Its accomplished multicoloured pattern was produced by tinting the silk yarns through the popular resist-dye method known as ikat, a technique typical of the textile production of Uzbekistan during the 18th and 19th centuries and still a hallmark of the country’s textile production and export. In Shaw’s collection are also items received as gifts from the then ruler of Kashgar Yaqub Beg, a gesture probably meant to honour the explorer’s efforts to stimulate international trade and broaden access to the Silk Road.
Robert Shaw was the first British to visit Yarkand and Kashgar and the first one to write on his journey across Central Asia in the account Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar which was published upon his return to Britain in 1871. Although primarily driven by commercial interests, his experience also proved essential to the British empire in its diplomatic efforts during the last stages of the so-called Great Game, the struggle for supremacy that opposed Western powers and Russia in Central Asia.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album “The Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the Collections of Great Britain” (Volume XLVI) in the series "Сultural legacy of Uzbekistan in the world collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
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