Lady Violette

There are several things to consider, for example, are you looking for a beautiful authentic antique Manton de Manila, an antique to admire and enjoy in your home and wear as a fashion piece, and , eventually turn into a family heirloom?  Or, are you looking for a a manton to take to dance class because you have begun to study flamenco dancing? Or, are you a professional dancer looking for an exquisite manton to use in your performance art? Or, are you an advanced or professional dancer looking for a really good practice manton to use in daily dance class and rehearsals? Or, perhaps you really admire these shawls as works of art and are becoming a serious collector of antique shawls? Or, perhaps you are not a dancer, but want one for interior decor. All of these are very legitimate reasons to consider acquiring a beautiful colorful true antique Manton de Manila.

Possibly several of these catagories apply to you and you will need several shawls to accommodate your various needs. I fall into this category! So, we have the following categories of shawls to consider: 

1) Special Antique Mantons – old mantons with provenance and history such as my two San Francisco Gold Rush Mantons and my Wisteria Manton shown in recent previous posts.

2) Antique/ Vintage heavily embroidered sturdy showy mantons to be used for fashion, interior decor purposes and occasionally performance only – but not as dance practice shawls. 

3) Class and rehearsal practice mantons – usually without embroidery and sometimes made of printed silk fabric – these will be heavily used by dancers on an almost daily basis.

4) Fashion Shawls – for wearing as wraps and as accessories with clothes, not for use in dancing. This category includes embroidered mantons both old and newly produced, printed fabric shawls, Russian shawls, various other types of fabric shawls, lace shawls, knitted and crocheted shawls, cashmere shawls, various ethnic shawls, etc. There is a lot of variety in this category. 

When you are looking for a Manton de Manila there are a few things you should know. There are different qualities of embroidered shawls. For people who do not have first hand experience they may not, at first, be able to tell the differences of what they are looking at especially in tiny pictures online. It helps to look at a lot of shawls. If you possibly can, I also recommend looking at some examples of the real thing in museums in person. 

I also recommend looking at examples online. I am showing lots of examples of high quality antique Mantons de Manila from the Canton embroidery workshops on my blog. I am making an effort to show photographs or the entire shawl laid out flat, as well as details of color, embroidery, stitching, fringe, macrame lattice work, etc. I will also attempt to show some of the other alternatives available for informational purposes. As I am demonstrating with the two examples of rayon shawls below.

As a result of their popularity in mid 1800s Europe less expensive versions of embroidered shawls were made in smaller sizes on lesser quality silk or on rayon – also known at that time as artificial silk. The development of the sewing machine during the industrial revolution led to the development of several embroidery machines. Then came shawls with machine done embroidery and less elaborate rayon fringe. These began coming out by the thousands to meet the demands of the masses. They were initially produced in Switzerland where they had the best embroidery machines. They were sold in mid level shops all over Europe. They were colorful and very affordable. I often see such shawls listed for sale as hand embroidered silk piano shawls and priced as real hand embroidered silk Mantons de Manila, but they are not at all, even remotely, the same thing as the high quality heavy silk hand embroidered shawls from Canton! They are lower quality mass produced imitations made for the mass market. Of course, as such, when they were made they were less expensive. They should continue to be less expensive. Unfortunately I have actually seen many such shawls marketed by vintage and antique dealers who should know the difference between the real deal – the authentic real hand made in Canton, China, Manton de Manila, and the machine made imitations made for the mass market. Here I will try to sort this out for those who are seriously interested in learning how to tell the difference and how to identify the real thing.

