Terms and conditions of use
Panel for a blouse
(Choli)
(mid 20th century)
Medium
silk, cotton, dyes, silk thread, mirrors
Measurements
72.5 × 93.5 cm irreg.
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Marg Stephens, 2013
Gallery location
Not on display
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Sindh, Pakistan / Gujarat, India
Inscription
inscribed in ink (in (Devanagari) script) on top proper edge l.:
Accession Number
2013.51
Department
Asian Art
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling Foundation
Physical description
The work is an embroidered fabric panel which was intended to be made into a woman’s blouse, choli. Three separate pieces of fabric are joined to make the ground panel for the embroidery. The top of the panel, which would have been folded over to make the shoulders and the back of the sleeves of the blouse, is red cotton fabric decorated with a tie dyed (bandhani) pattern. It is joined to a length of red satin fabric which forms the rest of the panel and has a green satin fabric band sewn down the centre. The entire panel is heavily embroidered in multicoloured silk threads in a pattern combining flowers and mirrorwork (shisha) within geometric borders. The pattern is worked in ‘Sindhi stitch’ (surface satin stitch combined with buttonhole stitch) and buttonhole stitch.