In Filoforme - Abstract ENG

FILO FORME anno 8 n. 17

Testamony of the Time. A tapestry given to Pope Leo XIII by the women of Piemonte commemorating the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood
Ileana Tozzi (page 2)

Recently, the large tapestry given to Pope Leo XIII by the aristocratic women in the Piemonte region to commemorate 50 years of his ordination to the priesthood entered the textile collection in the Diocesan Museum of Ecclesiastical Heritage in Rieti. The highquality tapestry is a large-dimension work made in 1887 at the laboratories of the Sorelle Piovano and depicts images of the charitable undertakings by the religious Congregations at the end of the 1800s.

The Cathedral Dragons
Valentino Cecchinato (page 8)
The cathedral in the city of Chioggia, called Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo, is the seat of one of the oldest bishoprics in the Veneto region. The authorʼs research revolves around a collection of ancient religious vestments that belong to the Cathedral, which are housed in a storage area in the diocesan museum in Chioggia. The collection consists in fifteen historically significant vestments dating from the second half of the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Among the fifteen pieces there is an especially fascinating set of seventeenth-century vestments made up of a chasuble, maniple, stole, chalice veil, and pouch decorated in chinoiserie dragon motifs.

Silk • Gold • Kermes
Secrets and technology at the Visconti and Sforza courts
(page 14)
In 1442, on the invitation of Filippo Maria Visconti, two silk workers from Florence and Genoa were brought to the Lombard capital of Milan to begin silk manufacture in the city. The exhibit entitled Silk • Gold • Kermes. Secrets and technology at the Visconti and Sforza courts, at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan from 29 October 2009 through 21 February 2010, illustrates the extraordinary artistic production tied to this ancient tradition and its amazing technological innovations. Approximately fifty works are on display, ranging from refined figured velvets, damasks, brocades, silk embroidery with ornate gold and pearls, playing cards, refined illustrated manuscripts, jewellery, and paintings. All are true masterpieces and are testament to the astounding results of the research planned by ISAL (Institute for the History of art in Lombardy) and carried out in collaboration with nine other European institutions dedicated to fifteenth-century gilt-silk Lombard textiles. The exhibition is curated by Chiara Buss, director of the Department of Applied Arts at the ISAL and by Annalisa Zanni, the director of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum. In addition to guiding the visitor through a fascinating discovery of these works of art, the exhibition draws aside a cultural and social curtain onto the Visconti and Sfoza courts.

Paper threads
Stefanella Sposito (page 19)
Many artists are fascinated by paper, its light weight recalling the stuff of dreams. Its colour, weight, thickness, numerous and diverse surface qualities have made paper a preferred artistic material. Paper and cardboard have both become important in the field of interior design and other design areas. For quite some time, garments have been created through the use of paper, even if the paper pattern was not expressly conceived to be worn; paper used in the same way it was used for furniture: a type of mock-up structure. Among those artists who use paper in their dressmaking and tailoring, we have chosen three individuals: Isabelle de Borchgrave, Valentina Crepax, and Ivano Vitali. The work of these three contemporary artists is very different from one another, and this article compares their garments and their individual working methods.

The restoration of a kashaba from the Collection of the Dukes of Montpensier
Laura Ciampini (page 27)
This article is part of a study on the collection of clothing and arms belonging to the Dukes of Montpensier. The collection has been housed in the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares de Sevilla since 1975. Under the N.A.T.O project, Fellowship Programme of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), the pieces in the collection were catalogued and treated in collaboration with the Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Andaluz. The restoration of a kashaba, a womanʼs sleeveless tunic worn over other garments and dating from the mid-nineteenth century, is highlighted in the article. The kashaba is made of embroidered pink silk peking brocade and was seriously deteriorated due to its construction techniques but also by the way it was exhibited. The original elements were removed and the garment was cleaned and consolidated.