The Stein Collection
Fragment
700-1000 (made)
700-1000 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This fragment of plain woven buff wool has remains of stripes in brown at one end. It is unclear what this textile would have been used for, although it may have been part of a shoe. The piece was recovered from the site of Mazartoghrak, which dates from the 8th to the 10th century AD.
The site is part of an area now referred to as 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 their goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas – while silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way.
These fragments 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 twentieth century. The textiles range in date from the second century BC to the twelfth century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.
The site is part of an area now referred to as 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 their goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas – while silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way.
These fragments 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 twentieth century. The textiles range in date from the second century BC to the twelfth 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 | Plain woven wool |
| Brief description | Plain woven piece of buff and brown wool. |
| Physical description | Piece of plain weave buff wool striped in brown at one end. |
| 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. |
| Object history | Attached to fragment is a circular tag label showing Stein number possibly in Stein's handwriting or that of his assistant, Miss F M G Lorimer. According to Stein this fragment once was part of a shoe upper. |
| Historical context | 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. |
| Summary | This fragment of plain woven buff wool has remains of stripes in brown at one end. It is unclear what this textile would have been used for, although it may have been part of a shoe. The piece was recovered from the site of Mazartoghrak, which dates from the 8th to the 10th century AD. The site is part of an area now referred to as 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 their goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas – while silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way. These fragments 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 twentieth century. The textiles range in date from the second century BC to the twelfth century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals. |
| Associated objects | |
| 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. 210. |
| Other number | M.T.008.b - Stein number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:STEIN.146 |
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| Record created | February 4, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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