Vintage Jat Tribe Patchwork Embroidery Hanging

This piece, all of which will be at least 40 years old, was made by the Jat people, a community of traditionally non-elite peasants in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region and subsequently into the Delhi Territory, northeastern Rajputana, and the western Gangetic Plain. Of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu faiths, they are now found mostly in Eastern Pakistani and North West India. Jat embroidery is characterized by its use of counted thread work using tiny cross stitches worked in geometric patterns. The woman used these Embroideries to decorate their dresses and these fine pieces used to make the Patchwork would come mostly from the yokes. Sometimes as in this piece, their work is further embellished with small mirrors (shisha).