Object History
This silk long stole/veil (dupatta) dating back to the late- 19th century was originally a part of the Dr Joan Coleman Collection. It was first purchased on July 28, 1977, at an auction in Christie’s, London, and later The Zay Initiative managed to acquire it from Kerry Taylor Auctions in 2020.
Dr Joan Coleman began collecting shawls in 1976 and developed her lifelong passion for collecting. She was a regular at the London salesroom 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 dupatta is a rectangular piece of bright crimson silk fabric that was woven by hand on a loom, embellished with hand embroidery in gold and silver metal thread on a bright red base. The fabric has minimal, yet intricate stylised (paisley) and floral couched embroidered motifs. The body of the fabric is plain, except for the two diagonal corners that mirror each other, and a broad gold and silver gauze edging border flanked by two lines of embroidered gold and silver floral motifs. The border is a separate patch that is stitched to the central panel and has a simple hem. It is interesting to note that the decorative pattern forming the border in this piece only runs along three sides of the central panel and ends in decorative fringes only at the warp ends.
It has a small rectangular piece of canvas stitched near one of the corners on the underside of the fabric that reads “COLEMAN 77.25.99” – the accession number of the piece while it was a part of the Dr Joan Coleman Collection.
The Kashmiri couching embroidery in gold and silver threads (tilla_dozi) adorns the two mirrored diagonal sides of the dupatta. The motifs are floral teardrop-shaped leaves.
Given the bright red shade of the fabric along with its intricate tilla work there is a high possibility that it could have been a part of a woman’s wedding trousseau.
Links:
- Kerry Taylor Auctions – https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com
- Christie’s – https://www.christies.com
- Sotheby’s – https://www.sothebys.com/en/
- Phillips – https://www.phillips.com
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