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Collection Tour

Textiles and Fashion Arts

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  • Woman's jacket, English

    Woman’s jacket, English, about 1610–15. Linen plain weave, embroidered with silk and metallic threads and spangles; metallic bobbin lace. The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection.

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    Man's robe restyled as a Tibetan chuba

    Chinese
    Late Ming or early Qing dynasty
    17th century

    Object Place: probably Suzhou, China; Findspot: Tibet

    Description

    Tapestry-woven dragon robe, restyled as Tibetan chuba during the 19th century. Large gold dragon on front and back, ground covered with blue and green clouds. Ying-lung dragon with three eyes, horns and five claws. Restyling incorporates 4 later rank badges and other kossu fabrics

    Provenance

    2001, Francesca Galloway, Ltd., London; sold by Francesca Galloway to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 21, 2001)

    Credit Line

    Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously

    Details

    Dimensions

    Overall: 146.7 x 191.8 cm (57 3/4 x 75 1/2 in.)

    Accession Number

    2001.145

    Medium or Technique

    Silk, metal-wrapped, and peacock-feather-wrapped thread slit tapestry

    Not On View

    Collections

    Asia, Textiles and Fashion Arts

    Classifications

    Costumes

    More Info
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    Embroidered picture

    American
    1739
    Ann Peartree (American, born in Boston, 1722–1744)

    Object Place: [Boston], New England colonies

    Description

    Linen plain weave, embroidered with wool and silk, (brown, blue and white silk in tent stitch). Grassy, hilly landscape with seated figure of a woman holding a bouquet of flowers in left hand and a sickle in her right, possibly Summer; oak trees left and right. In foreground, Cupid, dogs, lamb, bird and flowers. Narrow strip of finer linen sewn across bottom,embroidered with blue silk in cross stitch “Ann Peartree 1739”. Faded, true colors on back, some crewels gone in small areas.

    Provenance

    Elsie T. Friedman; bequest to MFA

    Credit Line

    Bequest of Elsie T. Friedman

    Details

    Dimensions

    27.7 x 23 cm (10 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)

    Accession Number

    59.22

    Medium or Technique

    Linen plain weave embroidered with wool and silk

    Not On View

    Collections

    Americas, Textiles and Fashion Arts

    Classifications

    Textiles

    More Info
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    Pictorial quilt

    American (Athens, Georgia)
    1895–98
    Harriet Powers (American, 1837–1910)

    Object Place: Athens, Georgia, United States

    Description

    Appliqué quilt, dyed and printed cotton fabrics applied to cotton. The quilt is divided into fifteen pictorial rectangles. Worked with pieces of beige, pink, mauve, orange, dark red, gray-green and shades of blue cotton.

    This extraordinary quilt was created by Harriet Powers, an African American woman who was born a slave in Georgia in 1837. Powers is thought to have orally dictated a description of each square of her quilt to Jennie Smith, who had purchased the first quilt Powers made, and arranged for it to be exhibited at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta in 1895. This second quilt is thought to have been commissioned by a group of “faculty ladies” at Atlanta University, and given (together with Powers’s descriptions) as a gift to a retiring trustee. What follows is Powers’ descriptions of all fifteen blocks starting in the upper left and moving to the right.

    FIRST ROW:

    1. Job praying for his enemies. Job crosses. Job’s coffin.

    2. The dark day of May 19, 1780. The seven stars were seen 12 N. in the day. The cattle wall went to bed, chickens to roost and the trumpet was blown. The sun went off to a small spot and then to darkness.

    3. The serpent lifted up by Moses and women bringing their children to look upon it to be healed.

    4. Adam and Eve in the garden. Eve tempted by the serpent. Adam’s rib by which Eve was made. The sun and the moon. God’s all-seeing eye and God’s merciful hand.

    5. John baptizing Christ and the spirit of God descending and resting upon his shoulder like a dove.

    SECOND ROW:

    6. Jonah cast over board of the ship and swallowed by a whale. Turtles.

    7. God created two of every kind, male and female.

    8. The falling of the stars on Nov. 13, 1833. The people were frightened and thought that the end had come. God’s hand staid the stars. The varmints rushed out of their beds.

    9. Two of every kind of animal continued…camels, elephants, “gheraffs,” lions, etc.

    10. The angels of wrath and the seven vials. The blood of fornications. Seven-headed beast and 10 horns which arose of the water.

    THIRD ROW:

    11. Cold Thursday, 10 of February, 1895. A woman frozen while at prayer. A woman frozen at a gateway. A man with a sack of meal frozen. Icicles formed from the breath of a mule. All blue birds killed. A man frozen at his jug of liquor.

    12. The red light night of 1846. A man tolling the bell to notify the people of the wonder. Women, children and fowls frightened by God’s merciful hand caused no harm to them.

    13. Rich people who were taught nothing of God. Bob Johnson and Kate Bell of Virginia. They told their parents to stop the clock at one and tomorrow it would strike one and so it did. This was the signal that they had entered everlasting punishment. The independent hog which ran 500 miles from Georgia to Virginia, her name was Betts.

    14. The creation of animals continues.

    15. The crucifixion of Christ between the two theives. The sun went into darkness. Mary and Martha weeping at his feet. The blood and water run from his right side.

    Provenance

    About 1895-1898, Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall (1852-1908), New York [see note 1]; 1908, by inheritance to his son, the Reverend Basil Douglas Hall (1888 - 1979), New York; between November 2, 1960 and February 7, 1961, sold by Hall to Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), Boston; 1964, bequest of Karolik to MFA. (Accession date: May 13, 1964)

    NOTES:
    [1] Commissioned and purchased for Hall, President of the Union Theological Seminary in New York, by the faculty ladies of Atlanta University where he had served as chairman of the board of trustees.

