woman's tunic (aba)

woman's tunic (aba) , 1800s–early 1900s

Where object was made: Gujarat, India

Material/technique: satin; silk; embroidering; mirror

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 1928.0874

Not on display

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Label texts

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

"We must not think of ornament as something added to an object which might have been ugly without it. The beauty of anything unadorned is not increased by ornament, but made more effective by it. It is generally by means of what we now call its decoration that a thing is ritually transformed and made to function spiritually as well as physically."
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877–1947)
Curator of Indian Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art, 1943

A woman’s wedding tunic was an important part of her dowry, often given to her by the groom’s family. One of three in Sallie Casey Thayer’s collection, this Islamic bride’s aba would have been worn with an odhani, or richly embroidered cloth extending from the head almost to the ground, and wide embroidered pants with narrow cuffs.
The tiny mirrors were made by blowing glass into spheres, silvering the spheres on the inside, and then splintering them. Sometimes bits of mica were substituted for glass. Glassmaking was a specialized occupation, and mirror glass was sold in open-air markets. The mirrors not only sparkled in the light, but also were intended to ward off evil spirits by confronting them with their own reflections.

Exhibition Label:
“Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art,” Nov-2005, Mary Dusenbury
The tiny “mirrors” on this Islamic bride’s wedding tunic not only sparkled in the light, but also were intended to ward off evil spirits by confronting them with their own images.
Mirror glass was made by blowing glass into spheres, silvering the spheres on the inside, and then splintering them. Sometimes bits of mica were substituted for glass. Glassmaking was a specialized occupation, and mirror glass was sold in open-air markets.