Home » Home & Style » Antique Linens/Textiles » THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE PAISLEY SHAWL

THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE PAISLEY SHAWL

© Joan Lawrence

At the end of the 1700's manufacturers introduced large, soft woolen shawls decoratively woven with colorful patterns that were worn as a head covering or shoulder mantle. These were imported to Europe and the United States from Kashmir, India. The name Kashmir or cashmere shawl applies to both and to the source of the fine woolen fiber used to make them.

Shawls have been woven in Kashmir since about the eleventh century, but the industry producing what we refer to as a Kashmir shawl is thought to have begun during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. During the fifteenth century Persian replaced Sanskrit as the official language and the world shawl derives from the Persian 'shal', denoting a class of woven fabric rather than an article of dress. During its history Kashmir had Mughal, Afghan and Sikh invasions, all of which left their influence stylistically on the shawls.

The Mughals who in habited the vast Central Asian steppe, conquered Kashmir in 1586. Under their rule the arts blossomed and shawl industries grew. Weavers were brought in from Eastern Turkestan where the type of weave later used for Kashmir shawls was practised. Up to this time Persian men had been weaving narrow waist girdles of shawl fabric, as part of male dress, and the Indians, wide shoulder mantles. These were given as prestigious gifts and one can clearly see the honor in which they were held by looking at miniatures of the period where the proud owner is seen wearing such a garment. From about 1775 Kashmir shals were acquired by travellers, explorers and military personnel as well as members of the East India Company, who, appreciating their beauty and warmth, brought them back as presents. In Carola Oman's life of Sir Walter Scott, The Wizard of the North, it is recorded that Scott's French bride Charlotte Carpentier was given a Kashmir shawl costing 50 guineas ($100) for her trousseau in 1797.

The shawls were woven in the twill tapestry technique, which is similar to weaving a tapetry. The wefts (horizontals) which form the pattern do not run right across the fabric, but are woven back and forth around the warp (verticle) threads only where each particular color is needed. They were woven with goat's fleece; the finest softest fleece, shah tus (king's wool) came from beneath the coarse outer hair of the underbelly of the wild central Asian goats. These goats grew such hair as a protective layer against the extreme cold in high altitudes, 14,750 feet in the Himalayan region. In the Spring, the goats rub themselves against bushes where it was collected. This quality of fleece was used only for the very best of shawls, the majority being from domesticated goats called pashmina. The best fleece was left natural while the darker was dyed with vegetable dyes.