Textile historical research

Problems of classification of 18th century painted-printed Chinese and Western silk textiles are discussed with emphasis on how nondestructive X-ray fluorescent (XRF) analyses of pigment-dye pastes and paints can be combined with visually observable physical characteristics, painterly techniques, and art historical research to separate Chinese silks from Western ones. This unique documentation process is the result of our joint, 2-year study and shows how textile connoisseurship can be reinforced with scientific data. Thirty painted-printed 18th century silks from the textile and costume collections of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Musee Historique des Tissus in Lyon, France National Museum of American History Philadelphia Museum of Art Rhode Island Historical Society and The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum were examined and analyzed by XRF for this study. 

The textile pieces in the Brantley collection were subjected to historical research and microscopic analysis. These were done to verify the information already existing on the collection, to identify those fragments for which information was missing, to classify the fragments as textiles, and to identify the metallic threads that were part of the textiles. 

Historical research refers to past events and the way these are represented and in some cases also explained. It is typically multidisciplinary. This research method involves posing and answering one or more questions, and using primary (original) and secondary source material. The sources need to be scrutinized— are they authentic, are they complete, what was the context in which the material existed In many areas of clothing and textiles, items may have been partially or fully destroyed, and record-keeping may have been minimal or nonexistent. Survival of evidence may reflect effects of class, ethnicity, location, and/or storage. 

Extensive research has been published on the chemistry and physics of paper and textiles. From the volume of available work, physical scientists must extract the information required by conservators to assist them in the preservation of fibrous materials. To this end, the Cellulose, Paper, and Textile Division of the American Chemical Society has sponsored four symposia since the mid-1970s on the preservation of paper and textiles of historic and artistic value. These conferences provided a forum where conservators and physical scientists could meet and discuss matters of mutual interest Papers presented at the first three meetings have been published as chapters in three volumes of the Advances in Chemistry Series ... 

TAye analysis, especially in conjunction with other research, can provide much information for those entrusted with historic textiles. Information regarding the effects of pesticides, conservation procedures, storage environments, and exhibition conditions on fibers and dyes will allow curators and conservators to make decisions in the best interest of the preservation of the textiles. In the past, dye analysis of historic textiles has not always been successful, attributable to a great extent to the small sample sizes afforded. Refinements in the field of thin layer chromatography, especially in adsorbants, has made dye analysis much more... 

The major objective of this chapter is to report on preliminary laboratory investigations that simulated pesticide treatments on historic type textiles and assessed the relative safety or potential damage commensurate with their use. This experimentation will demonstrate laboratory methodology and report on color or strength changes that may ensue with pesticide treatment. It also is hoped that others will recognize the need for further related work and expanded research efforts in this fruitful and neglected area will result. 

Many aspects of this research will be pursued in future work. Half-life boundaries will be well defined so that "risk ratings may be given to historic cloth before specific conservation treatment is performed. Through the use of this methodology, prediction of the effects of the most commonly accepted treatments for specific textile degradation states may be possible so that only initial tensile strength testing may be necessary. 

In this chapter, we will describe the make-up of just three textile materials, all natural fibres, and will further present the mechanisms of degradation of their principal components. Our selection of two of them is somewhat indulgent as they are each the focus of current research projects. However, since all three compose the fabric of key historic textiles which were recently the subjects of commissions completed by Conservation Services at the Textile Conservation Centre, our choice was all the more easily made. Here we are keen to place the science in context, and so use these artefacts to introduce the fibres and their chemistry of ageing through a conservation science perspective. 

F.G. France, Scientific analysis in the identification of textile materials, in First Annual Conference of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies, Scientific Analysis of Ancient and Historic Textiles Informing Preservation, Display and Interpretation, Winchester, 13-15 July 2004, R. Janaway and P. Wyeth (eds), Archetype, London, 2005, 137-142. 

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