The red shawl with repeating pink flowers shown below is an example of one of the machine embroidered rayon shawls made by machine for the European masses in the 1920s. Notice how the embroidered flowers are exactly the same just repeated over and over in rows, notice how shiny the rayon thread used for the machine embroidery is. Notice the machine finished edging and the simplistic rayon fringe applied along the edge with no macrame lattice. If you were able to see and feel the red fabric in person you would also see that is has a slippery finish and is very thin in comparison to the heavy silk used in the high quality shawls made in Canton. This red rayon shawl is also considerably lighter in weight and smaller than the real Mantons de Manila. I am not saying that this red rayon embroidered shawl is completely unattractive and and useless. I am just saying that is is not a high quality hand embroidered silk Manton de Manila. It is a machine made shawl of a different material and these were mass produced so that women who wanted the look of an embroidered shawl and could not afford an expensive hand made one could have something inspired by the real thing. It can be styled to look pretty and serves a purpose of its own. It is lightweight and feels flimsy in comparison the to the silk shawls. It lacks the substance of the silk shawls from Canton and is not heavy enough or large enough to be used for flamenco dancing.

The black shawl above is another example of a 1920’s rayon machine made and machine embroidered shawl from the same era. Note the same type machine done edging and fringe applied around the edge in the same manner of the red one shown above. The fabric is the same type of thin rayon also known as artificial silk when it was produced. The embroidery design is again done in four repeating blocks in the same shiny rayon thread. The fringe on this example got caught on something and tore off taking a sizable hunk of the rayon fabric with it. These shawls were a lot more fragile than the silk ones! This one has a large tear in it so it can no longer be used as a shawl. I will eventually do something creative with the fabric however. You sometimes see pillows made of the good parts of this fabric for this exact reason – the original shawl was damaged.

Compare the two rayon economy version shawls above to this rich turquoise hand embroidered true Manton de Manila from the specialty embroidery workshops in Canton made during the same time period 1910 – 1920. Note the heavy high quality silk fabric, the fine silk embroidery thread used in the ornate hand done embroidery, the refined job of finishing along the edges and the elaborate hand done macrame lattice that provides strong support to the heavy silk fringe. Note the density of the silk fringe and the overall beauty of the complex hand done embroidery design. Note the subtle sheen of the silk embroidery thread, the bouquet of colors used to produce the elaborate floral design and the general over all superior quality of the entire shawl. You can see the difference can’t you? The Turquoise Manton de Manila is also much larger and heavier than the rayon ones. It is also much stronger. And the color is incredible!

Recently small cheap synthetic fabric shawls have shown up on Amazon marketed as Mantons de Manila, Spanish Flamenco Shawls and Piano Shawls. These are terrible inferior products – nothing like the real thing, So buyer beware. Also, very cheap, inferior quality “Spanish Shawls” made in China of polyester with awful looking machine done embroidery and synthetic fringe have shown up on sites such as Amazon and Ebay. These are blatantly awful and after looking at a few examples you should easily know what to avoid!  These are made of low quality synthetic fibers, even recycled plastic bottles. They sell for $48 – $60 before tax and shipping. They are throw away fashion.

Originally the most beautiful silk shawls featuring the most exquisite embroidery on the highest quality silk fabric were made in Canton, China and now, ironically, the lowest quality ugliest shawls claiming to be the same thing are being produced in and exported from China. How sad! 

During the Industrial Revolution machinery was developed that could rapidly embroider a square piece of fabric in a repeating design. They produced rayon shawls like the black and red ones I have shown above, usually one square yard in size covered with a repeating design of machine embroidered flowers. Pink roses were a popular motif. This machine embroidery was relatively neat and tidy on one side – the top, right side – if you did not look at it too closely, but a mass of crossed threads and knots on the under side – the wrong side. You had to wear or display one of these machine done shawls carefully folded to show only the good side. The thread used was rayon and was very shiny. The nuances of color in high quality silk embroidery thread were absent – an expert in embroidery can tell the difference between hand and machine done embroidery work in a split second. And she or he can also tell the difference between silk and rayon or other synthetic fabric quickly. Thus it is important to learn to recognize these differences when you are shopping for a real antique, embroidered in Canton, Manton de Manila.. When you understand the differences between the real thing and an imitation you will only be satisfied with the real thing. 

