Cover thumbnail 1
Not on display

Cover

1800-1880 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Description: Plain weave cotton embroidered with silk in straight stitches, interlined with plain weave cotton, backed with block-printed cotton and faced with woven silk and cotton.
White cotton ground with a narrow inner and outer border of a fine green meander and thin red leaves. A main border contains outward facing isolated sprigs each with a green serrated leaf, a red and orange flower and a red bud. In the centre of the cover is a lobed medallion formed by a red band which loops to create 4 inward facing boteh-shaped leaves. There is a round flowerhead in the centre with red petals between green and orange leaves. This is encircled by a fine green stem and pointed red flowers. Four red flowers, each with a pair of leaves, fill the medallion. Offset bands of a small curved floral sprig decorate the field; these red flower change direction along the central horizontal axis. The borders and the field are poorly decorated compared with the densely-packed medallion. There is a white cotton interlining but the embroidery has not been worked through this. The backing and the facing have been badly attached and do not fit properly.
Backing: yellow ground with closely-set rows of a floral motif: white and red blossom, purple centre, 2 red buds on pale green stem and leaves.
Facing: striped; bias cut; silk warp and cotton weft. Red, yellow, green., light blue and brown.
The embroidery may be Indian, but the backing and facing are Persian.

Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
cotton yarn, silk thread, weaving, printing, embroidering, sewing.
Brief description
embroidered & quilted, 1800s, Persian
Physical description
Description: Plain weave cotton embroidered with silk in straight stitches, interlined with plain weave cotton, backed with block-printed cotton and faced with woven silk and cotton.
White cotton ground with a narrow inner and outer border of a fine green meander and thin red leaves. A main border contains outward facing isolated sprigs each with a green serrated leaf, a red and orange flower and a red bud. In the centre of the cover is a lobed medallion formed by a red band which loops to create 4 inward facing boteh-shaped leaves. There is a round flowerhead in the centre with red petals between green and orange leaves. This is encircled by a fine green stem and pointed red flowers. Four red flowers, each with a pair of leaves, fill the medallion. Offset bands of a small curved floral sprig decorate the field; these red flower change direction along the central horizontal axis. The borders and the field are poorly decorated compared with the densely-packed medallion. There is a white cotton interlining but the embroidery has not been worked through this. The backing and the facing have been badly attached and do not fit properly.
Backing: yellow ground with closely-set rows of a floral motif: white and red blossom, purple centre, 2 red buds on pale green stem and leaves.
Facing: striped; bias cut; silk warp and cotton weft. Red, yellow, green., light blue and brown.
The embroidery may be Indian, but the backing and facing are Persian.
Dimensions
  • Length: 84cm
  • Width: 65cm
Collection
Accession number
422-1896

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Record createdApril 28, 2009
Record URL
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