior to the making and consecration of the image it bears or later for replacement due to wear. MAP
Tılsımlı Gömlek (talismanic shirt)
Made in Hejira Year 1060 (June 1650) by the craftsman Husayn ibn Nasir al-din ibn Gabawra (Husayn, son of Nasir al-din, known as son of Gabawra), as evidenced by an inscription on the back, this talismanic shirt was seized in 1665 in Turkey by condottiero Raimondo Montecuccoli (1609-80) during a military campaign in the Habsburg Empire’s war against the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) in the Balkans.
Formerly in the collections of the 17th-century Jesuit Athanasius Kircher’s museum, the shirt is made of fine white linen and is partially open at the front. The decoration in a precise geometric pattern extends from the torso to the sleeves and the collar. The inscriptions in Arabic – in cursive red, gold, black, and blue calligraphy, and enclosed in geometric compartments and medallions – compose Koranic verses, prayers, invocations, names of God and angels accompanied by magic squares, Kabbalistic signs, and sequences of isolated letters in the magical-Talisman repertoire. Shirts of this type were tailored according to ritual inspired by the Prophet Muhammad for the protection of the owner, usually of high rank, from bad luck, thus making him invulnerable to danger. They were worn either in contact with the skin or as the outermost garment beneath chainmail. The shirt in the Museum of Civilizations is unique compared to other known shirts, most of which are kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, owing to its collar decorated with 259 small panels (inside which are the 99 names of God), and the decoration on the torso. LP
Japanese Katabira
This summer kimono (katabira) with long sleeves (furisode), intended for an unmarried woman, is made of coarse ramie cloth embroidered with polychrome silk and gold thread. It is printed using the reserve dyeing technique (katazome), involving the use of carved mulberry paper matrices (katagami) and colorfast rice paste (norioki). The darkly outlined perforated pattern (suribitta) imitates the effect of the more complex and costly technique of reserve dyeing by means of meticulous basting (kanoko shibori), prohibited due to its cost by the laws enacted by the Tokugawa shoguns in the 17th century. The katabira is entirely covered with the traditional saikan san’yū (three friends of winter) motif, considered auspicious and also used for New Year’s greetings. The evergreen pine symbolizes longevity; the flexible bamboo that withstands the rigors of winter without breaking is associated with perseverance; the blossoming plum tree, the first tree to blossom in spring, offers a metaphor for renewal. The association of cranes (tsuru) in flight, the symbol of the sky, with turtles covered in a seaweed mantle (minogame), the symbol of the earth, recalls the abode of the Immortals (the mythical Mount Horai, the Japanese version of the Chinese mountain of eternal life, Penglai) and reinforces the wish for the long life of the wearer. The motifs and techniques used suggest that this katabira was worn by a member of a family of the military aristocracy. LP
Indonesian handanghandang and julu
Despite their conversion to Christianity or Islam in the 19th century, the Batak groups living in northern Sumatra (Indonesia), around Lake Toba, retain links with traditional religion and the adat, an unwritten code of rights and duties that regulates all aspects of life and interpersonal relations, in which the ritual exchange of textiles plays a fundamental role at the moments – birth, marriage, death – when a person changes status, strengthens alliances, and establishes the roles of the groups involved. At weddings, for instance, the father of the bride would offer the mother of the groom precious ulos textiles, considered feminine gifts, receiving in return masculine gifts, such as daggers or metal objects: in this way the male-female duality was overcome, thus restoring totality and harmony. The fabric itself can be considered an example of this concept, in which the warp threads (feminine) are joined with the weft threads (masculine), just as the decoration contains motifs representing both genders. In the ritual handanghandang fabric, part of the weft is not completed and the warp threads are not cut because, in keeping the beginning and end of the fabric together, they represent the circularity of life and give the fabric a protective power, welcoming newborns or enveloping the sick.
