the collection | textiles

The textiles collection is one of the richest in Mexico. Due to the fragility of the material, few collections in Mexico have significant samples. The Franz Mayer Museum, however, has taken great efforts to increase and complement its collection.
Franz Mayer began by collecting Mexican shawls but his hobby soon began to extend to include a considerable number of blankets from Saltillo, Persian rugs, Flemish tapestries, shawls from Manila, civilian dresses and liturgical garments.

The art of working textiles was in great demand during the Viceroy period, and before then, the Native Americans had reached a high level of skill in both weaving and embroidery. But after the conquest of Mexico this production was enriched by the technical advances introduced by the Spaniards, such as the standing loom, which due to an indigenous custom was only worked by men. Women continued to use the waist loom, of pre-Hispanic origin, which has survived to the present day.
 
The practice of Spanish-style embroidery and design was taught to the indigenous people in the San José de los Naturales school, founded by friar Pedro de Gante during the first half of the 16th century. From that noble institution the most outstanding clothing specimens were created. However, Spanish noblewomen and nuns emerged as an independent group of embroiders. The colony of New Spain saw its looms ablaze with color and threads of gold and silver conceived biblical passages, traditional scenes and Oriental-style landscapes.

The Orient is also present in the collection in the form of rugs. Although many of them were made in Europe, and later in the colony of New Spain, they have been an expression of the people of the East for more than 2,500 years and their patterns and ornamental motifs have survived for centuries. Upholstery, a direct descendent of tapestries, became a feature of European palaces and, as a result, in the palaces of New Spain; imposing woven scenes beautified the walls of those palaces, bringing warmth to homes and pleasure to the eye.