Balkan Costume and Textile Collection for sale

Balkan Costume and Textile Collection for sale from Marijana Dworski:

A variety of textiles from the former Yugoslavia collected and preserved by Lady Sybil Stewart from 1930s to 1970s.


Following in the footsteps of Edith Durham and conforming to a tradition of feisty female aficionados of the Balkans Sybil Stewart, nee Sturrock, loved Serbia and its surrounding regions. Married to the diplomat, Sir Dugald Stewart (16th of Appin), their term of office in the 1970s was not the first time she had lived in Yugoslavia. Most notably we find that: "WAAF wireless operator Sybil Sturrock was parachuted into Yugoslavia, where she worked with the partisans until they joined with the Red Army and liberated Zagreb" ('The WAAF' by Beryl Escott 2003, Oxford. Shire Press). Dugald and Sybil married in Belgrade in 1947. Serbia, the Balkans and the Near East have long been close to the heart of a particular type of British elite and the Stewarts counted amongst their acquaintances both Fitzroy Maclean and Wilfred Thesiger.

Collecting far and wide in the former Yugoslav, both before and after World War II, Sybil Stewart put together a magnificent collection of 'Yugoslav' costume and textile. Many of these items are antiques featuring typical heavy ornamental embroideries. Even those pieces made in a more modern era and of modern stuffs retain the old patterns and weaves.

Our collection consists of some 150 items, 85 of which are garments or elements of traditional costumes. As well as tablecloth and napkin sets, hangings, throws, woollen bags and other woven or embroidered textiles, other items include a numbered of carved ornaments, some 9 books on embroidery and textiles in Southeastern Europe and a number of dolls in traditional costume. A letter, relating to this collection, from Jennifer Scarce (author of 'Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East' (1987) and one-time curator of Eastern Cultures at Glasgow's Royal Museum of Scotland) is also present.


Offers in the region of £2,875. More details and photographs available. Delivery within the United Kingdom, free. Please contact:

Marijana Dworski
21, The Meadows
Hay-on-Wye,
Via Hereford HR3 5LF
United Kingdom.

http://www.dworskibooks.com/.
info@dworskibooks.com
(+44) 01497 820 200

Select Bibliography:

Allcock, John B. and Young, Antonia. Black Lambs and Grey Falcons: Women Travellers in the Balkans. 2nd rvsd. ed. 2001. Berghan

Banateanu, Tancred, Focsa, Gheorghe, Ionescu, Emilia. Folk Costumes, Woven Textiles and Embroideries of Rumania. 1958: State Publishing House for Literature and the Arts

Durham, M. E. High Albania. 1909. London, Arnold.

Durham, M. E. Some Tribal Origins, Laws & Customs of the Balkans. 1928. London Allen & Unwin.

Plese, Adela. Hrvatski narodni ornamenat. 1944. Zagreb.

(Radaus-Ribaric, Jelka) Croatian Folk Embroidery. 1978. Zagreb.

Scarce, Jennifer: 1987. London and Sydney. 'Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East' Unwin Hyman

Start, Laura The Durham Collection of Garments and Embroideries from Albania and Jugoslavia presented to the Bankfield Museum by Mary Edith Durham ... A description. With notes by M. Edith Durham, etc (Bankfield Museum Notes. ser. 3. no. 4.) 1939

Tilke, Max: The Costumes of Eastern Europe. 1926, London. Benn Ltd.

Thornton, Philip. Dead Puppets Dance. 1937. London. Collins.

Varagnac, Andre & LePage-Medvey, E. National Costumes: Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia. 1939. London. Hyperion

You can view Marijana's books on the Balkans here.