Portion of a sari border, India, 17th century (Metropolitan Museum).
Portion of a sari border, India, 17th century (Metropolitan Museum).
Clamp-resist dyed silk, India, 17th century
This length of silk was traded to China, where it was used
to line an embroidered coverlet. Clamp-resist dying is a technique for
producing polychrome textiles, where a folded cloth is tightly pressed and
clamped between pairs of wooden blocks carved with the desired
decorative pattern. The whole unit is then immersed in a dye bath where drilled channels in the blocks permit dye to flow into selected areas.
Channels for different colors allow dyes to be applied sequentially, as
openings are sealed or unsealed for each hue.
(Metropolitan Museum)
Silk brocade with tulip pattern, Turkey, 16th century (in the Met).
Feasting courtiers and a worried-looking sun in the border of a Safavid silk carpet; the centre shows scenes of hunting and combat between dragons and phoenixes. The courtiers seem entertained.
The whole carpet measures 189 x 88 inches (4.8 x 2.3 metres), with up to 810 knots per square inch. It is thought to have been made in Persia ca. 1530 for Shah Tamasp (r. 1524–1576), and designed by Aqa Mirak and Sultan Muhammad, leading painters at the Safavid court.
From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Silk fukusa (gift cover) embroidered with a flight of cranes, Japan, 1800-50, Edo period. Museum no. T.20-1923. VAM
(Source: vam.ac.uk, via forgetfuldepths-deactivated2016)
Silk afternoon dress (1847-1850). British.
Image and text courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Girl’s short silk jacket and trousers, China, ca. 1880-1920.
After marriage, women tended to wear a wrap-around skirt over the trousers
(V&A)
Lampas-weave silk, Spain, 14th century.
The pattern, which appears continuous, has been adapted to the system of ‘repeats’ needed to produce a textile. Each design unit contains an eight-pointed star, a quatrefoil
and two roundels. The compartments they form are filled with a variety of smaller motifs, from interlace patterns in green or blue to tiny knots and fleurs-de-lis.Textiles with geometrical interlace of this type were mainly produced in southern Spain and North Africa. This example was probably made in south-west Spain in the 14th century, perhaps in Granada, which was the capital of the Muslim Nasrid dynasty from about 1232 to 1492.
Such silks were not only used in Spain. They seem also to have been popular in Italy. This piece formed part of a hanging behind a large wooden statue of the Virgin Mary in Florence. It was bought there in the 19th century. (V&A)
(Source: collections.vam.ac.uk)
Silk Velvet Furnishing Fabric
Bursa, Turkey, late 16th century.
The following is from Tim Stanley, Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East, London: V&A Publications, 2004, p.125:
“In the fifteenth century, the weavers of Florence and Venice were the main producers of velvet for both the European and Middle Eastern markets […]. At the Ottoman court it was eventually decided to mount a challenge to the Italian predominance in this field, and looms were established at Bursa, a great silk-trading and manufacturing centre in north-west Anatolia. It is not known precisely when this occurred, but by the end of the century Bursa’s velvet-weavers were involved in disputes about a fall-off in quality, predicated on an earlier golden age when standards were high. Bursa velvets continued to be produced over the following two centuries, and the influence of Italian models can be observed over a good deal of this period.
"Some examples from Bursa mimic Italian patterns in their entirety.[1] Others display designs based on very similar principles, but with the individual elements changed.[2] In others still, however, the native tradition has triumphed. (V&A)
Silk animal carpet, Iran, probably Kashan, second half 16th century
“This is one of a small group of carpets woven entirely of silk with approximately 800 knots per square inch, representing the highest level of production in sixteenth‑century Iran. In contrast to the other floral and geometric carpets in this group, this outstanding example displays a painterly approach, with images of animals in combat against a background of flowering plants. The range of animals includes lions, tigers, and rams, as well as spotted dragons and horned, deerlike beasts borrowed from Chinese art. Similar imagery appears on manuscript paintings and lacquer bookbindings produced at the same time.”
(via timur-i-lang)