However, some of the smaller, lighter weight, lesser quality hand and machine embroidered shawls are attractive in their own way and have their own specialty uses – being worn as colorful scarves around ones neck for example. Or as lightweight lingerie shawls or scarves that can be worn draped over the shoulders with a negligee – They should be classified as a completely different garment or accessory,  not compared to or substituted for a Manton de Manila or a Spanish or Flamenco Shawl or a Piano Shawl.                                                                                                                                

The machine embroidered rayon shawls are their own thing and should be marketed as such, not called a Manton de Manila or an embroidered silk piano shawl. The real antique Mantons de Manila are large and can be heavy and hard to handle until you learn how to work with them. They are not right for every situation in which you might want to wear a shawl or scarf. In many fashion related contexts a smaller scarf or shawl is necessary – a big Manton de Manila would be unwieldy and awkward. The thing I object to is sellers mis-identifying the rayon machine done shawls as silk hand embroidered Mantons de Manila and hand embroidered silk piano shawls. I do not like when sellers do not understand what they are selling and when they claim something is rarer and more valuable than it is. To me this is dishonest.

It is really unfortunate when they claim it to be something really special like a totally hand done antique silk made in Canton Manton de Manila and price it as such when it is actually a machine made rayon shawl. Yes, the rayon shawl is legitimately vintage and a shawl but it is not the same type of product or workmanship and should be priced accordingly. Later on in this treatise on shawls I will go into valuation and pricing.

Coming Next: What are the various different types of Mantons available? Which best suits each situation? And where can you find them?

Rare and beautiful historic clothing and accessories are for sale in my online shops. If you see something on this blog that you are interested in buying, but do not find it for sale in my shops message me on Etsy or Ebay and I will get back to you about availability. I check messages daily and can always prepare a special listing for you if you do not find it already listed in the shops.

Ebay: ladyviolettedecourcy

Etsy: LadyVioletteBoutiqe

Poshmark: cocoviolette 

Fashion Conservator: Lady Violette Boutique

These beautiful embroidered silk shawls were originally produced as wearable works of art for fashionable women and later became popular for Flamenco dancing.  They were originally made in Canton, China, but they were produced specifically for the export market. Chinese women did not wear shawls of this type. The shawls were taken by ship to Manila and from there by the Manila galleons to both North and South America where they were sold to and worn by wealthy fashionable women. This is why they acquired the name Manton de Manila. The word Manton simply means shawl in Spanish, so Manton de Manila means shawl from Manila. Interestingly the shawls were made in China and only passed through Manila on their export journey but, because the ships on which the traveled were known as the Manila Galleons, they acquired the name Manton de Manila. I assume some were purchased and worn by some women in the Philippines who could afford them, but the destination was initially the Americas and later on Europe. //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_galleon

Manila became the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it gained sovereignty over the Philippine Islands in 1565. The period from 1565 – 1898 is known as the Spanish colonial period. Under Spain, Manila became the colonial entrepôt ( transportation port) in the Far East. The seat of the Spanish government was situated within the fortified walls of Old Manila. The walls were constructed to keep out invading Chinese pirates and protect the city from native uprisings. The city became the center of trade between Manila and Acapulco, which lasted for three centuries and brought goods from Southeast Asia to the Americas and vice versa. The exporters got paid in silver ingots when they sold their valuable cargos in Acapulco so it was a very lucrative enterprise. 

This description of a shawl exhibited in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, beautifully illustrates the journey of one such shawl. The caption on the display reads: “ A silk shawl embroidered with birds, butterflies, vines and flowers in colored silk thread is exhibited. From Canton, China. They would have been imported from China to the Philippines, then brought by Manila Galleons to Acapulco and shipped overland on the Camino Real from Mexico City through Chihuahua to New Mexico. The shawl exhibited here belonged to a prominent New Mexico woman in the early 19th century.” 

Over time the beautiful embroidered silk shawls from China by way of Manila made their way across the Americas to Europe where they were immediately popular with women of fashion in court and high society. They came from China via the Manila galleons, via the Americas and finally to Spain and the rest of Europe. 

