bags it has been dyed but still retains its lustre. In many of the finer pieces of work the whole gamut of Oriental colour known as "the perfect seven" is used, indigo, porcelain blue, green, yellow, orange, rose and red; relief and general harmony are also sometimes accentuated by an outline as in GS 17 (Fig. 17).
Designs.
Mr. George considers that many of the patterns are traditional, and that "the Shan designs of the nineteenth century are probably identical with those of the fourteenth, and are still modifications of the lozenge, square, fret and stripe."[1] The combinations and variations of these elementary forms are endless, and the cloth ground is frequently covered with most intricate patterns made up from these motives; GS 15 (Figs. 20, 20a), GS 21 (Fig. 21), GS 86 (Fig. 25), GS 15a (Fig. 26), GK 39a (Fig. 34).
In nearly all the work that universal motive "the swastika or fylfot" can be found, generally with its arms going from left to right, GK 39a (Fig. 34a), but also sometimes in the opposite direction GS 15 (Fig. 20a), GS 15a (Fig. 26).
Judging from the patterns on the cloths in the collection, there are certain differences between the Shan and Kachin use of the swastika and fret. Generally speaking the swastika is found by itself in the Shan cloths, GS 15 (Fig. 20a) although more elaborate patterns may be derived from it, but in Kachin cloths it is usually surrounded by a border GK 39a. (Figs. 34a and 34b).
- ↑ Note given to Mr. Ling Roth.
