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1946.7.69

Rectangular red cloth with yellow and blue stripes and geometric motifs. [ZM 17/11/2005]

1946.7.69

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Collection type
Object
Description
Rectangular red cloth with yellow and blue stripes and geometric motifs. [ZM 17/11/2005]
Geographical reference
India
Asia > Southern Asia > India
Cultural groups
Mizo
Maram Naga
Thado
Person
Field collector Robert Niel Reid
PRM source Robert Niel Reid
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1942
Date collected
1937 - 1942
Acquisition information
Donated: 1946
Materials and processes
Material Textile, Material Pigment, Material Silk Yarn Animal, Process Spun, Process Dyed, Process Woven, Process Stitched, Process Embroidered, Process Supplementary Weft Woven
Object numbers
Accession number: 1946.7.69
Research and responses

Although I have not seen this textile, it is likely that the decorative patterns are made using supplementary weft technique rather than embroidery. The two techniques are often confused in NE India and Burma textiles. Supplementary weft is in fact much more common but is often wrongly described as embroidery. [SHD 7/6/2000]

Objects in the original Reid collection have gone to various places. 1946.7.96 - 1946.7.124 were sent to the Musee de l'Homme in 1946. 1946.7.85 - 1946.7.95 seem to have been intended to be sent to Paris, but did not go. 1946.7.5 - 1946.7.84, the remainder of the accessioned collection, were kept at the PRM from the beginning. A further group of items never accessioned were sent to the National Museet in Copenhagen in 1947 (the latter group are listed in a single record with REID in accession number field). [SD 27/6/2000]

Examined in November 2005 by Barbara and David Fraser, authors of 'Mantles of Merit, Chin Textiles from Myanmar, India and Bangladesh', River Books: 2005. They noted that these types of cloth are usually high status and in silk but this piece is interesting because it is cotton. The cloth is 42 warps per cm and 36 wefts per cm. The twill is orange with a diamond pattern when it crosses the red bands. This cloth is a very popular design. [ZM 17/11/2005]

Search terms: Clothing Textile, Status, Insignia, Textile, Status Object

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