Description:
large shawl with black ground, woven paisley design, with a plain (black) center. During the middle of the 19th century, shawls were a ubiquitous accessory to women's dress, available in many different qualities and pricepoints. These large square or rectangular wraps complimented the full-skirted silhouettes of women's fashion at this time. Derived from India, Kashmir shawls were originally woven from the fine underhair of goats. Coved by wealthy Europeans at the turn of the 19th century, they quickly developed as an export item. Europeans soon began weaving their own shawls in imitation of original, Indian-produced examples. One such area included Paisley, Scotland, which soon gave its name to the stylized leaf or boteh (the original Indian name) common on many examples.
Label Text:
Large, square or rectangular shawls complemented the full-skirted silhouettes of women's fashion worn during the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s. Only with the advent of the bustle for fashionable women's dress in the 1870s were shawls eventually eclipsed by more form-fitting outer layers that emphasized, rather than hid, the new skirt shapes.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+V.088B |
