Global Threads: The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz

October 23, 2022–January 8, 2023

Main Exhibition Galleries, East Building

 

Global Threads

The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz

Five thousand years ago, tree cotton (Gossypium arboreum) was domesticated by farmers in the Indus Valley in the northwest part of the Indian subcontinent. Centers for creating decorated cotton cloths therefore developed across much of India. Starting in the 17th century, these painted and printed cotton textiles became known in the West as “chintz,” a term derived from the Hindi chitte (singular) or chintes (plural), meaning “spotted,” “variegated,” or “sprayed.”

Over several centuries, Indian artisans perfected complex production methods using plant-based dyes and mordants to create a spectrum of colors resistant to fading when exposed to light or washing. Dramatic and specialized designs also captivated consumers worldwide. Indian chintz played a significant role in connecting cultures as well as revolutionizing fashion, industry, and global trade. Its success, however, led to factory-made imitations in Europe, which relied on underlying economic and political decisions often involving the exploitation of human and natural resources.

In addition to displaying a wide range of chintz textiles made in India for various international markets, this exhibition features a selection of European and American dress and furnishing textiles inspired by these fabrics. It also highlights contemporary Indian chintz artists who continue to advance this art form, but with a deep concern for environmental responsibility and sustainable practices.

Introduction begins here. Audio guide available at slam.org/audio or scan the QR code.

This exhibition is produced and circulated by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.
Works from private collections and complementary objects from the Saint Louis Art Museum are also included.

 

Global Threads: The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz is produced and circulated by ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada.

Support is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Indian Chintz across Space and Time

Indian chintz makers created their finest works—dress fabrics, carpets, hangings, and tent dividers—for the palaces of wealthy rulers, such as the long temple hanging depicting scenes from the Indian epic poem Rāmāyana. However, many Indian painters and printers also worked for their regional and local communities. Farmers and herders from rural areas would request distinctive patterns to convey their specific group identities.

Chintz was also produced for religious purposes. Devotees frequently sponsored painted and printed hangings for temples and homes. For example, the Chitrakar (formerly Vaghri) community of Gujarāt used textiles traditionally block-printed in red, white, and black in the worship of local goddesses. Today, contemporary makers have also introduced hand-drawn designs popularized as purely decorative hangings both in India and abroad.

 

Chandrakant Chitara,
Indian, born 1970

Mother-Goddess Hanging (mata ni pachedi), 2018
cotton, painted mordants, and dyes

The center field of this hanging shows the folk goddess Meladi Mata on her black goat mount. In the lower border, the artist portrayed the making of such hangings in the time of his father. Into the 20th century, artists of the Chitrakar (formerly Vaghri) community who created these hangings made use of the waters and banks of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, Gujarāt.

For this work commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum, Chandrakant Chitara highlighted his family’s recent exclusion from the river based on discrimination over their occupation and social status. Today, makers work from their tiny homes, with access only to muddy and polluted streams to wash their sacred cloth.

The artist comes from a long line of textile artisans in Ahmedabad. In recent years, Chitara and his uncle Jayantibhai have specialized in fine art cloths intended for collectors, galleries, and museums. Their compositions still feature the mother goddesses but on a larger scale and in open landscapes, incorporating some design conventions of southern India, such as the rocky mound.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2019.60.4)  2022.108

 

Indian

Woman’s Skirt (ghāghrā), Veil (odhani), and Bodice (choli),
early to mid-20th century
skirt: cotton, block-printed, mordant-dyed, resist-dyed
veil: cotton, tie-resist-dyed
bodice: cotton, embroidered, mirrorwork

Perhaps the simplest and most conservative block-printed cotton textiles are the stylized floral patterns made for rural communities in Rājāsthan and Gujarāt in northwestern India. They are often used as fabric for the full skirts (ghāghrā) worn by village women. The designs on this Rājāsthani example may be basic in outline, but the processes involved in making them are incredibly complex.

Block-printed designs are not simply printed onto the cloth, except in the case of modern synthetic dyes. Depending on the colors used, a mordant or dye fixative must be used to bind the dye to the cloth. A resist such as wax can also be employed to shield those areas not to be dyed. It is these mordants and resists—rather than the colors of the finished product—that are printed onto the fabric, which is then immersed in a dye bath.

The cotton veil (odhani) with tie-dyed decoration was also produced in Rājāsthan. It has a medallion design with embroidered bands on either side framing the main section. These bands are attached on the selvage, or finished edges, and only in the central portion of the veil. The bodice (choli) is made of cotton with embroidery and mirrorwork.

skirt and veil: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, These acquisitions were made possible with the generous support of the Textiles Research and Acquisitions Endowment Fund (skirt: 2019.32.1; veil: 2020.27.11)
bodice: Courtesy of Jayshree Khimasia  2022.107a-c

 

Indian

Temple Hanging Depicting Scenes from the Indian Epic Poem Rāmāyana,
about 1880 cotton,
painted mordants, resists, and dyes

This almost 150-year-old textile with vibrant colors and detailed figures was made in Andhra Pradesh along the southeastern coast of India. Each hue was skillfully produced from natural dyes and intricately painted on cotton. This narrative banner depicts scenes with Rāmā, the hero-prince from the ancient Indian epic Rāmāyana.

The Rāmāyana is attributed to the poet Vālmīki and likely dates to the 4th century BC. In the epic poem, Lord Rāmā, who is known as a manifestation of the Hindu God Visnu, battles the powerful demon-king Rāvanā for the return of his abducted wife Sitā. He is helped by his younger brother Laksmana and his trusted friend Hanumān. On this textile, different episodes of the story are illustrated alongside each other in registers. Rāmā is blue-skinned, often shooting a bow and arrow. Rāvanā is seen on the lower left with multiple heads.

The narrative is identified in English script above the images. It was likely handwritten by a British colonial official who originally collected the textile from traveling storytellers who had used it to accompany their performances. The fabric’s individual characters resemble shadow puppets, another form in which the story of Rāmāyana was commonly told.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (971.361)  2022.106

View of full textile © Royal Ontario Museum, Photo: Brian Boyle

 

Made in India for Egypt

One thousand years ago, enormous quantities of chintz were exported from western India to the Red Sea ports of Egypt for garments and home furnishings. The design vocabulary for this Islamic market included geometric shapes, stylized plants and birds, and Arabic inscriptions. Cottons hand-painted in three colors were expensive luxuries for the wealthy; those block-printed in two colors were more affordable.

Egypt’s arid environment preserved hundreds of fragments. Carbon 14 dating reveals that some of the examples seen here are more than 700 years old. Despite the great age of these textiles, their colors and patterns remain astoundingly vibrant.

These six fragments demonstrate the three types of color combinations found on Indian chintz made for the Egyptian market. Two of them are block-printed in blue and white geometric designs. There are also patterns in red, blue, and white, including one with large painted leaves. Two other fragments depict plants and birds rendered in several shades of red on white.

 

Indian, for the Egyptian market

Textile Fragment with Flowering Trees,
13th–early 14th century
cotton, painted mordants

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (961.107.1)  2022.145

 

Indian, for the Egyptian market

Textile Fragment with Bands of Dots,
1443–1618
cotton, block-printed resist

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Abemayor Collection given in memory of Dr. Veronika Gervers, Associate Curator, Textile Department (1968–1979) by Albert and Federico Friedberg (978.76.172)  2022.143

 

Indian, for the Egyptian market

Textile Fragment with Stepped Squares,
Diamond Shapes, and Running Vine Border,
1400–1450
cotton, block-printed resist

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Abemayor Collection given in memory of Dr. Veronika Gervers, Associate Curator, Textile Department (1968–1979) by Albert and Federico Friedberg (978.76.304)  2022.141

 

Indian, for the Egyptian market

Textile Fragment with Birds,
about 15th century
cotton, block-printed mordants and resist

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Abemayor Collection given in memory of Dr. Veronika Gervers, Associate Curator, Textile Department (1968–1979) by Albert and Federico Friedberg (978.76.117)  2022.142

 

Indian, for the Egyptian market

Textile Fragment with Large Leaves and Flowering Trees,
15th–early 16th century cotton,
painted mordants

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Abemayor Collection given in memory of Dr. Veronika Gervers, Associate Curator, Textile Department (1968–1979) by Albert and Federico Friedberg (978.76.1104)  2022.146

 

Indian, for the Egyptian market

Textile Fragment with Red and Blue Bands of Vines and Arabic Inscription in Naskh Script,
probably 16th century
cotton, painted mordants and resists

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Abemayor Collection given in memory of Dr. Veronika Gervers, Associate Curator, Textile Department (1968–1979) by Albert and Federico Friedberg (978.76.140)  2022.144

 

Made in India for Sri Lanka

The island of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, served as a transshipment center in the Indian Ocean trade in textiles. Its inhabitants, including Dutch colonizers and Burghers—people of Eurasian descent with European fathers and Sri Lankan mothers—were also significant consumers of Indian chintz.  The textiles were mostly supplied by producers along the Southeastern Coromandel Coast of India.

During the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company attempted to set up a chintz manufacturing center in the northern Sri Lankan port of Jaffna. There, local supplies of chay root were collected by enslaved Indians for the production of red dye, but the enterprise was ultimately unsuccessful. From the late 17th to the mid-18th century, the Dutch imported plain cotton cloth from India to have it dyed in Sri Lanka with chay red.

Customers of chintz textiles in Sri Lanka appreciated a wide spectrum of designs. Indian artisans modified and rearranged motifs typically created for other world markets in new formats and color palettes: small-scale flowering trees, men’s body wrappers ornamented in blue-green, or with European-style florals. Scholars believe that some southern Indian weavers and dyers, who emigrated to Sri Lanka to escape famine and other hardships in their homeland, also made chintz textiles for the local population.

 

Indian, for the Sri Lankan market

Wrapper Garment for Lower Body (somana tuppotiya) with Rosettes and Multiple Borders,
19th century
cotton, painted mordants and resist

This nobleman’s garment was made in coastal southeast India for Sri Lanka. The central field, with red borders, is filled with rosettes of two sizes arranged both vertically and horizontally. The long sides of the textile are framed by a single band of floral and leafy scrolls, while the edge of the short end displays multiple decorative bands with finely detailed motifs. The white, blue, and green grounds seen on this textile are quite rare, as most other examples are dominated by multiple shades of pink and red.

Collection of Banoo and Jeevak Parpia  2022.168

 

Indian, for the Sri Lankan market

Hanging with Flowering Tree,
18th century
cotton, painted mordants and resist

The design of an imaginary flowering tree on this palampore, or hanging, is based on Indo-Persian botanical motifs and Sino-Persian landscape elements. Earlier versions of the motif appear in the maa’ ceremonial cloths made in Gujarāt, India, where such designs survive in local Muslim architecture.

