A RARE AND FINE KHATRAAS JAMUVAR SHAWL
Kashmir, Northern India, Afghan period, ca. 1815

Of typical rectangular shape, the striped shawl very finely twill tapestry-woven in coloured wools in white bands with repeating grids containing stylised flowering butis, with two-tone stripes in red and blue, the long Mughal millefleurs butis invisibly mended in rafu technique in the pallu (borders), with an additional broad red pashmina outer border, green tape edges, the shawl area lined in red cotton in running stitch, 272cm x 116cm.

A family heirloom and praised wedding gift, the present shawl from the Afghan period resembles the one in Jean Auguste Dominque Ingres’s portrait of Madame Leblanc, 1823, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, New York (once part of the Wolfe Collection, donated to the museum in 1918, acc. no.19.77.2.). Striped khatraas shawls were always sought-after, both in India and in the West. They are rare, and fiendishly difficult to weave, turning them into a very prized possession.