The Spanish shawl or Manton de Manila, as the Spanish call the shawl which has become a quintessential accessory of adornment to the Spanish woman, most specially to the women of Andalusia and Madrid, has a long and interesting history, for the origin of this shawl is not in Spain but in the Far East, in China.
Soon after the first circumnavigation of the globe and the discovery in 1521 of the islands Caroline, Marianas and the Philippines (the Spanish East Indies), the ports of Manila and Guam in the Marianas were busy commercial centres transporting goods from the Orient; silks, porcelain, rare woods, spices and other highly desired exotic luxuries to New Spain (Spanish America before independence) and Europe.
Another port which grew in importance was the old Chinese port of Canton (Guangzhou). It was from here that the Spanish merchants obtained most of these goods and where China received European manufactured products.
In early spring to avoid the storms of summer in the Caribbean, a convoy of merchant ships escorted by two Galleons of the fleet, sailed from Spain and crossed the Atlantic to her colonies in the West Indies and New Spain with a cargo of European goods. From the Atlantic port of Veracruz (Mexico), the goods destined for the East Indies, China and Japan were taken over land to the Pacific ports of Acapulco and Lima to be transported, across the Pacific Ocean, to Guam and Manila by the eastern fleet known as the Manila Galleons. (Galleons were war ships, unarmed merchant ships were defenceless against attacks by pirates and privateers).
In June, taking advantage of the monsoon winds, the Manila Galleons set sail from the Philippines on route to Canton and Japan, the fleet then crossed the Pacific to arrive at Upper California (today in the USA). It continued sailing down close to the coast distributing merchandise all the way to Acapulco and Lima. The goods destined for Spain were taken over land from Acapulco to the port of Veracruz and transported to Cadiz by the western fleet, the Galleons of New Spain.
The increasing trade between the East and Spain attracted large migrations of Chinese to the Philippines where the majority settled in the district of San Fernando near Manila and thus making the port an important commercial centre, a large warehouse for the distribution of all the merchandise going to and coming from the colonies and Europe. This is why the Spanish refer to the shawl as Manton de Manila.
An item the sailors much admired was the colourful embroidered silk square worn by the Chinese women of that era. It was the present to take back home to wives, mothers, sisters and sweethearts. These squares were viewed only as house adornments for although much admired they were a great contrast to the richly decorated but elegant sober fashion of the Spanish court.
In contrast to Spain, in the Americas the women quickly accepted the Chinese squares, both the Aztecs and the Incas considered textiles their most priced possessions. Writings of the Spanish chroniclers sent at the time of the conquest, describe in great detail the complexity of the Indian patterns and the beauty of their textiles and how, using cotton and other native fibres, the women were very skilful in the art of spinning and weaving.
From Spain came new dyes, fibres; flax and hemp for linen, wool from the Iberian merino sheep and tools from Toledo; steel needles which did not rust or bent so easily, scissors, new stitches etc., and the most important, the spinning wheel and the treadle loom to weave cloth with broader widths which is not possible with the back-strap loom. The skilled weavers soon mastered the use of the new tools and by the end of the sixteenth century New Spain had a well established textile industry. This industry was to expand with the introduction from China of silk worms and plantations of mulberry trees.
The regions of Oaxaca and Puebla in Mexico, become important centres of silk production making possible the growth of another thriving industry, the manufacture of embroidered squares in the Chinese style. By enlarging the size of the square it changes from adornment to a garment covering the body. This shawl or manton was very popular throughout the American continent and for Mexico, an important source of revenue. Based on the Spanish dollar Spain allowed her colonies to mint their own coinage, to trade between each other and not be dependent only on the mother country
The Chinese symbolic motifs and mythical figures gradually disappear, butterflies and floral motifs remained with the addition of native flowers. Designs become larger, the colours stronger much brighter, new stitches are added and the manton loses its Chinese look. Though the strongest influence in the embroideries of New Spain is Spanish, the influence of Chinese embroidery remains strong especially in the stylised decoration of blouses and skirts.
However, this manton found little demand in the mother country where the Chinese squares were much admired for the delicacy of the embroidery and the superior quality of the silk and when, in mid-seventeenth century, the Chinese emperor decreed a change in dress style the commercial production continued. These embroideries were very profitable merchandise which both the Chinese merchants and Spanish importers had no wish to lose.
Without the restrictions imposed by fashion and to meet the demands of the now exclusive European market, it was possible for the importers to introduce a wide range of new designs and colours.
Like the Mexican manton these squares also lost the mythical Chinese figures though some kept butterflies and peacocks. The floral designs included European symbolic flowers, roses, carnations, rosemary etc. For durability the double sided embroidery, mostly in satin stitch, was and is still done using only twisted silk threads.
What is uncertain is when the manton became an item of common wear, it is possible that by the first half of the nineteenth century it was occasionally worn, the strongest evidence we have are portraits painted in the latter half of the nineteenth century of women from the aristocracy and upper classes wearing the manton. By the beginning of the twentieth century both paintings and photographs show it is popular with all classes and that in some areas of the peninsula women in regional costume have adopted the small manton.
Most historians believe that three factors helped to make the manton popular. From mid-eighteenth century Oriental goods where coming direct from the Philippines to Cadiz. The growth of trade with the mother country bringing influences from the colonies. Perhaps the most important factor was the great change in women’s dress during the nineteenth century. Surprisingly, as the manton gained popularity in Spain in the Americas it begun to slowly loose its appeal.
The very wide macramé-knotted fringe is the major difference of the Spanish manton, this was made and added in Spain. It gives the manton graceful movement when walking and weight to drape and fall well from the shoulders. The width of the fringe depends on the size of the embroidered square which can be from 80cm to 180cm and the fringe from 25cm to 38cm. The twisted silk thread is almost always the colour of the fabric and only when the embroidery is of one colour will the fringe complement the design.
With the loss of the East Indies in1898 and the continued unrest in China during the first half of the twentieth century brought the commercial exchange between the two countries to an end after more than 350 years. However, a few small individual workshops had existed in Andalusia and it was this region, with a long history of producing fine textiles and renown for its ecclesiastical embroidery, that emerged as the only producer.
While the ecclesiastical workshops are larger, mostly run by men employing both male and female embroiderers, manton production is all female. Each commercial house will have a selection of designs exclusive to them and once the customer has made a choice of design and colour, two women each working individually at home, will be involved in the making.
First the embroiderer will receive the plain fabric, the design to trace and the colour scheme. On completion of her work will send it to the fringe maker who will do a neat narrow hem to give strength and anchorage for the macramé threads.
Because skilled hand work is now costly some commercial houses are again importing squares from China but sadly the quality can not compare with the older Chinese squares or the Spanish.
Today the manton is normally worn at festivals, as an evening wrap on social occasions and on festive days to decorate balconies specially in the southern and eastern part of Spain.
The pictures are of Tina’s own mantones. The red is the oldest and Chinese as the design of butterflies and peacocks indicates. It was her grandmothers. The blue was her mother’s and is a Spanish 1920 wedding present and the black she bought 11 years ago from an old lady.