In the adjacent vitrine, the sober julu fabric, worn by both men and women, is considered a powerful means of communication with the afterlife because it is dyed in the same indigo-blue color as the thread with which, according to an Indonesian legend, the first mythical weaver reunited the upper and lower worlds. It is used in life cycle rituals, such as those of birth and death, to wrap the mother and child after childbirth, and to accompany the deceased on their final journey. LP
Congolese mat
Made by weaving plant fibers of different hues, this mat was produced in the 19th century in Waka, in today’s Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Museum of Civilizations collections preserve 138 vegetable fiber textiles made for different uses. Originating from territories today comprising the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Angola, there are specimens of everything, from the oldest and most valuable textiles in raffia—a strong, light vegetable fiber obtained from the homonymous palm in tropical Africa – dating back to the 17th century and mostly brought to Italy as diplomatic gifts between African and European rulers, to textiles produced in the 19th century. A comparison of these artifacts reveals how changes in textile styles and techniques took place over the centuries that coincided with the progressive loss of knowledge and craft skills, due to the interruption of their transmission from one generation to the next as a result of the Atlantic trade that forced millions of people to migrate from Central Africa to work, in conditions of slavery, in the plantations of the European colonial empires in the Americas. GD
Ethiopian shamma
Up to six or seven meters long, shamma (shawls) are Ethiopian fabrics used as garments by both men, who wear these wraps around the waist or shoulders, and women, who also wear them over the head. Woven on a loom, they are usually made of cotton, but the finest are made of silk. The specimens on display, in green silk and cotton with red embroidery (indicative of high social rank), are distinguished by the presence of tassels at the ends. These textiles came from northern Ethiopia in the early 20th century and were part of the collections that King Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy and Queen Helena donated to the Royal Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography, founded and directed by Luigi Pigorini between 1901 and 1919. The artifacts from Ethiopia donated by the royal family are 58 and include weapons, jewelry, ornaments, clothing, and textiles, many of which were received as diplomatic gifts from the Emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II.GD
Oceanian tapa (tree bark fabrics)
The first specimen on display (described in inventories with no reference to its origin) can be attributed—by analogy to tapa purchased by Felice Junck at the beginning of the 20th century—to manufacture in Uvea (Wallis Island). Tapa can only be produced by women and the preparation requires several steps: once the inner part of the bark (lautulu) has been detached and the wrinkled outer parts have been removed, it is left to soak in water and then flattened with mallets (Ike) until it becomes a wide, thin sheet. The surface is hand-painted with traditional motifs. This tapa specimen consists of two pieces of bark assembled longitudinally by beating the long sides and overlapping the edges. It is decorated in two registers: geometric designs, and floral and abstract motifs. The colors are brown (kesa or koka), made from clay, and black (tuitui), obtained by burning wild nuts. In Uvea, tapa is used on occasions of birth, weddings, funerals, and traditional ceremonies. After being cut into pieces of various sizes, it is offered as gifts to the participants: the higher the position in the social hierarchy, the larger the piece.
The second specimen on display consists of a single sheet of unevenly beaten bark, in which thicker areas alternate with nearly transparent ones. The floral/solar decorative motifs, that are set against an amber-colored background, do not follow any particular pattern in their distribution apart from the compartmentalization of space into three large triangular areas defined by colored hatching in black (plant combustion) and red (probably of mineral origin). VL
Mesoamerican tlahmachayatl
Tlahmachayatl is a textile artefact of Mesoamerican origin, consisting of a base cloth with a plain weave divided into three bands sewn together with the same wool thread. The fabric is enriched with decorative motifs made with an additional polychrome weft of silk, wool and cotton twisted with down, inserted into the base cloth by means of a tension loom that is attached directly to the weaver’s body with a leather belt (telar de cintura). The use of this device since pre-Hispanic times has been documented, and it is still used today by many indigenous Mesoamerican communities. The uniqueness of the artifact lies in the insertion of soft down between the textile fibers, a traditional technique of which only five other examples exist in the world today. Down was a material of great value and commonly used in the clothing of pre-Hispanic