Blue Coat with Floral Motifs
mid 18th-early 19th century
Description
The careful composition of this coat belies that it is constructed from a number of different fabrics. The main textile is a blue silk satin ground weave featuring delicate flowers in rows of alternating direction. The primary border features another complex weave, patterned with other colorful flowers and white birds. Smaller bands composed of black cotton, printed cotton known as qalamkari, and salmon-colored silk round out this magnificent coat. Paintings from the late Safavid to Qajar periods show women in courtly settings wearing such delicate, outer-garments. This coat could have been worn in such a context and would certainly have been layered over other richly patterned dress textiles.
Dimensions
88 x 165.5 cm (34 5/8 x 65 3/16 in.)
Related Artworks
View MoreTextile fibers
20th centuryGermanFiber
JapaneseSilk, woven with complementary wefts, inner warps, and binding warps in plain weave (taqueté)
18th centurySilk lampas
17th centurySpanishBook of swatches mounted on paper (56 sheets)
19th-20th centuryJapaneseSatin
JapaneseWool pile
20th centuryPersianwool pile on a foundation of cotton warps and wefts
17th centuryIslamicFiber
Italianwool pile on a foundation of cotton warps and wefts
19th centuryIslamicTapestry woven in colored wools (chiefly blue) and undyed linen thread. Loop pile of linen thread.
4th-5th century CEByzantine