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Specific Techniques

chain stitch; laid work, couched; square chain stitch; interlacing stitch; running stitch; buttonhole stitch; ermine filling stitch.

Narrative

Purchased by Milton and Beverly Israel while traveling in India.

Description

Highly decorated hood for a bull, formed by joining two embroidered square panels along two of their adjacent edges and rounding off the point that is thus formed. The remaining two edges of the squares are left open, forming points at the bottom of the cover. Two ovoid openings, finished with binding, are located along the top edge. The two sides of the cover are heavily embroidered with square, circular and floral motifs, in red, orange, purple, green, and white, which are embellished with many round and tear-shaped mirrors on blue background. The embroidery is underlined with red-orange heavy cotton textile.

History Of Use

Stephen Inglis noted: “In India, wandering mendicants, often begging for coins, go door to door or frequent festivals (or melas). Some of these are accompanied by a monkey, goat or bull, and often this animal is dressed up. . . Quite common are “hats,” with holes for the horns. The small size (of this piece) may be because the kind of bulls that are typically used in this way are a miniature breed, and this is partly what attracts attention.”