M.2024.184.7
Moon Shawl (Chand-dar)
India, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir region
circa 1840
Goat-fleece underdown twill double-interlocking tapestry-weave, pieced, with wool embroidery
61 x 64 in.
This moon shawl (chand-dar), with its signature moon-shaped disk at the center, reflects the buta’s evolution in Kashmir shawl design from distinct repeating motifs to abstracted curvilinear shapes, particularly within the matan, or central field of the textile. Here, this area is filled with interconnected butas in a diagonal orientation that creates visual kinetic energy. Amid the butas and within the central and corner medallions are small scrolling vines and blossoms. Such a complex design required careful planning, demonstrating not only the weaver’s talents but also the wearer’s wealth.
Moon shawls first appeared in Kashmir, in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, around 1680, modeled after a type of sixteenth-century Islamic carpet or from bookbinding and manuscript illumination. Worn in a variety of ways on the upper body by both men and women, the style eventually became fashionable among the elite of not only Kashmir but Europe and Persia as well. Kashmir shawls were prized for their luxurious feel, light weight, and warmth. Their preciousness resides in the extraordinary tactile properties of ultra-fine pashm (cashmere) fibers, which were brushed from the underdown of Capra hircus (goats) that roamed the Himalayas hundreds of miles from Kashmir. The imported fibers were processed, spun, and woven into shawls decorated with buta and floral motifs, achieved with tapestry weaving on a standard horizontal loom. Unlike any other tapestry-woven fabric in the world, Kashmir shawls were made with a two-by-two twill weave throughout, with wefts double-interlocking at the transition between each colored thread to prevent slit openings. Known locally as kani, this technique resulted in textiles with the astounding clarity of design and cohesiveness in the drape of the fabric unique to Kashmir shawls.
Clarissa M. Esguerra
2024