Chintz Textile Panel with Design of Decorative Roundels and Rosettes

Culture: Indian
Associated: for the Japanese market
Date: 18th century
Material: Dyed cotton with painted resist and mordant
made in: India, Asia
associated with: Japan, Asia
Classification: Textiles
Collection: Asian Art
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: textile: 10 5/8 × 10 7/8 in. (27 × 27.6 cm)
presentation box: 1 1/4 × 6 1/4 × 6 in. (3.2 × 15.9 × 15.2 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Lowenhaupt
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 17:2022

NOTES

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.

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