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Lot Essay
This scene depicts various activities taking place in a smoky room as brightly-coloured plain shawls hang above. Tapestry-woven shawls of the type discussed in the previous note had to be dyed in the thread: Moorcroft described how a talimguru (see lot 63) would advise a weaver on the exact amount of thread of each colour needed to make a particular shawl (Moorcroft 1823, p.9). However, in the early 19th century shawl-makers beginning to experiment with the possibility of dyeing shawls once they were woven. These could be embroidered or left completely plain. The English cricketer and traveller Thomas Vigne referred to the latter when he wrote of how Alwan, as the shawl stuff is called when free from ornament, is not often, if ever, made up by Kashmiri weavers of the natural colour of the pashm [wool], and may be, of course, dyed of any colour, red, blue, green, yellow, &c.’ (Vigne 1842, p.128).
The figures on the left of the scene are engaged in dyeing plain shawls. The same equipment appears in an album of the trades of the Punjab in the British Library (Add.Or.1704), which shows a man with a long stick dipping a blue textile into a pot above a flame. In that painting, the man visibly perspires and his hands are stained blue by the indigo. In our painting, Bishan Singh paints a more composed figure, who calmly leans forward over his work, his hands only slightly stained. Nonetheless, the gold-painted fire and the thick column of smoke which rises from it gives a sense of this uncomfortable, hot, and presumably odorous workshop. To the right of him, a younger man arranges freshly-dyed shawls on a line. As in the previous scenes in the series, he may be an apprentice: according to Moorcroft dyeing was a closely-guarded industry, in which the workers would "bring up their sons and relations to the trade but admit not strangers" (Moorcroft 1823, p.9). The figure to the left seems to be putting an undyed white cloth into blue dye for the first time. The large vessel in the bowl may be intended to squeeze excess dye out of the cloth, or to grind up the substances in the dye. According to Moorcroft, Kashmir shawl makers in his day had access to 64 different dyes, derived from various mineral and vegetal sources. The blue dye in this painting would have been made from indigo strengthened with sulphuric acid. Green dyes were derived from boiling European textiles and extracting the dye. Yellow was obtained by suspending a shawl above burning sulphur (Ames 1997, p.78). These strong chemicals would have made the life of a dyer a hazardous one.
The two figures on the right of the scene wash and tread some shawls in bowls of transluscent liquid. The edges of the shawls have been shown emerging from the water, and appear intricately coloured. This suggests that these are shawls that have already been decorated. These may well represent embroidered shawls, rather than the tapestry-woven ones depicted being woven in the last scene. Murphy suggested that these are being treated in ritha (soap-nut) solution in order to soften them, perhaps before being embroidered further (Murphy 1988, p.16). Moorcroft, however, indicated that "shawl goods are washed in clear cold water, using soap cautiously to white parts alone and abstaining from applying it to those which are embroidered" (Moorcroft 1823, p.20). Either way, depicting newly-dyed shawls being washed may have served a specific purpose at the 1867 Exposition. As early as 1831, Jacquemont had raised concerns about "very mediocre dyes" being used in shawls, which faded after a single wash (Ames 1997, p.78). The two figures included in this painting, therefore, may have been intended to allay any fears that the dyes were not fast.
As in other paintings in the series, the workers in this scene are accompanied by a small group of women, including a breastfeeding mother, who sit on a reed mat similar to that on the floor in lot 63. In the left corner, a man finds a few moments of relaxation with a huqqa pipe amid the frenetic activity around him. Of all the scenes in the series, the interior of this one is the most basic. Only the door has any kind of decoration, and even that is sparse. This is the only scene in the series in which there are no windows: the darkness may have been intended to protect the colours as they soaked into the textiles, but further contributes to the atmosphere of this particularly insalubrious phase of the manufacturing process.
The figures on the left of the scene are engaged in dyeing plain shawls. The same equipment appears in an album of the trades of the Punjab in the British Library (Add.Or.1704), which shows a man with a long stick dipping a blue textile into a pot above a flame. In that painting, the man visibly perspires and his hands are stained blue by the indigo. In our painting, Bishan Singh paints a more composed figure, who calmly leans forward over his work, his hands only slightly stained. Nonetheless, the gold-painted fire and the thick column of smoke which rises from it gives a sense of this uncomfortable, hot, and presumably odorous workshop. To the right of him, a younger man arranges freshly-dyed shawls on a line. As in the previous scenes in the series, he may be an apprentice: according to Moorcroft dyeing was a closely-guarded industry, in which the workers would "bring up their sons and relations to the trade but admit not strangers" (Moorcroft 1823, p.9). The figure to the left seems to be putting an undyed white cloth into blue dye for the first time. The large vessel in the bowl may be intended to squeeze excess dye out of the cloth, or to grind up the substances in the dye. According to Moorcroft, Kashmir shawl makers in his day had access to 64 different dyes, derived from various mineral and vegetal sources. The blue dye in this painting would have been made from indigo strengthened with sulphuric acid. Green dyes were derived from boiling European textiles and extracting the dye. Yellow was obtained by suspending a shawl above burning sulphur (Ames 1997, p.78). These strong chemicals would have made the life of a dyer a hazardous one.
The two figures on the right of the scene wash and tread some shawls in bowls of transluscent liquid. The edges of the shawls have been shown emerging from the water, and appear intricately coloured. This suggests that these are shawls that have already been decorated. These may well represent embroidered shawls, rather than the tapestry-woven ones depicted being woven in the last scene. Murphy suggested that these are being treated in ritha (soap-nut) solution in order to soften them, perhaps before being embroidered further (Murphy 1988, p.16). Moorcroft, however, indicated that "shawl goods are washed in clear cold water, using soap cautiously to white parts alone and abstaining from applying it to those which are embroidered" (Moorcroft 1823, p.20). Either way, depicting newly-dyed shawls being washed may have served a specific purpose at the 1867 Exposition. As early as 1831, Jacquemont had raised concerns about "very mediocre dyes" being used in shawls, which faded after a single wash (Ames 1997, p.78). The two figures included in this painting, therefore, may have been intended to allay any fears that the dyes were not fast.
As in other paintings in the series, the workers in this scene are accompanied by a small group of women, including a breastfeeding mother, who sit on a reed mat similar to that on the floor in lot 63. In the left corner, a man finds a few moments of relaxation with a huqqa pipe amid the frenetic activity around him. Of all the scenes in the series, the interior of this one is the most basic. Only the door has any kind of decoration, and even that is sparse. This is the only scene in the series in which there are no windows: the darkness may have been intended to protect the colours as they soaked into the textiles, but further contributes to the atmosphere of this particularly insalubrious phase of the manufacturing process.