A man's headcloth, made from two pieces. Both men and women placed folded pieces of cloth on their heads as protection against the sun.
Because of its condition, this appears to be the oldest piece in the Maudslay Bequest, but the red cotton is dyed with Alizarin and so it cannot pre-date 1871. Like the headcloth displayed above (T.253-1928) this was woven in one piece, cut across the width and then joined with a decorative seam workjed withred and (faded) orange cotton.
Four different threads have been used to form the brocaded pattern, each beginning with a knot on the back of the fabric: red, orange and green cotton and a very small amount of purple floss silk (in the right hand panel, second row from the lower edge). The purple silk was dyed with cochineal; although thought of as a red dye, when used with different mordants it will produce a wide variety of colours from violet to scarlet. []