Red woven Shawl, Kashmir, 19th Century.

A woven shawl, or doshala, with red centre and floral paisley cones in various colours.

Shawls were woven entirely by hand. Each colour of yarn was wound on a small bobbin and manipulated backwards and forwards through the fixed warp (lengthwise) threads to create the design. Where the different colour areas met, the two yarns were interlocked, producing a characteristic ridge on the back of the fabric. The process of weaving a large shawl, often with a highly complex design, was slow, specialised, laborious work, taking anything from eighteen months to three years to complete.

Though shawls are worn and used as a warm protective garment all over north India today, Kashmir has become synonymous with shawls all over the world. The shawl became a popular fashion item in the nineteenth century with its migration from the foothills of the Himalayas to the salons of early nineteenth-century Europe.

IS.2002-1883