Long Shawl with Black Center and Exotic Four-Sided Gallery in Chinoiserie Style (1840s): Art, History and Details

Long Shawl with Black Center and Exotic Four-Sided Gallery in Chinoiserie Style (1840s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This expensive woven shawl has been refreshed—that is, its outdated designs have been replaced with beautiful new decoration. Overlapping pairs of botehs, or paisleys, enliven the original end panels (pallava) whereas the area around the central black rectangle was updated with an exotic four-sided gallery featuring ships, buildings, and flags that suggest Chinese influence. This stunning shawl is composed of seven almost invisibly joined pieces. One large section contains both ends and the continuous side borders while six pieces create the space in the middle. When the shawl was refreshed with the new chic gallery, black pigment—hardly visible—was applied along the edges of the central black section. The inscription may identify the textile’s quality or material content.

Object facts

• Title: Long Shawl with Black Center and Exotic Four-Sided Gallery in Chinoiserie Style
• Date: 1840s
• Culture: India, Kashmir
• Type: Textile
• Technique: wool; 2/2 twill tapestry (S), double interlocked, pieced, refreshed
• Dimensions: Overall: 332.8 x 139.6 cm (131 x 54 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2010.141

Collection credit

Gift of Arlene C. Cooper

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.