indigenous nobility, for whom it functioned as status symbol. Luigi Pigorini obtained this tlahmachayatl in 1886 from the Zoological Collection of the Royal University of Rome, which had in turn received it as a gift from Pope Pius IX. Its earliest mention is found in the will of Carlos María Colina y Rubio, bishop of the diocese of Tlaxcala (Puebla de Los Angeles) written in 1869. Here we read that it was made in 1534 to be given to Acxotecatl, one of the military chiefs of Tlaxcala, a proud ally of Hernán Cortés during the Conquest, as a symbolic reward for his loyalty to the Spanish crown. The artefact would remain the property of the descendants of Acxotecatl’s family, later coming into the hands of the bishop who considered it of such value that he gifted it to Pope Pius IX. This account, in part perhaps fictional, suggests the enormous interest this textile aroused in early Europeans. VB
Chancay gauze
The gauze on display is among the most fragile and fascinating textiles that have come down to us from the pre-Columbian period. The name ‘gauze’ does not refer to its sheer and thin appearance, but rather to its structure, an interplay of fine weaves. The base created by the warp is woven, at generally regular intervals, into the weft, returning at certain times to its starting position on the loom. The designs and decorations are applied directly on the construction of the fabric by alternating thinner threads with thicker ones. In this case, what emerges is the painting with geometric patterns on the threads themselves, the result of ikat technique in which the design is created prior to weaving through a thread dyeing process: a singular combination that combines the materiality of the fabric as structure with visual decoration as superstructure. The weaving process to obtain such fine threads demands high manual skill in spinning but also in transposing the yarn onto the loom. Most surviving gauzes are made of cotton, but some are made of animal fibers, usually alpaca and vicuña. This gauze has been identified as belonging to the Chancay culture, an area north of Lima on the central coast of Peru. Like almost all surviving artifacts from the pre-Columbian period, this gauze was part of the funeral ensemble that accompanied the deceased. FMA
Andean weaving
Various types of looms, techniques for spinning and weaving, and products of vegetable and mineral origin for dyeing have been used in the Andes over the centuries. The textiles of pre-Columbian Andean territories bear witness to this centuries-old activity, dedicated to everyday life—garments or means of exchange, on one hand—and sacredness (most of these textiles were made for funeral use), on the other. No special designs characterized social class, and only the decoration and the fineness of the fabric distinguished one from another. The basic garment for women was a tunic accompanied by a cape, while men wore a short tunic (unku) accompanied by a fabric that wrapped around the hips. The materials used were either of vegetable origin, such as cotton, or taken from animals, such as the wool of camelids (alpaca or vicuña, for fine fabrics; llama, for coarser fabrics). Despite the multiplicity of instruments used, the belt loom—still very common today—is a characteristic element of pre-Columbian weaving. Cloths consist of two main elements: warp and weft. Textiles can feature geometric motifs or iconographic elements related to cosmology and the relationship with nature. Colors and figurative elements are often representative of a specific population and its own identity narrative of the earthly and otherworldly world. FMA/VS
Ecuadorian tapa (tree bark textiles)
Among the textile artifacts in the collections, some that are woven/non-woven are generally referred to as tapa, a Polynesian term for cloth made from the inner bark of certain species of tree. Oceania made the greatest use of this ancient manufacturing technique, even if it was also employed in South America – i.e. Ecuador, which is the provenance of the three American tapas displayed here – as well as in certain parts of North America, Africa, Indonesia, and Japan.
Documented as being in use as long ago as in prehistoric times, tapa was produced over the centuries for clothes, blankets, tents, masks, and ritual objects without resorting to weaving and plaiting. During the colonial period, Europeans were very interested in bark cloth, and it was one of the first materials to be removed from their original context and brought to the West. Colonial plundering and the actions of Christian missionaries led, in many cases, to the disappearance of many ancient traditions and techniques of production. Whereas the production of tapa disappeared almost completely in many areas over the years and was replaced by the use of fibers such as cotton, in others it continues in lesser degree or has been intentionally recovered both for the tourist industry and the restoration of indigenous cultural identity. FMA
Jifu Chinese fabric with dragon decorations
