# Woman's Long Shawl

- By: Antony Berrus (Probably France)
- Date: 1870s
- Medium: Wool and cotton, warp threads dyed in multiple colors prior to weaving; center of warp-float faced 1:2 'Z' twill weave; patterned areas of two layers, plain weave and plain weave with seven-color complementary wefts, floats trimmed on…
- Classification: Costume and Accessories
- Dimensions: 359.4 × 158.8 cm (141 1/2 × 62 1/2 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Bequest of Mrs. Scott S. Durand
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/151853)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/cdd6bb02-94e5-b091-dc0c-ff226c231caf/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

These boldly patterned shawls illustrate the broad appeal of the buta, or paisley, pattern. The Jacquard mechanism, a patterning technology introduced in the first decade of the 1800s, enabled European manufacturers to create increasingly complex variations on the paisley motif. Although this technology allowed for faster weaving, European companies never successfully reproduced the delicacy of the hand-woven shawls from Kashmir. British- and French-made shawls tended to be thicker and heavier and the designs were arguably less refined than the original Kashmir garments.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0