From the 17th century onward, the production of palampores was centered along the Coromandel Coast of southeastern India. This example was collected in Sri Lanka and has a restrained color palette. While the general location of floral elements is very similar across palampores, details of the flowers are unique to each textile.

Collection of Banoo and Jeevak Parpia  2022.169

 

Made in India for Iran

In 1619, the British East India Company, which had been founded in 1600, shipped Indian chintz textiles to Iran (formerly known as Persia) via the ports of Hormuz and Bandar Abbas. Located on the Persian Gulf, these ports served the large inland cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. The Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, also brought in Indian chintz through the port of Hormuz. Iran soon became one of the world’s most significant importers of Indian chintz. Its merchants were great traders in the cloth, large quantities of which were shipped to destinations in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, as well as the Central Asian and European markets.

To satisfy the important Iranian market, Indian cotton painters and printers created novel forms such as prayer mats and designs built around cypress trees, architectural niches (mihrabs), and pious Islamic inscriptions. Iranian customers also favored heavily glazed dress fabrics, black outlines, spiky vegetation, and foreign fancies such as European floral swags.

Chintz cloths, especially those made in the central Indian kingdom of Golconda, and others produced and shipped from the port of Machilipatnam (formerly known as Masulipatam) on the southeastern Coromandel Coast, continued to be very popular in Iran up until the early 20th century. In 1925, Iranian authorities reportedly banned imports of Indian chintz to protect the country’s own textile industry.

 

Indian, for the Iranian market

Hanging with Cypress Trees, Monkeys, Birds, Islamic Inscriptions, and Hindu Figure,
1850–1900
cotton, block-printed and painted mordants and resist, glazed

A cypress tree with monkeys and birds is the principal subject of this hanging, or palampore. Its appearance evolved from the flowering tree or so-called “tree of life” motifs found on earlier examples from India. Here, the more subdued design in the central field caters to Iranian taste with its cusped niche. It features the cypress growing from a mound, around which are peacocks and other birds.

The remaining space is covered with floral sprays interspersed with birds. The wide borders on all four sides are filled with large blossoms and scrolling stems. The head of a Hindu figure is set within a stylized sunburst at the center of the wide upper border. This textile was made in the port city of Machilipatnam (formerly known as Masulipatam) on the southeastern Coromandel Coast, where it was then shipped to Iran.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.75)  2022.165

 

Indian, for the Iranian market

Woman’s Jacket with Blue and Red Floral Designs,
about 1900
cotton, block-printed mordants and resist, glazed

The outer textile of this tight-fitting woman’s jacket (kolīja) is Indian chintz made for the Iranian market. It features bands of opposite-facing būta motifs, which are almond or pine cone-shaped ornaments with curved upper ends. The būta, which originated in Iran and became popular from India to Turkey, appear in single columns against a plain white ground. They alternate with wider bands centered on leafy scrolls and blossoms. The jacket’s plain-weave cotton lining has a floral lattice design and was produced in Iran using block-printed mordants.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (973.336.35)  2022.167

 

Indian, for the Iranian market

Mat or Hanging with Architectural Niche (mihrab), Cypress Trees, and Floral Swags,
1825–1850
cotton, block-printed and painted mordants, resist, and dyes

The most refined Indian trade textiles for the Iranian market are rectangular cotton cloths about three feet wide and up to six feet long. This example represents the highest quality of such textiles.
At center is an area defined by a cusped arch or mihrab.

It is framed on either side by two vertical floral meander borders and a column of cypress trees within niches. The lower horizontal border features floral swags, which first appeared on European-market chintz from around 1775 but remained popular in Iran into the early 20th century. The upper border has rows of architectural finials of the kind found at the top of monumental Deccani gateways to palaces or mosques. The interior of the arch displays offset rows of Mughal-style flowers.

This hanging was likely made at the southeastern Indian port of Machilipatnam (formerly known as Masulipatam). It was block-printed with hand-painted resists and additional details, which distinguishes it from more ordinary examples.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.80)  2022.166

 

Made in India for Indonesia

For centuries, precious spices like nutmeg, mace, and cloves could only be found in the Indonesian archipelago. The islanders demanded Indian textiles in exchange for these spices. To please niche markets on those islands, Indian chintz makers carefully customized designs such as improvisations on geometric shapes and scenes from Hindu epics. When Europeans began sailing to Indonesia from 1500, they were also obliged to barter with Indian cloth to acquire spices.

Many communities in Indonesia desired Indian chintz not for daily fashion but for ceremonial display. In the great courts and ports of Java and Sumatra, elites wrapped their bodies in enormous chintz cloths. Villagers on the island of Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes, prized long pieces to display as ritual banners. Carefully preserved over generations, many of the textiles shown here are more than 300 years old.

Indian chintz made for eastern Indonesia often includes strong elements of red, a color associated with fertility and power. On Sulawesi, communities used chintz to transfer ancestral blessings at large ceremonies by draping houses, elders, and gifts with the cloth. Popular designs include sacred geese, luxurious foliage, female entertainers, and patterns from precious Indian silk textiles (patola). Some of the same motifs appear on cloth exported to Egypt, showing artistic and commercial linkages across the Indian Ocean.

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Body Wrapper or Banner with a Large Sunburst (matahari) Design,
18th century
cotton, painted mordants, block-printed dyes

By the 17th century, southern Sumatra had become economically dependent on the black pepper trade, which brought great riches. It also had close ties to Java, and many of the Indian textiles surviving from the region show Javanese influence in terms of iconography and form.

Most spectacular are the large cloths, made of two lengths sewn together. They were probably worn like the Javanese dodot, a wide waist wrapper used by aristocratic court society. Indian versions often feature large diamond or lozenge shapes at their center. Another, less common, genre includes a sunburst motif known as matahari (“eye of the sun”)—either red or more rarely blue—surrounded by faintly printed flower sprigs, as in this example.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust Fund (2015.28.1)  2022.133

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Cloth (maa’) with Dancing Women,
1450–1550
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes

The dancing figures on this heirloom banner (maa’) are rendered in the style of those seen in 16th-century Jain temple and manuscript paintings. Great attention is given to the details on the dancers’ costumes and their personal adornments. The background is densely filled with floral and animal motifs.
This banner was probably made in Gujarāt in northwestern India, which for many centuries was a center for expertly produced dyed cotton chintz. The banner was intended for the Southeast Asian market, specifically the island of Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia.

Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, From the Opekar / Webster Collection (T94.0825)  2022.134

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Cloth (maa’) with Pattern Imitating Indian Woven Silks (patola),
17th-18th century
Cotton, block-printed mordants, painted dyes

Produced in Gujarāt in northwestern India, this ceremonial cloth (maa’) was used by the Toraja people on the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The design here imitates the more expensive and luxurious woven double-silk patola cloths that were also made in Gujarāt for export to Indonesia. The plain-weave cotton textile bears a stamp of the Dutch East India Company, VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), whose ships transported such cloths from India to the Indonesian archipelago from 1602 through 1799.

Many cotton imitations of geometric-patterned silk patola survive, attesting to the popularity of this design. It is generally assumed that the large number of surviving cotton imitations reflect the demand for this type among people who could not afford the expensive silk versions. This cloth retains patola-like borders.

Collection of Banoo and Jeevak Parpia 2022.138

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Textile Length with “Lace-patterned” Silk Design,
1720–1750
cotton, painted mordants

Exotic fruits and flowers decorate this wrapper made on the Coromandel Coast in southeastern India for the Sulawesi market. Long before Indian cotton chintz reached Europe, it was wildly popular throughout Asia. In Indonesia, it was the major form of currency used by foreign traders to acquire the islands’ precious spices. Imported Indian cloths also became sacred heirlooms for local rituals.

This pattern shows strong European influence but was clearly not intended for Western consumers as its scale, muddy ground, and size demonstrate. The flowers are reserved in white by use of a resist, and further details were added by hand. Very little of the plain white ground is left in this textile, a design preference favored by the European market.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust (2008.81.1)  2022.136

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Cloth (maa’) with a Tripartite Design of Plants,
17th–18th century
cotton, painted and block-printed mordants and resist

Made in Gujarāt for the eastern Indonesian market, this ceremonial cloth (maa’) was used by the Toraja people on the island of Sulawesi. The designs on such long textiles are arranged in three sections separated by borders, with each presenting a distinct pattern. On this example, the individual sections consist of quatrefoils on a background of scrolling vines, roundels containing blossoms, and sprigs of leaves.

Such three-pattern cloths were probably used in Toraja ceremonies involving the wrapping of houses, thus their substantial length would have been prized. Often, the designs are vaguely reminiscent of those seen on fine Indian silk textiles (patola). The motifs of these maa’ are part of a Gujarāti visual vocabulary that survives in 15th- and 16th-century architectural monuments such as the Adalaj Stepwell near Ahmedābad.

Collection of Banoo and Jeevak Parpia  2022.139

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Textile with a “Patchwork” of Geometric Shapes,
18th century
cotton, painted mordants and resist

This canopy or ceremonial hanging with patchwork design was made on the Coromandel Coast of southeastern India for the Sumatran or Javanese markets. The plain-weave cotton is hand-painted, mordant-dyed, and resist-dyed, with the addition of hand-applied dyes.

This cloth was collected in Lampung, Sumatra. The textile’s remarkable hand-drawn design imitates patchwork and features an astonishing array of motifs. Perhaps deriving from Islamic talismanic jackets assembled from pieces of treasured cloths, such painted and printed cottons were produced for a variety of markets, including for Dutch and Japanese export. The Indian kalamkari (“pen-crafted”) version of a patchwork like this was later adopted by Javanese batik artisans for the pattern called tumpal.

Collection of Banoo and Jeevak Parpia  2022.140

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Textile with Battle Scene from the Indian Epic Poem Rāmāyana,
1700s
cotton, painted mordants and dyes

This chintz banner, made in coastal southeast India for export to the Balinese or Sulawesi markets in Indonesia, illustrates a dramatic battle scene from the Indian epic poem Rāmāyana. The hero-prince Rāmā fights Ravana, the 10-headed king of Lanka who has kidnapped his wife Sita. Rāmā is backed by his brother Laksmana, armies of monkeys and bears, and his monkey-headed devotee, Hanuman. Composed over 2,000 years ago, the Rāmāyana is still popular throughout South and Southeast Asia.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust (2016.42.2)  2022.135

 

Indian, for the Indonesian market

Ceremonial Cloth (maa’) with Geese Encircling Lotus,
14th–15th century
cotton, block-printed mordants

This cloth is resist-printed and dyed red. A large central field shows a continuous pattern of small bar-headed geese (hamsa) circling around an open lotus blossom or a cluster of four lotus buds. The pattern’s outlines are white; the geese and floral motifs are red and brown; the background has faded from red to pink. The field has narrow border bands of various designs on all four sides.

