Description:
Woman's square-shaped shawl woven in dark colors. The black ground serves to highlight a dense, medallion and border design in green, red, blue, and cream that was woven in imitation of finer kashmir shawls. The abstracted flowers that make up the design suggest a Chinese influence. The shawl was possibly made in India to appeal to the western vogue for chinoiserie, or an imagined aesthetic of a generic East. 2" long fringe appears on both ends. The shawl is extremely thin.
Label Text:
This shawl's visual interest was heavily influenced by the chinoiserie style. Present in the West's design vocabulary since at least the 15th century, chinoiserie was characterized by interpretations, misunderstandings, and combinations of the aesthetics of different Asian cultures. This particular example, sometimes known as a moon shawl because of the center medallion's resemblance to a full moon, vaguely reflects the arts of China with its black gruond and rounded, interlocking flowers making up the border and field designs.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+V.001s |
