The Stein Collection
Textile
400-1000 (made)
400-1000 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
It is unclear what these textile fragments of various material, including felt, strings and plain woven red silk, would have been used for. They were recovered from an area 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.
These textiles were 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 by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. The textiles range in date from the 2nd century BC to the 12th century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.
These textiles were 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 by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. The textiles range in date from the 2nd century BC to the 12th century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Stein Collection (named collection) |
| Materials and techniques | Felted and plain woven wool, plain woven silk, animal hair and plant fibre, stitching |
| Brief description | Several fragments of various material, including felt, strings and plain woven red silk. |
| Physical description | Several fragments including one rectangular piece of plain woven red silk with the remains of plain woven yellow silk stitched to one edge, one small stitched fragment of felted wool, several short strings of plant fibre, some twisted strands of animal hair, one small fragment of plain woven cream wool and two heavily plastered woven pieces. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| 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 | Endere was once an important military post and centre of Buddhist worship on the southern Silk Road. Coins found there indicate that the Chinese controlled the area as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), Endere fell to the Tibetans and the city was abandoned in the ninth century AD, when the nearby Endere River changed its course. Stein excavated there in 1901 and 1906, locating remains of its great fort and a number of buildings devoted to Buddhist worship. In one shrine he found textile rags and fragments of Buddhist manuscripts deposited at the feet of stucco statuary, possibly as votive offerings. Written in Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit and other scripts, they suggested that the shrine had drawn worshippers from far and wide. The V&A holds, on loan, a number of textiles from Endere, including tanned leather, wool felts and yarns, woven silk, and braided plant fibres. |
| Production | Has been stored with objects from Endere, although has no identifying Stein number itself. |
| Association | |
| Summary | It is unclear what these textile fragments of various material, including felt, strings and plain woven red silk, would have been used for. They were recovered from an area 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. These textiles were 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 by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. The textiles range in date from the 2nd century BC to the 12th century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals. |
| Bibliographic reference | Stein, Aurel, Sir. Ancient Khotan; Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan, 2 vols. (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1907), vol. I. |
| Other number | Unknown - Stein number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:STEIN.103 |
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| Record created | January 28, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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