Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground tiled preview square
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb chair
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb curtains
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb dining
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb parlor
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground ruler
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground fabric fold mockup
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 linencottonblend texture
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 upholsterychenille texture
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground designs flat mockup
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground tiled preview square
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb chair
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb curtains
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb dining
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 vb parlor
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground ruler
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground fabric fold mockup
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 linencottonblend texture
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground cohort1 upholsterychenille texture
Varanasi Medallion in Slate and Linen — pale flowering plants inside pointed medallions on a cool blue-grey ground designs flat mockup

Varanasi Medallion, Slate / Linen Fabric by the Yard

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A cool blue-grey ground sits close in value to parts of the border, so some of the enclosure recedes and the pale flowers stay more visible. The pattern reads as a rhythm of light blossoms and pointed forms rather than a sharply drawn grid. Move in and the darker stems, leaves and connecting motifs come forward, and the full structure of each medallion becomes easier to see. The 8-inch scale keeps those units legible. 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.

  • Composition: 100% polyester
  • Width: 56 in printable (57 in full)
  • Weight: 400 gsm
  • 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.

  • Composition: 55% linen, 45% cotton
  • Width: 54 in printable
  • Weight: 250 gsm
  • For: Upholstery, curtains, table linens, pillows

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