Worteldoek from The Netherlands, mid-20th century (TRC 2019.2237).Often the TRC Blog looks at textiles or clothing from ‘exotic’ countries, but we have been receiving various messages about how good it is to know about European textiles, such as the Romanian dress and the British sampler from the mid-eighteenth century. So over the next few weeks some of the TRC blogs (appropriately called 'Textile Moments') are going to be about various European textiles and the stories behind them. And yes, there will be an ‘exotic’ element to many of them!
We want to celebrate adoption and adaption, and the creative nature of humans, rather than taking a narrow view of the world by saying ‘it’s from my culture, hands off’ (something that would have been regarded as very strange and unnatural by many in the past). Sadly, the opposition against cultural appropriation does at times take extreme forms.
Which brings me back to the Dutch worteldoek. The word worteldoek literally means ‘carrot cloth’, but it does not mean a cloth to protect carrots. Instead it refers to a type of shawl that was worn in The Netherlands from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. They were (cheap) machine-woven copies of British and French Kashmir shawls. In their turn the British and French shawls were machine-woven copies of (very expensive) hand-woven Kashmir shawls that were exported from northern India to Europe from the late 18th century onwards.
The Dutch worteldoeken were made from thick woolen yarn and were double-sided using a loose weave (cheaper and easier to produce). In addition to squarish examples, which were worn as shawls, there were also long rectangular versions that were used as wall hangings to keep out draughts, draped over pianos and mantlepieces, as well as to hang behind a coat-rack to prevent damage to the wall.
Detail of a worteldoek from The Netherlands, 19th century (TRC 2020.2064).
There are various theories concerning where the name worteldoek comes from. It may have been the predominantly dull orange colour used for these cloths, which gave them their name. The theory I like most is that the name is linked to that of the main ornate motif used on these cloths. It is wide at the base and tapers to a point and looks a bit like a carrot. This motif is known in Iran and India (Kashmir) as a buteh, but it is more commonly known in Europe as the Paisley motif, after the Scottish town of the same name, which was well-known for the production of fashionable Paisley shawls!
Various examples of late 19th and early 20th century worteldoeken will be on display in the TRC’s exhibition about the history of the buteh/paisley motif and its effects on Western fashion over the last two hundred years. It opens in February 2021.
Some TRC examples of worteldoeken: TRC 2019.2237, TRC 2019.2238, TRC 2020.0463, TRC 2020.2064, TRC 2020.2065
Gillian Vogelsang, 4th August 2020
