The Stein Collection
- Object:
- Place of origin:
Mazartoghrak, China (excavated)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Felted wool and plain woven silk
- Credit Line:
Stein Textile Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India.
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Image in copyright
These two fragments, one cream felt and one plain woven brown silk, were recovered from the site of Mazartoghrak, which dates from the 8th to the 10th century AD.
The site is also part of an area of Central Asia we now call the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia from China to Europe. The most notable item traded was silk. Camels and horses were used as pack animals and merchants passed the goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. Whilst silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way.
This textile was brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The V&A has around 650 ancient and medieval textiles recovered from the Silk Road by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.
Physical description
Two fragments; one of irregular shaped felt made of cream-coloured wool and the other a strip of monochrome plain weave silk in pale brown.
Place of Origin
Mazartoghrak, China (excavated)
Date
700-1000 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Felted wool and plain woven silk
Dimensions
Length: 9.8 cm largest piece, Width: 5.4 cm largest piece
Object history note
Attached to the felt fragment and the plain woven piece respectively is a circular label showing Stein number possibly in Stein's handwriting or that of his assistant, Miss F M G Lorimer.
Historical context note
Near the shrine of Mazartoghrak in the Tarim Basin, Stein found a small plateau covered with pottery shards and an ancient rubbish mound. Within the heap were fragments of wooden tablets, sticks and paper, which he concluded were refuse from an ancient office. Most were inscribed with Indian Brahmi script, but documents in Chinese and Khotanese language also appeared. He also excavated coarse woollens and cottons along with weaving tools, such as clay loom weights and wooden combs. Stein dated the site to the period of Chinese control over the Tarim Basin, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and he determined that it had been abandoned toward the end of the eight century AD, possibly due to desiccation of the land. The V&A holds, on loan, from Mazartoghrak, fragments of woven silk and wool, tapestry and parts of a string shoe.
Descriptive line
Felted wool and plain woven silk
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Wilson, Verity. 'Early Textiles from Central Asia: Approaches to Study with reference to the Stein Loan Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London', Textile History 26 (1) . Devon: David & Charles/Pasold Research Fund Ltd, 1995, pp.23-52.
Stein, Aurel, Serindia: Detailed Report of Exploration in Central Asia and Westernmost China Carried Out and Described Under the Orders of H.M Indian Government , 5 vols (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1921), vol. I, p. 210.
Associated names
Stein, Marc Aurel (Sir)
Materials
Silk; Wool
Techniques
Plain weave; Felting
Categories
Archaeology; Textiles
Collection code
EAS
