Pure Kashmiri Pashmina Kani Shawl — Antique Rose Garden

A pure Kashmiri pashmina Kani shawl on a pale stone ground, handwoven with a centre of small scattered flowers that grows outward into large blown roses and leaves in rose, cornflower, gold and plum, enclosed by a wide zigzag border and finished with a row of arched niches at each end.

Kani is the oldest and slowest of Kashmir's shawl techniques. The pattern isn't printed or embroidered onto the cloth — it is built into the weave itself, colour by colour, using small wooden bobbins called kanis. The weaver follows a coded pattern script and may complete only an inch or two in a day, which is why a piece like this is measured in months of work rather than hours.

The design is built to be read from the middle outward. Small flowers at the centre, then larger ones, then full blooms crowding the corners — the motifs grow as they move away from the middle. That is a much harder thing to weave than a repeat, because the weaver cannot settle into a rhythm; the scale changes with every row, and the four corners have to arrive at the same place at the same time.

The end panel is the piece to look at last: a row of small arched niches, each filled in a different colour, like a row of windows. It is a motif borrowed from architecture rather than from gardens, and it is what stops the shawl from being merely floral.

A dozen colours run through this piece, and each one is a separate bobbin carried by hand — the plainest measure there is of how long a Kani took.

Details

• Pure Kashmiri pashmina
• Kani handwoven on the loom, not embroidered or printed
• Graduated floral field with a zigzag border and arcaded end panels
• Approx. 40" × 80"
• Dry clean only
• Handwoven in Kashmir

Each shawl is one of a kind. Slight irregularity in the weave is inherent to handloom work and is the mark of an authentic Kani piece.

Ships in Attan's branded box with a thank-you card, ready to gift.