COSTUMES
Scotland [?]; or France [?]
Shawl, Paisley
1850 - 1860
Plain weave; Compound twill weave; Supplementary weft patterning
Wool
125 x 57 1/2 in. (317 x 146 cm)
Harriet Tidball Collection
TC 77.7-258

In the exotic violet world of this shawl, one seems to be looking up from a jungle floor to the canopy of a rain forest. Elongated botehs containing flowers and leaves, and a wealth of luxuriant plant life, stretch overhead from the sides of the shawl towards the center, where imaginary plants are silhouetted by the white light of the center. The presence of vegetation has overtaken all previous notions of shawl design and ornamentation. Notice that the overlapping plants give an illusion of depth to the design, and that the geometric border of the shawl has been overgrown with vegetation. This shawl is a variant of the style vegetal, which made its debut in an 1849 French exhibition. This style surrounds the abstracted boteh with images of its botanical origins: flowering plants, ferns, and other forms of vegetation. The chale vegetal can be seen as a variation of the French "oriental style." Its depiction of exotic vegetation is a product of the Victorian imagination. -- Label copy for From Kashmir to Paisley: The Evolution of a Shawl, April 3 to June 8, 1990.