The Dress Attributed to Empress Charlotte of Mexico (1864-1867): Historical Evidences from its Restoration

Showcase Intervención ISSN 2448-5934 ENERO-JUNIO 2024 JANUARY-JUNE 2024 OJS The Dress Attributed to Empress Charlotte of Mexico (1864-1867): Historical Evidences from its Restoration Ir a la versión en español Índice / Contents DOI: 10.30763/Intervencion.294.v1n29.73.2024 • YEAR 15, ISSUE NO. 29: 81-94 Submitted: 12.05.2024 • Accepted: 14.05.2024 • Published: 31.07.2024 Ana Julia Poncelis Gutiérrez Karla Castillo Leyva Seminario-Taller de Restauración de Textiles, Independent restaurateur, Mexico Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía (encrym), Mexico orcid: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5928-9024 orcid: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3791-4053 Rosa Lorena Román Torres Seminario-Taller de Restauración de Textiles, Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía (encrym), Mexico | orcid: sin registro Translated by Carmen M. Plascencia ABSTRACT Textile collections vary, depending on their temporality, their typology, and their material characteristics. When people approach our work, they often ask what we find fascinating about restoring textiles. For us, the answer is clear: they weave the secrets of history into their seams. In the following pages, we will expose a subtle idea regarding the restoration of a dress that is part of the collections of the Museo Nacional de Historia “Castillo de Chapultepec”, of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (mnh-inah, National Museum of History “Castillo de Chapultepec”, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History). This piece is attributed to the Empress Consort of Mexico, Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clementine Léopoldine of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The restoration was significant thanks to the correct decision-making and the close link with the mnh. The result of assertive communication between the parties favored the restoration of the silhouette and of the ornamental elements to a state similar to their original creation. 81 CONVOCATORIA 2024 CALL FOR PAPERS 2024 Showcase Intervención ISSN 2448-5934 ENERO-JUNIO 2024 JANUARY-JUNE 2024 OJS Índice / Contents KEYWORDS restoration of historical textiles, Charlotte of Mexico, historical data, identification of materials, silk taffeta, academic training, decision making W hen people approach our work, they often ask us what is fascinating about restoring textiles. For us, the answer is clear, they weave the secrets of history into their seams. They are the cultural objects that have touched historical figures in the deepest part of their being; they are the second skin that has accompanied them during the events and narratives that sustain our past. Textile collections exhibit considerable variation, owing to their temporality, typology, and material characteristics, among other factors. Therefore, their research can be directed towards generating discourse pertaining to historical, aesthetic, or cultural interests, among other factors. The knowledge derived from the professional practice of conservation makes it possible to provide an object or collection with technical and academic support that other types of research, such as curatorial research, use to develop scripts and subsequent exhibitions (Castillo, 2023, p. 82). Every time we undergo the restoration of a cultural object, we have to reflect on the fact that any action undertaken implies a great responsibility, and that if it is not reasoned, it may have a direct or indirect impact on the preservation or loss of information about a historical moment. To achieve ethical and comprehensive conservation, we must incorporate the opinions of the different actors that constitute the current context of the piece being worked on (Gallardo, 2017, p. 2). For example, one must consider: 1) the space; that is, the characteristics of the place where it comes from and the place where it will be inserted when it is restored and returned; 2) the collection to which the heritage belongs, which outlines its role within a specific discourse, which can be pedagogical, utilitarian, investigative, or merely expository; 3) that it is equally essential to take into account workers of the location in question, since they will be the ones handling the textile; 4) the current resources to carry out a conservation-restoration proposal and its maintenance; and 5) to users and/or visitors, taking into account the profile of the public that will be in contact with the work (Castillo, 2023). Each case of study has particularities and exciting data, and, for us, restoration enters the scene from the first moment we seek to The Dress Attributed to Empress Charlotte of Mexico (1864-1867) CONVOCATORIA 2024 CALL FOR PAPERS 2024 82 Showcase Intervención ISSN 2448-5934 ENERO-JUNIO 2024 JANUARY-JUNE 2024 OJS Índice / Contents decipher all them. In these pages, we will explain the restoration of a dress belonging to the collections of the Museo Nacional de Historia (mnh) “Castillo de Chapultepec”, of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (inah). The piece is attributed to the Empress Consort of Mexico Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clementine Leopoldine of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The research and restoration of the garment began in August 2022 as part of the textile cultural objects that students from the third semester of the Bachelor’s Degree in Restoration worked on within the Seminar-Workshop on Textile Restoration, of the Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía (encrym, National School of Conservation, Restoration, and Exhibition Design). The team was made up of the students: Azul Cedeño, Inés Peña, Ana Barbara Quiñones, Mariana Ramírez and her classmate Dante Chávez; the restoration professors Rosa Lorena Román, Ana Julia Poncelis, and Karla Castillo; together with specialists from various areas; in biology Irais Velasco, in history Olivia Ávila, in textile engineering Claudia Abelleyra, and in chemistry Nicolás Gutiérrez, Ignacio Castillo, Javier Vázquez, and Luz López. The first step when restoring a textile is to investigate it, understand its context, and identify its materials. We start from the idea that “what is known is conserved,” and the more one knows, the better it will be conserved (Laumain & Sabater, 2019). The studied piece is a dress made in two parts, the first one being the doublet with sleeves (Figure 1) and the other, a wide skirt, both made of silk taffeta dyed in pink, and having an endive on the lace, the sleeves, and the hem. The forearms stand out because they are made with cotton bobbin bertha (Figure 2). Its fastening method consists of hook and eye clasps with a loop both along the waist and on the back. In total, it measures 1.62 m long, and its history is fascinating. Here we emphasize the unique character of textiles, the result of cultural expressions that respond to social, economic, political, and ideological contexts, and that allows us to study them as a specific universe wit (...truncated)