* [Ascher, Zika (1910-1992)]. A collection of embroidered, woven, and printed fabrics, 17th century & later, including: a pair of late 19th century hand-embroidered Chinese cuffs, worked in polychrome silks and metal threads on a cream silk ground, depicting figures, pagodas, bridges, and vegetal forms, slightly dusty in places, each 61.5 cm (24.25 ins), manuscript and printed label attached with thread 'Liberty of London'; a 19th century fine cotton Persian prayer cloth, block-printed in reds, greens, and blues on a cream ground, with central large boteh and a pair of peacocks within a scalloped niche frame, surrounded by floral and foliate motifs, with decorative Arabic script above, within a multi-banded floral border, some browning and losses, 183 x 110.5 cm (72 x 45.5 ins); a double-ended cloth similar, block-printed with exotic birds and floral motifs, faded, and with some splits, 129.5 x 68 cm (51 x 26.75 ins); a late 19th century Indo-Persian metalwork table mat, hand-worked on black wool, with fringed edging, 45 x 45 cm (17.75 x 17.75 ins); a small pointed hemmed piece of metalwork embroidery, English, late 16th/early 17th century, 17.5 x 7.5 cm (7 x 3 ins); an early 19th century woven shawl, somewhat worn, 99 x 108 cm (39 x 42.5 ins); a Franco-Prussian printed fabric panel, circa 1870, with repeated portrait medallions of Wilhelm I, Bismarck, and other statesmen, encircling a battle scene, discoloured and worn, with loss, 200.5 x 62 cm (79 x 24.5 ins); and some small fragments of early brocade, various sizes and condition QTY: (34)NOTE:Provenance: from the Zika Ascher Collection and Ascher Archives.Zikmund Ascher (1910-1992), known as Zika and nicknamed 'The Mad Silkman', was a Czech textile businessman, artist and designer who, with his wife Lida (1910-1983), became a leading name in the field of British textiles, art, and fashion. The pair, who arrived in Britain at the outbreak of WWII, were innovators who pushed the conventions of British fabric design in daring new directions. They brought colour and vibrancy to the bleak face of post-war textiles, and with this, hope and optimism was conveyed through their work. They experimented with bold patterns and new and unconventional fabrics, including mohair, rayon, parachute nylon and cheesecloth, influencing top couturiers such as Christian Dior, Cristobel Balenciaga and Yves Saint-Laurent, and they also collaborated with leading artists such as Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Ivon Hitchens and Henri Matisse, to produce a series of iconic silk scarves. In 1987 the V&A in London mounted a retrospective exhibition of the Aschers' work, and published an accompanying book by Valerie D. Mendes and Frances M. Hinchcliffe entitled Ascher: Fabric, Art, Fashion. More recently, in 2019, an impressive publication The Mad Silkman: Zika and Lida Ascher Textiles and Fashion, by Konstantina Hlaváckova, accompanied an exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, paying a lasting tribute to the important contribution made by the Aschers to British fashion.
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