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Pateh

Pateh cloth, early 20th century, 94 x 61 cm. Pateh cloth, early 20th century, 94 x 61 cm.

Pateh (Farsi: پته‎‎ ), or pateh-duzi is a style of Iranian embroidery, in particular from Kerman province in the southeast. It may be linked to local carpet weaving, and many of the embroidered designs recall carpet motifs, such as the toranj (bergamia), sarv (cypress) and the buteh (paisley), but also the sun.

Characteristically, the borders of a pateh are filled with floral or paisley designs. Sometimes the arch of a mihrab is depicted at the top. The embroidery is carried out by women who use richly coloured, woollen threads stitched onto a (mostly) woollen and reddish ground material (ariz or shal), generally a twill weave. The threads for the embroidery are dyed with henna, madder, pomegranate, or walnut husks; whether this is till the case is unknown. 

Some highly trained embroiderers would follow the lines of the twill weave and create an embroidered product that could easily be mistaken for a textile with woven decorations.

The aksi ('mirror') technique involved the splitting of the warp threads and thus creating a mirror image of the embroidered design on the reverse of the cloth.

The embroidery patterns are indicated by charcoal dust and the pouncing technique. The charcoal lines are often further accentuated with a pen.

An early twentieth century pateh (355 x 210 cm) is kept in the museum of Mahan in Kerman province, some thirty km southeast of the provincial capital, Kerman. The pateh dates to 1294 of the Iranian Islamic calendar (AD 1915). It was dedicated to the shrine, at Mahan, of the local Sufi saint, Shah Nimatullah Wali (d. 1431).

Pateh embroidery from Kerman province was especially known from the towns of Rafsanjan and Sirjan. Nowadays some pateh embroiderers are still active in the village of Hudk.

Wikipedia and YouTube film.

Digital source: K.E. Eduljee, 'Zoroastrian heritage' (retrieved 30th April 2016).

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 19 June 2021).

WV

Last modified on Saturday, 19 June 2021 17:22