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Coat with Shisha (Mirror Work)

1885-1927

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Coat with Shisha (Mirror Work)

1885-1927

Physical Qualities Cotton, silk embroidery threads, mirrors, silk lining, 46 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (118.1 x 120.7 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Elizabeth Frank
Object Number 2012.168
Woman's Western-style coat composed of a Pakistani man's doshalo. The coat is made with a straight or slightly flared body consisting of two front panels with no darts and one back panel. The sleeves are straight, narrow, one-piece, set-in sleeves with no gussets or cuffs. There is a small, turned, pointed collar cut from two pieces (upper and lower section) on the bias. Although basically balanced, the embroidery on the sleeves and other areas does not match perfectly from side to side. The fabric used was most likely an embroidered man's shawl, cut into shaped pieces as necessary. The ground fabric is coarse cotton (of uneven size warps and wefts, many not greatly twisted, possibly homespun) block-printed in red and black on white. The cotton of the coat, sleeves, and collar are embroidered in simple stepped diamond, wheel, and floral designs worked in olive green, orange, dark red purple, brick red, light olive green, cream, non-olive green, dark blue purple, purple-brown, black, and some raspberry colored threads with many inserts of "shisha" or small bits of mirrors or mica. A white running stitch outlines all motifs including slanted buttonhole stitch and black stem stitch. Sleeves are faced and hemmed. The front of the coat is faced (with two pieces) and hemmed. The closing consists of two loops of cording on one side, each corresponding with a button covered in the cotton ground fabric on the other side. The coat is fully lined with a dark green plain-woven silk or imitation silk, which is equipped with a small pocket. The lining is seamed in the middle by machine, but sewn in by hand around the edges. The rest of the coat is constructed by machine stitching.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift 2012; Elizabeth Morris Kleeman Frank (Mrs. Jerome D. Frank), by bequest or inheritence; Alice Pentlarger Kleeman (1895-1965) (Mrs. Arthur S. Kleeman) (mother) by bequest or inheritance; Belle Clemons Kleeman (Mrs. Morris Kleeman) (1866-1945) (donor's paternal grandmother), Terra Haute, Illinois, then White Plains, NY by purchase in Egypt

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