Pashmina Jewels uncovers the mystical artistry of Sikh Kashmir shawls, tracing their origins, cultural context and revival through stunning visuals and rich historical insight.
In this new book, Frank Ames concludes a trilogy of works, in which his sharp and revealing studies of the origins of the Sikh Kashmir shawl patterns under Maharaja Ranjit Singh not only remind us of their uniqueness and originality, but also, through their striking visuals, transport us through previously unknown ethereal and mystical dimensions of time and space.
From the tumultuous history of Punjab, the Sikhs rose to great power, commanding enough influence to draw the attention of the mighty British Raj. Ames guides us through the political, cultural, religious, and artistic events of the Punjab that gave rise to these transformative Sikh designs.
Pashmina Jewels emerges from the shared dedication of collector, Dr. Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja, and the author, both driven by a single purpose: to bring to light an art form long neglected by Indian historians.
Dr. Parvinderjit Singh Khanuja M.D., FACP, medical oncologist is the founder and managing partner of one of the United States' largest cancer programs based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Besides practicing medicine he is involved with multiple nonprofit organizations and has been a member of the Board of Trustees at the Phoenix Art Museum, where he contributed to the creation of a permanent Sikh Art Gallery in 2017. He has been collecting Sikh related artifacts for nearly 20 years and has been involved in helping curate some of the exhibits. He is the author of the recent award-winning publication, Splendors of Punjab Heritage (2022). The artifacts and the works in the Khanuja Family Collection have been widely published in journals and in books. They have also been exhibited in museums including Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Harvard University Museum, Boston; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Fowler Museum, Los Angeles; Indian Heritage Center, Singapore; and Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, besides others. Frank Ames is a textile expert with over 45 years of experience as an independent dealer, curator, scholar and writer, specializing in antique textiles with a particular emphasis on Indian/European Kashmir shawls. As a Parisian resident for many years, he refined his expertise by organizing specialized auctions at Drouot. Ames is renowned for his two seminal books on shawls: The Kashmir Shawl and its Indo-French Influence (1997); and Woven Masterpieces of Sikh Heritage (2010), which have brought him often in close liaison with private collectors, museums, and institutions worldwide. He has authored articles for publications such as HALI, Textiles Asia, Orientations, and Sikh Formations, and curated the esteemed The Arts of Kashmir exhibition at the Asia Society in 2008. Based on the Upper West Side, New York - when not at his winter home in Goa, India. To read more on him, visit www.frankames.com.
