(CNN) --
In 1660, a ship carrying a collection of luxury items capsized off the coast of Texel, the largest island in the North Sea.
Nearly four centuries later, little remained of the unidentified wooden Dutch vessel.
But as the silt and sand covering the wreck loosened, broken chests began to appear in 2010.
Four years later, divers recovered the chests and brought them to the surface.
Inside were extraordinary objects, the likes of which had never been seen before, according to researchers at the Kaap Skil Museum in the Netherlands, where the exclusive collection of objects is on display.
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The chests were filled with clothing, textiles, silver objects, leather book bindings, and other goods that probably belonged to people of the highest social classes centuries ago.
Some of the most impressive objects are two luxurious dresses practically intact: one of silk and another interwoven with pieces of silver that was probably a wedding dress.
Few 17th-century fabrics or garments survive today, and it's even rarer to find them in shipwrecks because the fabric decomposes so quickly.
"Anne of Denmark", a painting by Juan de Critz the Elder, shows the style of 17th century dresses.
Credit: National Portrait Gallery London/Courtesy Museum Kaap Skil
"When I first saw the clothes, I have to say I was really moved," Emmy de Groot, a textile restorer and consultant who studied the dresses, said in a video shared by the museum.
"Clothes are such a personal thing. And you're holding something in your hands that someone put on their body. How close can you get to someone from the 17th century?"
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The silver dress, revealed in November 2022, has joined an exhibition of objects recovered from what is now known as the Palmwood Shipwreck at the Kaap Skil Museum.
Almost immaculate dresses
The two dresses, both of fine silk, were found together in the same chest.
The first silk gown, originally revealed in 2016, looks like something that could be worn in a period drama rather than an item of clothing that lay at the bottom of the sea for nearly four centuries.
Silk dress with floral decoration found in the Palmwood shipwreck.
Credit: Kaap Skil Museum
Crafted in silk satin damask, the garment features a woven floral print.
The dress includes a bodice, ruffled sleeves, and a pleated skirt that fans out in front, similar to the Western European fashion between 1620 and 1630.
To complete the ensemble, the dress would have had petticoats, sleeves probably trimmed with silk tassels and silver or gold buttons, and a high collar of linen or lace, in addition to other embellishments.
The dress includes cream, red, and brown colors, but researchers believe it started out as a single color.
Over time, the original dyes dissolved, while stains from other garments in the same chest left their mark.
Despite its intricate design and costly fabric, the dress was probably intended for everyday use.
The silver wedding dress, on the other hand, was made for a special occasion and was found in separate pieces, including a bodice and skirt.
The dress features braided silver thread embroidery resembling knotted hearts, as well as real silver discs sewn into the dress.
The silver wedding dress is now on display at the Kaap Skil Museum in the Netherlands.
Courtesy of the Kaap Skil Museum
"Thanks to the silver, the dress would have a formal, light and shiny look," explains curator Alec Ewing.
"It must have been one of the most extraordinary dresses that a lady from the upper social classes of Western Europe had ever worn. Silver discolors and deteriorates relatively quickly in saline environments, but the traces and patterns on the ornaments originals are still visible".
The dress appears brown now, but it probably started out as white, cream, or yellow silk.
"It is incredible what we have discovered here, it is one of the most unique historical finds in history," says Maarten van Bommel, researcher for the exhibition and professor of Conservation Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, in a statement.
"There may only be two such dresses in the whole world. And they are both here on Texel."
On the wedding dress there is a silver drawing of knotted hearts.
Courtesy of the Kaap Skil Museum
The dresses were rinsed to remove excess salt, but very little conservation work was actually required for both garments.
To protect the dresses, which are on display at the museum, they have been stored in special cabinets filled with pressurized nitrogen, which removes all oxygen to prevent deterioration, Ewing explains.
"Thanks to this solution, we hope to be able to display the dress and other treasures for years without damage," he said.
Wedding dress with silver threads.
