Detail from Marash embroidery at MFA, Boston
We are very proud of this cooperation with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: This large textile, which may have been a hanging or a tablecloth, bears horizontal rows of embroidered flowers. This piece was made using one of the stitches particular to the city of Marash. Marash was well-known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for its Armenian population and their industries including weaving and embroidery.
The date of its acquisition, 1923, requires us to consider this object with particular care and concern. The Armenians of Marash experienced tragedy at the turn of the 20th century, not once, but twice. During the Armenian Genocide the community was targeted by the Ottoman Empire. There was widespread ethnic cleansing resulting in the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians living in the Armenian Highland. In 1920, when the city was under control of the French army after World War I, the Turkish army attacked to reclaim the territory and the Armenians of Marash were targeted once more.
Three years later this textile made its way into the MFA’s collection. “We display this hanging as an expression of our commitment to researching Armenian objects at the MFA, to acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, and to honor the will of the Armenian people to survive.”
This label was written with the support of the Armenian Museum of America (Watertown, MA). Gift of Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935), Cambridge, to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 1, 1923).