Wall hanging (pardah) (1850–75): Art, History and Details

Wall hanging (pardah) (1850–75) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Eye-dazzling patterns with saturated colors demonstrating the ikat technique provided vibrant wall hangings for the reception rooms of the urban elite in Central Asia. In this splendid example comprising five loom widths, three lengths display popular amulet designs while the two inner lengths are precursors to the bold chevron designs of the late 19th century. The irregular contours—telltale indicators of ikat—are masterfully controlled with five rich colors. In the ikat technique, designs are dyed on the warp (vertical thread) in a resist-dye process before being woven. Thread is tightly wrapped around the warp to prevent dye penetration in each area of color, beginning with the lightest shades to the darkest. This labor-intensive process produces vivid colors and fuzzy contours.

Object facts

• Title: Wall hanging (pardah)
• Date: 1850–75
• Culture: Uzbekistan, Bukhara
• Type: Textile
• Technique: warp ikat, warp-faced plain weave; silk warp; cotton weft; 5 panels./ lining: printed cotton, plain weave; 2 panels
• Dimensions: Overall: 192.4 x 144.2 cm (75 3/4 x 56 3/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2006.152

Collection credit

Gift of Guido Goldman

Further reading listed by the museum

• Marechal, Andrea and Daniel Shaffer. "Ikat: Guido Goldman Collector. HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles. Issue 27, vol. 7, no. 3 August/September 1985.
• Gill, Elizabeth. “Retinal Art?” HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles. [London] Issue 93, July 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.