The earliest Indian textiles found in Indonesia were discovered among the Toraja people of southern central Sulawesi, where carbon 14 dating attests to the survival of examples as old as the late 13th and 14th centuries.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust (2016.43.2)  2022.137

 

Made in India for Thailand

Indian chintz painters made some of their finest, most distinctive work for the court of Thailand (formerly known as Siam). Only Thai kings, their nobles, and members of the royal guard were originally permitted to dress in Indian chintz. Rulers dispatched agents to India to custom order special cloth with elegantly drawn white lines, “flame-like” motifs, and images of Buddhist deities. Additionally, some of the gold finishing (gilding) was done by artisans in Thailand.

Luxury painted cotton textiles expressly commissioned for the Thai royal court constitute a specialized category of the Indian chintz trade. Referred to as “Thai-market chintzes,” they are among the most easily recognized. The fabric designs closely follow Thai aesthetics—a densely rendered decorative detail is typically arranged in lattice patterns that repeat across a central field.

 

Indian, for the Thai market

Man’s Lower Wrapped Garment (phaa nung / phaa lai khain thong),
1780–1820
cotton, painted mordants and resist, later application of gold leaf in Thailand

Collectively, Indian cloths were known in Thailand as phaa lai, and phaa lai khain thong when gold was stamped or painted over the decorated surface, as seen on this example. A lower-wrapped garment, whether worn by a man or woman, was called a phaa nung.

The design of this cloth has three main components. The central field, which occupies the largest area of the fabric, is known as tong pha. The two vertically oriented borders on the long sides are called sang wian, while multiple horizontal bands known as kruai cheung fill out either end of the textile. It is the design and quality of the kruai cheung that ultimately determine the prestige of the fabric and its wearer.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust (2016.42.1)  2022.132

 

Indian, for the Thai market

Textile Fragment with Celestial Worshippers (thepanom),
1767–1799
cotton, painted mordants and resist, later application of gold leaf in Thailand

Indian textiles for the Thai market typically include darker browns, blacks, wine reds, and dark violets as well as pale turquoises and greens. These colors are rarely encountered on Indian chintzes made for other markets. Such fabrics often contain figural designs of deities and semidivine beings: Indra, Erawan, Brahmā, and Garuda, flying apsaras (celestial nymphs), serpents, and monster masks. In addition, these chintzes destined for Thailand follow specific decorative conventions. Most noticeably is the extensive use of fine white-resisted lines, flaming motifs, and floral lattices.

Until the 19th century, the vast majority of the rural Thai population wore plain white upper and lower unstitched garments woven from local cotton or silk. The elite of Thailand, however, demanded brightly colored cloths from visiting foreign merchants, such as this textile printed and dyed in coastal southeastern India.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Gift of Dr. Henry Ginsburg (985.46.9)  2022.188

 

Made in India for Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora

The great talent of Indian artisans to design for small niche markets is seen in works made for Armenia and its diaspora. Armenian merchants were integral to the textile trade between India and Iran long before the first representatives of the European trading companies arrived on the Indian subcontinent. Their dominance as merchants, agents, and exporters of Indian cloth to Europe, Iran, the Ottoman Empire, Southeast Asia, and East Asia is frequently mentioned in the records of all the European trading companies.

Armenian merchants were geographically well positioned to commission textiles for use in their own Christian churches and monasteries. In addition, they were able to supply chintz for their many religious establishments in India, Iran, and across the Armenian diaspora. In the 1600s, they brokered sales to newly-arrived European traders and were invited to France to teach cotton printing.

 

Indian, for the Armenian market

Kerchief with Scenes of Europeans and Dedicatory Inscription,
1737
cotton, block-printed mordants and resist, painted dyes

Made in coastal southeastern India, this kerchief has a dedicatory inscription reading “Son of Ter (or Der) Hagop. Dazdur. 1737,” with three initials and the number 121 in the center. Its decoration consists of multiple borders on four sides. Some are filled with block-printed birds and flowers, while others are entirely floral. The two major borders display single columns of European military figures on foot and on horseback. A seated European couple appears in the center of the four most prominent borders. Punctuating each corner are double-headed eagles. The square center of the kerchief has been filled with an arabesque arrangement of large flowers, leaves, and stems.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.65)  2022.152

 

Indian, for the Armenian market

Cope with Angels, Cross, and Dedicatory Inscription,
1789
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes, lined with European and Indian printed cottons

This chintz cope, or shurchar, is a semicircular robe worn by an Armenian priest during church services. In the Armenian tradition, it symbolizes a shield against the attacks of the Devil. Made with three joined widths of cotton, the garment is stamped with a date of 1789. It features an elaborate European-style ground design with a Christian cross; the floral border contains angelic winged heads. The dedicatory inscription in Armenian script reads, “In memory of Gregory Ghalandaeian [?] and his parents Agapia and Martha.”

The cope was almost certainly used for an extended amount of time in India. This is because it is presently lined with a later South Indian cotton cloth printed with a spot motif imitating Indian tie-dyed textiles.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.37)  2022.153

 

Two Japanese Color Woodblock Prints from the Series Taisei ijin den (Biographies of Great People of the Occident)

Japan’s fascination with Indian chintz set the stage for its own foray into industrial cotton production in the late 19th century. This development was expressed in contemporary woodblock prints. For example, during the early Meiji period (1868–1912), the newly formed Ministry of Education issued prints between 1873 and 1885 for classroom instruction.

One such set of 15 prints, entitled Taisei ijin den (Biographies of great people of the Occident), features important inventors and artists, 14 of them European and one American. These prints demonstrate Meiji Japan’s admiration of Western art, industry, science, and technology, and how the Ministry of Education used such prints to inspire young Japanese students.

Two prints from this series depict the inventions of machinery that facilitated the mass production of cotton textiles in Europe starting from the late 18th century. After a long period of relative isolation, Japan adopted the European-style industrial system, the outcome of gradual development over two centuries. Cotton spinning was one of the first adopted by the Meiji government, understanding that industrial success was dependent on the cotton textile industry.

The Japanese established cotton factories in 1881, and the late application of advancements in factory systems was advantageous. Japan therefore learned from Europe’s successes and failures. Important innovations and improvements were made by the Japanese, who also started exporting to the world by the late 1800s.

 

School of Utagawa Kuniteru II, Japanese, 1830–1874

Richard Arkwright (1732–1792), English Inventor of Cotton-spinning Machinery, 1873
from the series Taisei ijin den (Biographies of great people of the Occident)
published by Monbushō, Tokyo, Japan,
active 1870–2001
Meiji period, 1868–1912
color woodblock print

Sir Richard Arkwright, the English inventor of cotton-spinning machinery, is shown here with his second wife, Margaret Biggins. The couple married in 1761, and her wealth allowed Arkwright to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit, to which he devoted a significant amount of time. In a fit of anger over the loss of family income, she destroyed his model of a spinning frame. With the broken prototype at his feet, Arkwright banishes Margaret to her parents’ home.

Arkwright’s perseverance eventually led to the 1769 patenting of the spinning frame, a machine powered by water that produced a cotton yarn suitable for warp, or lengthwise threads. He became known as the “father” of the Industrial Revolution for his development of the modern factory system with mass-production machinery.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Lowenhaupt  297:2020.1

 

School of Utagawa Kuniteru II, Japanese, 1830–1874

Josué Heilmann (1796–1848), Alsatian Inventor of Machine for Combing Cotton, 1873
from the series Taisei ijin den (Biographies of great people of the Occident)
published by Monbushō, Tokyo, Japan,
active 1870–2001
Meiji period, 1868–1912
color woodblock print

This print illustrates Josué Heilmann, the inventor of the machine for combing cotton, with members of his family. A native of Alsace, France, Heilmann is said to have discovered the principle which made his invention successful while watching his daughter having her long hair combed, as the image portrays.

Alsace was one of Europe’s biggest cotton printing centers, exempt from the 18th-century French and English bans on printing cottons. Heilmann’s machine, which was patented in France in 1845 and in England in 1846, not only combed cotton with a perfection that had never before been attained, but by the use of certain modifications it was capable of being applied to all other textile materials.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Lowenhaupt  297:2020.6

 

Japanese

Footed Dish with Design of Chintz-Style Patterns,
late 17th century
Edo period, 1615–1868 Arita ware, Nabeshima type; porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze polychrome enamel decoration

Nabeshima porcelain departed from the Chinese-inspired tradition of ceramics produced by other kilns in Arita and elsewhere in Japan by using motifs in a bold and striking way. Some are reminiscent of textile patterns of the late 17th and 18th centuries, such as this dish with a design based on an imported Indian chintz, or sarasa, pattern.

Nabeshima-type wares could only be used by members of the ruling clan or given by the family as gifts to other feudal lords (daimyō) in Japan. Commoners were not permitted to own Nabeshima porcelain. The Ōkawachi kilns, established around 1675 deep in a mountain valley, were supervised very strictly; their refined techniques and elegant designs remained closely guarded secrets.

Saint Louis Art Museum, William K. Bixby Trust for Asian Art  142:1959

 

Indian, for the Japanese market

Chintz Textile Panel (sarasa) with Design of Decorative Roundels and Rosettes,
18th century
dyed cotton with painted resist and mordant

Indian chintz, or sarasa, was exported to Japan starting from the latter half of the 16th century. Although the fabric was made in India, the repeating pattern of regularly spaced rosettes and roundels seen here was based on Japanese sources. The motifs evoke Japanese Buddhist iconography—the lotus and the Dharma wheel—as well as the traditional chrysanthemum.

This type of design is present in late 18th-century Japanese sarasa manuals published in Edo, Kyōto, and Ōsaka. These manuals, with color directives encouraging Japanese textile printers to copy the Indian designs, confirm that sarasa were widely circulated even before such publications appeared.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Lowenhaupt  17:2022

 

Japanese

Album of Textile Fragments (kiretekagami),
17th–18th century, album assembled in the early 20th century
various cotton textiles

Starting from the later portion of the Japanese Edo period (1615–1868), fragmentary pieces of Indian chintz and other exotic textiles were often mounted in sample albums known as meibutsugire (“famed fabrics”). Others were tailored into a variety of textiles, such as precious wrappers for tea-ceremony containers, display mats, tobacco pouches, and scroll-box covers.

