Textiles 7


Sash, section and detail, Western Indian, first half 18th century, silk, cotton, and metal threads, length 2.5 metres. Photo: Christoph von Virag © Abegg Stiftung


ROB DEAN ART presents


THE SHANGRI RAMAYANA An online exhibition to coincide with Asian Art in London 2025


Velvet border, detail, Western India (Gujarat), early 17th century, silk. This border was once part of a velvet carpet of the kind typically found in Mughal palaces. Photo: Christoph von Virag © Abegg Stiftung


Mon 27 Oct - Thu 6 Nov 2025


Contact rob@robdeanart.com robdeanart.com


CLICK HERE for more information EXPLORE


a Mughal hunting coat at the V&A


features two examples of these forms of textiles dating from the 18th century – both are so long that they must be presented partially rolled up. Tey are remarkable for their side-borders and decorative end panels and count among the most complex draw loom weavings created in that they were woven in one piece with different pattern programmes for the central field, side-borders, and decorative end panels. A textile fragment with a golden central field and decorative end panels was perhaps oroginally a short sash – this, too, was woven in one piece. Te decorative end panels with their colourful peacocks and parakeets amidst swirling vines are especially charming, while the fringed border on all four sides is a later addition when the original sash was altered. Tese sumptuous sashes and shawls were worn primarily by princes and high- ranking civil servants and were wound round the waist several times, with the patterned end panels draped down decoratively in front of the body. India has a long tradition of resist-dyed


manufacturing cotton


fabrics. It was exporting extravagantly dyed fabrics to Egypt, Africa, and Southeast Asia long before the painted and printed fabrics known as ‘indiennes’ became fashionable in Europe. Te highlight


of this section of the


exhibition is a fragment of a hanging that dates


from the 14th or 15th


century, so before the Mughal period. Its fascinating pattern in various shades of red is so intricate that it is at first sight difficult to grasp. Only when we look longer do the motifs snap into focus: an elephant with two riders, several figures wearing sashes and bearing arms, a rearing horse under a tree, an ornament, etc. A video is


provided to explain the sophisticated dyeing technique that was applied here.


Indian dyers were indeed


specialists. Teir products were remarkable for their high quality and the lightfastness of their colours, and they were coveted all over the world. Tey were an important economic factor, too, and brought the Mughal Empire prosperity. Te last display case contains two


elongated silk pouches made of red silk fabrics with gold brocading, each is tied with a braid bearing a seal. Tese pretty pouches were used to convey letters, and one of the objects on display still contains its original contents. Tis letter, penned in Persian, is also exhibited along with its original paper envelope. A short video presenting the two letter pouches explains the inscriptions on the seals and gives viewers a glimpse of the culture of courtly correspondence once practised in India. Te relationship between the sender and the addressee is reflected both by the letter itself and by the choice of fabric for the pouch. Tese multi-coloured velvets and


artfully patterned silk and cotton fabrics in the show can give us an inkling of the important role played by textiles, whether in the courtly culture of Mughal India or as export wares. All the objects on view attest to the extraordinary variety


and


• Until 9 November, Abegg Stiftung, Riggisberg, Switzerland, abegg-stiftung.ch


sophistication of the textile art that developed under the Mughals. Trough these fragile textiles, and an exotic world of beauty, colour, a sense of the great luxury at the Mughal courts can emerge.


The Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah enthroned receiving his grand vizier Qammar ud-din Khan, Delhi, India, first quarter 18th century, attributed to the artist Chitarman II


+44 (0)20 8761 2522 | islamic@roseberys.co.uk | roseberys.co.uk


Antiquities, Islamic & Indian Art


Friday 31 October


ASIAN ART | OCTOBER 2025


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