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Indian Gujarati, Rajasthan Gujarat

Woman's tunic (kurta), mid 1800s

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Indian

Title

Woman's tunic (kurta)

Year

mid 1800s

Medium

Silk, metallic yarn; plain weave, gauze weave, embroidered, appliqué

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • silk

Dimensions

Length: 109.2 cm (43 inches)

Place

Rajasthan; Gujarat

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume

Credit

Bequest of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich

Object Number

55.372

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Sartorial Sanctuary

December 19, 2008 - April 26, 2009

Loyal to the sartorial traditions of their Central Asian homeland, the earliest Muslim rulers in India, as well as those of the later Mughal Empire, retained the basic components of Islamic men’s and women’s dress: loose outer robes worn over a long undergarment and wide trousers. Nonetheless, regional styles of embellishment did much to personalize the uncomplicated cuts of the individual components. On this straight, tunic-like kurta, the applied pattern drawn with gold threads represents a long tradition of such ornamentation perfected by Indian Muslim craftsmen over the centuries. The gold designs accent a rare gauze-weave silk fabric, likely imported from China, decorated with one more layer of visual allure, this one patterned using the age-old bandhani (tie-dyeing) technique that is a specialty of artisans living in western India.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Woman's tunic (kurta) with the accession number of 55.372. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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