Silk samples
Bag
ca. 1817 (made)
ca. 1817 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Striped silk bag with black fringes containing six labelled filatures (skeins of silk) and a corresponding letter with insert. The letter is dated 1818 and gives instructions for the purchase of raw silk in Bengal. The printed insert dated 1817 gives the current prices for silk purchase by region, quality, and buyer.
Five of the six silk skeins originally had folded paper labels wrapped within them. The labels were removed and flattened in 2015 to reveal the identity of their corresponding skeins.
Five of the six silk skeins originally had folded paper labels wrapped within them. The labels were removed and flattened in 2015 to reveal the identity of their corresponding skeins.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 13 parts.
|
| Title | Silk samples (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Silk and paper |
| Brief description | Silk bag containing six labelled skeins of silk with a corresponding letter, Bengal, ca. 1817 |
| Physical description | Striped silk bag with black fringes containing six labelled filatures (skeins of silk) and a corresponding letter with insert. The letter is dated 1818 and gives instructions for the purchase of raw silk in Bengal. The printed insert dated 1817 gives the current prices for silk purchase by region, quality, and buyer. Five of the six silk skeins originally had folded paper labels wrapped within them. The labels were removed and flattened in 2015 to reveal the identity of their corresponding skeins. |
| Marks and inscriptions | Letter reads:
Wardle Esq
with N J Thompson's compts
Jany 1818
Instructions for the purchase of Raw Silk in Bengal
Great care should be taken that none should be purchased but the first Filatures viz: "Novis"
Commercolly / Gonatea - equally good and stand first in estimation
Cossimbuzar / Rangpore / Jungypore - second - do - do
Radnagore - third - do -do
and that they are of a good colour and quality that is soft to the feel, also of a clean, that is free from slubs, and even thread the size is not so very material but is quite requisite they should be clean and of an even thread.
Good "Skein Silks" or as they are call'd in Bengal "Country wound Silks" are almost always sure of a good Sale and the same care is necessary in the selecting these as the Filature Silks namely that they are clean and even, but these should not be fine. The coarser they are the better provided they are clean and even. The best are Jannahs / Bauleah / Radnagore / Jungypore
Gonatea Jassah's / Commercolly EPs - must not be bought on any account as there is no sale for them in this market
1 Feb 1818
Your ms obn Sert
N (illegible) Ja Thompson
Insert: 2nd SEPTEMBER SALE, 1817 Current Prices of SILK sold by the EAST INDIA COMPANY 19th JANUARY, 1818; -Prompt the 17th APRIL, 1818
(Chart of pricing by quality and region, both Company and Private rates) |
| Gallery label |
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| Place depicted | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.57 to L-1990 |
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| Record created | June 25, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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