{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O93565"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93565/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF6134/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF6134/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF6134","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT6332","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O93565/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O93565","accessionNumber":"LOAN:STEIN.99","objectType":"Textile","titles":[{"title":"The Stein Collection","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"These textile fragments are of plain woven resist dyed silk with one piece of pattern woven silk showing animal design attached. Their original purpose is unclear although they were probably once part of a burial shroud. They were recovered from the site of Astana, an ancient burial ground dating from the 3rd to the 8th century AD.     \r\nThe site is part of an area now referred to as the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia, from China to Europe. The most notable item traded was silk. Camels and horses were used as pack animals and merchants passed their goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas – while silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way.\r\nThe fragments were 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 twentieth century. The textiles range in date from the second century BC to the twelfth century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.","physicalDescription":"Fragments of  plain weave cream silk showing resist dyed pattern of lozenges formed from dots in cream on blue ground. Attached to one fragment with stitching is a piece of polychrome patterned weave (weft-faced) silk in red, yellow and white showing beast design, itself consisting of two pieces of textile stitched together.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"patterned weave","id":"x37271"},{"text":"resist dyeing","id":"AAT53053"},{"text":"stitching","id":"AAT53660"},{"text":"plain weave","id":"x37295"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Plain and pattern woven silk, resist dyed","categories":[{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[{"text":"Central Asian","id":"AAT18281"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006AF6134","2006AT6332"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES301576"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Textile fragments","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Astana","id":"x37483"},"association":{"text":"excavated","id":"AAT53702"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"200-800","earliest":"0200-01-01","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":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"largest piece","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"largest piece","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"Astana lies south of Turfan on the northern Silk Road. It once served as a burial site for Kharakhoja, an important trade centre during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Here Stein unearthed a stunning array of burial objects, including: clay figurines, textiles, gold and silver coins, and thousand-year-old mortuary cakes, preserved in the dry heat of the desert. Ancient contracts for labour, land and grain purchases excavated at Astana and Kharakhoja show that carpets, rolls of silk, cotton and linen were often used as money. The V&A holds several silk fragments, dating from the third to the sixth century. These include plain and pattern-woven pieces, some of which have been resist-dyed, painted and embroidered. These figured silks incorporate decorative themes from Central Asia, Persia and China; reflecting the rich mingling of cultures which occurred along the Silk Road.","briefDescription":"Fragments of plain woven resist dyed silk with piece of pattern woven silk attached, excavated from Astana Cemetery, 200-800","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Riboud, Krishna. 'Further indication of changing techniques in figured silks of the post-Han period (AD 4th to 6th century), <u>Bulletin du CIETA</u>. Lyon: Centre International d'étude des Textiles Anciens, 1975, no 41-42, pp. 13-40, ill."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilson, Verity. 'Early Textiles from Central Asia: Approaches to Study with reference to the Stein Loan Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London', <u>Textile History 26 (1) </u>.  Devon: David & Charles/Pasold Research Fund Ltd, 1995, pp.23-52."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Stein, Aurel, Sir. <u>Innermost Asia; Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-Su and Eastern Iran</u>, 4 vols (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1928), vol. II, p.699; vol. III, pl. XXXVI"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Stein, Marc Aurel (Sir)","id":"N2850"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"animal","id":"x33594"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["LOAN:STEIN.99"],"accessionNumberNum":"99","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:STEIN","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Stein number","id":"THES50251"},"number":"Ast.vi.2.04"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-11","recordCreationDate":"2004-02-23","availableToBook":false}}