Kashmir Coat (Chogha)

India (Kashmir), circa 1860 with the cloth woven in the early 19th century

Length: 118 cm
Width: 163 cm

A ceremonial overcoat or outer garment for a nobleman (chogha) made up of Kashmiri tapestry woven (kani) fabric with an unusual design of a diagonal grid enclosing delicate butis (flowers), each flower set within a frame of diamond form outlined in blue, and of contrasting colour to the ground of dark blue, red, warm pink or pale yellow.(1) The small flowers are of two types, an opening bud with a scrolling stem and two petals, and a flower in bloom with three petals, the top petal with a curl to the left.

The chogha is cut with an opening to the front below a V-shaped neck, a standing collar, straight long sleeves with no taper towards the cuffs and flared gussets under each arm from which the skirt gently widens towards the hem, giving the chogha a gentle waist. The opening is fastened with exquisite gold cloth-cased knob-buttons in the form of fruit, attached to decorative boteh-shaped loop fittings, finely embroidered in gold thread and embellished by tassels. The collar, front opening, hem, cuffs, side pockets and shoulders are all embellished and strengthened by bands of gold and silver zari brocading, woven with a scrolling floral meander against a rich wine-red ground. The lining is of green silk.

The chogha is essentially an outer garment or overcoat to be worn by notables at court. Paintings and photographs from the second half of the nineteenth century, amongst others of chiefs at the Sikh court in Lahore and the Maharajahs of Jammu and Kashmir, depict princes and noblemen wearing this garment. For a discussion of the chogha see B. N. Goswamy in association with Kalyan Krishna, “Indian Costumes in the Collection of the Calico Museum of Textiles”, 1993, pp. 87-99, where Goswamy illustrates choghas from the collection.

References:

1. A Kashmir shawl with a grid of rectangles filled with butis in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, is illustrated in John Irwin, The Kashmir Shawl, 1972, pl. 17 and p. 51.