Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Textiles Specialisation
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Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Textiles Specialisation A cap? A collar? A 17th century puzzle from the Rijksmuseum collection: A case study on object interpretation in textile conservation Master’s thesis Student: María José Moreno Parada, 11618671 Supervisor: René Lugtigheid Second Reader: Emilie Froment Submission Date: 26th July 2019 University of Amsterdam Amsterdam A cap? A collar? A 17th century puzzle from the Rijksmuseum collection CONTENTS Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................3 Abstracts........................................................................................................................................4 Abstract in English ......................................................................................................................4 Abstract in Dutch .......................................................................................................................4 1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................5 1.1 Introduction to Thesis Research ......................................................................................5 1.1.1 Object Description ..................................................................................................5 1.2 Research Rationale .........................................................................................................7 1.2.1 Research Questions ................................................................................................8 1.2.2 Aim of research and relevance to the field of conservation .....................................8 1.3 Current Scientific Knowledge ..........................................................................................8 1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 10 1.4.1 Thesis Structure .................................................................................................... 11 2 Materials and techniques ..................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Analysis and Identification ............................................................................................ 13 2.1.1 Identification of fibres ........................................................................................... 13 2.1.2 Identification of textile techniques ........................................................................ 13 2.2 Historical Context of Materials and Techniques ............................................................ 16 2.3 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 19 3 Laces .................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Analysis of Lace Bands .................................................................................................. 20 3.2 Multi-Spectral Imaging Analysis .................................................................................... 20 3.2.1 Visual comparison of BK-18836 with other black silk laces from the Rijksmuseum. 24 3.3 History of Bobbin Lace .................................................................................................. 28 3.3.1 Black Silk Lace in the 17th Century ......................................................................... 30 3.3.2 Other Aspects of Lace ........................................................................................... 31 3.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 32 4 Dyes ..................................................................................................................................... 34 4.1 Identification of dyeing methods .................................................................................. 34 4.2 Historical Dyeing Practices ............................................................................................ 40 4.3 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 42 5 Construction of the Thesis Object ......................................................................................... 44 5.1 Analysis of Cut and Construction................................................................................... 44 5.1.1 Analysis of the object ............................................................................................ 44 Moreno Parada, UvA, 2019 1 A cap? A collar? A 17th century puzzle from the Rijksmuseum collection 5.1.2 Reconstruction ...................................................................................................... 46 5.2 Dutch Caps ................................................................................................................... 48 5.2.1 Cut and construction of 17th and 18th century caps ................................................ 49 5.3 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 50 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 52 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 53 Appendix I: Fibre Identification .................................................................................................... 57 Appendix II: Dye Analysis ............................................................................................................. 62 Appendix III: Construction of the Thesis Object ............................................................................ 87 Figure in cover page: Raking-light photograph of the thesis object taken with a VSC8000 device. Source: Birgit Reissland (RCE) & María José Moreno Parada. Moreno Parada, UvA, 2019 2 A cap? A collar? A 17th century puzzle from the Rijksmuseum collection ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the help of many people. First of all, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, René Lugtigheid, who offered me much needed academic and personal support and guidance when I needed it the most. I also thank the academic staff and fellow students from C&R at UvA, especially lecturers Rene Peschar and Emmy de Groot, and my textile C&R classmate Lorena Dekkers. Many thanks to the Textile Conservation department of the Rijksmuseum, Suzan Meijer, Mieke Albers, Carola Holz, Marjolein Koek, as well as the textile conservation interns, who let me research their very special object, and always offered me help and guidance. I am also very grateful to RCE researchers Ana Serrano, Art Ness Proaño Gaibor, Birgit Reissland and Frank Ligterink, who greatly helped my thesis research by performing scientific analyses and giving necessary advice. I also want to thank Judith Amersfoort and Rebecca Romijn, from Amsterdam Museum, and Kathleen Mahieu, from Utrecht Central Museum, who were very accommodating and helpful in my requests to see objects from their museums’ collections. I am also very thankful to Dutch costume historians Irene Groeneweg and Jacoba de Jonge who kindly answered my questions and helped me with my research. On a personal level, I would like to thank Ray for his unconditional support. Moreno Parada, UvA, 2019 3 A cap? A collar? A 17th century puzzle from the Rijksmuseum collection ABSTRACTS ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH This thesis research was focused on object BK-18836 from the Rijksmuseum collection. This is a rare item with black lace which has been attributed to the 17th century. The function of the object was uncertain, and there was no information available about the object’s history. This uncertainty prevented a proper assessment of the ideal state of the object, or the attribution of cultural values to the object beyond rarity. The aim of the thesis research was to characterize the object in its material and non-material aspects, in order to help understand its present condition and try to reconstruct the lifetime of the object. The methodology combined visual and scientific analysis, literature research, object comparison and an exploratory reconstruction of the object to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the object. For visual analysis and identification of the construction of the object, multi-spectral imagining analysis was carried out on the object using a Visual Spectral Comparator (VSC) device. Scientific analysis of the object included fibre identification, UHPLC and SEM-EDX. The research was focused on four areas: materials and techniques identification, the lace bands, the dyes used and the construction of the object. The research confirmed the identification of the lace bands as 17th century black silk lace, while also identifying them as five different bands that were most likely reused at a later date to make the object. Thanks to the object reconstruction it was possible to almost certainly identify the object as a cap, however its dating remains uncertain as it has not been possible to match the unusual cut and construction of the object to similar objects. ABSTRACT IN DUTCH Deze scriptie was