Condition Before Treatment

The textile was in good condition overall, but inherently fragile. The fine weaving is easily snagged or distorted. There were three tears in the fringe and numerous small scattered losses and snags. The textile was yellowed overall with scattered orange staining. The outer 68.5cm of both ends were especially yellowed, suggesting they were previously exposed.  

Jamdani Stole

India (Dhaka)

1855

Victoria and Albert Museum

Cotton

This stole is woven using the jamdani technique: it is a plain weave cotton ground with discontinuous supplementary weft patterning. It measures 260 x 62cm. The cotton warps and primary wefts are unplied, Z spun yarns. The supplementary weft is Z spun, 2 S plied.

The center field of the stole is decorated with small, repeating quatrefoils. The edges are decorated with a 10cm-wide floral border, and the short ends are further decorated with a 35cm-wide section with vine and grape patterning. One end of the stole has fringes spun from the warps. The other end has three lines of red wefts.

Wet Cleaning

The textile was wet cleaned to remove acidic degradation products and reduce the overall yellowing. It was bath with a Hostapon and trisodium citrate solution applied with a Ramer sponge.

To protect the fragile textile was bathing, it was covered with nylon net.

Condition After Treatment

The textile appears brighter and with a more even tone after bathing. It is now attached to and rolled on a padded roller, making it safe for handling, transport, and display. n.