Object Note
Part of a pair along with (ZI2021.500952.12 EUROPE).
Object History
This square (shawl) of possible French origin dating back to the early 19th century was originally a part of the Dr Joan Coleman Collection and was part of a pair along with (ZI2021.500952.12 EUROPE). The Zay Initiative managed to acquire it from Kerry Taylor Auctions in 2021
Dr Joan Coleman began collecting shawls in 1976 and developed her lifelong passion for collecting. She was a regular at the London salesrooms of Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips – three of the most outstanding auction houses of the period in the world – getting to know the dealers and learning in the process. She acquired vast knowledge and dedicated hours carefully cataloguing her ever-growing collection. She intended to loan her collection to different museums and institutions for the benefit of learning and education. Her collection is one of the largest and the finest private shawl collections to have ever graced the world with shawls ranging from Kashmir, Paisley, Edinburgh, Norwich, France, and Iran.
Object Features
This is a square woollen (paisley_shawl) with a possible silk blend primarily in black and scarlet red with a variety of other colours. Probably manufactured in France c. 1830-40 this piece has a (selvedge) to selvedge (twill_tapestry) weave that testifies its (jacquard) loom origin.
The body of the shawl can be roughly divided in two parts – the plain central part in black and a wide frame around it in shades of red and orange. The square black centre is invaded with fronds of swirling thistle-like floral motifs from all around. These motifs are primarily in in orange, scarlet red, (crimson) red, and green with touches of (turquoise)/(pheroza) and pink highlights and emerge from the wide frame around it. This frame is primarily in scarlet, crimson, and orange with touches of olive green and turquoise highlights. It is composed of intricately designed (jaal) swirling floral and elegantly thin (paisley)/(buta) motifs overlapping and curling around each other.
The border of the shawl is an arrangement of three banners running parallel to each other on all four sides. The top and the bottom banners are thin displaying repeats of foliage interjected with a floral motif resembling a (fleur_de_lis) in crimson, olive green, and scarlet with pink highlights. The middle layer which is far wider in comparison to the others is composed of a thick wavy vine in olive green with an intricate floral jaal around it primarily in turquoise, pink, scarlet and touches of ivory for highlights.
While the (weft) ends have been hemmed in with an olive insert, the (warp) ends have panels of different colours – black, scarlet, green, orange and turquoise – with loose threads of corresponding colours hanging in a series of fringes.
Links
- Irwin, John. The Kashmir Shawls. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1981.
- Clabburn, Pamela. Norfolk Museum’s Service Information Sheet : Norwich Shawls. 1987th ed., Norfolk Museum, 1987, http://www.ctacostume.org.uk/uploads/1/1/9/5/119530260/nms_norwich_shawls_info_sheet_1987_compressed__1_.pdf
- Thornton, Zita. “The Norwich Shawl.” Antiques Info, vol. 4, 2001, http://www.antiques-info.co.uk/new/pdf/Mar01/4.pdf
- Hoyet, Helen, “The Story of Norwich Shawls: Norwich Museums Shawls Collection”, https://www.ctacostume.org.uk/norwich-shawls.html
- Hoyt, Helen, et al. “Norwich Shawl.” Costume and Textile Association: Miscellany, 2016, https://www.ctacostume.org.uk/uploads/1/1/9/5/119530260/miscellany_2016_web__1_.pdf
- Skarratt, Ben. “From India to Europe: The Production of the Kashmir Shawl and the Spread of the Paisley Motif.” Global History of Capitalism, University of Oxford, 2018, https://globalcapitalism.history.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/globalcapitalism/documents/media/case_04_-_the_paisley_0.pdf
- “Wrapped in Centuries of Tradition & Culture: The Shawls of Kashmir in European Portrait.” The Heritage Lab: Culture, Art, Museums, 9 Jan. 2019, www.theheritagelab.in/kashmir-shawls-european-portraits/
- Sethi, Ritu. Handmade for the 21st Century: Safeguarding Traditional Indian Textiles. UNESCO, 2022.
- Quaile, Sheilagh Dr. “Cashmere Shawls.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/south-asia/x97ec695a:1500-1850-deccan-south/a/cashmere-shawls
- Van Schoor, Jennifer Ann (2019) The Indian cashmere shawl and social status in British art, 1760-1870. [Thesis] (Unpublished) https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40406/1/VAN%20SCHOOR%20J.A.%20–%20PHD%202019-vol%201.pdf
- Andrew Newey, “Cashmere Country: The Perils of Making the World’s Finest Fabric,” The Guardian (10 January 2020), https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/10/cashmere-country-the-perils-of-making-the-worlds-finest-fabric
- Maskiell, Michelle. “Consuming Kashmir: Shawls and Empires, 1500-2000.” Journal of World History, vol. 13, no. 1, 2002, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20078943
- Zutshi, Chitralekha. “Designed for Eternity: Kashmiri Shawls, Empire, and Cultures of Production and Consumption in Mid-Victorian Britain.” The Journal of British Studies, vol. 48, no. 2, 2009,https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/abs/designed-for-eternity-kashmiri-shawls-empire-and-cultures-of-production-and-consumption-in-midvictorian-britain/8BC637E16F9C0009A4A8097114FC630F
- “Norwich Shawls: Once Ahead of the Game!” Norfolk Tales, Myths and More, 30 Mar. 2019, https://norfolktalesmyths.com/2019/03/30/norwich-shawls-once-ahead-of-the-game/
- “NORWICH WEAVING 1750 -1900.” Paul Harley, 22 May 2019, https://paulharley.wordpress.com/category/norwich-shawls/
- Collecting Guides: Kashmir Shawls, Christie’s, https://www.christies.com/features/Collecting-Guide-Kashmir-Shawls-9890-1.aspx
- A Moon Shawl (Chandar), Christie’s, https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/important-private-collection-kashmir-shawls/moon-shawl-chandar-7/71406
- A Double Sided Long Shawl (Dorukha), Christie’s, https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/important-private-collection-kashmir-shawls/double-sided-long-shawl-doruka-1/71402
- A Kashmir Paisley Shawl, Christie’s, https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/collection-paul-f-walter/kashmir-paisley-shawl-616/46985
- Eastaugh, Nicky. “Norwich Shawls: Past Glory, Present Inspiration.” Nicky Eastaugh’s Learning Log for Textiles, 14 Oct. 2016, nickyeastaughmixedmediafortextiles.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/norwich-shawls-past-glory-present-inspiration-14-october-2016/.
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