Fragment of a Shawl Border (c. 1815–25): Art, History and Details

Fragment of a Shawl Border (c. 1815–25) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Many Kashmiri textiles, even those from the early 1800s, come down to us in fragments. This shawl border was once a part of a larger piece, which could have simply been draped over the body or stitched to the hem of a garment (as many European women did). Owning and wearing such luxury textiles would have been part of indicating one’s social status. Although incomplete, this work still shows the general pattern of the larger shawl, and it retains its vibrant and hypnotizing original color. Dyes were plant-based and are liable to wash out.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of a Shawl Border
• Date: c. 1815–25
• Culture: Kashmir
• Type: Textile
• Technique: wool and silk: tapestry twill
• Dimensions: Overall: 35.9 x 40.3 cm (14 1/8 x 15 7/8 in.); Mounted: 54 x 58.4 cm (21 1/4 x 23 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1934.330

A detail from the museum

Red dyes for textiles could be made from pomegranate skins.

Collection credit

Gift of Dr. E. Rosencrantz

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ames, Frank. The Kashmir Shawl and Its Indo-French Influence. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1997.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.