A fine Safavid silk sash, Persia, 17th/ early 18th century

weft-faced compound tabby with wadding warp and binding warp of silk, brocaded and floating wefts of tram silk and metal lamella spun around a silk core, the main field brocaded on cream ground in repeated units of bands of floral scrolls in green, red and blue on a beige and gold ground alternating with bands of beige and gold flowers and spirals on a red ground, separated by narrow beaded borders, outer borders with floral scrolls in brown, red, green, turquoise and white, the endpieces with five large floral sprays set within a rectangular field with borders of floral scrolls

Published in 1400 Years of Islamic Art 1981, no.162

This sash belongs to a group that was probably woven in Persia though it is possible that it was produced in India where such silks were popularly worn by Mughal noblemen and courtiers as documented in Mughal painting of the 17th and 18th centuries.

For a full discussion of the problems of attribution, see M.Sonday and N.Kajitani, "A Type of Mughal Sash", in Textile Museum Journal, III, no.1, 1970, pp.45-54, and M.Sonday and N.Kajitani, "A Second Type of Mughal Sash", in Textile Museum Journal, III, no.2, 1971, pp.6-12.

Two comparable sashes are in the Museum of Decorative Art, Copenhagen (inv. nos. B 21/1931 and B 51/1928) (see K. von Folsach and A.-M. Keblow Bernstad, Woven Treasures - Textiles from the World of Islam, Copenhagen, 1993, cat. nos.43 and 44) one of which belonged to Asaf Jah, the first Nizam of Hyderabad, and has an inventory stamp and date A.H. 1159 (1746).