Rediscovery: Textile Twins? A Case Study
Although the depiction of a bird in each of these textiles
is quite different, their similarities in color and external
border design made students Alexandra Stern (HC ’20) and
Miranda Johnson (HC ’19) wonder if they were cut from the
same original textile. Both fragments come from Jefferson
University’s Textiles and Costumes Collection, but limited
documentation required further analysis to substantiate
the connection. Stern and Johnson worked together to
perform scientific analysis on these textiles over the course
of the fall 2018 semester. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra
from both textiles showed high iron levels in the beige and
purple decorative design, while the darker, orange borders
showed high levels of bromine. Liquid-Chromatography-Mass
Spectrometry (LC-MS) was also performed, and the spectra
of the orange backgrounds displayed peaks corresponding
to madder and weld dyes. Based on scientific tests such as
these, Stern and Johnson were able to conclude that these
textiles were likely “cut from the same cloth.”
