Better with Age
Written on February 5, 2010
It seems with folk art–or with certain old textiles–it’s not just its age that burnishes the piece with a rich luster, it’s also the wear to the piece by its former owners or its maker that lends it character. It’s this warmth from human contact that endows a piece its soulfulness.
Today I am showing a piece that exemplifies this idea. It’s a Pakistani ralli, it measures 27″ x 26″/ 68.5 cm x 66 cm, it most likely dates to mid-last-century, and it’s probably a sitting mat. It is stitched together from old, cotton cloth which has been layered and secured with many tight rows of running stitches. The face of the cloth, seen in the fifth photo below, shows applique and some fancy embroidery work.
For me, the beauty of this piece is in its abrasion and fading, both qualities working in concert and leaving behind some kind of strange and beautiful delicacy.
Years and years of soft and steady wear have created a kind of translucency to these layers that is inimitable.
Notice how the fancy embroidery stitches remain very much intact as the cloth around them has sloughed off over time. It’s almost like we are seeing soft, geometric fossils.
The color palette we see here today was never meant to be seen: how could the maker know that in fifty years time the cloth would reveal its layers in a tight spectrum of pale hues? What we see today is not what she saw when she stitched and composed this ralli.
I can’t imagine that this piece looked better when it was new. I am sure that the many hands that touched this piece and the flow of decades that have nourished it have elevated this piece from a simple sitting mat to a textile eloquent in subtlety and resonant with new beauty.
Tagged: ralli.
This is truly one of the most beautiful textile pieces I have ever seen. The composition is perfect and to think, it all happened serendipitously. How wonderful!
Thanks for posting and sharing. A lovely way to start my day.
February 5, 2010 @ 8:23 am
This is so very beautiful, it brings to mind raw burled wood and somehow the low color contrast is making me think of Mamluk carpets, this ralli is just as rich looking.
As always,
Thank You!!!!!!!
February 5, 2010 @ 8:52 am
Thank you for sharing this piece. It is truly beautiful. Takes my breath away.
February 5, 2010 @ 2:11 pm
I have discovered your site recently and it is enriching my life.
The photographs today brought tears to my eyes. I have always
loved old fabric and old paper and your photos are some of the
most beautiful I have seen. Thank you.
February 5, 2010 @ 3:09 pm
hi stephen… this is so beautiful. thank you.
February 6, 2010 @ 5:37 pm
That is so beautiful. It reminds me very much of the patterns that are created by erosion on stones or wear on wood, I really wonder what the maker would think if they saw it now?
February 8, 2010 @ 5:48 pm
Tremendous. It’s like sedimentary cloth.
February 10, 2010 @ 5:03 pm
absolutley breathtaking so much life in every inch .. love your collection must make it in to see your studio sometime
February 13, 2010 @ 11:58 am
I am fascinated by things old and worn, and this is truly one of the most beautiful textiles I have ever seen… if only it could speak, the stories it must hold. Thank you for sharing it.
February 14, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
Hi I would just like to say I love your photos, the ralli has worn in a similar way to many old Durham quilts which I have seen.
February 15, 2010 @ 11:31 am