A good quality embroidery, part of a woman's trouser leg nakshe (embroidered in Farsi). Lovely colours and attractive design. Could be used for a cushion or two.
Worked in a professional workshop in Isfahan, Persia, now Iran. This piece was sewn to the bottom of women's voluminous trousers or shalwar. When the trouser was no longer required, the embroidery was removed and sewn onto the next pair of trousers. The design probably originally derives from a woven brocade.These embroideries were often cut up and used for gentleman's waistcoats during the early 19th century and called gilets persans.
Designed with typical slanting rows in two widths, filled with stylised flowerheads in blue/green, terracotta ochre and light brown silks on a natural cotton ground, with one border similarly worked but with dense patches of blue green silks, all in tent stitch, lined with natural cotton.
26 1/2 x 24 in; 68 x 60 cm
Basically in very good condition, no tears, fading or damage. Some of the little flowerheads, the carnations, are not finished. quite why the silks have come away here and there I am not sure, but it does not detract from the look of the piece.
*Textiles of the Islamic World. John Gillow p 161.
Islamic Textiles Patricia L Baker.
Embroidered Textiles. Sheila Paine item 32.
Price: on request
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