The shape of the “auspicious dress” (jifu) recalls that of the Manchu dress, the ethnic group to which the sovereigns of the Qing dynasty belonged. Worn both by the emperor and by nobles and imperial officials, and possibly by their consorts, the rank of the wearer could be deduced from the color of the fabric, the symbolic objects that adorned it and the number of dragon claws. The decorative motifs present here allude to the Universe: below the waters of the Ocean, from which the rocky peaks of the Earth emerge, and above the Sky with the clouds among which dragons appear, benevolent creatures symbolizing imperial power. MLG
Textiles from the Prehistoric Collections
The textiles in the Prehistoric Collections are both very few in number and extremely fragmented, due to the precariousness of conserving organic material inside archaeological strata. The artifacts on display come from 19th century excavations at pile-dwelling settlements on Lake Bienne in Switzerland dating back to the Bronze Age, and consist of shreds of fabric woven with fiber, presumably linen, probably on a vertical loom. PB
Textiles from the African Arts and Cultures Collections
Most of the textiles in the African Arts and Cultures Collections come from the Congo and the Horn of Africa area, including the textiles made in Ethiopia and the Congo here on display. The three silk and cotton bands and the raffia mat, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century, narrate Italy’s relations with various African political realities during the colonial occupation period. These four textiles also testify to the multiplicity of styles, materials, and manufacturing techniques, and thus to the remarkably varied creativity of a continent often and long erroneously described as homogeneous. GD
Textiles from the American Arts and Cultures Collections
Fabrics and textiles in the American Arts and Cultures Collections collected from different contexts in North, Central, and South America document styles, techniques, and materials developed by the cultures of native peoples to meet social, economic and spiritual needs, over millennia, from pre-Columbian times to the 20th century. The textiles of ancient cultures of the Andes and the fabrics and weavings of Ecuador and Gran Chaco feature different types of weaving and processing of tree bark. These artefacts—which entered the collection between the 19th and early 20th century through donations and purchases from travelers or collectors during the colonial period, or exchange with other museums—were intended for clothing, household, and ceremonial and ritual use. Incorporating knowledge passed down from generation to generation, they express sophisticated textile cultures capable of satisfying the needs of daily life and aesthetic sensibility, by skillfully using plant and animal resources with open-mindedness to innovations from traditions other than their own. FMA
Textiles from the Asian Arts and Cultures Collections
Textiles from the Asian Arts and Cultures Collection are particularly evident in the exhibition. The Himalayan artifacts consist of a group of discreetly dyed gauze or silk organza drapes, some of which with special working, that the Restoration Workshop of the former National Museum of Oriental Art ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ used as complementary material in the framing of Buddhist thangkas, a term that means ‘flat surface’ in Tibetan, in the sense of a portrait (zhel thang) or representation of a deity (thang sku or sku thang).
Also on display is a Chinese silk satin fabric with dragon decoration: uncut, it was intended for use in a sumptuous ceremonial dress during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
Between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the collections of the former National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography ‘Luigi Pigorini’ benefitted significantly from gifts or purchases of textiles from diplomats, soldiers, and travelers from different areas of the Asian continent. These textiles bespeak stories of social relations and symbolism in garments, worn daily or for ceremonial use in various cultures of origin with different colors, materials, techniques, and decorative elements. LP
Textiles from the Oceanian Arts and Cultures Collections
More than 100 examples of tapa from Polynesia are preserved in the Oceanian Arts and Cultures Collections. This term of Fijian origin designates a particular type of fabric made from strips of tree bark (including the Common Paper Mulberry or Broussonetia Papyrifera) macerated and beaten with mallets in order to compress the fibers together until they become thin and flexible. Part of the family trousseau, tapa fabrics were primarily used as blankets, shrouds, room dividers, clothing, or accessories (bags, belts) but also as prestigious “currency” to be spent at births, weddings, and funerals. For traditional ceremonies, they were produced in various sizes, commensurate with the person’s social ranking when offered as gifts. Decorations, applied with natural colors of mineral or vegetal origin and fixed with local plant extracts, were selected from the repertoire of cultural memories of single communities. VL
Textiles from the Italian Folk Arts and Traditions Collections
