Bath Wrap Border
1700-1799 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A bath wrap was a large cloth made from three widths of fabric. People who visited the hamman (public baths) would wrap them round their bodies when they rested after bathing. From about the 1720s onwards Ottoman embroidery stopped copying woven designs and became a truly creative art form. Designers introduced new, lifelike floral decorations, many of which were very detailed. They allowed some floral decorations to sway and sweep across the fabric. Some were stylised. All decorations were worked in soft colours often enriched with metal thread. The colours of many 18th century embroideries were originally very bright but they have faded to pleasing pastel shades.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Linen, embroidered with silk in double running in steps and double running variations (outlines), and with metal thread in double darning on the diagonal |
| Brief description | embroidered, 1700s, Turkish |
| Physical description | Bath WrapBorder, linen embroidered with silk in double running in steps and double running variations (outlines) and with metal thread in double darning on the diagonal. A deep border densely packed with flowers and leaves which can be described as five slightly irregular offset rows each containing a pink flower with separate, thin petals, a leaf-like blossom which is sometimes blue and sometimes green and a gold spiky leaf. There are also small blue and gold leaves outlined with red. One side has been cut and hemmed. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | A bath wrap was a large cloth made from three widths of fabric. People who visited the hamman (public baths) would wrap them round their bodies when they rested after bathing. From about the 1720s onwards Ottoman embroidery stopped copying woven designs and became a truly creative art form. Designers introduced new, lifelike floral decorations, many of which were very detailed. They allowed some floral decorations to sway and sweep across the fabric. Some were stylised. All decorations were worked in soft colours often enriched with metal thread. The colours of many 18th century embroideries were originally very bright but they have faded to pleasing pastel shades. |
| Bibliographic reference | Illustrated in 'Ottoman Embroidery' by Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden (V&A Publications, 2001); plate 63 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 43-1879 |
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| Record created | January 9, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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