Dress Panel, Pashtun or Kuchi Tribe

Embroidered and beaded textile garment panel  

This detailed and heavily embroidered textile fragment would have been part of a dress for this migratory Central Asian group. Produced from a high-class woman, the intricate geometric pattern of this panel is characteristic to the Pashtun or Kuchi Tribe, and used as protection against evil spirits. Specifically, the all white beaded border, a frequent example, would be used to fend off evil eye spirits.

  • The combination of embroidery, beading, and elaborate geometric ornament is characteristic of Afghan textile and dress traditions, particularly the highly embellished textiles associated with women's clothing in the broad Pashtun/Kuchi tradition communities.

    This panel was probably originally made as a garment ornament, bodice, yoke or decorative panel sewn onto clothing, rather than as a household textile.  Small embroidered panels were incorporated into Afghan women's clothing, and examples survive as separate pieces after being removed from garments. 

 

  • Title: Dress Panel, Pashtun or Kuchi Tribe

  • Date: 2013

  • Geography: Southern/Eastern Afghanistan

  • Medium: Cotton, silk embroidery, glass beads

  • Dimensions: H. 8 in.  W. 8 in.

  • Provenance: Purchased at Weekend Market in Bangkok, Thailand

  • Inventory Number: AF.01