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Hi Michael,
Lovely piece. Since patolo are not commonly seen here, I will say a little more. These silk double ikats come from Gujarat, western India, and represent an immense amount of painstaking work. As I learned from the V&A's book, "Indian Ikat Textiles," the correct singular is "patolu".
I have a couple, one bought in Germany decades ago, and the second, in India. The intriguing thing is that they have identical patterns, varying only slightly in size and in the border stripes, which are not part of the ikat.
This was a little disappointing to discover, but it led me to realize that once the pattern for a double ikat is settled, one doesn't "play" with it: think about making a piece with an additional row of motifs or a shorter piece. The effort to adapt the "code" for binding the threads is just too great; the likelihood that one would get it right for both warp and weft, minimal.
I would venture to say that all patolo patterns are tried and true and that there probably isn't anyone now who would venture to attempt a new one, maybe hasn't been for a generation or two, or more.
Regards, Larry
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