Wrapped in Splendor: The Art of the Paisley Shawl

Exhibition

Wrapped in Splendor: The Art of the Paisley Shawl
Broadbent Gallery, July 1997 - August 1998
Anne Bissonnette, Curator

Tilikar Indian Late Shawls

left:
Long tilikar shawl with white field
Kashmir, India, ca. 1855-80
pieced, twill-tapestry weave 2/2 twill, wool warp and weft,
embroidered outer border, top quality: 8 colors
Collection of the Allen Art Museum, Oberlin
Gift of Catherine H. and Laura M. Dwight, 1949 L1995.17.1037

center left:
Long tilikar shawl with black field
Kashmir, India, ca. 1855-80
pieced, twill-tapestry weave 2/2 twill, wool warp and weft,
embroidered borders, top quality: 9 colors
Kent State University Museum
Silverman/Rodgers Collection, KSUM 1983.1.1544

center right:
Long tilikar shawl with black field
Kashmir, India, ca. 1855-80
pieced, twill-tapestry weave 2/2 twill, wool warp and weft,
embroidered outer borders, top quality: 8 colors
Collection of the Allen Art Museum, Oberlin
Gift of Clarence Ward, 1950, KSUM L1995.17.727

right:
Long tilikar shawl with white field
Kashmir, India, ca. 1855-80
pieced, twill-tapestry weave 2/1 twill, wool warp and weft,
embroidered outer borders, top quality: 8 colors
Kent State University Museum
Silverman/Rodgers Collection, KSUM 1983.1.1541

Tilikar shawls are made of a patchwork of small twill-tapestry woven pieces sewn together. The seams are visible at the back, and because the assembly did not always keep the warp threads aligned, the surface of the shawl often buckles. When European competitors started producing lower-priced goods in the mid-19th century, many Indian weavers were
forced to adopt this faster and cheaper shawl-weaving technique. European tastes also dictated the design of the shawls of this period. When Indian weavers tried to reproduce the preferred late style or "architectural" style, the results were striking and often strange, as seen in the four long tilikar shawls exhibited here. Similarly, the early European copies of
Indian shawls would have seemed odd to Kashmir weavers.