This album of textile fragments (kiretekagami) contains a variety of Indian chintz, Indonesian batik, and European industrially-printed cottons. The textiles are from the 17th and 18th centuries, while the album was assembled in Japan during the early 20th century.

Courtesy of Peter Lee, Singapore  2022.151

 

Indian, probably for the Indonesian market, used in Japan

Fragment with Lattice (unyade) Pattern, Originally Used in Japan as a Border for a Scroll Painting,
18th century
cotton, painted mordants and resist

Indian chintz, or sarasa as it was known in Japan, was sometimes used to mount the borders (hyōgu) of scroll paintings, as in this example. Made in coastal southeastern India for the Indonesian market, this lattice unyade pattern was subsequently collected in Japan through Dutch East India Company trade and much appreciated there.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Gift of Louise Hawley Stone (961.232.22.B)  2022.149

 

Inaba Michitatsu, Japanese, 1736–1786

Sarasa zufu (Illustrated manual of chintz),
1785
published by Naniwa shorin, Ōsaka
Edo period, 1615–1868
woodblock-printed ink on paper

Because most Japanese people during the 18th century could not afford to own lavish textiles but learned about their designs through illustrated volumes, books like the Sarasa zufu (Illustrated manual of chintz) appeared on the publishing market. The Sarasa zufu has 44 folded bound leaves and illustrates dozens of Indian chintz patterns that were already collected in Japan before 1785.

Japanese textile designers also began to imitate and manufacture sarasa, and the products were called “Japanese sarasa” or wasarasa. However, due to the difficulty of obtaining natural dye materials, they were not able to produce the red colors seen in Indian chintz.

Bishop White Committee Library of East Asia, Royal Ontario Museum Library and Archives, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (Rare Book NK9503.2.J3.I533 1785)  2022.148

 

Indian, probably for the European market, used in Japan

Tea Ceremony Cloth (fukusa) with Floral Scroll Design (sasatsurude),
1700–1750
cotton, painted mordants and resist, gold leaf

This Indian chintz cloth with scrolling vines and multicolored flowerheads is embellished with delicately applied gold leaf. It is of the type most likely made for the European market, but was traded to Japan where it remained as an heirloom. Sarasa with gold-leaf decoration (kinsarasa) were particularly prized, especially if they had belonged to tea masters or daimyō families that ruled various domains.

The wooden frame probably dates to the early 20th century. The box inscription records that the cloth belonged to the Ikeda clan, many branches of which were daimyō families during the Edo period (1615–1868) in Japan.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust (2016.42.4.1, 2016.42.4.2.1, 2016.42.4.2.2)  2022.147

 

Indian, for the Japanese market

Pouch with Tortoise Shell Pattern (kikkōde) for a Pewter Tea Caddy from China,
18th–19th century
pouch: India, mordant and resist dyed cotton
tea caddy: China, pewter

The arrival of Buddhist monks from Fujian province in China in the mid-17th century led to the rise in Edo Japan of the last wave of Zen Buddhism, the Ōbaku sect. One of the outcomes of this movement was a renewed fascination with late Ming Chinese culture and the popularity of a new type of tea ceremony based on Chinese-style loose-leaf tea (sencha) in the Fujian style. The tea would have been stored in a pewter tea caddy like the one displayed here.

Courtesy of Peter Lee, Singapore  2022.150.1a,b

 

Indian, for the Japanese market

Pouch with Unknown Vegetal Pattern for a Set of Five Porcelain Teabowls,
18th–19th century
pouch: India, mordant and resist dyed cotton
tea bowls: China, porcelain
Pouch with unknown vegetal pattern for a set of five porcelain teabowls

Courtesy of Peter Lee, Singapore  2022.150.2a-f

 

Indian, probably for the Indonesian market, used in Japan

Pouch with “Ceiling Grid” (gōtenjō) Pattern for a Chinese Clay Yixing Teapot,
18th–19th century
pouch: India, ikat and mordant and resisted dyed cotton
teapot: Fujian, China, clay

Objects for the practice of steeped tea, or sencha, were either imported from China or made in Japan to reflect the taste of late Ming scholars and monks. Chinese Yixing clay teapots (chachō), like the one displayed here, were highly prized. Understated wares were favored, such as small, ordinary porcelain teacups (chawan), humble pewter saucers (chataku), and tea caddies (chashinko). From the 18th century, rare or famous Indian chintz (sarasa) fragments were selected by sencha masters and used extensively.

Courtesy of Peter Lee, Singapore  2022.150.3a,b

 

Indian, for the Japanese market

Pouch with Floral Scroll and Gold-leaf (sasatsurude kinsarasa) for a Chinese Pewter Tea Caddy,
18th–19th century
pouch: India, mordant and resist dyed cotton with gold-leaf
tea caddy: China, pewter

Courtesy of Peter Lee, Singapore  2022.150.4a,b

 

Indian, for the Japanese market

Pouch with Lozenge-shaped Grid Pattern (hanabishide) for a Set of Five Pewter Saucers,
18th–19th century
pouch: India, mordant and resist dyed cotton
tea caddy: China, pewter

This set of five pewter saucers from China was formerly in the collection of the Japanese artist, seal-carver, and sencha tea master Yamamoto Chikuun (1819–1888), who lived and worked in Kyōto.

A completely different set of traditions developed for the preparation and drinking of steeped tea (sencha). However, certain aspects from the powdered-tea ceremony (chanoyu), established in the late 12th to early 13th centuries, remained. These include the use of ceremonial cloths, pouches for utensils, and the importance placed on the provenance of the utensils, which differed considerably from those used for chanoyu.

Courtesy of Peter Lee, Singapore  2022.150.5a-f

 

Made in India for Japan

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Indian chintzes were known in Portuguese as saraça (“cotton cloth”). When first the Portuguese and later the Dutch traded them to Japan, they were called sarasa. The exotic and vibrantly colored motifs of these printed textiles, as well as the durability, lightness, and softness of the cotton fabrics, made them fascinating to many Japanese people.

Japanese elites used Indian chintz for a unique purpose. They fashioned it into accessories for their special tea ceremony including small mats as well as pouches for teacups, saucers, and teapots. Chintz was especially sought for the practice of steeped tea (sencha) introduced from China in the late 1600s. Collectors particularly valued pieces with gold-leaf decoration and items that belonged to tea masters or ruling daimyō families.

Japan’s deep appreciation for Indian chintz and other Asian textiles like Javanese batik resulted in collection, study, and publications. Prominent families assembled private albums of cloth fragments. From the 1700s, Japanese book printers published popular chintz designs to aid local manufacturers in imitating the color and pattern. The most complete of these, the Sarasa zufu [Illustrated manual of chintz], was published by Inaba Michitatsu in 1785.

 

Made in India for Europe

Europe’s various East India trading companies made their greatest profits by shipping Indian cloth to Europe from the mid-17th century onward. The Dutch, British, French, Swedish, and Danish companies all built trading posts along India’s southeastern coast to compete for the finest chintz.

Like most other global consumers, Europeans were attracted by the properties of the cotton fiber: its light weight and ease of washing, and chintz’s colorful and, at times, exotic designs. Initially employed for household furnishings, Indian cottons started to also be used for clothing sometime in the second half of the 17th century. To keep up with changing European fashions, Indian chintz makers developed new colors and patterns. Their expertise ranged from delicate flowers scaled to men’s dressing gowns to large Japanese-inspired plants and birds to fill enormous wall hangings.

More costly Indian chintz had a glazed finish from burnished rice starch, which added a stiff, luxurious feel. This made the textile better able to hold form, even without a lining, and offered a more familiar texture, like starched linen or crisp silk, for the dressmaker or tailor. Glazing made the cotton sturdier. In addition, the polished, glazed surface emulated the light-reflective property of silk and was sometimes further enhanced with gilding and silvering.

 

Textiles Exported from Asia to Europe, 1586–1830

From 1500, Europeans created new markets by exporting Indian cotton textiles, especially to Europe, West Africa, and the Americas. As a result, Indian textiles made inroads into the habits of consumers almost everywhere in the world. Painted and printed fabrics were the core trade of the European East India companies, commercial organizations often considered to be the precursors of modern corporations.

The Portuguese East India Company, established in the early 16th century, and subsequently the British, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Danish companies, from the 17th century, purchased millions of pieces of Indian printed, painted, and plain cotton cloth to be sold to European consumers. By the late 17th century, the European companies imported 600,000 to 800,000 pieces (each approximately 50 feet or 15 meters long) per year of Indian cottons; a century later, these quantities had doubled.

Although Portugal initiated early significant imports into Europe, it was Dutch and British companies that substantially altered European consumption habits in the first half of the 17th century through their import of Indian chintz. The desire for new sources of raw cotton and laborers to grow and harvest the crop led to the forcible transportation of West Africans to European colonies in the New World. The growing demand for cotton became inextricably tied to the practice of slavery in places such as Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.

Textiles imported from Asia into Europe by the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French East India Companies, 1586–1830 (in thousand pieces per year); Courtesy of Giorgio Riello

 

Indian, for the European market

Man’s Informal Dressing Gown (banyan),
1765–1775
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes

This glazed golden-brown “fallen leaf” (feuille morte) banyan is painted and dyed with a continuous repeat pattern that reverses on the back as there is no shoulder seam. The large curvilinear purple meander emulates ribbons with lace borders, and the white outlines are so clear against the dusty, almost golden ground that in candlelight, they might have been mistaken for gilding. The generic T-shape cut was popular until the third quarter of the 18th century.

This design was usually painted to shape, in garment form, on the textile. It could be shipped as an uncut length, and then taken to the local tailor, or be partially or completely ready-made in India. In this case, the range of materials used, including silk construction thread, clearly indicates that it was made up in Europe from Indian banyan yardage.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Gift of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust and the Textile Endowment Fund Committee (2009.110.1)  2022.127

 

Indian, for the European, probably British, market

Overdress of a Woman’s Robe à l’anglaise,
about 1780
cotton, painted mordants and resist

Middle-class women aspired to wear chintz, as seen in this red “English style” overdress with a more informal silhouette. Two dress fabric designs were favored: florals running freely across the surface or repeat patterns mimicking familiar woven silk fabrics.

