Rebozo, T2010.2.1
Posted: Jan 8th, 2020 | Collection Spotlight

This week’s Object of the Week was chosen in anticipation of Roxane Shaughnessy’s Curator’s Tour of Tied, Dyed and Woven, happening this Wednesday the 22nd at 6:30 pm.

This Mexican rebozo is one of the 13 Mexican shawls featured in our current exhibition of ikat textiles from Latin America. It has a particularly circuitous provenance that includes the wife of a former Canadian Prime Minister – read on below!

This silk warp ikat rebozo was made in Santa María del Río, Mexico in the 1970s. In 1976, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife, Margaret, made an official state visit to Mexico. The Mexican President’s wife, María Echeverria, gave this rebozo to Mrs. Trudeau. It is known as a “wedding ring shawl” since the cloth is so fine that it can be drawn through a finger ring. Mrs. Trudeau subsequently gave the scarf to Mme. Gaby Léger, the wife of the Governor General Jules Léger who, in turn, bequeathed it to the donor, Annette Langley, the wife of the Canadian Ambassador in Mexico, James Langley, at the time of the Trudeaus’ visit.

In Santa María del Río, both male and female weavers use the backstrap loom and imported silk or artisela (synthetic silk), and continue to produce exquisite rebozo.

Links: Tied, Dyed and Woven exhibition page.

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