Tent Hanging
29-96-16A
From: India | Gujarat (uncertain)
Curatorial Section: Asian
| Native Name | Qanat |
| Object Number | 29-96-16A |
| Current Location | Collections Storage |
| Culture | Indian | Vaishnavite | Hindu |
| 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 | Krishna as Cowherd | Krishna | Milkmaid | Gopis | Cows | Floral |
| 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 two registers: the top having an ornamental niche design featuring tripartite floral motifs; the bottom a narrative frieze featuring Krishna with milkmaids (gopis) and milking cows. This style of printed textile 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 | 530 cm |
| Width | 32 cm |
| Credit Line | Bequest of Maxwell Sommerville, 1904 |
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