This cotton dress would have been the height of fashionable luxury, both in terms of its fitted bodice and the distinctive textile from which it was made. The Indian chintz, with red speckled ground and a pattern of fancy stripes interlaced with flower sprays and garlands, is entirely hand-painted. It was designed as yardage that could be used for either costume or furnishing. The fabric emulates the fashionable European woven silks of the period, clearly indicating that it was intended for Western consumption.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (972.202.12)  2022.131

 

Indian, for the European, possibly Dutch, market,

Wall or Bed Hanging (palampore),
1740–1750
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes

The “flowering tree” was a favorite European motif for Indian chintz wall or bed hangings. It uniquely combines Iranian, Chinese, Indian, and Western themes. The tree’s branches sprout with a wide range of flowers and fruits from around the world, while animals frolic inside and atop the intricate rocky base. Some motifs are realistic, while others reflect the painter’s imagination.

The pair of birds perched side by side at the treetop have curved beaks, crested heads, and squared-off tails. These features suggest they were partly inspired by some sort of pigeon or dove. The artisan carefully defined the feathers and created texture with wax-resist white lines. Feathery plumes and fan shapes are a recurring feature of this hanging. Six tree branches sprout palm-like leaves joined in the middle to form fan-shaped clusters.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.11)  2022.129

 

Indian, for the European, probably French, market

Overdress of a Woman’s Robe à la française and Matching Petticoat,
about 1770
cotton, painted mordants, resist, dyes, glazed, silk lining, silk trim

The central, circular motif of this palampore represents a Japanese waterwheel. Cranes, eagles, songbirds, pine trees, and an assortment of flowering plants fill the light-colored background throughout. The overall design borrows imagery from Japanese sources, probably textiles or lacquerware, which became accessible to Dutch traders through their privileged access to Japan.

Eagles are symbols of power. Stylized Japanese cranes (Grus japonensis) are important birds representing longevity in Chinese and Japanese culture and art. Japanese black pine trees (Pinus thunbergii) with sinuous trunks and blue and green foliage cover this piece. The needles were formed by painting with wax before dyeing. Pine trees signify longevity in Japanese and Chinese art, and they are often paired with cranes.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Holt-Renfew Fund (959.80.A, 959.80.B)  2022.130a,b

 

Indian, for the European, probably Dutch, market

Wall or Bed Hanging (palampore) with Japanese-inspired Imagery,
1725–1750
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes

The finest Indian chintz was a luxury affordable only to elites, embodied by this sumptuous white floral overdress in the “French style” lined with silk and adorned with silk trim. This exceptionally well-made robe à la française, or sack back, is an elegant example highlighting the importance of the new patterned cotton and how European dressmakers were required to use it creatively.

Likely constructed in France, the glazed dress is fashioned from painted florals with branches of roses, peonies, and chrysanthemums. The bodice of the overdress is completely lined with a yellow and grey striped silk taffeta that adds weight and body. Its mass is reiterated by heavy lead weights, encased in silk taffeta, placed inside the elbow-length sleeves to ensure they stay down. More importantly, the taffeta provides the sound of luxury by the rustle of silk that heralded the wealthy’s arrival.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (963.13) 2022.126

 

Indian, for the English market

Panel from a Set of Hangings,
1720–40
cotton, painted mordants and resist

Scrolling and scalloped ribbons of feathers and foliage snake down this chintz textile. The intricate, meandering design is a response to the so-called “lace pattern” woven silk fabrics made in Europe in the early 18th century. One of four panels, an English East India Company trade stamp on the hanging from the same set at the Minneapolis Institute of Art suggests the entire lot was destined for the English market where fabrics with light-colored backgrounds were especially fashionable.

The accompanying image features a disassembled dress skirt produced from silk panels woven in England around 1720 with a strikingly similar pattern and color palette to this chintz hanging.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Marjorie Wyman Endowment Fund  7:2020

Skirt Panel, c.1720; English, London; silk; 35 1/2 x 51 1/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Marjorie Wyman Endowment Fund  113:2016

 

Indian, for the European market

Man’s Informal Dressing Gown (banyan),
about 1770
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes

The chintz for this man’s informal gown, called a banyan, was made in coastal southeast India for the Western market. The popular pattern on this example was produced in different colors, likely by the same workshop. It has a geometric design paired with a floral motif of roses and rose buds, cherry blossoms, tiny flowers, and stylized fruits.

This type of garment was popular with European gentlemen in the 1700s. Tailored most often in Europe, its loose fit was inspired by Asian robes and European imaginings of Asia. The roses on each side of the front were painted as mirror images, which required ingenuity and pre-planning in order to reverse and trace the design on the paper pattern. It was a subtle change that was technically simple and basically cost-free, and provides clear, visual evidence that the banyan was custom painted to shape and not made from a repeating yardage.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust (2016.43.1)  2022.173

 

Indian, for the European, possibly French, market
in the style of Jean Bérain the Elder, French, 1640–1711

Panel from a Set of Hangings with Architectural Design,
1710–1720
cotton, painted mordants and resist

Indian chintz painters excelled at customizing designs for the tastes of individual European nations. For French consumers, they modeled some wall hangings on fashionable architectural compositions by Jean Bérain, chief designer to the court of Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715) at Versailles (see image). Hangings of this type draw on the “grotesque” imagery that had become popular in Italy in the 16th century following the rediscovery of ancient Roman buildings decorated in this style. These designs incorporate arabesques, interlacing ribbons, and imaginary human faces and figures, which in Indian chintz were sometimes adapted into purely architectural or floral elements. In this example, the chintz artists also added birds.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.18.A)  2022.125

image: designed after Jean Berain I, French, 1640–1711; published by Jeremias Wolff, German, 1663–1724; Plate from a suite of German copies in reverse after Berain’s grotesque panels, published 1724; etching; 13 3/16 x 10 7/16 inches; Victoria and Albert Museum, London
20334:163; © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

 

Indian, for the European, probably Dutch, market

Wall or Bed Hanging (palampore),
1725–1740
cotton, painted mordants, resist, and dyes

Wealthy Europeans could order personalized chintz designs. This palampore, or wall hanging, was customized to include a lion with a sword, possibly a European family crest. Its format, with medallions at the center and four corners, was popular, as were its Chinese mythological creatures and Indian animals. Creating white-ground chintz with multicolored motifs required great technical skill.

The motifs depicted include the qilin, a Chinese mythological creature combining the features of a deer and a dragon, with hooves, antlers, a scaly body, and a lion-like tail. Other mythological creatures on this hanging include phoenixes and unicorns. Along the borders are tiny repeated islands with animals native to India: squirrels, monkeys, macaques, civets, small cats, birds, and insects. Some of these stylized animals blend features from different species.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.7)  2022.128

 

Indian

Kalam Pens, 2020
bamboo and yarn

Hand-made in coastal southeastern India, each of these kalam pens has a bamboo shaft and yarn reservoir. Chintz painters use the bamboo pens (kalams) to apply solutions and create colors and patterns (see image). First, they soak the cloth in buffalo milk to create an oily surface that prevents color bleed. Then they squeeze the yarn bulb of the kalam pen to release mordants, dyes, or wax. Finally, they immerse the cloth in a series of dye baths to build up multicolored designs. Kalams are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Drawing with wax requires a metal tip.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2019.55.1–.5)  2022.156.1-.5

 

Indian

Buffalo Milk Canister, 2020
stainless steel

In the work of contemporary chintz artist Renuka Reddy, the first step in the production of chintz is the preparation of the cotton fabric with a mordant and buffalo milk. When milk-treated fabric is exposed to sunlight, the high fat content from buffalo milk goes deep into the fabric, preventing the dyes from spreading. As in most steps involved in making chintz, the results can be unpredictable. It can be difficult to know if the milk has evenly covered the cloth’s surface and soaked through sufficiently until the first smudge appears, sometimes after weeks of work.

Private collection  2022.158

 

Renuka Reddy,
Indian, born 1974
RedTree Textile Studio,
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Painting Colored Pattern Process Set, 2020
cotton, block-printed

These six textile samples are part of a process set of ten created by the contemporary chintz artist Renuka Reddy. They illustrate the major steps in the production of chintz using hand-painted (kalam) mordant and resist-dyed cotton.

Step 1: Outlines drawn with iron mordant for black and a combination of alum and sappanwood for red on cotton cloth treated with buffalo milk and myrobalan (purple-leaf plum).
Step 2: Dyed red with madder root.
Step 5: Areas that are not blue painted in wax.
Step 6: Dyed blue in indigo vat.
Step 8: Dyed with madder root.
Step 10: Yellow from pomegranate rind painted over indigo for green; finally, starched, and beetled (pounded to produce a shiny, hard, flat surface).

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of Patricia Sparrer (2020.45.1.1, .2, .5, .6, .8, .10)  2022.157.1-.6

 

Indian

Two Dishes with Ground Seeds and Flour for Thickeners, 2020
ceramic, ground seeds, flour

Courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, Canada 2022.159a,b

 

Indian

Set of Blocks Illustrating the Ajrakh Printing Process, 2017
carved wood

Ajrakh is a unique form of block-printing found mostly in Kachchh, Gujarāt, India, and Sindh, Pakistan. The ajrakh printing process is a long one, with up to 30 steps. First, the cloth is washed and scoured several times. Steps are then taken to apply mordant to chemically adhere the dye to the cloth. Next, each color is either directly or resist block-printed with natural dyes such as indigo, madder, turmeric, pomegranate, iron, and mud.

Following this order is of utmost importance as the layers of color are built up and the traditional geometric ajrakh patterns emerge. What makes ajrakh block-printing more time- and labor-intensive than others is the fact that all these processes must be applied to both sides of the cloth.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the ROM Governors Textile Endowment Fund (2017.68.2.5, .11, .12, .16, .19)  2022.155.1-.5

 

Abduljabbar M. Khatri, Indian, born 1967

Block-printing Colored Pattern Process Set, 2017
cotton, block-printed

The colors and patterns of Indian chintz are often created by block printers who use carved wooden blocks to stamp mordants directly onto cotton fabric. Iron or alum mordants, thickened with ground seeds and flour, attract dye colorants. Mordants made of clay or gum arabic repel dye when soaking the cloth in a series of dye baths to build up colored designs.

This process set, made by Abduljabbar M. Khatri in Dhamadka, Gujarāt, India, demonstrates seven of the 30 steps for block-printing a double-sided, multicolored pattern: (1) printing resist for white outlines; (2) printing iron mordant; (3) printing alum mordant, and printing resist on areas to repel indigo; (4) repeated dipping in indigo; (5) removing resist; (6) steeping in red dye; (7) washing and sun bleaching.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the ROM Governors Textile Endowment Fund (2017.68.1.3)  2022.154.1-.7

 

Printing with Wooden Blocks

Printing with wooden blocks requires no less skill or artistry than hand-painting. This historically preferred method allows for infinite design possibilities. Master block carvers translate complex motifs and overall compositions into smaller units, cutting delicate lines able to withstand the rigors of forceful stamping. The printers are challenged to perfectly align the blocks so as to mask breaks and navigate corners. Mordants, resists, and dyes could also be applied using carved wooden blocks. Here, the printer applies the mordant alum; after dyeing with the roots of certain plants, the printed areas will turn red.

