Tent Hanging
29-96-9
From: India | Gujarat (uncertain)
Curatorial Section: Asian
Native Name | Qanat |
Object Number | 29-96-9 |
Current Location | Collections Storage |
Culture | Indian |
Provenience | India | Gujarat (uncertain) |
Period | 19th Century |
Date Made | Late 19th Century |
Section | Asian |
Materials | Cotton |
Technique | Block Printed | Resist Dyed | Mordant Dyed | Woven |
Iconography | Hunting | Soldier | Floral | Tiger | Antelope | Bird | Parakeet |
Description | Fragment of a block-printed and mordant-dyed plain-weave cotton portable screen (qanat). The cotton fabric is soaked in a myrobalan (plant-derived) solution before it is printed and dyed, giving it an ochre color. The design consists of three registers: the top having an ornamental niche design featuring tripartite floral motifs; the middle a narrative frieze of a shikargah (hunting scene) featuring Sikh soldiers and tigers; the lowest and main being divided into a series of architectural niches of the Mughal qanat (tent hanging) format. Within the niches are Mughal-style floral designs. This style continued to be popular for commercially produced urban textiles into the late 19th century, when this type of qanat was used as a moveable partition to create spaces for public events (as it still is today). |
Length | 182 cm |
Width | 88.9 cm |
Credit Line | Bequest of Maxwell Sommerville, 1904 |
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