The textiles in the Italian Folk Arts and Traditions Collections consist mostly of costumes collected in the late 19th and 20th centuries for the International Exhibition, held in the three post-unification Italian capitals (Turin, Florence, Rome) in 1911 to celebrate the first 50 years of Italy’s unification. These fabrics – pertinent to the double exhibition in Rome, i.e., the Ethnographic Exhibition and the Regional Exhibition – consisting of workwear and, for the most part, festive apparel in wool, linen, and cotton, often embellished with zagana ribbon or embroidery, were sewn at home or by specialized tailors. The more somber fabrics, such as those on display, were used for accessories to everyday garments, such as the fabric with a simple checked pattern intended for the lining of a fine cap from Aosta Valley. GM
COLLEZIONE ARTI E CULTURE ASIATICHE
Arabia
Tunica in seta cruda ricamata in oro, XIX secolo / Raw silk tunic embroidered in gold, 19th century
Hegiaz, Arabia
seta / silk
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 85937
Siria
Camicia a righe bianche, XIX secolo / White striped shirt, 19th century
Siria / Syria
garza di seta / silk gauze
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 23767
Fazzoletto da testa a quadretti orlato con frange, XIX secolo / Checked headscarf trimmed with fringes, 19th century
Siria / Syria
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 4564
Myanmar
Pantaloni da uomo a righe rosse e blu, XIX secolo / Men’s trousers with red and blue stripes, 19th century
Birmania / Myanmar
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 40298
Cina
in alto / above
Tessuto con decorazioni di draghi per abito da cerimonia, dinastia Qing (1644-1911) / Fabric with dragon decorations for formal dress, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Cina / China
raso di seta ricamato / embroidered silk satin
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MNAO 19509
Indonesia
Giacca di corteccia d’albero (tapa) senza maniche (barù oholù) orlata con nastrino, XIX secolo / Sleeveless tree bark (tapa) jacket (barù oholù) trimmed with ribbon, 19th century
Indonesia
corteccia d’albero battuta (tapa) / beaten tree bark (tapa)
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 35588
Fascia di corteccia d’albero (tapa) con motivi geometrici, XIX secolo / Tree bark band (tapa) with geometric motifs, 19th century
Indonesia
corteccia / bark
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 75056
Handanghandang, XIX secolo / Handanghandang, XIX century
Indonesia
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 72881
Julu, XIX secolo / Julu, 19th century
Indonesia
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 72879
India
Pata con raffigurazione di Durga su tigre, metà XX secolo / Pata with depiction of Durga on tiger, mid-20th century
India
tempera su tessuto in cotone / tempera on cotton fabric
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 20.S48 1.167
Libano
Fazzoletto a quadri bianchi e gialli con decorazione, XIX secolo / White and yellow checkered handkerchief with decoration, 19th century
Libano / Lebanon
tela / cloth
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 4554
Impero Ottomano:
Camicia talismanica (tılsımlı gömlek), metà del XVII secolo / Talismanic shirt (tılsımlı gömlek), mid-17th century
Impero Ottomano / Ottoman Empire
cotone inamidato e dipinto con inchiostro / starched and ink-painted cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 30842
Tibet
Fazzoletto per avvolgere le lettere (patro chin), XIX secolo / Handkerchief for wrapping letters (patro chin), 19th century
Tibet
seta dipinta / painted silk
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 31416
Drappi di thangka, XIX-XX secolo / Thangka drapes, 19-20th century
Area hymalayana / Hymalayan area, Tibet o / or Nepal
seta da baco / silkworm
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, s. n.
Tessuto in seta da baco (bombyx mori), XIX-XX secolo / Silk fabric from silkworm (bombyx mori), 19-20th century
Area hymalayana / Hymalayan area, Tibet o / or Nepal
seta da baco / silkworm
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, s. n.
Fodera in cotone di un dipinto verticale, XIX-XX secolo / Cotton lining of a vertical painting, 19-20th century
Area hymalayana / Hymalayan area, Tibet o / or Nepal
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, s. n.
Giappone
Katabira giapponese, periodo Edo: XIX secolo / Japanese Katabira, Edo period: 19th century
Giappone / Japan
ramiè, seta policroma, filo d’oro / ramié, polychrome silk, golden thread
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 38000
Cappotto corto (haori), periodo Edo: XIX secolo / Short coat (haori), Edo period: 19th century
Giappone / Japan
garza di seta / silk gauze
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 38002
Surcotto (jinbaori) con motivo di drago e nuvole dipinto a mano, periodo Edo/Meiji: XIX secolo / Surcoat (jinbaori) with hand-painted dragon and clouds motif, Edo/Meiji period: 19th century
Giappone / Japan
seta dipinta e broccato di seta / painted silk and silk brocade
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 38005
Abito (chikarkarpe) a quadretti e righe marroni e blu, seconda metà del XX secolo / Brown and blue checked and striped dress (chikarkarpe), second half of the 20th century