Photograph by Sophena Kwon, Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada

 

Indian, for the Dutch market
in the style of Daniel Marot, French, active in the Netherlands and England, 1661–1752

Lining for a Woman’s Straw Hat in a “Bizarre Silk” Pattern,
1750–1780
cotton, painted mordants and resist

The desire for Indian chintz was shared by rising middle classes. Women in the northern Dutch province of Friesland, with its capital at Leeuwarden, adopted painted Indian chintz for formal dress, fashioning it into jackets and linings for straw hats.

In creating this hat lining, Indian artisans may have been inspired by designs from European woven silks of the early 1700s—known today as “bizarre silks”—or by the published drawings of the French-born architect and engraver Daniel Marot (1661–1752). Today, Frieslanders may still wear chintz for special occasions.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (934.4.53.A) 2022.122

 

The Dutch East India Company and Indian Chintz in the Netherlands

The Dutch East India Company, formally known in English as the United East Indian Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated as VOC), was the main importer of chintz fabrics to Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. The VOC obtained the textiles from three areas of India: Gujarāt in the northwest; Bengal in the east; and the Coromandel Coast in the southeast.

By 1680, chintz had become massively popular in Europe; more than a million pieces were imported into England, France, and the Netherlands per year. As chintz was considered a threat to the national textile industries, French and English citizens were prohibited from producing, importing, or even wearing it for over 70 years, respectively from 1686 and 1701. However, in the Netherlands the sale of chintz flourished and over the years it was used for fashionable and regional dress, especially in the northern province of Friesland. The country was happy to cater to its neighbors, England and France, into which Indian chintz textiles were smuggled.

Chintz has been part of Dutch heritage since the 17th century. The decoration of Indian chintzes for the Dutch market is far removed from the native repertoire of cotton painters from the Coromandel Coast in India. This is especially true for the large floral bouquets and heraldic designs, which are derived from European prints. Nevertheless, these chintzes are unmistakably of Indian origin. The unique Indian technique of mordant-dyeing and resist-dyeing resulted in refined decoration using a characteristic palette of red, yellow, and blue.

 

Indian, for the Dutch market

Woman’s Short Jacket (kassakijntje) with Flowers and Phoenixes,
18th century
cotton, painted mordants and resist

The textile for this woman’s short jacket was made on the Coromandel Coast in southeastern India. It was exported to the Netherlands, where it was then tailored and trimmed with woven ribbon. By the late 1600s, both elite and working-class women in Europe aspired to wear garments made of Indian chintz. In the northern Dutch province of Friesland, it was widely adopted as best dress. This particular example was used in Hindeloopen, a tiny Friesian town where many chintz garments have been well preserved.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (962.107.2)  2022.121

 

English

Reproduction Print of Billet Book from the Foundling Hospital, London, England,
1759, reproduced in 2020
reproduction print

Like their middle and upper-class counterparts, many working-class women in Europe and the American colonies also desired to dress in Indian chintz. Some received used garments from their employers or bought small accessories with simple patterns and colors.

Records from London’s Foundling Hospital contain rare samples of modest Indian chintz. Impoverished mothers who placed children at the hospital often left snippets of clothing in order to later prove kinship. This reproduction of a Foundling Hospital ledger shows Indian chintz left with a newborn admitted in 1759.

Courtesy of the Foundling Hospital and Museum, London; CORAM; and the London Metropolitan Archives  2022.124

 

Indian, for the European, possibly Italian, market

Textile Fragment, 1775–1825
cotton, block-printed mordants

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (977×39.4) 2022.123

 

Indian, for the European market

Wall or Bed Hanging (palampore) with Floral Repeats, 1720–1750
cotton, painted mordants and resist

The format of a central medallion and corner elements derives ultimately from Islamic art. It is seen from the early Islamic period (about 640–900) on book bindings and manuscript pages as well as carpets and textiles. The design’s versatility and rectangular format were perfect for Western bedcovers and wall hangings. When it was merged with the typical floral motifs of Western-market chintz, the composition became completely disassociated from its Middle Eastern origins.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (962.107.1)  2022.120

 

British, for the Indian market

Kerchief with Images of Lord Ganesh and Indian Playing Cards,
about 1880
cotton, roller-printed synthetic and possibly natural dyes

This plain-weave cotton kerchief features the Hindu deity Ganesh surrounded by ganjifa cards, a popular Indian card game originating in Iran. Local fabrics were added as a border in India, and the textile may have been used in Rājasthān.

From 1776, Britain lost the United States as a captive colonial market of its finished cloth. Manufacturers therefore shifted their efforts to Africa, Australia, and Asia. Many set their sights on the huge Indian market itself. By 1820, in a stark reversal of history, factories in Manchester, England, and Glasgow, Scotland, were mass producing roller-printed cottons for India like this one, carefully studying its design preferences. Consequently, thousands of Indian spinners, weavers, dyers, and cotton painters lost their livelihoods.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2004.75.1) 2022.172

 

Cotton and Color

How did Indian artisans perfect the art of coloring cotton?

India’s unique natural environment offered key ingredients: indigenous cotton plants, clean water, intense sunshine, and potent native dye plants—turmeric, indigo, and chay. The country’s inventive craftspeople perfected spinning and weaving cotton and devised complex chemical reactions to create vibrant, lasting colors. With humble ingredients and unmatched skill, Indian textile artisans dominated the dyeing of cottons for centuries.

 

YELLOWS

Paint or print solutions made from turmeric or pomegranate skin

To create green, apply yellow on top of blue

Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Turmeric, Curcuma longa L. L. [Amomum curcuma Jacq.] E. Denisse, Fl. Amerique: t. 102 (1843-1846); New York Botanical Gardens; Courtesy of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Gardens

 

BLUES

Paint or print cloth surface with paste such as clay to resist color

Soak cloth in an indigo dye bath fermented with cassia seeds

Remove resist to reveal the white ground

Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria)

Indigo, Roxburgh number 391 – Indigofera tinctoria Willd.; watercolor on paper; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

 

REDS

Pre-treat cloth with solution of myrobalan fruit

Paint or print alum, a dye agent (mordant), to bind plant dyes to cotton

Boil the cloth with the roots of a red dye plant

To create black, use iron and sugar for mordant

Chay (Oldenlandia umbellate)

Chay, Roxburgh number 39 – Oldenlandia umbellate Linn.; watercolor on paper; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

 

Indian
North India Company School

Reproduction of a Painting with Woman Spinning,
1860, reproduced in 2020

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada  2022.161

 

Indian

Hand Spindle for Spinning Cotton into Thread,
early 21st century

Private collection  2022.164

 

1 turmeric root

Dye and mordant samples courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, Canada

 

1 cassia seeds
2 indigo cake

Dye and mordant samples courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, Canada

 

1 myrobalan fruit
2 alum
3 chay root
4 madder root

Dye and mordant samples courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, Canada

 

1 myrobalan fruit
2 iron scraps
3 sugar
4 chay root

Dye and mordant samples courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, Canada

 

Indian
North India Company School

Reproduction of a Painting with Man Spinning,
1860, reproduced in 2020

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada  2022.160

 

left: Men washing dyed fabric; Courtesy of Sophena Kwon, Maiwa

middle: Steeping cloth in madder red dye solution; Courtesy of Sarah Fee

right: Indigo-dyed cloth drying; Courtesy of Tim McLaughlin, Maiwa

 

The Activities of the Factory

1. Copperplate Printing
Two printers pass lengths of cotton through a press fitted with a large, engraved copperplate. The incised grooves in the plate are filled with a colorless mordant, a dye fixative which is transferred to the fabric as it travels through the press.

2. Washing and Dyeing
Women soak the mordant-printed fabric in a bath of diluted cow dung to remove the gums from the mordant; the rest of the fixative remains. After this bath, the fabric is rinsed. Next, men continuously turn the fabric through large vats of dye. Only areas of cloth printed with the mordant permanently absorb the color.

3. Bleaching and Drying
Finally, the fabric is bleached in the sun to remove excess dye outside the printed design. Throughout the day, workers scatter droplets of water on the fabric to help whiten the unprinted background. The fabric is then hung on the exterior of a factory building to dry.

 

Jean-Baptiste Huet I, French, 1745–1811
Oberkampf Manufactory, Jouy-en-Josas,
France, 1760–1843

The Activities of the Factory (Les Travaux de la Manufacture) Quilted Panel, 1783–84
cotton and copperplate-printed dyes

Buzzing with activity, this remarkably detailed design provides a comprehensive, if idealized, view of an 18th century French cotton textile printing factory. In Jean Baptiste Huet’s first collaboration with the famed Oberkampf Manufactory, he depicted the laborious, multistep process for creating a toile de Jouy, literally a “fabric from Jouy.” Framed by foliage, men, women, and children print, wash, dye, bleach, dry, and press lengths of cloth.

One way French manufacturers like Oberkampf learned about the process of producing chintz was through contemporary reports from Europeans traveling and trading in India. In 1737, Antoine de Beaulieu (1699–1764), a naval officer in the French East India Company (Compagnie des Indes), circulated his account of kalam painting in the then-French colonial settlement of Pondicherry (known today as Puducherry). This invaluable document is now known as the Beaulieu Manuscript.

Saint Louis Art Museum, The Margarita M. and Roland E. Jester Endowment Fund for the Decorative Arts, and the Richard Brumbaugh Trust in memory of Richard Irving Brumbaugh and Grace Lischer Brumbaugh  26:2019

 

Mass-produced European Chintz

From 1650, craftspeople across Europe attempted to print cottons using Indian methods. They struggled, however, to recreate India’s bright colors and fine details. Finally, around 1750, Britain and France mastered the mass printing of textiles.

Europe’s printers now needed large amounts of cotton cloth. British manufacturers developed machines and factories to spin and weave cotton, launching the Industrial Revolution (1760–1840). Britain slowly replaced India as the world’s biggest cotton fabric exporter.

Industrial cotton manufacturing profoundly changed how the world consumes resources and contributes to the environmental damage and social inequalities remaining today.

