Temple Hanging thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Temple Hanging

late 19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Part of a hanging for a shrine (pichhwai) of white cotton, embroidered with a design of cows in three colours: crimson, yellow and cream. The cream-coloured cows are, or were, outlined in crimson, but most of the cream silk and many of the crimson outlines have gone. On the left hand side, running down the length of the cloth, is a border consisting of three sections, a broad border surrounded on both sides by a narrow border. The borders are patterned as follows: in the broad central section is a design of crimson cows, separated by flowering stems in light green, dark bluish-green, with yellow and red flowers. The narrow borders have a design of green and red parrots, yellow and red flowers, and dark bluish-green foliage, alternately. The borders are defined by narrow bands of yellow outlined in red. Typical hook-worked embroidery in concentric circles of chain-stitch, as done by the Mochis (shoemaker caste).


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Woven cotton, embroidered with silk threads in chain stitch
Brief description
Part of a hanging for a shrine (pichhwai), woven cotton embroidered with silk threads, Kutch, Gujurat, India, late 19th century
Physical description
Part of a hanging for a shrine (pichhwai) of white cotton, embroidered with a design of cows in three colours: crimson, yellow and cream. The cream-coloured cows are, or were, outlined in crimson, but most of the cream silk and many of the crimson outlines have gone. On the left hand side, running down the length of the cloth, is a border consisting of three sections, a broad border surrounded on both sides by a narrow border. The borders are patterned as follows: in the broad central section is a design of crimson cows, separated by flowering stems in light green, dark bluish-green, with yellow and red flowers. The narrow borders have a design of green and red parrots, yellow and red flowers, and dark bluish-green foliage, alternately. The borders are defined by narrow bands of yellow outlined in red. Typical hook-worked embroidery in concentric circles of chain-stitch, as done by the Mochis (shoemaker caste).
Dimensions
  • Length: 158cm
  • Width: 151cm
Object history
Transferred from the Circulation department. These objects (IS.6-1977 to IS.41-1977) were in Circulation's travelling exhibition, "The Arts of Village India". They formerly bore the numbers C24959 to C24994. C24984, a cradle-cloth, is missing-stolen at Birkenhead in 1973. (Registered File number 1976/616)

Formerly numbered C24993.
Historical context
The hanging forms half of the back-cloth for an image of the god, Krishna, as worshipped by members of the Vallabhachari sect.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Indian embroidery / Rosemary Crill ; photography by Richard Davis. London: V&A Publications, 1999 Number: 185177310X, 1851772944 (pbk.) Cat. No. 87, p. 19, illus. p. 94.
Collection
Accession number
IS.40-1977

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
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