Indian Wool Wedding Shawl

Long dark panel dotted with tiny mirrors and gold-braided ends.

This dyed wool wedding shawl from Gujarat is from Gujarat, India, and dates to the 20th century. Gujarat is known for rich textile traditions, including embroidery, tie-dye and woven cloth made by many different communities, often for weddings and festivals. Narrow rectangular textile in deep black-brown, crowded with fine diamond stitching. Small round discs and a red diamond are spaced down the centre, and yellow beaded and embroidered bands finish the top and bottom. It is 36 inches wide and 132 long.

Dark, glittering and quite tall for a cloth.