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Beaded mini horse from India ???
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Posted by: Karlis Post Reply
04/03/2019, 15:01:34

A student just contacted me re: a small cloth horse 7 in. long decorated with various glass beads. It is believed to have been made in India.

There are white-hearts and polyhedral bugles on it which suggest a Venetian origin for them. The uneven nature of some of the other beads suggests production elsewhere.

The most diagnostic items are the buckle-like ornaments on the head and a crude pendant on the end of one cord (see images). Do either of these ring any bells as to possible origin?

IMG_20190318_143908_(1).jpg (226.7 KB)  IMG_20190318_144522_(1).jpg (208.5 KB)  


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The horse
Re: Beaded mini horse from India ??? -- Karlis Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Karlis Post Reply
04/03/2019, 15:05:27

2_horse.jpg (83.1 KB)  


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Re: The horse
Re: The horse -- Karlis Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: stefany Post Reply
04/04/2019, 02:03:23

the Ikat fabric fragment might be from Indonesia, the dangling crude furnace-wound glass "hamsa" = hand of Fatima is most likely turkish, and the turquoise colour faience 2-hole buttons are possibly egyptian or Iranian! the yellow and green colours that predominate in the bead netting may give a few more clues- could it be bedouin or some other islamic/nomadic tribal style?



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are the coins any clue?
Re: Beaded mini horse from India ??? -- Karlis Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: stefany Post Reply
04/04/2019, 02:06:39



Modified by stefany at Thu, Apr 04, 2019, 02:08:25

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Re: The discs
Re: are the coins any clue? -- stefany Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Karlis Post Reply
04/04/2019, 09:36:26

A bit of research revealed that the metal disc visible in the one image is a Rechenpfennig (store card counter) of J.J. Habelt, Nuremberg, Germany. These counters were commonly exported to the Middle East and North Africa (and likely elsewhere) where they were perforated and used as ornaments. I believe they date to the first half of the 19th C. Of course, this does not mean that the horse or its other components are of that period. The counters were often combined with furnace-wound beads from the Fichtelgebirge region of Bavaria.



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another horse, and information on Ikat fabric
Re: Re: The discs -- Karlis Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: stefany Post Reply
04/06/2019, 01:44:59

As it happens i noticed this in an auction in California only yesterday!

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/clars-auction-gallery/catalogue-id-srcl10084/lot-4d1d11f1-9832-45ad-a961-aa26001139a2?utm_source=auction-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=auction-alert&utm_content=lot-image-link

it appears to be made using various scraps of embroidery from India

some IKAT-dyed fabrics (the pattern is printed onto the warp threads before weaving) are shown here -the technique was used in many Asian/far east traditions even Himalayas..
https://www.mantiscollection.com/from-bali-with-love-ikat/

and here:

http://www.weavinghand.com/classes/ikat-weaving-with-indigo-dyeing



Modified by stefany at Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 01:46:51

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I suspect the piece is Central Asian
Re: Beaded mini horse from India ??? -- Karlis Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Beadman Post Reply
04/06/2019, 00:56:32

I think Afghanistan is the likely nexus for this piece. It has elements that include or might be Indian, Iranian, and Pakistani. These things converge in Afghanistan. But if it were otherwise determined to be Persian or Pakistani, I would not be surprised. J.



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Ikat/Mutmee
Re: Beaded mini horse from India ??? -- Karlis Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: will Post Reply
04/08/2019, 08:18:23

Just a little clarity with regard to Ikat production: the pattern is not 'printed' onto the threads (I don't know how that would be possible in traditional weaving techniques). It is resist dyed into the warp thread (tie-dyed just like the tee-shirts of the 70s).

I live for part of each year in a silk-weaving village in Isaan in Northeastern Thailand. The Thai word for Ikat is Mutmee. The production process for Mutmee is painfully time-consuming, from the first stages of raising your silk worms, through the preparation of the thread, to the dyeing itself. I'll attach a photo of some silk thread that a friend who has been weaving for close to fifty years let me have. On the right the yellow hank is the rough thread that hasn't yet been washed; it's hard, almost rope-like. Next to it is a hank of white washed thread which is beautifully soft and silky. Then on the left of the photo is the thread that has been dyed. Each element in the pattern has to be dyed into the thread, with the other sections of the pattern carefully bound off to keep the dye from spreading. You can see how carefully the covering thread is wound; in some places it has been untied and in others it still covers the underlying colour. As I watch my neighbours doing this I'm amazed by the patience, and also by the relaxed pleasure they get from it.

The thread in this first photo is for a relatively simple modern design, which is why my friend was ready to give it to me. Even then, there are at least a couple of weeks' work behind it.

The finished silk in the second photo is a different matter. It's an old 'royal barge' design of ceremonial boats with nagas and hamsas. The woman who made it worked on it for more than a year.

Incidentally, not all Ikat is made with the pattern dyed into the warp. There are weft-dyed patterns, too, but they are much cruder. And then there is double Ikat, the most complicated of all, where the pattern is resist-dyed into both the warp and the weft; it requires tremendous precision and memory to pull off successfully.

Cheers,

Will

P1060883_(1).jpg (64.4 KB)  P1060884_(1).jpg (102.6 KB)  


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Holy cow, Will, what an interesting post!
Re: Ikat/Mutmee -- will Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: beadiste Post Reply
04/08/2019, 09:32:54



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Do they have a pattern to follow or is it done from memory?
Re: Ikat/Mutmee -- will Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Rosanna Post Reply
04/08/2019, 20:50:39



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Memory
Re: Do they have a pattern to follow or is it done from memory? -- Rosanna Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: will Post Reply
04/09/2019, 05:05:50

Thanks, Chris. I'm always amazed to be able to stand and watch as the pattern in the finished silk fabric emerges as if by magic from the apparently meaningless colours in the thread. In the past, weaving was an important source of additional income (most weavers are also agricultural workers). But nowadays, sadly, they can make money more easily by weaving reed mats for the floor than from weaving silk. Still, though, they return to it for pleasure and satisfaction, as well as to make clothes for ceremonial wear for themselves and their families. This includes the costumes they will be cremated in.

I can't reply definitively to your question, Rosanna, but I've never seen anyone use a drawn pattern. I would imagine they must have made these when they were learning the art initially, and I have seen them using little lengths of split bamboo to measure off the space between the dyed patches of the thread, but it's all done with complete ease, laughing and chatting as they go along.

Cheers,

Will



Modified by will at Tue, Apr 09, 2019, 05:14:34

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