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Farshi Paijama

c.1830-40 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Lucknow (made)
Avadh (made)

Acquired by the India Museum as the dress of the 'Queen of Oudh', this extravagant Lucknavi ensemble is more likely to have been designed for a young girl's betrothal ceremony or possibly a for wear by a court dancer. It was received by the India Museum via the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and it is possible the ensemble was made especially for the display. However, the style of the ensemble corresponds with Lucknavi fashions of the 1830s-1840s, which suggests the outfit may be of an earlier date.

Object details

Categories
Clothing
Textiles
Womenswear
India Museum
Court
Object type
Farshi paijama
Materials and techniques
Embroidered silk with applied gold ribbon
Brief description
Women's court trousers (farshi paijama), silk muslin with gold and silver braid and pompoms, Lucknow, c.1830-40.
Physical description
A pair of women's embroidered trousers with very wide legs. Each leg is made up of 17 triangular panels and one rectangular panel. The fabric is of thin silk with applied gold ribbon (gota) and gold pompoms.
Dimensions
  • Length: 106cm
  • At hem of each leg circumference: 406cm
Dimensions taken from Ritu Kumar, Costumes and Textiles of Royal India, London, 1999, p.249.
Gallery label
(Nehru Gallery, 2001)
WOMAN'S COURT COSTUME: Silk with gold and silver braid and pompoms. Lucknow, C.1830-40. This extravagant costume would have been worn by a dancer or noblewoman at the flamboyant Lucknow Court, although the fashion for exaggeratedly wide trousers like these worn under a full, shorter overdress was popular in several centres of North India during the first half of the 19th century. Women wearing such costumes are shown in the large Lucknow painitngs on the back wall of this case and in the smaller Company style paintings from North India in the unit to the right.
Object history
Transferred from the India Museum in 1879. India Museum Slip book entry 8216: 'Costume as worn by the Queen of Oudh / Lucknow / 55 / Robe Bodice & Cholee / Trowsers & Shawl / Shoes having Bells on attached / Gold Turban flat Top.'
Summary
Acquired by the India Museum as the dress of the 'Queen of Oudh', this extravagant Lucknavi ensemble is more likely to have been designed for a young girl's betrothal ceremony or possibly a for wear by a court dancer. It was received by the India Museum via the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and it is possible the ensemble was made especially for the display. However, the style of the ensemble corresponds with Lucknavi fashions of the 1830s-1840s, which suggests the outfit may be of an earlier date.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Ritu Kumar, Costumes and Textiles of Royal India, London, Christies, 1999, pp. 249-53.
  • India's fabled city : the art of courtly Lucknow / Stephen Markel with Tushara Bindu Gude ; and contributions by Muzaffar Alam ... [et al.]. Munich ;London: Prestel, Johann Gottlieb, c2010 Number: 9783791350752 (hbk.), 3791350757 (hbk.) cat. no. 190, p. 231.
Other number
8216 - India Museum Slip Book
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
0646(IS)

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Record createdJuly 17, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O163754/farshi-paijama-unknown/
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