Rumal Square Shawl

CultureIndian

Dateca. 1870

MediumPashmina wool twill and tapestry twill, wool embroidery, and quilting (assembled)

DimensionsOverall: 82 x 83 inches (208.28 x 210.82 cm)

Credit LineGift of Miss Nellie D. Lee

Object number55-56

On View

Not on view

Collections

South and Southeast Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

South Asian Textiles from the Permanent Collection: Kashmiri Shawls, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 10, 1991–May 26, 1991, no cat.

Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 25, 2021–March 6, 2022, no cat.

Gallery Label

This ornate shawl, filled with abstract, curving shapes and swirls of color, embodies European high fashion of the 1800s. No woman of high status in Europe would be seen without an Indian patterned shawl as an outer layer over formal dress (see the image to the right). This shawl’s design evolved from the more understated white shawl with decorative borders displayed nearby. The central field is packed with decorations inspired by European ornamental patterns. To match changing European tastes, English and French agents brought designs directly to Kashmir workshops. Thus, Indian designers created a new hybrid product that became the standard of global fashion.

Provenance

With A. T. Stewart Co., New York, by 1890;

Purchased from A. T. Stewart Co. by William Drew Lee (1841–1907), Salina, Kansas, by 1890 [1];

By descent to his daughter, Nelle D. Lee (1867–1960), Saline, Kansas, 1907-1955;

Gift of Lee to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1955.

[1] According to an unsigned note written on Nelle D. Lee’s stationary dated October 1951, William Drew Lee purchased the shawl from A. T. Stewart Co. for his wife Sarah Jane Lee (née Davis, 1841-1890) approximately seventy-five years earlier. The note states that “Mr. Lee was told at the time of purchase that the only cashmere shawl comparable to this one was one belonging to the Empress Eugenie of France. It required one year and the work of four men to complete the shawl.”

Published References

Laura Spencer, "'A Carpet Made for Kings' and Other Asian Textiles that Nelson-Atkins curators Don't Want You to Miss," KCUR, published September 24, 2021, https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2021-09-24/a-carpet-made-for-kings-and-other-asian-textiles-that-nelson-atkins-curators-want-you-to-see.

Kimberly Masteller, “From Court to Marketplace: Persian and Indian Textiles in the Nelson-Atkins Collection and their Foreign Collectors,” Orientations 53, no. 3 (May/June 2022): 49-50, 55, (repro.).

Ling-en Lu, Yayoi Shinoda, and Kimberly Masteller, “'Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles" and the Collections of Asian Textiles at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” Orientations 53, no. 3 (May/June 2022): 30, (repro.).

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