Overview

• The British Museum will lend the textile for public display in 2027 on condition Assam builds a climate-controlled, high-security facility.
• Author T. Richard Blurton describes it as the largest surviving example of its kind, with earlier fragments at LACMA and the Musée Guimet, and his study is slated for an updated edition with Assamese and Hindi translations.
• Around 20 related pieces are dispersed worldwide, including examples at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Newark Museum, as well as the “Chepstow Coat” in Wales.
• The British Museum piece comprises 12 lampas‑woven silk strips measuring 9.37 m by 2.31 m, with Chinese damask, brocade and metal suspension rings believed to be later additions.
• Tradition attributes its creation to Srimanta Sankaradeva at the request of Chilarai, and records show parts reached Tibet before The Times correspondent Perceval Landon donated the cloth to the museum in 1904.