this is a huipil (blouse) made from two pieces joined down the centre front and back. There is embroidery with yellow and red floss silk in blanket stitch along the edges of the sleeves. The brown cotton is Gossypium Mexicanum, also known as Cuyuscate or Ixcaco. It is naturally brown and produces shorter fibres than the more common white cotton, consequently it is more difficult to spin, more expensive and more highly prized. It was largely replaced by dyed cotton in the 20th century.
The neck was cut with a slit which runs along the shoulder, which is not usual in Guatemala, and was fastened with press studs. These facts, and the relatively coarse oversewing used to make this huipil, suggest that it was purchased as separate panels, was completed by the Maudslays (the donors) and may have been worn by one of them.
Physical description
Cotton huipil made from two panels folded over the shoulders and joined together down the centre and the sides; each piece is woven with a selvedge all round. The pattern consists of widely spaced bands of red on a ground of light brown with a small chequer pattern in brown and white. The neck was cut with a slit along the shoulder, which is not usual in Guatemala, and was bound with red felt and the blouse was fastened with press studs (removed in 1995). There are more warp threads per inch than weft threads, so that the white lines of the checked pattern are stronger along the warp. There is close blanket stitch embroidery along the edges of the sleeves in yellow and red floss silk.
Technical Details:
Warp: 49 threads per inch. (i) brown cotton; Z-spun, paired threads; (ii) red cotton; Z2Z; (iii) white cotton; Z-spun, paired threads; (iv) green cotton; Z3Z; (v) yellow cotton; Z2Z. The white warp threads (and the brown ones where they appear next to a red stripe) have been carried over the adjoining block of colour during warping - giving a small diagonal line along one edge of the lower front of the huipil.
Weft: 24 threads per inch. White cotton and brown cotton, both Z-spun, paired threads. There is a band of loosely packed weft about 2.5" deep: in the left hand panel it is 3" from the edge and in the right hand panel it is 2" from the edge; both are at the back of the huipil.
Front Edge: paired weft.
Back Edge: paired weft.
Red cotton dyed with Alizarin, patented in London and Germany in 1871.
Place of Origin
Guatemala (made)
Date
1875-1890 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Warp-faced plain weave cotton, woven on a backstrap loom; brown cotton is undyed Gossypium Mexicanum, and red cotton is dyed with Alizarin
Dimensions
Length: 60 cm of garment, Width: 137 cm of garment, Length: 44 in left hand panel, Width: 28 in left hand panel, Length: 45 in right hand panel, Width: 27 in right hand panel
Object history note
Registered File no. 2743/1931.
Descriptive line
Woven cotton; Guatemala; 1875-1890
Exhibition History
A Glimpse of Guatemala: The Maudslay Bequest of 19th century Guatemalan Textiles (Victoria and Albert Museum 10/02/1996-18/08/1996)
Labels and date
HUIPIL,made from two pieces joined. The brown cotton is the undyed Gossypium Mexicanum, which was largely replaced by dyed cotton in the 20th century. There is embroidery with yellow and red floss silk in blanket stitch along the edges of the sleeves.
Paired threads of Z-spun, unplied brown and white cotton form the warp, toether with plied (Z2Z and Z3Z) threads of red, green and yellow cotton.
The neck was cut with a slit along the shoulder, which is not usual in Guatemala, and was fastened with press studs. These facts, and the relatively coarse oversewing used to make this huipil, suggest that it was purchased as separate panels, was completed by the Maudslays and was probably worn by one of them.
Production Note
This huipil could come from the Tecpan area where natural brown huipils are common. Krystyna Deuss of the Guatemalan Indian Centre in London also thought Tecpan was likely (personal communication 1991). L M O'Neal's Textiles of Highland Guatemala (1945, p.261) mentions checked brown and white material as a groundcloth for the Comalapa huipils; however, this piece is not typical of huipils from that village although it might have been woven there for trade or as a ceremonial garment.
Materials
Cotton (textile)
Techniques
Weaving; Embroidering; Sewing
Subjects depicted
Stripes; Chequer pattern
Categories
Textiles; Clothing
Collection code
T&F