These exquisite high quality embroidered shawls became fashionable with European women during the mid 19th century and were a popular garment worn in portrait paintings of society ladies and artists . They could be seen worn in court and to the theater and at social events by the great beauties of the time. Here are links to a few of the famous paintings. 

//www.wikiart.org/en/henri-matisse/manila-shawl-1911

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Jaleo

//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Manila_shawls

Its incorporation into the European feminine wardrobe arrived after a long journey in time starting off in China, where the material and characteristic styles of embroidery originated and where the original shawls were made, which were then taken to Manila and from there to the Americas and finally, from the Americas to Europe. American and European women had influence over the evolution of the shawl designs. When initially produced in Canton, China the shawls were decorated with oriental scenes and distinctly Asian motifs. The oldest shawls exhibit Chinese scenes and landscapes, pagodas and Chinese people in Chinese dress. The flowers, foliage, animals, birds, insects and plants depicted are Asian. An interesting example was the use of toads who were a symbol of good luck in China but had other connotations in America and Europe! The shawls with toads sitting in all four corners were hard to sell to fashionable South and North American ladies. The women of Mexico City and San Francisco wanted colorful shawls and their preferred embroidery designs featured flowers, butterflies, colorful birds, and fruits. These ladies also discovered that long swinging fringe, like beautiful feminine long hair, was a charming and seductive feature of the shawls and they demanded longer and longer fringe. Yucky toads, snakes and other reptiles were eliminated from the embroidery designs. Flowers, butterflies and colorful birds came to dominate the designs and the fringe and elaborate macrame lattice around the outer edges grew to longer and more elaborate proportions to cater to their desires. 

By the time they got to Spain the shawls had become extremely colorful and elaborate with long exotic fringe. Flamenco dancers began incorporating them into their dances. They became so popular in Spain during the 19th century that they became a necessary accessory to the Spanish woman’s dress. That is why they are often referred to now as Embroidered Spanish Shawls. The  incorporation and assimilation of these beautiful shawls originally imported from China into the Spanish culture was so effective in the 19th Century that is has continued until the present day. 

The popularity and demand for colorful embroidered silk shawls in Spain was so great by this time that the labor intensive hand embroidered shawls produced in Canton and imported to Europe could not fully meet the demand. The prices for the antique Cantonese shawls were also beyond the budgets of every Spanish woman, yet every woman wanted at least one! They were so popular that they eventually evolved to become a bonafide element of the Spanish woman’s national costume. 

Thus enterprising Spaniards inspired by the shawls from China started to produce their own versions in Spain and added their own touches and interpretations to the embroidery designs. By now embroidered shawls were part of the Spanish woman’s regular wardrobe as well as the national costume. An experienced eye can tell which shawls were made in Canton and which in Spain by examining the types of flowers and other elements in the design. The Spanish produced shawls often feature flowers from Spain versus flowers from China. For example camellias from China morphed into roses from Spain. At the same time the Chinese embroideresses incorporated European elements into their designs to appeal to the European market. Their camellias became roses and their wisteria vines became grape vines with bunches of grapes as well as wisteria flowers hanging from the same vines. The embroidery decorating the shawls sometimes became a fanciful fusion of East and West. Now both Chinese and Spanish antique Manton’s exist and both are very beautiful and desirable. 

These shawls produced in Spain were technically actual Spanish mantons – Spanish shawls made in Spain for the Spanish market. They are still being produced as scarves and shawls for modern fashion and as shawls for Flamenco dancing. Specialty shops in Spain sell these beautiful textiles in many forms from wearable scarves, shawls and embroidered modern dresses to items for home decor such as pillows, curtains, table covers and upholstery. These shops carry a wide range of products descending from the original Mantons de Manila from modern machine embroidered versions, modern hand embroidered versions produced in Spanish specialty workshops, rare antique shawls – actual antique Mantons de Manila, and specialty shawls produced for the professional Flamenco dance community. Some of them also run a rental service in which they rent out valuable rare Antique Mantons de Manila for use on movie sets, in period dramas and for special events. They can be easily found by visiting shops selling supplies for Flamenco dancers. 

