The Hollander collection of Chinese Minorities textiles

April 19, 2017

The Hollander Collection

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With over 1500 objects of costume, jewellery and decoration, the Hollander Collection is one of the world's most complete and comprehensive groups of objects which together depict the cultural lives and ethnographic heritage of the hill tribes of China.

: Tunic, China Yi, early 20th-Mid 20th century, Cotton, satin, brocade, ribbon, silk threads, silk tassels, beads bells. 9′ 5″ x 6′ 9″ (287 x 205.7cm) Very large, open, tunic-like garment of indigo dyed cotton, full length and gathered at center lower back, embroidered in large sections front center, front sides and upper back with snake-like forms. Overall pattern of appliqued squares. Roger Hollander Collection, Primary collection

: Blanket, China Miao, Early 20th-Mid 20th Century. 3′ 11″ x 6′ 4 1/2″ (119.4 x 194.3cm); Handspun and machine-woven cotton; embroidery, patchwork. Blanket made in applique technique utilizing various cotton handspun and machine-woven cotton and silk embroidered cotton fabrics on a handspun cotton fabric, pattern elements outlined with couching stitch over cotton yarns. Roger Hollander Collection – Primary collection

: Skirt, China Li Run, Early 20th-Mid 20th Century. 1′ 3″ x 1′ 1/2″ (38.1 x 31.8cm); Cotton; supplementary warp float, supplementary weft float. Short tube skirt constructed of three strips of supplementary weft float and one strip of supplementary warp float techniques. Run dialect. Roger Hollander Collection – Primary collection

: Skirt, China Yi, Early 20th-Mid 20th Century. Closed hem width by waistband to hem: 5′ x 3′ 3″ (152.4 x 99.1cm); Cotton, silk, foil; appliqué, embroidery, couching. A full, gathered closed skirt with a wide waistband, decorated in horizontal stripes of batik, combined applique and embroidery, silk ribbon, and couched foil. Roger Hollander Collection – Primary collection

: Banner, China Yao, Late 19th-Early 20th Century. 1′ 7″ x 4′ 3″ (48.3 x 129.5cm); Tempera painting on handmade paper. Scroll form banner on handmade paper with sticks of bamboo securing ends. Tempera painting of a haloed central figure holding a scroll, and wearing an elaborate robe, birds and a canopy decorating the top section. Roger Hollander Collection – Primary collection

A third themed textile exhibition has just begun on Thomas Murray’s website, however this selling exhibition is much larger than anything seen previously. The Roger Hollander Collection of Chinese Minority costume, textiles and jewellery shows 1,500 pieces which are divided into Primary and Secondary Collections. Each object has a high quality image on the site and the primary collection of 580 pieces have full cataloguing. The collections are available separately or together and represent a museum level collection of the textile arts of the Chinese minorities groups. The late collector’s motives for assembling such a larger group of objects relating to these cultures is well summarised in the introduction of the exhibition: “Roger felt something would surely be lost were he to collect exclusively on an aesthetic basis. He felt a responsibility to document the “minor arts,” from shoes to headgear, old, and relatively recent because he recognized early on that the tidal wave of modern Han Chinese culture was going to be irresistible. He saw the inevitability of young minorities migrating to the big cities to find jobs, exchanging traditional costumes for steady work as secretaries in offices or for men to go into the manufacturing sector.”

To view the collection visit www.tmurrayarts.com