18th century
Coromandel Coast district,
India
India
Object qualities
-
Objecttextile (towels, carpets, etc.): Bed cover
-
Type of arts & crafts 1
-
Type of arts & crafts 2
-
Type of arts & crafts 3
-
MediumCotton; plain weave, mordant painted and dyed, resist-dyed
-
SizeTextile: H. 107 in. (271.8 cm) W. 77 3/4 in. (197.5 cm) Mount: H. 117 1/2 in. (298.5 cm) W. 86 5/8 in. (220 cm) D. 2in. (5.1 cm)
-
Geography detailsAttributed to
Coromandel Coast district,
India -
Country today
-
Date18th century
Source of information
-
Type of sourceDatabase “Metropolitan Museum of Art”
-
Fund that the source refers toMetropolitan Museum of Art
Description
-
This type of dyed cloth, known as a palampore from the Hindi term for a bed cover, palangposh, was made in abundance in India for the European market in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The size of the palampores conformed to bed sizes in Europe, and their decoration, often with a central tree laden with fruits and birds, combined elements from English embroideries, Chinese decorative objects, and Indian textiles. Lengths of such fabric also hung on the walls of the bedrooms, which were often decorated with Chinese porcelains and other Eastern exotica.