Transatlantic colonial trade routes and goods, 1650–1850. Map adapted from the book The Making of America, Published by National Geographic Society © 2002, National Geographic Books

 

Jean-Baptiste Huet I, French, 1745–1811
Oberkampf Manufactory, Jouy-en-Josas,
France, 1760–1843

Furnishing Textile, Le lion amoureux or Leda,
1809
cotton, roller-printed dyes

To keep pace with demand, printers in France and Britain invented new technologies for printing on cloth: engraved copper plates from 1750, and engraved rollers from the 1780s. European cotton printers had an important advantage over Indian artisans—they could respond quickly to changing fashion trends since their customers lived in close geographic proximity. For example, from the 1770s, consumers sought fabrics with imagery from classic European literature and new scientific illustrations like this green roller-printed textile.

Cotton furnishing fabrics with engraved plate- or roller-printed designs are often referred to as toiles de Jouy after the famous Oberkampf Manufactory in Jouy-en-Josas, France. The factory was the first to print the color green in a single step rather than printing blue with yellow painted over it; this textile is among the earliest examples of this streamlined process. The best instances of the Neoclassical style of the late 18th to early 19th century are washable, colorfast printed cottons rather than patterned silks—a fashion revolution that threatened to destroy the local silk industry.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne (934.4.528)  2022.170

 

Postcard of the cotton mills at Burnley, Lancashire

Cotton spinning and weaving factories in Burnley, Lancashire, England, c. 1905. By 1820, using industrial methods, England had replaced India as the world’s largest exporter of cotton yarn and cloth.

Amoret Tanner / Alamy Stock Photo

 

Brigitte Singh, Indian (born France), born 1955

Bag Cut in Historic “Gujarati Style” Pocket with Pise Jaal Pattern, 2016–2018
cotton, block-printed dyes

Private collection  2022.117

 

Brigitte Singh, Indian (born France), born 1955

Bag Cut in Historic “French Style” Pocket with Mandir Buta Pattern, 2016–2018
cotton, block-printed dyes

Private collection  2022.118

 

Brigitte Singh, Indian (born France), born 1955

Bag Cut in Historic “Gujarati Style” Pocket with Daffodil Pattern, 2016–2018
cotton, block-printed dyes

Private collection  2022.119

Brigitte Singh and her office manager J.C. Mahindra, Amber; Photo courtesy Brigitte Singh

French-born designer Brigitte Singh went to Rājāsthan, India, in the early 1980s to study miniature painting, but fell in love with its printed cottons. Based in Jaipur and a self-proclaimed “technician,” Singh works with block-carvers, printers, and colorists to reinterpret historic motifs such as poppies from the Mughal court (1526–1761). Her block-printed clothing, accessories, and homewares are famous for fine printing and attention to detail.

 

Mahesh Chand Dosaya,
Indian, born 1978

Textile Panel, 1994
cotton, block-printed resist, indigo-dyed

When he was only 15 or 16 years old, Mahesh Chand Dosaya made this textile with geometric and floral motifs using dabu mud-resist and hand-block printing techniques. Dosaya’s Paramparik Craft studio in Bagru, Rājāsthan, India, is dedicated to manufacturing fabrics employing natural dyes and traditional hand-block prints.

Since the 1990s, the Dosaya family has collaborated with Charllotte Kwon and her company Maiwa Handprints Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has long committed to working with the same block-printing families in Gujarāt and Rājāsthan. For instance, Maiwa and the Dosayas have developed new products, such as a signature natural-dye fashion line printed on linen. Such long-term relationships with entrepreneurs are critical for the success of block printers engaged in the export trade.

Courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd., Vancouver, Canada  2022.116

 

Anglo-American  Factory-Printed Chintz

In an effort to protect English manufacturers and traders, many of the tools and materials required to print colorfast dyes on cotton were prohibited from importation into the North American colonies. Even after the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), British firms exported huge amounts of factory-made chintz to the United States, often at below market price, in a policy known in the field of economics as “dumping.” These efforts stalled the development of local printers—up until the 1830s, American-made quilts, excellent records of the textile trade, typically featured British fabrics. One exception is an appliqué quilt in this gallery, which features a rare central square printed by Philadelphia-based entrepreneur John Hewson (1744–1821).

Before the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain, most raw cotton destined for British textile factories came from India, the Caribbean, the western Mediterranean region, and Brazil. However, in the early 19th century, the United States developed varieties of cotton that could withstand frost and were well suited to machinery, becoming England’s main supplier. The early American cotton industry, centered in the South, was primarily fueled by the labor of enslaved people of African origin.

 

probably English

Fragment of Factory-Printed Chintz,
about 1800–1810
printed cotton

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. George O. Carpenter  6:1949

 

European, probably English

Fragment of Factory-Printed Chintz,
late 18th century
printed cotton

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. George O. Carpenter  14:1949

 

European, probably English, or American

Fragment of Factory-Printed Chintz,
late 18th century–early 19th century
printed cotton

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. George O. Carpenter  9:1949

 

European or American

Fragment of Factory-Printed Chintz,
20th century
printed cotton

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. George O. Carpenter  8:1949

 

Used for fashion and interiors, these fragments of printed cotton show the range and longevity of chintz designs made in European and American factories from the late 18th to early 20th centuries. Colorful, often dark and textured grounds became particularly popular in the 19th century, as the variety of natural and synthetic dyes expanded thanks to advances in chemistry and increasing global trade.

The acorn is an apt motif for the ground textile on the lower left—its sunny color was derived from quercitron, a yellow dye extracted from the tree bark of the North American black oak (Quercus velutina).

 

Cornelia Ann Burling,
American, 1794–1882

Factory-Printed Chintz Appliqué Quilt,
about 1816–17
cotton and printed dyes

From 1816 to 1817, New Yorker Cornelia Ann Burling sewed these flowers, clipped from British factory-printed chintz, on the white ground of this large, carefully-made quilt. Called chintz appliqué or broderie perse, they were highly fashionable in the United States during the early 19th-century, surpassed in popularity by patchwork quilts only in the 1840s.

These quilts’ colorful flora and birds and contrasting light background recall Indian chintz furnishing textiles, particularly palampores, or large bedcovers or wall hangings, often with enclosed borders and flowering tree or central medallion motifs (see image).

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Elliott and Mary Chubb  304:2021

Palampore (textile panel), 1730-1740; Indian for the English market; cotton tabby, painted, mordant-dyed, resist-dyed, overpainted, glazed; 130 7/16 x 90 inches; Royal Ontario Museum, Harry Wearne Collection, Gift of Mrs. Harry Wearne  934.4.16

 

Unknown artist
fabric printed by John Hewson, American (born England), 1744–1821

Factory-Printed Chintz Appliqué Quilt, 1807–09
cotton and printed dyes

This quilt’s central square—a finely rendered vase of flowers flanked by birds and butterflies—is the work of Philadelphia-based textile printer John Hewson. Born and trained in London, Hewson was one of the most successful manufacturers in the early history of American textile printing, operating a widely admired firm with his son from about 1774 to 1824. His work mostly survives in quilts, although his many published advertisements enticed customers with curtains, coverlets, shawls, and handkerchiefs, all colorfast dye guaranteed.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase  61:1948

 

Unknown artist
fabric printed by John Hewson, American (born England), 1744–1821

Factory-Printed Chintz Appliqué Quilt,
1807–09
cotton and printed dyes

This quilt’s central square—a finely rendered vase of flowers flanked by birds and butterflies—is the work of Philadelphia-based textile printer John Hewson. Born and trained in London, Hewson was one of the most successful manufacturers in the early history of American textile printing, operating a widely admired firm with his son from about 1774 to 1824. His work mostly survives in quilts, although his many published advertisements enticed customers with curtains, coverlets, shawls, and handkerchiefs, all colorfast dye guaranteed.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase  61:1948

 

Arnz & Co., Dusseldorf, Germany, 1815–1858
after Henry Lewis, American (born England), 1819–1904

Cotton Plantation, from Das Illustrirte Mississippithal,
1854–58
color lithograph

A woman expertly picks cotton. She extracts soft fibers from a sharp, hard casing and then adds the boll to the growing mound in the basket at her feet. Nearby, two men hoist overflowing baskets onto their backs and shoulders, stooping under their weight. Their enslaver surveils their stolen labor and holds a whip, the instrument of torture that powered the 19th-century global cotton industry.

Artist Henry Lewis, who lived and worked in St. Louis between 1836 and 1854, placed this enslaved woman and men at the center of his idealized depiction of a Mississippi cotton planation. He rendered them on a small scale, choosing not to acknowledge the brutal, dehumanizing realities of chattel slavery. After moving to Düsseldorf, Germany, Lewis published this print in The Valley of the Mississippi Illustrated, where it served as an instantly recognizable symbol of the American South to European audiences.

Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase  165:1949

 

Danny Lyon, American, born 1942

Cotton Pickers, Ferguson Unit, Texas,
from the portfolio Danny Lyon, 1967–1968,
published 1979 gelatin silver print

The strong sense of rhythm animating Danny Lyon’s photograph of men picking cotton with sacks trailing behind them is undeniably arresting. Lyon hoped, however, that its visual power would not blind viewers to the brutality of the scene it depicts. He intended for this photograph, and others like it taken on a prison farm in Texas, to change how people thought about incarceration.

The end of slavery did not mark the end of the cotton industry, which sought labor elsewhere. During the 20th century, Texas coerced Black men who were convicted of crimes into unpaid plantation work, mostly in cotton fields. There, in the years before and after mechanized cotton harvesting became widespread, they performed backbreaking labor to benefit the state.

Nigerian-American author Teju Cole wrote that this photograph is “a work of compressed history. Within a single frame, we witness forced labor, the plantation economy, cotton’s allure, Black subjection, government control, and the facelessness of the impoverished.”

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Hunter  560:1991

 

Cotton and the Consequences of Desire

Indigenous Americans independently domesticated two kinds of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense) and had been weaving and wearing them for millennia. By 1616, English settlers also grew these cotton varieties along the James River in Virginia. To supply textile factories in Great Britain, colonists in North America began planting the crop on a massive scale, using enslaved Africans and an institutionalized system of violence. Europeans had trafficked Africans since the 1500s, but the increasing global demand for cotton cloth drove the expansion of this brutal system in the 1700s.

Between 1783 and 1808, over 170,000 Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States expressly to cultivate cotton. A further one million already-enslaved men, women, and children residing on the eastern seaboard were again uprooted and sold to cotton plantations in the Deep South, from South Carolina to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and even parts of southeastern Missouri.

Long after the formal end of American slavery in 1865, discriminatory laws and practices continued systemic racism, subjecting African Americans to economic exploitation in cotton fields and to other forms of state violence. The cotton industry, and the prejudiced violence it relied upon, contributed to inequalities that persist to this day. Confronting and dismantling institutionalized racism remains the urgent work of the present.

