Pale flowers and medallion borders stand at high contrast against a near-black indigo ground, while the darker green linework inside reads quietly. The outlines and blossoms set a clean rhythm across a room; the stems, leaves and smaller flowers between the medallions add the detail back at close range. At 8 inches each medallion remains distinct across a broad surface. Available as wallpaper and fabric by the yard.
This surviving Varanasi fragment combines silk and metallic-wrapped silk in a compound weave. 'Varanasi Medallion' translates that woven structure into flat colour at an 8-inch half-drop repeat. Each flowering plant sits inside its own pointed border, with smaller floral forms between them. The border, rather than the flower, organizes the field.
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The Source
The enclosure and the plant it holds recall the boteh — the form commonly known in English as paisley — but the characteristic boteh curves at the tip, while this enclosure rises to a point.
The fragment was woven in Varanasi, India. It measures fifteen inches by fourteen and a half, and combines silk with metallic-wrapped silk in a compound woven structure. It entered The Textile Museum Collection as the gift of Sheridan Pressey Collins and is held as accession 2019.7.4.
The museum record is unusually spare. There is no recorded date. No maker is named. The museum record does not name the motif.
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The Specifications
Source: Textile fragment, Varanasi, India. Silk and metallic-wrapped silk; supplementary-weft patterning, twill weave, compound weave. 38.10 × 36.83 cm (15 × 14½ in.). Gift of Sheridan Pressey Collins. The Textile Museum Collection, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, accession 2019.7.4.
Date: not recorded by the museum.
Repeat: 8 in. Layout: drop match, half-drop.
Motif scale: [PENDING MEASUREMENT].
References: The Indian Boteh Motif, RISD Museum, 27 January – 30 July 2017, text by Kate Irvin. John Irwin, The Kashmir Shawl, Victoria and Albert Museum Monograph No. 29 (HMSO, 1973).
The Cloth
Decor Chenille
A short, dense pile with a velvet-like surface on a firm woven ground. Fine striations catch the light as it moves across the room, deepening the colour. Substantial weight keeps a clean line on upholstery and gives tailored drapery a decisive fall.
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Composition: 100% polyester
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Width: 56 in printable (57 in full)
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Weight: 400 gsm
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For: Upholstery, cushions, headboards, heavy drapery
Cotton Linen
A fine, even linen-cotton weave. Colour prints cleanly while the woven surface remains visible, keeping solid grounds from going flat without softening fine linework. Light in the hand, it falls in narrow, supple folds and filters light rather than blocking it.
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Composition: 55% linen, 45% cotton
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Width: 54 in printable
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Weight: 250 gsm
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For: Upholstery, curtains, table linens, pillows