The shawls shown in this post are from my personal collection of antique mantons de Manila.

Rare and beautiful historic clothing and accessories are for sale in my online shops. If you see something on this blog that you are interested in buying, but do not find it for sale in my shops message me on Etsy or Ebay and I will get back to you about availability. I check messages daily and can always prepare a special listing for you if you do not find it already listed in the shops.

Ebay: ladyviolettedecourcy

Etsy: LadyVioletteBoutiqe

Poshmark: cocoviolette 

Fashion Conservator: Lady Violette Boutique

SPECS ON THE BLACK AND WHITE EMBROIDERED SILK SHAWL

Black and White Silk Embroidered Manton de Manila from Canton circa 1845 –
aka Spanish Flamenco Shawl or Embroidered Silk Piano Shawl.

The Heavy Weight Silk – the black fabric section is 64 inches square. It is then bordered by a 6 inch hand done macrame knotted lattice, plus 20 inches of long fringe around all sides in ivory silk. The final measurement is 116 inches square including the fringe.

Folded in half on the diagonal, as you would fold it to wear it, in a triangular configuration, this shawl is 7 and 1/2 feet across on the Hypotenuse – Black Silk Section – the macrame hand knotted lattice and the long fringes are in addition to this measurement – an extra 26 inches for the fringe around the outer edge of the shawl.

The shawl weighs 3 lbs or 1.361 Kilograms = 1361 Grams – It is exceptionally heavyweight for these shawls so it is of the very highest quality.

SPECS ON THE BIRDS OF PARADISE EMBROIDERED IVORY SILK SHAWL
Ivory Silk Embroidered in Multi-Colored Silk Thread in Patterns of Birds, Flowers and Insects – Manton de Manila from Canton circa 1845 – aka Spanish Flamenco Shawl or Embroidered Silk Piano Shawl.

The ivory silk section is 65 inches square and is bordered by a 5 inch hand done macrame knotted lattice, plus 13 inch long fringe around all sides in ivory silk. The final measurement is 101 inches square including the fringe.

Folded in half on the diagonal, as you would fold it to wear it, in a triangular configuration, this shawl is approximately 7 and 1/2 feet across on the Hypotenuse – Ivory Silk Section – the macrame hand knotted lattice and the long fringes are in addition to this measurement – an extra 21 inches for the fringe around the outer edge of the shawl

The shawl weighs 3 lbs or 1.361 Kilograms = 1361 Grams – It is exceptionally heavyweight for these shawls so it is of the very highest quality.

Both Shawls are double embroidered – thus embroidered on both sides – therefore completely reversible. There is no wrong side. Embroidery is extremely dense, again a testament to the high quality of these shawls.

These are true antiques produced in the specialty embroidery workshops of Canton, China. They were made specifically for export to the Americas – both North and South – during the mid-19th century. Both of them were acquired by a ship captain in Canton and brought by ship to Manila, then taken to San Francisco on one of the Manila Galleons where they were purchased from the sea captain during the San Francisco Gold Rush in 1850.

See the story of their provenance here. //ladyviolette.com/2024/01/28/two-antique-manton-de-manila-embroidered-silk-shawls-from-the-san-francisco-gold-rush-1850/

Rare and beautiful historic clothing and accessories are for sale in my online shops. If you see something on this blog that you are interested in buying, but do not find it for sale in my shops message me on Etsy or Ebay and I will get back to you about availability. I check messages daily and can always prepare a special listing for you if you do not find it already listed in the shops.

Ebay: ladyviolettedecourcy

Etsy: LadyVioletteBoutiqe

Poshmark: cocoviolette 

Fashion Conservator: Lady Violette Boutique