Man's Waist Sash
Made in Iran or Poland for the Polish market
18th century
- Medium
- Silk compound weave, with applied silk and metal fringe
- Classification
- Costume and Accessories
- Dimensions
- 452.2 × 68.8 cm (178 3/8 × 27 1/8 in.)
- Culture
- Iran
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Bruce Borland
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The long silk sashes worn as part of men’s dress in Persia (present-day Iran) and north India were adopted by Polish nobility during the late 1600s. Wrapped around the waist with the fringed ends hanging free, such expensive woven silks denoted the wearer’s high status. Sashes became part of noblemen’s formal dress as a symbol of Poland’s history as the territory connecting Europe and Asia. They were exported from Iran, made in Poland, and made in France for export to Poland.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
