Silk brocade textile, Varanasi, 19th Century.

Silk woven with gold-wrapped thread. Diagonal stripes (ari-jhari) are ornamented alternately with cones and floral design in gold and many colours on a crimson ground using a technique known as meenakari (enamelling).

Brocade silk is obtained by the interweaving of coloured silk and gold or silver threads. Silk is described as a fibrous substance produced by silk worms in the form of a cocoon or covering within which the creature is enclosed and protected during the period of its transformation. The silk is cultivated and woven into textiles on a loom. Vegetable dyes were used to create colour. Today, chemical dyes have gained popularity as they are cheaper, less time-consuming and produce a larger variety of colours. Associated with ceremonial rites of ancient India, silk has been a highly revered fabric. It continues to be a popular and widely used material.

This piece was bought in India for the Museum for £4.15.10 by Caspar Purdon Clarke in 1882

This piece of brocade is an example of kincob. This anglicised term of uncertain origin, means a rich silk fabric with patterns woven in a weft thread of gold and silver-wrapped thread (zari), made by wrapping gold or silver wire around a silk core (kalabuttu zari). Kincob was usually sold by weight. Varanasi (Benares), an important centre of fine weaving from ancient times, developed as a silk weaving centre during the Mughal period and still has many fine silk weaving workshops.

IS.786-1883