The first research step for each of these case studies was the identification and selection of relevant textiles and consideration of the information recorded at the time of acquisition (available from registration records and museum files) and at subsequent times (via museum labels and the current database). This aproach traced the evolution of different terms used to classify textiles and the importance of early collectors, connoisseurs and publications in dating and contextualising textiles. Subsequently, this preliminary study of documentation was expanded and deepened for each case study, especially those on medieval textiles and early modern velvets. In many cases, the textiles selected for study has no photographic record and the classification was misleading. These textiles were then analysed first hand by material and technique. Digital photography was used to record the full piece and details, and these images are now available on the V&A online catalogue.
Case study one on medieval textiles revealed the importance of the V&A’s early collecting for understanding the extent of textile trade routes from Central Asia to Iberia and from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean. Most of the medieval textiles were originally on display in the Museum, to show their patterns, even tiny fragments being framed and the missing parts of the design being drawn in on the backing board to complete the piece. This type of composition reveals the V&A’s mission to provide decorative patterns for the education of students, designers and manufacturers.
Case study 2 dealt with velvets and the transfer of knowledge in the composition of the metal threads. The selected velvets ranged from those made in 14th-century Italy and Persia to those made in 16th-century Turkey and Spain. The preliminary results show a chronological evolution in metal threads in composition and morphology: in composition, they develop from gold to gilt-silver to silver alloy; in morphology from membrane threads to metal ones and then to flat threads.
Case study three focussed on ‘blackwork embroidery’. This embroidery was fashionable in England from the early 16th to early 17th century, its introduction often being associated with the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, who married Henry VIII, the heir to the English throne in the early the 16th century and was known for her skill in embroidery. This research questioned this view about the likely origins of blackwork in Spain. The late 15th and 16th-century Spanish embroideries in the V&A were studied. Concurrently, the published historical sources and secondary publications about English embroidery were analysed, from the first catalogues published by the V&A from 1870 onwards to early 20th-century embroidery catalogues.
A different issue arises in Case study four on the collecting of ecclesiastical vestments. The V&A holds one of the most important collections of this type in the world, apart from the Vatican. The pieces, from fragments to complete garments, show the V&A’s interest in acquiring a rich assortment of objects to represent different materials, decoration and contexts. This project worked on tracing the provenance of selected garments and studying the connections between collectors and museums, especially from the last quarter of the 19th century to the Spanish Civil War, a moment at which many artworks were exported to Europe and America through the art market.
All case studies have also revealed how early museums followed the V&A model. In Spain, in the NMDA this influence can be traced through the education programmes. It was the first museum in Spain to have a Learning department. How textiles were displayed and used for educational purposes in NMDA also echoed V&A practice. Spanish curators travelled to different European museums and the report written after visiting the V&A higlighted the exhibition of work by students from the School of Arts at the V&A, and the type of artworks displayed in the museum galleries. These links between museums were developed in the final conference organised by the project on collecting Spanish decorative Arts in Britain and Spain.
