Where in the World...?

​Museum Textile Services recently received a mysterious textile from the Wheaton College permanent collection that was in need of conservation. Donated in 1997 by Madeline Hunter Farnsworth, a member of the Class of 1937, there was no historical information provided. The 28 x 23 inch embroidery features six riders on horseback carrying standards. Behind each rider is a vertical shape with diagonal lines branching off of it, which is echoed in the bands of embroidery running down the sides. There are two rows of smaller figures holding rifles and a row of small horses in the foreground. Nine embroidered "Xs" dot the top edge and a wide row of repeated designs anchors the embroidery.

Mystery textile, before conservation. Courtesy of Wheaton College.

The ground textile is a hand-woven, weft-faced tapestry with white cotton warp. The center of the woven textile has fine red wool weft. Borders of tan cotton weft line the top and bottom, where the edges are rolled to the back and stitched. A blend of thick cotton and wool yarns are used to embroider the designs in satin and chain stitches. ​Dating the textile proved easy because of the extremely bright pink, blue, and green yarns used for the embroidery. These shades are recognizable as aniline dyes likely dating to the middle of the 20th century, more specifically the 1960s or 1970s. Figuring out what part of the world the textile comes from was much more difficult. The materials and technique of embroidery are quite universal, so we went with our gut instinct and started our search in the Middle East.
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Example of an Afghani war rug. Courtesy of Bant.mag.

20th century Guatemalan embroidered textile. Courtesy of Shibori.org.

The colors and designs reminded us initially of Afghani war rugs that date to the 1960s and 70s. While the imagery is somewhat similar, the Afghani war rugs are much more detailed than the Wheaton College mystery textile. The figures have more articulated faces and the guns are much more detailed. The biggest difference between the two types of textiles is that the Afghani rugs are piled while the mystery textile is a flat weave with embroidery.
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Cover of Swedish Textile Art book by Viveka Hansen.

Leah Niederstadt, curator of the permanent collection at Wheaton College, asked the opinions of other art historians and experts about the origins of this textile. The fine red tapestry ground is reminiscent of pre-Columbian textiles, however the dyes are modern. Many thought it could be Scandinavian or Swedish due to the horses. The book Swedish Textile Art features a flat weave textile with a horse and a side facing rider. The color palette seemed to coordinate with the mystery textile. The major difference is that the Swedish designs are part of the weave structure rather than embroidered. Also, there is no published evidence of guns being in the Swedish design lexicon. Guatemalan embroidered textiles also bear a strong resemblance in color and style.
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​One art expert thought that the textile might be Greek. We looked to Greek textiles from the 19th and 20th centuries and found many similarities to the mystery textile. Further searching uncovered nearly identical textiles from Crete! The bright synthetic dyes, a mix of cotton and wool embroidery threads, red and beige flat weave grounds, chain stitch embroidery, and identical horses, riders, guns, and flags. The art of traditional weaving in Crete is still taught, and efforts are underway to create a weaving economy. Few of these textiles exist in museums in the US, but appear to be popular among tourists visiting Crete.
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Detail of a long 19th-century embroidered Textile from Anafi, Cyclades, Greece. Courtesy of www.nazmiyalantiquerugs.com

Cretan textile from the Historical Museum of Crete.

Another example of a Cretan textile. Courtesy of Pinterest.

This textile was cleaned, stabilized, mounted, and framed so that it can be safely exhibited in the future. We hope that Wheaton College students can do more research in the future and uncover how and when this textile was brought into their collection

Morgan Carbone has a BA in Art History from Grinnell College. She recently finished her Master of Arts degree in Fashion and Textile Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Morgan's interests include lace knitting and cats.