The Stein Collection
Fragment
200 - 400 (made)
200 - 400 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
These are two fragments, one large and one small, of polychrome patterned weave in wool with an all over lozenge design. Each lozenge has a centre stem and, at top, a spot to represent a flower. A narrow band of alternate blue and yellow and white and yellow passes transversely through the red lozenges. It is unclear what this textile would have been used for, although it is likely to have had a utilitarian function as well as a decorative purpose.
The fragments were recovered from Loulan, a site which dates from the 3rd to 4th century AD. Loulan is remarkable for its carved wooden capitals, beams and balustrades that show clear affinities with the western classical decoration that filtered through Iran and Northwest India. The site is part of an area of Central Asia now called the Silk Road, which consisted of a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia, from China to Europe. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India along this route.
These textiles were brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of animals.
The fragments were recovered from Loulan, a site which dates from the 3rd to 4th century AD. Loulan is remarkable for its carved wooden capitals, beams and balustrades that show clear affinities with the western classical decoration that filtered through Iran and Northwest India. The site is part of an area of Central Asia now called the Silk Road, which consisted of a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia, from China to Europe. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India along this route.
These textiles were brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of animals.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Stein Collection (named collection) |
| Materials and techniques | Pattern woven wool |
| Brief description | Pattern woven wool in red, yellow, white and blue |
| Physical description | Two fragments, one large and one small, of polychrome patterned weave wool in blue, white, red and yellow. The design is an allover lozenge pattern, each lozenge with a centre stem dividing into two leaves and bearing, at the top, a spot to represent a flower. A narrow band of alternate blue and yellow, white and yellow passes transversely through the red lozenges. Dye Analysis: Color detected: red Compounds detected: alizarin + purpurin Possible dye source: madder root Color detected: yellow Compounds detected: no colorant compounds have been detected |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Credit line | Stein Textile Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India |
| Historical context | Loulan was once an important garrison town which lay between the Pei shan and Taklamakan deserts on the Silk Road. The city was also a centre of Buddhist worship. When Sven Hedin explored the site in 1900, he discovered remains of a stupa, reliefs depicting Buddhas among lotuses, and statues of deities. This strategically important city is mentioned in Chinese records for the first time in 176 BC with the conquest by the Xiongnu, but the area fell under Chinese control around 100 BC. Located in the middle of the Silk Road, Loulan had contacts with many cultures, represented by hundreds of documents in Chinese, Indian Kharosthi, and Sogdian scripts which were unearthed by Hedin and Stein. A woollen cloth, which Stein found in a tomb, depicted the head of Hermes and his caduceus, or staff, in the classical style of western Asia. He also unearthed a number of mummies with feathered felt caps and arrow shafts by their sides; which indicated that a community of herdsmen and hunters had inhabited the region long before various imperial conquests. Loulan flourished until the fourth century AD, when it was abandoned, due to the desiccation of a nearby lake, Lop Nor. The V&A holds, on loan, a large number of textiles from Loulan, including cotton, wool and figured silks, carpet and tapestry fragments. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Association | |
| Summary | These are two fragments, one large and one small, of polychrome patterned weave in wool with an all over lozenge design. Each lozenge has a centre stem and, at top, a spot to represent a flower. A narrow band of alternate blue and yellow and white and yellow passes transversely through the red lozenges. It is unclear what this textile would have been used for, although it is likely to have had a utilitarian function as well as a decorative purpose. The fragments were recovered from Loulan, a site which dates from the 3rd to 4th century AD. Loulan is remarkable for its carved wooden capitals, beams and balustrades that show clear affinities with the western classical decoration that filtered through Iran and Northwest India. The site is part of an area of Central Asia now called the Silk Road, which consisted of a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia, from China to Europe. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India along this route. These textiles were brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of animals. |
| Bibliographic reference | 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. 434; vol. IV, pl. XXXVII. |
| Other number | L.A.IV.004 - Stein number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:STEIN.596 |
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| Record created | January 20, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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