TEXTILES
India: Rajasthan, Jaipur, Sanganer
Canopy or coverlet fragment
1775 - 1835
Plain weave; Printed, hand blocked; Painted; Resist dyed, mordant resist
Cotton; Vegetable dye (madder)
19 1/2 x 32 1/2 in. (49.5 x 82.5 cm) overall
Elizabeth Bayley Willis Collection
TC 58.2-88

Block printing was used extensively in the creation of canopies, coverlets, floor spreads, wall hangings, and garments. This fragment was probably part of the outer border of a canopy or coverlet. The lower band contains red and dark blue vase and flower motifs flanked by purple birds. Above this, a band formed of floral arches is filled with an alternating procession of royal figures in red, riding dark blue elephants in full trappings, and Europeans in blue riding red camels. Narrow borders are formed of leaf and floral scroll work. Europeans were popular textile motifs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. -- Label copy from Court and Village: India's Textile Traditions, October 23, 1981, to January 3, 1982, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.