Giappone / Japan
cotone ricamato / embroidered cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 143933
Esempio di tintura su lino bianco, periodo Meiji: XIX secolo / Sample of dyeing on white linen, Meiji period: 19th century
Giappone / Japan
lino bianco / white linen
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 142978
Broccato di seta marrone chiaro, periodo Meiji: XIX secolo / Light brown silk brocade, Meiji period: 19th century
Giappone / Japan
seta / silk
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 143042
Tela di seta viola con motivo a crisantemo, periodo Meiji: XIX secolo / Purple silk with chrysthantemum motif, Meiji period: 19th century
Giappone / Japan
garza di seta / silk gauze
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 142972
Protezione per spalle e collo da portare sotto l’elmo, XIX secolo / Shoulder and neck protection to be worn under the helmet, 19th century
Giappone / Japan
feltro di lana e seta / wool felt and silk
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 142736
Panno da imballaggio per coprire gli oggetti di valore, XIX secolo / Wrapping cloth to cover on valuables, 19th century
Giappone / Japan
raso di seta / silk satin
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 143008
COLLEZIONE ARTI E CULTURE AMERICANE
Vestito femminile a fasce e quadri di vari colori, cultura Lima (200-650 d.C.) / Women’s dress with bands and checks in various colors, Lima culture (200-650 AD)
Perù
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 57487
Poncho (unku), XIX secolo / Poncho (unku), 19th century
Perù
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 57750
Manta (llicllas) per il trasporto di oggetti, alimenti e animali di piccole dimensioni, XIX secolo / Mantle (llicllas) for transporting objects, food and small animals, 19th century
Perù
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 57761
Garza Chancay, tardo periodo intermedio (1000-1476 d.C.) / Chancay gauze, late intermediate period (1000-1476 AD)
Chancay (presumibilmente / presumably), Perù
garza di cotone (tecnica ikat) dipinta / painted cotton gauze (ikat technique)
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, s.n.
Tessuti in corteccia d’albero (tapa) dell’Ecuador, XIX secolo / Tree bark fabrics (tapa) from Ecuador, 19th century
Ecuador
corteccia d’albero / tree bark
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 3314
Camicia di corteccia d’albero ornata a strisce di color rossiccio, XIX secolo / Tree bark shirt decorated with reddish stripes, 19th century
Ecuador
corteccia d’albero / tree bark
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 3318
Tunica in corteccia d’albero, XIX secolo / Tree bark tunic, 19th century
Perù
corteccia d’albero / tree bark
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 25576
Borsa di fibra vegetale intrecciata, XIX secolo / Woven vegetable fibre bag, 19th century
Paraguay
fibra vegetale / vegetable fibre
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 50092
Tlamachayatl, XVI secolo (?) / Tlamachayatl, 16th century (?)
Tlaxcala, Messico / Mexico
tessuto di lana e cotone con trama supplementare in seta, lana e cotone ritorto con piumino / wool and cotton fabric with additional weft in silk, wool and twisted cotton with down
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 31378
COLLEZIONI ARTI E CULTURE AFRICANE
Scialle etiopico (shamma) in seta verde, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Ethiopian green silk shawl (shamma), end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Etiopia settentrionale / Northern Ethiopia
seta, garza di cotone, pigmenti / silk, cotton gauze, pigments
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 83010
Scialle etiopico (shamma) in seta verde, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Ethiopian green silk shawl (shamma), end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Etiopia settentrionale / Northern Ethiopia
seta, garza di cotone, pigmenti / silk, cotton gauze, pigments
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 86086
Scialle etiopico (shamma) bianco con decori rossi, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / White Ethiopian shawl (shamma) with red decorations, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Etiopia settentrionale / Northern Ethiopia
seta, garza di cotone, pigmenti / silk, cotton gauze, pigments
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 83014
Stuoia congolese, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Congolese matting, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Congo
rafia e pigmenti / raphia and pigments
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 173778
COLLEZIONI ARTI E CULTURE OCEANIANE
Tessuto in corteccia d’albero (tapa) dell’Oceania, XX secolo (?) / Tree bark fabric (tapa) from Oceania, 20th century (?)
Isola di Wallis (?) / Wallis Island (?)
corteccia di legno battuta e pigmenti naturali / beaten wood bark and natural pigments
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 989,03
Tessuto in corteccia d’albero (tapa) dell’Oceania, XIX secolo (?) / Tree bark fabric (tapa) from Oceania, 19th century (?)
