Untitled

Unknown

ca. 1720s · Cotton (painted mordant, dyed) · Asian Art

Indian textile makers were highly responsive to their customers’ desires, adjusting styles to suit specific markets. This design of this cloth represents a rare, loosely drawn version of a European-inspired textile produced expressly for the Indonesian consumer. Indian artists painted the stylized repeating pineapple plant motif so it would resemble fashionable European lace-patterned woven silks. Prototypes are readily identified in silks from Lyon, France, and Spitalfields (London) from about 1700. However, a comparison with the panel of chintz shown adjacent—which was made for the European market—illustrates how Indian artists sought to satisfy Indonesian tastes by creating a freer rendering of the European style. cat. no. 48

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1720s

Medium

Cotton (painted mordant, dyed)

Culture

India (Coromandel Coast), for Indonesian market

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2011