2008.117.2

Collection type

Object

Description

Canvas embroidered waistcoat, part of a complete costume from Piestany, Slovakia. The main colours of the fabric are red, blue and cream. [JN 1/6/2016]

Long description

Canvas waistcoat, part of a complete costume from Piestany, Slovakia. The waistcoat is made from beige coloured canvas which has been heavily embroidered on the front and back. The front of the waist coat has been embroidered with two panels of blue brocaded silk, one on either side, stitched to the canvas with blue cotton yarn. The silk is brocaded with a design of red, pink, purple and white flowers and green foliage. Over the top of the blue brocaded silk 'gold' lace has been applied. this 'gold' lace is made from metallic yarn. The 'gold' lace braid is approximately 30 mm wide and consists of fan shaped and wavy lined patterns. The edges of the waistcoat, down the centre and the arms but not the bottom edge have been covered with a red floral brocaded ribbon approximately 50 mm wide, stitched to the canvas with red cotton yarn. The waistcoat is fastened at the centre with two metal clasps. The clasps have been stitched to the waistcoat with orange cotton yarn. The metal of the clasps is decorated with raised dots. At the centre of each clasp is a circular fixing containing a coloured glass or resin stone. In the top clasp this is red and the in the bottom clasp this is green. The back of the waistcoat has also been covered with a panel blue brocaded silk with a floral arrangement in the centre with red and pink flowers with gold and green foliage. A length of 'gold' lace has been stitched over the blue brocaded silk framing the floral pattern in the centre. Gold sequins have been stitched into the 'gold' lace. The edge of the back of the waistcoat, around the arm holes and the neck have been covered with re floral brocaded ribbon stitched to the canvas with red cotton yarn. The bottom of the waistcoat has been left undecorated showing the beige coloured canvas and is approximately 90 mm wide. [FC 23/11/2009]

Geographical reference

Slovakia

Europe > Eastern Europe > Slovakia

Trnava Piestany

Person

Field collector Sheila Rosemary Paine

PRM source Julia Nicholson

PRM source Pitt Rivers Museum

PRM source Dreweatts Auctioneers

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1990

Acquisition information

Purchased: 2008

Materials and processes

Material Canvas Textile, Material Silk Textile Animal, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Material Metal, Material Ribbon Textile, Material Lace Textile, Material Synthetic, Process Stitched, Process Embroidered, Process Forged (Metal), Process Perforated, Process Brocaded Woven

Dimensions

Width: max 410 mm, Length: max 430 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 2008.117.2 Other numbers: SP EE 11 144

Research and responses

Taken from the sales catalogue, information about the time Sheila Paine spent in Czechoslovakia: "I first went to Czechoslovakia in 1987. it was then still only possible to go behind the Iron Curtain s part of an Intourist group. Instead, I used to catch a Penam flight to West Berlin , as they continued after the Berlin airlift to keep the city open to the West with regular, cheap flights. I then caught the S-Bahn through to East Berlin and from there could go by train anywhere in Communist Europe. At the stations there were usually old ladies offering people a room. These were unofficial and illegal, but this is what I always did if I could.

On this first visit in 1987, I was invited back again by the ethnographic museum in Martin to study and report on the embroidery of the villages. The British Council in Prague then told me that they would send me officially and pay for the trip (flight to Vienna and through to Bratislava) and I could invite the curator of the Martin museum (Dr Jana Bumbalova) to England. This I did, arranging for her to look at conservation methods in various museums. My second trip was for two weeks in 1988, under the auspices of the Martin museum. It was an enjoyable shambles as they had nothing, and nothing worked. This was just when communism was ending and separatist movements between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. I returned again in 1990. For almost all the examples of Slovak costume I have in my collection being worn see Viera Nosalova: Slovensky l'udovy odev". [FC 19/11/2009]

Associated publications

Reproduced in colour on page 48 of the sale catalogue: The Sheila Paine Embroidery Collection Tuesday 22nd April 2008, Drewetts Auctioneers, Donnington Priory Salerooms, where is is listed as Lot 144: "A complete costume from Piestany, Slovakia, comprising: white cotton blouse with red and yellow broderie anglaise on sleeves, including a band of needleweaving, with an added cuff of machine lace with tamboured stitchery, a pointed collar of needleweaving with metal thread and yellow braid, and with yellow and red tambouring down the centre front; two front and back black chintz aprons, with white floral embroidery around the edges, and machine lace, 66 cm and 69 cm long including lace; canvas waistcoat applied with brocaded silks and 'gold' lace; red floral brocaded ribbon for waist; two white cotton caps, of two-horned shape, the first with yellow/white broderie anglaise, the other yellow and blue [EE-11)... 'I spotted this in a antique shop in Prague just as I was leaving. I paid for it but they couldn't get it out of the window. My landlady collected it for me eventually and passed it to a woman (Drashka Pavelkova) whom I met on the night train from Prague to East Berlin. She posted it a year later to the Ethnographic Museum in Martin when I returned there". [FC 19/11/2009]

Search terms: Clothing, Clothing Textile, Waistcoat