‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎231r] (468/722)

The colours preferred in Persia are fawns, browns, greens, yellows, purples,
scarlets, and light colours in general. Blues and "blacks are little used;
and the lighter qualities of cloth, as ladies 5 cloth, are, I think, most in
request. . I saw little, if any, of the finest qualities of broadcloth ; that
which might be termed second quality, sold by the piece at from 20 to 24
reals (!/. Os. Sd. to 1/. 12s.) per Persian yard of 39 inches; the next quali
ty, at 10 to IB reals (1/. 1$. 4^/. to \l. 4.?.), and so on. All these cloths
are much used by those who can afford them, for barams, oemahs, and
such articles of Persian dress, as well as many other purposes of luxury
and splendour.
Chintzes and printed cottons are articles that claim particular regard,
as by a judicious attention to feeding the market with good and moderately
priced goods, and studying to please the tastes of the people, the consump
tion might be rendered very large and important.
The consumption of chintzes and printed goods has at all times been
preat in Persia; but a large quantity of the coarser sorts was fabricated
in the country, and all those of finer descriptions were imported from
Masulipatam, Mooltan, Lucknow, Fatehgarh, Delhi, &c. These have
now been in great measure superseded by the English, French, and German
stuffs, introduced from the ports of the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. , of India, and by way
of Russia.
The success of this branch of the trade depends very greatly upon the
patterns sent. For fashion in this respect in Persia is to the full as capricious
as in Europe ; and the inhabitants will reject an excellent article, merely
because the pattern does not please them; while they give an extravagant
price for goods of a very inferior description, merely because their gay
colours happen to suit their fancy. For want of attention to this material
point, hundreds of chests of printed cottons, sent from Bombay, lie at
Shiraz and Isfahan totally unsaleable.
The French and German manufactures have been much more success
ful than the English in hitting the Persian taste. No doubt, because they
took care to have the best information upon the subject, and every bazar
had a full display of their rich and glaring chintzes; while many of our
more sober English goods lay neglected on the inner shelves, unasked for
and unseen. It would not be easy to convey an idea of the kind that would
suit the Eastern markets ; but novelty, united with rich and well-blended
colours, seldom fails to please. For some time before I was in Persia, the
long, rich, running patterns, resembling striped shawls, were most approved
of ; and such chintzes, of moderate quality, would fetch from 5 to B reals
(6v 8«L to 10.9. 8^.) per yard of 39 inches. At the time I w r as there,
these had begun to lose ground ; and those patterns which resembled spotted
shawls, with larger or smaller pines upon a black, blue, green, or yellow
ground, had the preference.
Kalamkars (as they term it), or those chintzes which have a pattern of
light and gaily-coloured flowers, wandering over a red, fawn, or light-blue
ground, and of no great fineness, were sold, according to the beauty of the
pattern, from 4 to fi reals (59. 4c/. to 89 .) a yard of 39 inches.
A favourite article of women 5 s wear was a sort of large handkerchief,
from 5 to 6 feet square, in imitation of shawl handkerchiefs, planted
in rich patterns, usually consisting of a large centre ornament, a border