Rich woman’s skirt, orange with two bands of geometric patterns. [JMC 15/12/2020]

Collection type: Object
Description: Rich woman’s skirt, orange with two bands of geometric patterns. [JMC 15/12/2020]
Long description: Rich woman’s skirt, orange with two bands of geometric patterns. The skirt comprises two lengths of woven cotton textile stitched together with orange and yellow yarn, with a line of red, bright yellow and bright green embroidery covering the seam. Each panel is decorated with a band of blue in the ground weave approximately 30 mm wide. These bands have elaborate designs of blue zigzag and lozenge patterns on different coloured backgrounds, these having been created by supplementary weft inlay of red, pink, orange, black, green, bright and pale yellow wool and cotton yarn. Each band is edged on either side with two black and yellow stripes. Stripes of black and two different shades of yellow run down the edges of the skirt. There is fringing at both the warp ends. [JMC 15/12/2020] The textile is warp-facing and plain-woven with paired or tripled warps. All fringes are on average approx. 50mm. Yarns are twisted in Z twist. Warp ends are fringed. Each fringe consists of four warps and twisted in ssZ, knotted at the end. The textile comprise two panels attached edge-to-edge at selvedge in what appears to be whipped chain stitch. Embroidery is also present along the fringed ends in pick and unbleached coloured yarns. Please see annotated image for further details. [MT 02/24/2021]
Geographical reference: India
Asia > Southern Asia > India; Nagaland
Cultural groups: Sümi Naga
Person: Field collector James Philip Mills; PRM source James Philip Mills
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1931
Date collected: January 1931
Acquisition information: Donated: 1931, uncertain
Materials and processes: Material Textile, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Material Wool Yarn Animal, Process Embroidered, Process Woven, Process Supplementary Weft Woven
Dimensions: Width: max 685 mm, Length: max 1260 mm including tassels
Object numbers: Accession number: 1928.69.1380
Associated publications: Reproduced in colour on page 287 of The Nagas - Hill Peoples of Northeast India: Society, Culture and the Colonial Encounter by Julian Jacobs with Alan Macfarlane, Sarah Harrison and Anita Herle (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990). With the caption 'Body cloth. Sema. PR.' [JMC 15/12/2020]

Search terms: Clothing, Status, Textile, Skirt

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