Sari with Mutwa Embroidery

Alternate TitleSaree with Blouse

Designer Chanda Shroff (Indian, 1933 - 2016)

Decorator Khatubai Salar (embroiderer) (Indian)

Manufacturer Shrujan, Threads of Life (20th century)

Date2010

MediumSilk with silk embroidery, mirror work, and metallic and silk brocade

DimensionsOverall: 47 × 236 inches (119.38 × 599.44 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Bipin Avashia

Object number2010.74.1

On View

Not on view

Collections

South and Southeast Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionThe sari is silk and has a black field with mustard-gold silk pallu, blouse piece, and metallic gold brocade borders couched to the selveges. The black field is ornamented with an embroidered design creating a grid with hexagonal shapes divided by rotated square shapes at the corners. These shapes are ornamented by floral and checked motifs created with embroidery and mirror work. The embroidery is done with silk floss thread, in pink, green, white, gold, yellow, blue, and red. The design fills half the width of the sari until the last third of its length (the last wrap, where it fills the entire field. The designs terminate at the selvedges, pallu and blouse piece, and these transitions in design are framed by embroidered v-shaped floral designs, featuring two tall floral stems flanking a smaller floral stem. The labels on the sari state that it is Kanchipuram silk, suggesting that the sari may have even been woven in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, and brought to Gujarat to decorate with embroidery.
This sari's decoration is an example of Mutwa embroidery. Mutwa work is only done by Muslim herders who reside in eleven villages in Banni District, Kutch, in Gujarat, India. These techniques were native to urban Muslim artists of Sindh Pakistan, but spread via trading communities to Banni District in Kutch. There are various substyles within the Mutwa category, which employ different kind of embroidered stitches. This sari can be classified as Mukko embroidery, as it combines metallic threads and high quality materials, like silk, into its decorative design.

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