Kamkhwab thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

This object consists of 10 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Kamkhwab

c.1855 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Fragments of a length of crimson silk brocaded with rows of a repeating grape-bunch motif (angoori-buta). Each tear-drop shaped buta consists of a silver brocaded base, with centre of silver-gilt blossoms and green (now faded) stems and vines, framed by a row of smaller blossom and leaves in silver-gilt and green. The butas are interspersed with silver-gilt blossoms. At the bottom of fragment 9624(IS) there is a green appliqued label, embroidered and couched with metal-wrapped thread.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 10 parts.
(Some alternative part names are also shown below)
  • Kamkhwab
  • Brocade
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
  • Textile
Materials and techniques
Woven silk with discontinuous supplementary weft (brocade) of silk, silver and silver-gilt wrapped thread
Brief description
Silk brocaded with silk, silver and silver-gilt wrapped thread (kamkhwab or kincob), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, c.1855; Textiles
Physical description
Fragments of a length of crimson silk brocaded with rows of a repeating grape-bunch motif (angoori-buta). Each tear-drop shaped buta consists of a silver brocaded base, with centre of silver-gilt blossoms and green (now faded) stems and vines, framed by a row of smaller blossom and leaves in silver-gilt and green. The butas are interspersed with silver-gilt blossoms. At the bottom of fragment 9624(IS) there is a green appliqued label, embroidered and couched with metal-wrapped thread.
Dimensions
  • 9624( is) length: 113cm
  • 9624( is) width: 77cm
Marks and inscriptions
'KAMKHAB / ANGURYBUTA / BY BAK SHU'
Translation
Kincob / Grape-bunch motif / by Bak Shu
Gallery label
(01/08/2017)
LENGTH OF KAMKHWAB
By Bakshu
Woven silk, metal-wrapped thread
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
c. 1855

Indian textiles were a great source of inspiration to European designers. However, the weavers who made them were generally uncredited. This length of kamkhwab (‘kincob’), a densely woven brocade of silk and metal-wrapped thread, was sent to the 1855 Paris Exhibition. Unusually, it was embroidered with both the name of the pattern, angoori-buta, meaning a grape bunch motif, and the name of its weaver, Bakshu.
Object history
Transferred from the India Museum in 1879. India Museum slip book entry 4058: 'Brocade / Kincob / 1855 / Benares / Small Pine Leafs Crimson Yellow Gold and Silver / These Articles Were Exh'd at Dublin & lent by Secty of State for India to Scotland Which Accounts for their being out of [illegible] order in the Book.' Swatches from the original textile appear in John Forbes Watson's Second Series of The Textile Manufactures of India (1874) vol.401-458, no.407.
Associated object
0669(IS) (Part)
Bibliographic reference
Watson, J. Forbes, et al. Collection of Specimens and Illustrations of the Textile Manufactures of India. Second Series, India Museum, 1874. 'KINCOB. / Length, 5 Yds. 3 Ins.; Width, 30 Ins.; Weight, 3 lb. 8 oz. 14 dr. Price per Yard £4 10s. / BENARES. / NO.407, SECOND SERIES. / "4058".'
Other number
4058 - India Museum Slip Book
Collection
Accession number
9624(IS)

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
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