A zari Kani shawl in Kashmiri pashmina, its black field covered edge to edge in a garden of small flowers: daisies, asters, star-shaped blooms and trailing leaves in rose, turquoise, saffron, lime, lilac and coral, so densely woven that almost no black shows between them. Fine threads of zari run through the field and glint as the shawl moves. Around it runs a wide sand-coloured border of curling, cloud-like cartouches in red, blue, green and pink, filled with smaller flowers, and each end finishes in a row of tiny flowering plants on black.
The design
This layout is known as a thousand-flower or millefleur field: no central motif, no repeat you can easily pick out, just an unbroken meadow of blossoms. It is one of the most demanding Kani designs to weave, because every flower is a separate colour change. Up close it reads like a botanical sampler; from across a room it becomes a rich, jewel-coloured texture against the black.
How it is made
The pattern is not printed or embroidered onto the cloth. It is woven into the Kashmiri pashmina, colour by colour, with the zari carried through the weave alongside the coloured threads. Turn the shawl over and you will see the reverse of the weave: a riot of loose colour and zari floats where every thread change sits. That is the honest back of a pattern this dense, not a fault.
The colour
Black makes every one of the dozens of colours in the field glow, and the pale sand border softens the whole piece so it never feels heavy. It sits over almost anything, black, ivory, grey or a jewel tone, and is equally at home at a winter wedding or an evening dinner.
Details
- Kashmiri pashmina
- Kani pattern woven into the cloth, not printed or embroidered
- Thousand-flower field of multicolour blossoms on a black ground
- Zari woven through the field
- Wide sand border of floral cartouches on all four sides, with flowering-plant bands at each end
- Approximately 45" × 85"
- Dry clean only by a specialist. Do not press zari directly, and keep away from rings, brooches and rough jewellery, which can catch the threads on the reverse
- Store folded, away from direct sunlight
One piece only. Slight irregularity in the weave is natural to woven work of this kind, not a fault.
Ships in Attan's branded box with a thank-you card, ready to gift.