Isole Fiji / Fiji Islands
corteccia di legno battuta e pigmenti naturali / beaten wood bark and natural pigments
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, n. inv. 2503/G
COLLEZIONI ARTI E TRADIZIONI POPOLARI
Fazzoletto a riquadri colorati, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Checked colored hankerchief, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Piemonte, Italia / Piedmont, Italy
tela / cloth
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 17224
Grembiule a quadretti bianchi e blu decorato a mano, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Hand-decorated white and blue checked apron, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Piemonte, Italia / Piedmont, Italy
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 16444
Cuffia ornata di nastro bianco, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Bonnet with white ribbon, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Valle d’Aosta, Italia / Aosta Valley, Italy
seta e cotone / silk and cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 17031
Fazzoletto a quadretti bianchi e rossi, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Red and white checked handkerchief, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Emilia-Romagna, Italia / Italy
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 15499/15498
Camicia a quadretti bianchi e blu, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Blue and white checked shirt, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Campania, Italia / Italy
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 15556-b
Nastro su cappello di paglia, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Ribbon on straw hat, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Toscana, Italia / Tuscany, Italy
cotone e fibre vegetali / cotton and vegetable fibres
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 19646
Fazzoletto, fine XIX-inizio XX secolo / Handkerchief, end of 19th-beginning of 20th century
Lazio, Italia / Latium, Italy
cotone / cotton
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP n. 15501/15502
COLLEZIONI PREISTORICHE
Lacerto di tessuto realizzato con intrecci in fibre, età del bronzo / Shred of fabric made of interwoven fibres, Bronze Age
Lago di Bienne, Svizzera / Lake Biel, Switzerland
lino (presumibilmente) / linen (presumably)
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MPE n. 16934
Lacerto di tessuto realizzato con intrecci in fibre, età del bronzo / Shred of fabric made of interwoven fibres, Bronze Age
Lago di Bienne, Svizzera / Lake Biel, Switzerland
lino (presumibilmente) / linen (presumably)
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MPE n. 16935
DIDASCALIE OPERE E COLLEZIONE ISABELLA DUCROT
COLLEZIONE ISABELLA DUCROT
Grande preghiera blu, XVII secolo / Big blue prayer, 17th century
Tibet
seta, satin di ordito e decoro a damasco / silk, warp satin and damask decoration
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Armadio contenente stoffe della collezione di Isabella Ducrot / Wardrobe containing fabrics from Isabella Ducrot’s collection
armadio, stoffe / wardrobe, fabrics
courtesy l’artista / the artist
OPERE ISABELLA DUCROT
Isabella Ducrot
Ripetizione ODDIO, 2019
pigmenti e china su canapa / pigments and ink on hemp
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Ripetizione Blue, 2023
pigmenti su tessuto / pigments on fabric
courtesy l’artista / the artist
sullo Scalone Monumentale / on the Monumental Staircase
Isabella Ducrot
Abito Blu, 2017
tessuto e pigmenti su carta intelata / fabric and pigments on canvas paper
courtesy l’artista / the artist
a destra / on the right
Isabella Ducrot
Arazzo Preghiera, 1999
seta, carta e stampe di preghiere / silk, paper and prayer prints
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Abito Vegetale, 2020
carta, pigmenti, corteccia su carta intelata / paper, pigments, bark on canvas paper
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Frammento Vegetale, 2023
carta, pigmenti, corteccia su carta / paper, pigments, bark on paper
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Abito con cornice gialla, 2023
tessuti e pigmenti su tessuto / fabrics and pigments on fabric
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Arazzo Rilke, 2020
inchiostro di china e pigmenti su tessuto / ink and pigments on fabric
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Arazzo Vaticano, 2016
tela antica e pigmenti su carta / ancient canvas and pigments on paper
courtesy l’artista / the artist
Isabella Ducrot
Bende Sacre 7, 2011
tecnica mista su tessili tibetani / mixed technique on Tibetan textiles
collezione privata, Roma / private collection, Rome
agli angoli del perimetro centrale / at the corners of the central perimeter:
Isabella Ducrot
Bende Sacre, 2012-2018
12 tessuti tibetani su carta / 12 Tibetan fabrics on paper
courtesy Galerie Gisela Capitain, Colonia / Cologne
APPARATI METODOLOGICI (collezioni museali)
Quaderni con stampe di Hokusai, inizi XX secolo / Notebooks with Hokusai prints, beginning of the 20th century
Giappone / Japan
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, s.n.
Raccoglitore per campioni di tessuti e ricami, 1911 / Collector for samples of fabrics and embroidery, 1911
varie regioni d’Italia / various regions of Italy
collezione / collection Museo delle Civiltà, Roma, ex inv. MATP, s.n.