Woman's huipil (bodice). Probably Mazatec culture. State of Oaxaca, Mexico. 1875-1899. Cotton tabby and gauze with cotton satin-stitch embroidery. 943.35.1 Gift of Mrs. Percy Robertson.
Woman's festival costume. Mexico City, Mexico. c. 1932. Cotton tabby with silk satin stitch embroidery. 963.24.A-K.
Fellowship Year: 2010
Project Title: Mexican Textiles in the Collections of the Royal Ontario Museum: A Survey
Mexican Textiles in the Collections of the Royal Ontario Museum: A Survey
The ROM has one of the largest collections of Mexican textiles in the world, that has not been seriously studied or displayed. Sayer surveyed the collection, with the aim of providing contextual and technical information about the individual objects items in the collection, drawing on her own considerable research and fieldwork in indigenous communities in Mexico. Special attention was paid to the rebozos and serapes (variations of shawl- or wrap-like outer garments that hold a special place in Mexican clothing culture) in the collection, categories of garments which she had previously studied and published on extensively.
About the Fellow:
Chloë Sayer is an independent scholar and curator and a leading authorities on Mexican art, crafts, and culture, based in London, UK. She has conducted fieldwork in Mexico regularly since 1973. She has conducted collection projects for the British Museum in Mexico and Belize. In 2002 she conducted a textile study trip to Peru for the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Sayers is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain. She lectures extensively, leads cultural tours to Mexico.
Chloë Sayer is an independent scholar and curator and a leading authorities on Mexican art, crafts, and culture, based in London, UK. She has conducted fieldwork in Mexico regularly since 1973. She has conducted collection projects for the British Museum in Mexico and Belize. In 2002 she conducted a textile study trip to Peru for the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. Sayers is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain. She lectures extensively, leads cultural tours to Mexico.