Tent Hanging
29-96-1
From: India | Gujarat (uncertain)
Curatorial Section: Asian
Native Name | Qanat |
Object Number | 29-96-1 |
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 | Soldiers | Floral | Horse | Tiger | Antelope | Rabbit | Snake | Peacock | Parakeet | Falcon |
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 has an ornamental niche design featuring tripartite floral motif. The middle has a narrative frieze of a shikargah (hunting scene) featuring Sikh soldiers and a wide variety of animals including peacocks, antelope, rabbits, and elephants. The lowest, and largest register, is 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 | 102 cm |
Width | 798 cm |
Credit Line | Bequest of Maxwell Sommerville, 1904 |
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