Textile Panel thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Textile Panel

1770-1800 (Made), 1820-1840 (restored)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Plain weave cotton embroidered with silk in surface darning on the diagonal and running stitch, backed with roller-printed plain weave cotton and faced with bias-cut woven silk. Much of the ground has been re-worked in tambour stitch. This means that the backing was not in place while the tambour stitch was worked; it is probable that the roller printed cottons are of a later date.
The black ground has diagonal lines of four-pointed stars each containing a swastika with a diamond centre. The colours of the lines alternate. From lower left to upper right: [1] blue star with white swastika and dark red star with white swastika; [2] pink star with dark blue swastika and orange star with cream swastika. The border is a blue ground with a line of pink cartouches and dark red octagonal stars. The backing consists of two pieces of roller-printed cotton. The larger section has a white ground almost entirely covered with grey leaves with small dark red flower heads. The smaller piece also has a white ground, with tiny flower heads with red centres, and dark purple leaves and purple coral-like patterns.
The facing is in striped woven silk: [a] white ground with two types of small floral sprig in pink and green [b] red ground with two different small floral sprigs in green. There are narrow yellow and green stripes between [a] and [b].
Colours (Embroidery threads, 2S silk): orange, blue, dark blue, dark red, pink, black, white, cream and possibly other shades of off-white; (Backing): white, grey, red, dark red, purple; (Facing): white, pink, green, red, yellow.



Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Cotton yarn, silk thread, weaving, roller-printing, embroidering, sewing
Brief description
Middle East, Textile; Panel, silk-embroidered cotton, packed design of four-armed swastikas in diagonal stripe formation against black ground, Azerbaijan or NW Iran, possibly 1770-1800
Physical description
Plain weave cotton embroidered with silk in surface darning on the diagonal and running stitch, backed with roller-printed plain weave cotton and faced with bias-cut woven silk. Much of the ground has been re-worked in tambour stitch. This means that the backing was not in place while the tambour stitch was worked; it is probable that the roller printed cottons are of a later date.
The black ground has diagonal lines of four-pointed stars each containing a swastika with a diamond centre. The colours of the lines alternate. From lower left to upper right: [1] blue star with white swastika and dark red star with white swastika; [2] pink star with dark blue swastika and orange star with cream swastika. The border is a blue ground with a line of pink cartouches and dark red octagonal stars. The backing consists of two pieces of roller-printed cotton. The larger section has a white ground almost entirely covered with grey leaves with small dark red flower heads. The smaller piece also has a white ground, with tiny flower heads with red centres, and dark purple leaves and purple coral-like patterns.
The facing is in striped woven silk: [a] white ground with two types of small floral sprig in pink and green [b] red ground with two different small floral sprigs in green. There are narrow yellow and green stripes between [a] and [b].
Colours (Embroidery threads, 2S silk): orange, blue, dark blue, dark red, pink, black, white, cream and possibly other shades of off-white; (Backing): white, grey, red, dark red, purple; (Facing): white, pink, green, red, yellow.

Dimensions
  • Height: 750mm
  • Width: 730mm
Style
Credit line
Given by Sir Frank Brangwyn RA
Production
This embroidery belongs to Group 3 as described by Jennifer Wearden, 'Azerbaijanian Embroideries: A Synthesis of Contrasts', Hali 59 (1991) pp. 102-111.
Group 3 textiles are characterised by surface darning on the diagonal and date from the middle of the 18th century into the early part of the 19th century.

A similar piece, catalogued as 17th/18th century, is Inv. No. 15-420 in the Iparmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest. It was published by Zsuzsa Gombos in 'Azerbaijan', Hali 26 (April 1985) pp.26-29.
Bibliographic reference
Collection
Accession number
T.50-1940

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Record createdMay 19, 1999
Record URL
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