Textile
ca. 1850 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Kincob, an anglicised term of uncertain origin, is a rich silk fabric with patterns woven in a weft thread of gold and silver-wrapped thread (zari). It is made by wrapping gold or silver wire around a silk core (kalabuttu zari). Kincob was usually sold by weight. Varanasi (Benares), an important centre of fine weaving from ancient times, developed as a silk weaving centre during the Mughal period. The net or trellis pattern (jali, trellis or net)used in this piece was copied in Britain by design 'reformers' such as William Morris and Owen Jones and usually referred to as a 'diaper' pattern.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 3 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Woven silk, gold-wrapped and silver-wrapped thread brocade |
| Brief description | Textile, woven silk, gold-wrapped, silver-wrapped and silk thread brocade, Varanasi, ca. 1850 |
| Physical description | Woven silk with gold ground and diaper design in gold-wrapped and silver-wrapped thread and black and red silk threads, containing flower heads. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | GOLD AND SILVER BROCADED SILKS
Very few Indian textile-makers’ names are recorded, even when their works are collected for their supreme skill. The embroidered inscriptions on these pieces are a rare exception. The Persian script records that they are ‘the workmanship of Baks [Bakhsh] Miyan, resident of Kamalpura, for Mu’in Lal, resident of Gaighat’. These valuable gold and silver brocades (known as kamkhwab or kincob) were displayed in London at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Silk woven with gilded silver and silver-wrapped thread, embroidered with metal-wrapped silk thread
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, about 1850
V&A: 752A&B-1852(03/10/2015-10/01/2016) |
| Object history | This piece was purchased from the 1851 Exhibition for £ 32.10s (£ 32.50) and was described as 'Kinkhob Jhaldar' in the 1852 Inventory. |
| Historical context | This textile was one of several illustrated in Owen Jones's book, The Grammar of Ornament, (London, 1856). |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Kincob, an anglicised term of uncertain origin, is a rich silk fabric with patterns woven in a weft thread of gold and silver-wrapped thread (zari). It is made by wrapping gold or silver wire around a silk core (kalabuttu zari). Kincob was usually sold by weight. Varanasi (Benares), an important centre of fine weaving from ancient times, developed as a silk weaving centre during the Mughal period. The net or trellis pattern (jali, trellis or net)used in this piece was copied in Britain by design 'reformers' such as William Morris and Owen Jones and usually referred to as a 'diaper' pattern. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 752-1852 |
About this object record
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| Record created | July 28, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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