    Credit Line

    Bequest of Maxim Karolik

    Details

    Dimensions

    175 x 266.7 cm (68 7/8 x 105 in.)

    Accession Number

    64.619

    Medium or Technique

    Cotton plain weave, pieced, appliqued, embroidered, and quilted

    Not On View

    Collections

    Americas, Textiles and Fashion Arts

    Classifications

    Textiles

    More Info
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    John Travolta

    American
    1978
    Ed Rossbach (American, 1914–2002)

    Object Place: United States

    Description

    Three-dimensional assemblage comprised of a tied reed “easel” upon which is attached a small square of silk organza, heat transfer printed with image of John Travolta’s face.

    Provenance

    July 1997, sold by Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA to Daphne Farago, Rhode Island and Florida; gift of Farago to the MFA (Accession date: June 23, 2004)

    Credit Line

    The Daphne Farago Collection

    Copyright

    Reproduced with permission.

    Details

    Dimensions

    40.6 x 22.9 x 17.8 cm (16 x 9 x 7 in.)

    Accession Number

    2004.428

    Medium or Technique

    Newspaper and reeds tied with cotton twine and electrical tape, and heat-transfer-printed silk plain weave (organza)

    Not On View

    Collections

    Americas, Contemporary Art, Textiles and Fashion Arts

    Classifications

    Fiber arts

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    Woman's evening dress: Katisha-San

    French
    Spring-Summer 2007
    Designed by John Galliano (British (born in Gibraltar in 1960; works in Paris)), For House of Christian Dior (French, founded 1946)

    Object Place: Paris, France

    Description

    Strapless evening dress (Look 27 from Origami Couture collection, Spring/Summer 2007) of white silk satin; with red faille drape around skirt and watteau-like back pleats; white satin embroidered with Swarowski crystals (embroidered by Montex) and red faille embroidered with green bamboo and Japanese decorative motives in thick twist silk (embroidered by Muller); White silk satin woven by Taroni (Como, Italy) and red faille woven by Veraseta (Charlieu, France). Created in the Couture Atelier of Dior, 300 hours of work.


    Since being hired by Christian Dior in 1996, John Galliano’s designs for the Dior couture and ready-to-wear collections, as well as his eccentric personality, have brought increasing fame and profitability to the house. Galliano designed the dress Katisha-san for the Dior Spring/Summer 2007 Couture collection, drawing inspiration from the Puccini opera Madame Butterfly and from Japanese design. Here, Japanese decorative themes such as chrysanthemums and bamboo are paired with a silhouette reminiscent of the elaborate ball gowns of Christian Dior, demonstrating Galliano’s ability to combine diverse sources of inspiration and to create a dress of extraordinary beauty.

    Provenance

    Purchased from Christian Dior Couture by the MFA (Accession Date: December 12, 2007)

    Credit Line

    Museum purchase with funds donated by the Fashion Council, Museum of Fine Arts Boston

    Copyright

    Reproduced with permission.

    Details

    Dimensions

    Center back: 185.4 cm (73 in.) Center front: 154.9 cm (61 in.) Costume: 28 1/2 Bust 21 1/2 in. Waist (72.4 x 54.6 cm)

    Accession Number

    2007.828

    Medium or Technique

    Silk satin and faille embroidered with silk and crystals

    Not On View

    Collections

    Contemporary Art, Europe, Textiles and Fashion Arts

    Classifications

    Costumes

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    Woman's jacket

    English
    about 1610–15, with later alterations

    Object Place: England

    Description

    Undyed linen embroidered with silver and gilt-silver yarns and spangles in daffodil scroll pattern, trimmed with metallic lace. Reconstructed with non-matching linen ground. Same embroidery pattern as 43.244a-b

    Provenance

    Originally with a member of the Wodehouse family, Kimberley, Norfolk, England [see note 1]. Early 20th century, purchased at Acton Surrey, Bond Street, London by Elizabeth Day McCormick (b. 1873 - d. 1957), Chicago [see note 2]; 1943, gift of McCormick to the MFA. (Accession date: October 14, 1943)

    NOTES:
    [1] Possibly worn by Grizell Wodehouse (d. 1635), the wife of Sir Philip Wodehouse. According to family legend, the jacket belonged to Queen Elizabeth and was given as a gift when she visited the Kimberly estate in 1578 for the knighting of Roger Wodehouse (d. 1588), Phillip's father. (See the "Elizabethan Inventories" by Leonard G. Bolingbroke, pg. 93; also, G. Townsend, MFA Bulletin, vol. XL, no. 238, April 1942, pg. 25-36). There is no evidence, however, that this provenance is true, particularly since the garment probably dates to after the queen's death.

    [2] According to a December 14th, 1941 letter from Elizabeth Day McCormick to Gertrude Townsend, the garment was said to be part of the "Kimberley Collection."

    Credit Line

    The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection

    Details

    Dimensions

    Center back: 43 cm (16 15/16 in.)

    Accession Number

    43.243

    Medium or Technique

    Linen plain weave, embroidered with silk and metallic threads and spangles; metallic bobbin lace

    Not On View

    Collections

    Europe, Textiles and Fashion Arts

    Classifications

    Costumes

    More Info

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Man's robe restyled as a Tibetan chuba
  • Embroidered picture
  • Pictorial quilt
  • John Travolta
  • Woman's evening dress: Katisha-San
  • Woman's jacket

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