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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Museum, and have come to a more 

 definite condition of mind as to the art 

 vaKie of all the great anthropological 

 collections, yet my first enthusiasm for 

 the beautiful textiles of the Lost Empire 

 is in no sense abated. In fact, each visit, 

 I make to the Peruvian hall increases my 

 admiration for the wonderful color effects 

 and knowledge of design which these old 

 masters possessed. 



To obtaia the effect of embroidery completely cover- 

 ing the basic fabric the decorative yarn is laced a full 

 turn over pairs of threads, either of warp or weft ac- 

 cording to the requirements of the design. A very 

 loose basic web is necessary to permit of this change in 

 direction of the embroidery thread 



Next in importance come the collec- 

 tions of garments and fabrics from the 

 Amur River tribes and those belonging 

 to China proper. The embroidered 

 garments of the Koryak tribe of Siberia 

 have also attracted a great deal of atten- 

 tion, and the Mexican and Southwest 

 halls have been visited l)y artists capable 



of adapting material from many different 

 objects. One designer in particular is 

 doing some very original work under the 

 direction of Dr. Herbert J. Spinden, 

 showing the way toward the develop- 

 ment of interest in a great art which 

 until this time has received too^little 

 attention from the textile world. 



The fabrics of Peru are beyond all 

 question the most interesting technical 

 and artistic record of textile history. 

 Compared with them, the Coptic fabrics 

 represent a very limited development, 

 and even the interesting cloths recently 

 excavated in Turkestan by Sir Aurel 

 Stein are but a fragmentary record of 

 the art they represent. In Peru every 

 process of decoration of which we know 

 is found — every trick of the weaver's 

 art, every skillful blending of colors. In- 

 deed in some of their techniques and 

 color combinations they far surpass 

 modern work. Nor is this a record of 

 scattered fragments. Even the rarer 

 techniques are well represented, and 

 there is enough material (as one promi- 

 nent silk man remarked) to furnish in- 

 spiration for a century of design. Of 

 course, practical textile people do not 

 come to the Museum to get technical 

 information. The value of the collec- 

 tions to them is almost entirely of an 

 {lesthetic nature. Still, I have always 

 felt that careful research, accompanied 

 by experiments, might result in the work- 

 ing out of even new technical methods. 

 Color and form are however, the princi- 

 pal things, and in these the collections 

 are wonderfully rich. 



The recent gifts to the Museum by Mr. 

 A. D. Juilliard, of textiles from Nazca 

 and lea, contain some of the most won- 

 derful and beautiful color combinations 

 of any fabrics, be their origin what it 

 may. The shawl-like garments from lea 

 are especially ricii in this particular. 

 Thev are embroiderv designs, the basis 