Credit: Courtesy of the Kaap Skil Museum
hidden treasure
In the same chest where the dresses were found were knitted silk stockings, a tunic, a red bodice, and a dressing table.
Investigators were surprised that none of the items were the same size, so it's possible they belonged to a family that traveled together, according to Ewing.
A vanity set found on the Palmwood shipwreck.
Credit: Kaap Skil Museum
The ship may have transported a wealthy family's artifacts to another country, said Arent Vos, the museum's chief archaeologist.
The velvet tunic, which could have been a caftan, includes a jacket and a short skirt, but the torn edges suggest that the two pieces were conjoined.
The tunic could come from the Ottoman Empire or Eastern Europe.
The bright red dye, derived from insects, was one of the most unique dyes of the 17th century, according to museum researchers.
Velvet tunic.
Credit: Kaap Skil Museum
The red brocade bodice, preserved in excellent detail, would have been worn with sleeves over a skirt.
The buttonholes show where the bodice was attached, and there are traces of the whalebone reinforcements that were used to shape it.
A delicate dressing table set includes a silk-covered brush, remnants of a pincushion, a comb, and a two-door table mirror that was covered in ornate silk velvet.
Inside the toiletry bag, a table mirror with doors was found.
Courtesy of the Kaap Skil Museum
Among the nearby chests were 32 gilt leather-bound books, including one bearing a seal of the coat of arms of the Scottish-English royal Stuart family.
The covers represent the remains of an expensive library, with bindings of books from England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland made in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Book covers with the seal of the Stuart family.
Credit: Kaap Skil Museum
A silver cup broken in three parts was also recovered.
The style of the goblet is similar to goblets made in the late 16th century in Nuremberg, Germany, where many silverware was produced.
On the lid appears Mars, the Roman god of war.
Cup with the representation of Mars, the Roman god of war.
Credit: Kaap Skil Museum
Divers also recovered an ebony staff, an instrument used for navigation and latitude on Dutch ships.
The pieces show the initials of their craftsman, HI, as well as the year 1626.
shipwreck coast
Hundreds of centuries-old shipwrecks lie along the eastern coast of the Texel, which is part of the Netherlands.
The area, formerly known as the Texel Routes, was a central anchorage point for ships plying the European trade routes.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, more than a hundred ships could drop anchor in the Routes at any given time.
Although the shoreline offered some protection from bad weather, it could not shield ships from powerful storms that tossed ships loose from their anchors and smashed them against each other, or stranded them on shoals.
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Catastrophic storms sank between 500 and 1,000 ships before trade routes ceased to use the Texel Routes in the second half of the 18th century.
Since the 1970s some 40 shipwrecks have been located, but little remains of most of them.
Many of the ships disintegrated over time, but the wrecks immediately covered in mud and sediment experienced a slower rate of decay.
"The Routes of Texel", a painting by Johan Reydon, shows what the bustling port looked like in the 17th century.
Courtesy of the Kaap Skil Museum
Divers first located the Palmwood wreck in 2010 in the Burgzand, part of the Wadden Sea east of the Texel.
As the sand continued to wash away the wreck, in the summer of 2014 they became sufficiently exposed that divers could recover some artifacts.
High quality solid palm wood logs were found in the top layer of the wreck which probably represented the original deck of the ship, hence the researchers named it Palmwood as it is unlikely that they will ever discover its identity.
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Without the name of the ship, it will be difficult to definitively attribute an owner's name to the items on the Palmwood, according to Ewing.
But luxury items tell their own story, revealing more about what life was like in the upper echelons of society in the 17th century.
And there are more stories waiting to be told.
"The waters around Texel are littered with shipwrecks, and we hope divers are always on the lookout," says Ewing.
"These other shipwrecks, mostly Dutch merchant ships from the 17th and 18th centuries, are also priceless treasures for further insight into history and heritage. We hope that one or more new shipwrecks will be discovered next year."
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