{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O87325"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87325/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF9195/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF9195/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF9195","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O87325/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O87325","accessionNumber":"LOAN:STEIN.261","objectType":"Fragment","titles":[{"title":"The Stein Collection","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"These two strands of round, light red, wool cord are made of a number of wool yarns felted together. A knot holds the cords together. It is unclear what this object would have been used for, although it is likely to have had a utilitarian function. It was recovered from the site of Miran Fort on the eastern edge of the Taklamakan desert. Material discovered at this site was found mainly among the remains of a fort held by the Tibetans during their domination of the southern Taklamakan in the 8th century.     \r\n\r\nThe site is part of an area of Central Asia we now call  the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia from China to Europe. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India along  this route. \r\n\r\nThese fragment was brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein  at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of animals.","physicalDescription":"Two strands of round light red wool cord made of a number of wool yarns felted together. A knot keeps the cords together.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wool yarn","id":"x30441"}],"techniques":[{"text":"spinning","id":"AAT53661"},{"text":"felting","id":"AAT232049"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Spun and felted wool","categories":[{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[{"text":"Central Asian","id":"AAT18281"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006AF9195"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES301593"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Textile fragment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Miran Fort","id":"x37281"},"association":{"text":"excavated","id":"AAT53702"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"8th century","earliest":"0700-01-01","latest":"0800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Stein Textile Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"15.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"0.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"one strand","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Attached to the strands is a circular metal-rimmed label showing Stein number possibly in Stein's handwriting or that of his assistant, Miss F M G Lorimer.","historicalContext":"The Miran fort lies midway along southern Silk Road, at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains. When Tibetan troops occupied the area in the late eight century AD, they built the fort to guard one of many routes through which they moved into Central Asia. In 1907, Stein excavated rubbish heaps at the fort and found wood slips, dating from the eight to the ninth century AD, which provided early examples of Tibetan writing. He also found fragments of wool rugs in bright colours and pieces of silk. The V&A holds a large number of textiles from the Miran Fort on loan, including spun wool, pattern and plain woven silk and wool, woven and spun hemp, woven horsehair, cords and painted silk.","briefDescription":"Felted red woollen cord","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Stein, Aurel, <u> Serindia: Detailed Report of Exploration in Central Asia and Westernmost China Carried Out and Described Under the Orders of H.M Indian Government </u>, 5 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921), vol. I, p.478."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Stein, Marc Aurel (Sir)","id":"N2850"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:STEIN.261"],"accessionNumberNum":"261","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:STEIN","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Stein number","id":"THES50251"},"number":"M.I.0086"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-15","availableToBook":false}}