The fret is used by itself amongst the Shans, or as a running border (Fig. 20a) and in groups, frequently of three, by the Kachins. The latter arrangement is most unusual, and does not appear on any but Kachin cloths, GK 39 (Fig. 33), GK 39a (Figs. 34, 34a), GK 8 (Fig. 38). Many other developments of the fret can be traced in the Kachin cloths and in the decorations of some of their wallets, GK 5 (Fig. 39).
The patterns in Kachin designs seem to be nearly always worked upon a basis of squares, whilst the Shan patterns have the lozenge as a foundation. GS 21 (Fig. 21) is an exception to this generalisation, but is not a typical Shan design.
Representations of animals and birds, common in Persian, Chinese, Japanese and Indian work, are scarce in Shan and Kachin decoration. The representations of a dog in the borders on several of the Kachin bags, GK 1 (Fig. 35a, b, c), GK2 (Fig. 37) and GK 3n and the peacock in GS 17 (Fig. 17) are the only examples which occur in this collection.
Shan waistbands and head-dresses frequently have a series of borders at the end, GS 15a (Fig. 26), GS 22 (Fig. 27) GS 55n; and the patterns on skirts run in a series of vertical stripes, narrow as though compressed, GS 15 (Fig. 20).
Kachin Cloths.
The cloth manufactured by the Kachins is of a coarse but strong texture, the thread being dyed previously to being woven. Two forms of loom are in use, one similar to that described as in use by the Shans, the other much more primitive. In the latter, one end of the warp is held in position by pegs driven into the ground, the other fastened on to a breast beam, the whole being kept taut by means of a broad leather belt fastened round the back of the woman weaver as she sits on the ground. A shed stick is evidently used, but whether the weft thread is carried by a shuttle or a spool is not clear. Anderson[1] says "the tool is thirty inches long," so it is probably a spool.
A strong, thick, narrow cloth is produced into which patterns are woven in Indian red, brown, green, yellow, white and black, the body of the cloth being frequently of a reddish brown or terra cotta colour, GK 39, GK 3ga. Occasionally the warp is arranged in coloured stripes, and as, owing to the slackness of the work when in progress, the warp largely forms the surface of the cloth, these stripes have a marked influence upon the patterns which cross them, GK 39 (Fig. 33b and c).
The Kachins are adepts at embroidery in silk and cotton, and their skill is often to be seen in the wallets carried by them. In the art of dyeing they are not so skilled as the Shans and their more limited range of colour is very noticeable.
Dyeing and Dyes.
H. G. A. Leveson, in the Upper Burma Gazetteer gives an account of the dyes used in the Shan States of which the following is an extract:—" Dyeing as an industry is seldom the sole objection of an individual or household. With the exception of indigo, which is cultivated in odd corners of vegetable gardens, the majority of plants used for dyeing are found wild.
The cloths are, for the most part, home-dyed and the results depend on chance and the fancy of the operator.
Indigo. Two varieties of plants are recognised, both give an equally good dye varying from blue to black.
Sticklac is cultivated generally in the Karenni district (Fig. 1); elsewhere if a tree is attacked the deposit is cultivated when it is formed. It gives a crimson dye.
The other dyes are not produced in large quantities, but the following are the chief:—
- ↑ Mandalay to Momien, John Anderson, M.D., London, 1876.
