download - OATG. Oxford Asian Textile Group

2
CONTENTS
Borneo Textile Collections in the U.K. ... 4
Thirty-five Years of Textile Studies in eastern Indonesia: A Personal View ... 9
Conservation of Sari to Sarong at the National Gallery of Australia ... 14
The Lloyd Cotsen Exhibition: a Private View ... 17
Reports of O.A.T.G. Meetings ... 17
Subscription Reminder ... 20
Museums Round-Up ...21
Books and Publications ... 22
Woven Blossoms: Savu Exhibition at the Horniman Museum ... 28
Exhibition Listings ... 30
Lectures and Events... 32
EDITORIAL
I have recently received a copy of the Stichting Textile Research Centre’s general
report for 2003. Established in 1991, the Stichting’s aim is to support academic research of
archaeological and anthropological textiles and dress. The most important part of its work is
the building up and study of a textile and dress collection to be available for research and
exhibition purposes. One of its exhibitions, Tutankhamun’s Wardrobe, opened in Sweden in
1999, visited various centres in Europe, including Edinburgh in 2001, and so far as I know is
still travelling. There was talk of it coming to Leeds in 2005: watch this space! The Director
of the Centre is Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, who, many of you will remember with
enjoyment, gave a talk on Beyond the Chador to the O.A.T.G. in October 2002 (reported in
newsletter no. 24, February 2003).
Receiving, as I do, the Centre’s annual reports, I never cease to be impressed by the
advances it makes from year to year, and how far it has come in only eleven years. For
example, 2003 saw the launch of a new textile journal (see below, p. 27) as well as work on
various proposals for digital exhibitions that can be placed on the Centre’s website
(http://www.texdress.nl/). These plans include exhibitions about face veils, as well as Omani and
Sudanese dress. Staff are also busy on a large number of research and other projects, though
sadly the Yemen dress project has had to be suspended by the Yemeni Government because
of the risks to travelling in the region in the present climate.
Substantial additions have been made to the collections, by both purchase and gift, the
latter including some veils and a girl’s outfit brought back by Ruth Barnes from Qatar.
Among the list of acquisitions, I was especially intrigued to see a Coptic nun’s dress, in view
of an article in the new journal on naked Coptic nuns! However, as a result of it and other
items, the Centre’s Coptic Monastic and Liturgical collection is now one of the most
comprehensive outside Egypt.
The acquisitions are not only of textiles and dress, but of related items, as well as
books and a parcel of historic postcards of Saudi Arabia. The Centre now has access to a flatbed
scanner and a slide scanner, and is actively looking for photographs, postcards and slides
which can be scanned and added to its growing collection of illustrative material.