Kashmir shawl

Kashmir shawl , circa 1875–1899

Where object was made: Kashmir, India

Material/technique: embroidering; twill; cashmere; wool

Dimensions:
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 318 x 143 cm
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 56 5/16 x 125 3/16 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 1928.0754

Not on display

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Civic Leader and Art Collector: Sallie Casey Thayer and an Art Museum for KU

In the second and third quarters of the 19th century, the patterned borders of Kashmir shawls expanded into the central field of these garments and shrank to a small medallion in the 1860s. The buta, or bent-tipped cone motif, became increasingly elongated, enhancing the fashionable silhouettes of Parisian women. Used as an element of abstract design, the motif changed orientations and size within a single shawl, intertwined with adjoining cones, and visually moved in and out of an elaborate field. On later shawls such as this one, the emphasis shifts from the quality of the fiber to the design.