 

American

Cotton-picking Sack,
about 1950
cotton, rubber nubs

This cotton-picking sack is sized to hold 100 pounds of harvested cotton. Enslaved individuals and paid laborers alike were made to pick 200 pounds of cotton per day, enough to fill two full bags of this size. This sack was used in the 20th century until about 1950 by Mr. Gus Green to handpick cotton in Louisiana.

The harvesting of cotton lasted from September until as late as December, sometimes keeping the children of farmers and laborers out of school for weeks or months at a time. The cotton plant has a soft white boll nestled in a woody husk, rough enough to tear one’s cuticles and hands. Cotton pickers spent from sunrise to sunset bent over, dragging the increasingly heavy sack behind them as they gathered the crop up and down rows of fields.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, Gift of Mr. Gus Green (986.280.1)  2022.171

 

Cotton field with building in background

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

 

Cotton Painting and Printing in Contemporary India

By 1960, only a few cotton painters remained in India. Today, hundreds of practitioners utilize the bamboo pen (kalam) to create many kinds of works. Renuka Reddy has revived painting with wax; Malipuddu Kailasham renders miniature worlds from Hindu epics; and Ajit Kumar Das evokes personal memories. The sustainable fashion label 11.11/eleven eleven designs painted cottons and silks for wearable art.

Among the thousands of block printers currently active in India, only a few hundred carry out the complicated art of dyeing with natural plants. Abduljabbar M. Khatri, for example, interprets geometric Islamic designs using a traditional 30-step printing process, and the Pracheen studio plays with contemporary color palettes and patterns. Fashion houses collaborate with block printers for collections presented at Mumbai’s biannual Lakmé Fashion Week.

Presently in India, the art of painting and printing cottons using natural dyes is undergoing exciting transformations. From rural workshops to urban art studios, new generations are reviving lost techniques and innovating design. Some explore personal artistic visions, while others are invigorated by rising local and global demand for “slow fashion”—textiles that are uniquely handcrafted and environmentally sustainable.

The use of natural dyes is relatively rare in contemporary Indian art. Few artists have a thorough understanding of the ancient knowledge of dyeing with plant and mineral substances. While working with such dyes might seem an intuitive choice for an artist, it requires skills carefully cultivated over a lifetime.

 

designed by Good Earth
printed in the workshop of Juned Ismail
Khatri, Indian, born 1975

Sindhu Line Menswear Ensemble (Jacket, Shirt, Vest, Trousers, and Wrapper), 2019
cotton, block-printed mordants, and resist

The ensemble displayed here was printed by the workshop of Juned Ismail Khatri in the village of Ajrakhpur, Bhuj, Gujarāt. The individual garments were designed by Good Earth, India’s leading design house. Since its founding in New Delhi, it has set the industry standard for homegrown and sustainable luxury retail in the country.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Textiles Research and Acquisitions Endowment Fund [2020.27.14 (jacket), 2020.27.16 (shirt), 2020.27.19 (vest), 2020.27.21 (trousers), 2020.27.25 (wrapper)]  2022.114a-e

 

Malipuddu Kailasham,
Indian, born 1947

Woman’s Sitamma Sari with Scenes from the Epic Poem Rāmāyana,
2018
cotton, painted mordants, and dyes

Based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, Malipuddu Kailasham renders miniature worlds from Hindu epics. This sari, commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum, is dedicated to the goddess Sita, who is considered an ideal of Indian womanhood. Here, Kailasham drew on artist J. K. Reddayya’s rendition of an episode from the epic poem Rāmāyana. The emphasis is placed on the forest landscape, depiction of wildlife, and, on one end, the boat carrying Rama, Sita, and Laksmana across the Ganges River.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of Patricia Sparrer (2019.57.1)  2022.112

 

Ajit Kumar Das, Indian, born 1957

Prosothor (Stone), 2014
cotton, painted mordants, and dyes

In his Prosothor (Stone) series, Ajit Kumar Das explored memories of early personal and professional struggles. The intricately colored and impossibly stacked boulders—their rough surfaces in tension with the soft palette and cotton—simultaneously convey anxiety and equilibrium.

Based in Kolkata, West Bengal, Das worked in cloth dyeing and printing before turning to kalam drawing. Likewise fascinated by the qualities of natural dyes, Das uses esoteric subjects, ranging from early meditations on Vedic astrology and Tantric religious art to individual experiences and the medium itself.
The artist has committed himself to the practice of applying natural materials on cloth, creating sensitive visuals that resonate deeply with the viewer. Das’ art is characterized by his use of soothing colors derived from barks, leaves, roots, and minerals.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust, Peer Review Fund (2019.35.1)  2022.109

 

Renuka Reddy, Indian, born 1974
RedTree Textile Studio, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Hanging with Design of Flowering Tree, 2019
cotton, painted mordants, and dyes

Renuka Reddy of Bengaluru (formerly known as Bangalore) is one of a small number of contemporary artists producing innovative works in the tradition of India’s unique art. A pioneer reviving lost technique, she paints on cotton using the kalam pen and employs natural dyes. Reddy was commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum to produce this hand-painted cotton hanging, a masterwork of contemporary chintz. The dyes used include madder, indigo, pomegranate, and fermented iron.

Reddy’s hanging is a contemporary interpretation of a mid-18th century palampore in the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection (see image).

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2020.10.1) 2022.110

left: Renuka Reddy painting indigo with the kalam pen, Bengaluru, 2019; Courtesy of Renuka Reddy, Photograph by Vandana Radhakrishnan

right: Palampore made into a quilted bedcover, 1730–1740; Indian for the Western market; chintz: cotton tabby, painted, mordant-dyed, resist-dyed, overpainted; 90 15/16 x 55 7/8 inches; Royal Ontario Museum, Canada  964.215

 

Abduljabbar M. Khatri,
Indian, born 1967

Hanging of Ajrakh Masterwork, 2019
cotton, block-printed mordants and resist

In this large hanging, Abduljabbar M. Khatri explores geometric Islamic design using a traditional 30-step printing process. In Bhuj, Kachchh, Gujarāt, where the artist lives and works, a special category of prints known as ajrakh (geometric designs in deep reds and blues) has been phenomenally successful in the past decade (see image). Ajrakh textiles may appear as soft furnishings, mainstream dress, and runway fashion.

The beauty of ajrakh relies on dyeing and hand-block printing. The sources for the colors are a combination of vegetable dyes and natural minerals. For instance, red from madder root, blue from indigo, yellow from pomegranate rind and turmeric, green from indigo, turmeric, and pomegranate, and black from scrap iron.

In the past, river washing was the norm. The disappearance of rivers and relocation of artisans has pushed them to using wells. Today, the water collected for dyeing may be recycled several times during the stages of printing, with some workshops releasing it for agricultural irrigation. Since it is chemical-free, there are no side effects. The entire process is manual and does not involve any machinery.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the ROM Textiles Research and Acquisitions Endowment Fund (2019.42.1)  2022.111

Abduljabbar M. Khatri block-printing an ajrakh. Photograph by Eiluned Edwards

 

Consequences of Mass Consumption and Ways  toward a Sustainable Future

The global desire for Indian chintz has had far-reaching consequences—from Europe’s machine-made imitations in the 1700s that fueled slavery for cotton production to modern manufacturing and the unsustainable exploitation of resources.

Factories brought durable color and pattern to people around the world. Two centuries of accelerating production and consumption, however, have carried enormous environmental and social costs. Today, the fashion and textile industries are among the world’s greatest polluters. Cotton growing is the largest user of pesticides and water. As awareness deepens, our interconnected world seeks alternative futures.

Mass production of cotton clothing is becoming unsustainable. The damage is increased by a global desire for fast fashion: cheaply-made garments designed for the latest trends and worn on average only seven times before being thrown out. Of roughly one hundred billion new garments produced every year, 87 percent end up in landfill.

How can our clothing choices contribute to a more sustainable future? One option is choosing to buy well-made, handcrafted textiles, such as Indian chintz. But even chintz makers today must innovate to achieve sustainable cotton, color, and design. We could also buy less, recycle, and reuse clothing, choosing quality that endures while supporting companies certified for their sustainable practices.

 

Indian
designed by 11.11 / eleven eleven

Woman’s Tunic (ikeidn) and Shoes (badouche), 2019
tunic: silk, cotton, painted mordants;
shoes: hand-painted silk, with natural dyes

Few contemporary designers use hand-painting in conjunction with natural dyes in their work, but the sustainable fashion label 11.11 / eleven eleven, co-founded by Shani Himanshu and Mia Morikawa, is an exception. It emphasizes the purity of handcrafted processes, starting from the base textile, which is always handwoven fabric made from handspun thread (khadi). It uses natural dyes, local hand skills, and the recycling of all scraps—even loose threads. The pair of women’s shoes, in light yellow hand-painted silk, comes from the “Kalamkari” line from the same design label.

Based in New Delhi, 11.11 / eleven eleven is dedicated to creating ethical products with traceability. Each piece of the brand’s “seed to stitch” clothing line has a unique number through which it is possible to trace every maker involved in the process and how long each step takes.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, tunic: This acquisition was made possible with the generous support of the Textiles Research and Acquisitions Endowment Fund (2020.27.2), shoes: Generously supported by the Textiles Research and Acquisitions Endowment Fund (2020.85.5.1 and 2020.85.5.2)  2022.115a-c

 

Ahmed Latif Khatri, Indian, born 1959
Sarfraz A. L. Khatri, Indian, born 1979
Pracheen workshop, Mumbai, Māhārashtra, India

Woman’s Sari with Leaf Pattern,
2016–2018
silk, block-printed mordants

The leaf pattern on this sari was block-printed using the ajrakh technique at the Pracheen (“ancient” or “old” in Hindi) workshop in Mumbai, capital of Māhārashtra state. Ahmed Latif Khatri and his son, Sarfraz, specialize in printing and dyeing silk with natural colors extracted from biodegradable substances such as vegetables, roots, barks of plants, and flowers. The process involves some 16 different stages spread over 45 days to complete a single hand-printed natural-dye stole and close to three months for a sari to be finished.

The Pracheen workshop’s motto is “Do the earth a favor. Do not pollute the environment. Use natural dyes.” Its practice respects the environment and honors the earth by reducing contaminates, reviving the ancient Indian tradition of natural dyes, and enhancing the beauty of hand-block-printed textiles.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2019.60.1)  2022.113

View of full textile

 

Focus on Printing
duration: 4 minutes, 7 seconds, looped

Indraneel Lahiri © Royal Ontario Museum, 2018

 

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