This fragment displays a number of significant design features but none more so than the central large vase and the flat basin or water-pot below it. Again a wall decoration(fig.28) from Jaipur's Amber Palace relates to this iconic image and even hints at being the model. It is another painted mural from the Ganesh Pol and not only is there a similar large vase and water-pot but the flowers it holds are many of the same ones found in the large composite style drawing this fragment and other shawls display.

This painting provides another smoking gun in speculating the royal ateliers at Jaipur that were responsible for this painted mural were also involved in drafting designs for Classic Period Kashmir Shawls or at least intimately connected with those who were.

Using Irwin's traditional methodology the presence of a fully developed paisley would consign this shawl to the period circa 1800. However by comparing the border style to shawls of that period it becomes evident this example was made earlier. In comparison to the all the previous Plates there is an obvious degeneration and compacting of the border design but all the elements, flower, leaf and scrolling vine are still present. The leaf and vine have been stylized almost beyond recognition and the flower, too, has been altered from the standard crocus to an unidentifiable bloom. But the form remains true and does not at all relate to the subsequent version of this border used at the end of the 18th/early 19th century, if anything it is their prototype.

In fact, the border's generic flower is the same one used in the panels on many Small Flower Period shawls. Figure 29, a shawl fragment that probably pre-dates this Plate by a decade or two presents the prototype of this generic flower. The border shows the standard well articulated crocus, leaf and scrolling vine along with typical red and white minor border. But the most important element for dating is the small generic flower in the extremely fragmented panel section. It retains a distinct leaf structure below the bloom and the last vestiges of a root, both features found on all Classic Period shawls and rarely in the SFP.

A number of fragments found in the Rich War Jacket of Tipu Sultan (figure 29 is not from that grouping) have the same carefully drawn sprig design. One in particular (fig.30) could pre-date figure 29, as it has the earliest style of border with remains of far more realistic root structure. It is, however, inferior in all other respects. The coarser raw materials and weave, which are readily apparent from the photos, are responsible for the lack of clarity the design exhibits.

The possibility it was not made in Kashmir might explain these shortcomings. The chance some shawl manufactories existed in Northern India, particularly in Delhi or Jaipur, as well as in the hill counties of the Punjab are quite strong although, again, no documentation has been found to verify this. Access to the finest rare goat fibers and skilled artisans able to work with them was extremely limited and the somewhat inferior qualities of figure 30, when compared with figure 29 and particularly this Plate, demonstrate this well. It might be older but surely not better in any other way.

Plate Eight is far superior in all respects to either of them regardless of the age issue. The slightly crowded design of flowers within the paisley outline or the presence of the paisley itself might be negatively considered by some aficionados. However, the adroit juxtaposition of so many flowers to create this bouquet and their realism is laudable and perfectly consistent with a LCP date.

This might appear to some as extreme dating, especially with the developed paisley outline of the large plant. However the appearance of the paisley, which is nothing more than a remarkable historical fact, is not the salient clue dating this shawl, the borders are.