Odni Shawl (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
This densely patterned woolen textile is a combination of several pieces from a larger, likely square, shawl. After many years of use, the original was likely cut up and its better-preserved portions repurposed into the present configuration. The Kashmir shawl is one of India’s major contributions to the history of world textiles. The oldest patterned examples were woven, like this one, on horizontal looms using the laborious twill-tapestry technique, whereby intricate figuration was created by handweaving into the warp variously colored weft threads on hundreds of tiny spools. Kashmir shawls were highly prized in India, especially among North India’s princely and noble families, and by the late 18th century, their fame had spread to Europe. As demand for the textiles increased, less labor-intensive methods replaced the twill-tapestry technique. First came hand-stitched embroidered copies, followed by machine-made imitations from Britain and France. The Scottish town of Paisley became synonymous with the latter, and by the end of the 19th century, the cottage industry supporting Kashmir’s most famous export had collapsed.
Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Paul Mellon
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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