Silk yarn thumbnail 1
Silk yarn thumbnail 2
Not on display

This object consists of 2 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Silk yarn

Silk Yarn
2014 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (maker)
Place of origin
India (made)

Silk is reeled or spun from the filaments of the silkworm’s cocoon and then woven. Indian ‘wild’ silks come from the larvae of the Antheraea genus of moths, which are native to eastern and central India. Mulberry silk was introduced to India from China about 2000 years ago. Different parts of silk cocoons are used to make different textures of silk yarn.

Object details

Category
Textiles
Object type
Silk yarn
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Silk Skein
  • Silk Skein
TitleSilk yarn (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Handspun mulberry silk waste
Mulberry
Hand Spinning
Brief description
Handspun mulberry waste (fesua) silk yarn, India, 2014
Physical description
Two skeins of undyed, handspun mulberry waste yarn (fesua)
Gallery label
(03/10/2015-10/01/2016)
SILK SKEINS AND COCOONS

Silk is reeled or spun from the filaments of the silkworm’s cocoon and then woven. India’s ‘wild’ silks come from the larvae of the Antheraea genus of moths, which are native to eastern and central India. Mulberry silk was introduced to India from China about 2000 years ago. Different parts of silk cocoons are used to make different textures of silk yarn.

Silk skeins
(Top, left to right): eri, tasar (semi-bleached ghicha), mulberry waste (fesua), muga (machine-reeled)
(Bottom): muga (ghicha), tasar (jhurri), tasar (nassi), tasar (katia)
Assam, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, 2014
V&A: IS.16 to 23-2015

Silk cocoons
(left to right): Muga silkworm, eri silkworm, mulberry silkworm
Assam, 2006
Private collection

Mulberry silk skeins
Bengal, 1818
V&A: IS.57-1990
Associations
R. K. Consultants
Kapur Chishti
Summary
Silk is reeled or spun from the filaments of the silkworm’s cocoon and then woven. Indian ‘wild’ silks come from the larvae of the Antheraea genus of moths, which are native to eastern and central India. Mulberry silk was introduced to India from China about 2000 years ago. Different parts of silk cocoons are used to make different textures of silk yarn.
Bibliographic reference
Miller, Lesley Ellis, and Ana Cabrera Lafuente, with Claire Allen-Johnstone, eds. Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2021. ISBN 978-0-500-48065-6. This object features in the publication Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion (2021)
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IS.16:1,2-2015

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Record createdFebruary 17, 2015
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1307792/silk-yarn-silk-yarn-unknown/
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