Indian Textiles: 1,000 Years of Art and Design at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

 

Ceremonial cloth, coastal southeast India, late 18th or 19th century, Karun Thakar Collection, London
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

 
 

Indian Textiles

1,000 Years of Art and Design

Through June 4, 2022

 

Vibrant textiles have long been synonymous with Indian culture. Their distinctive abstract, floral and figurative patterns have inspired countless variations. Featuring masterworks from The Textile Museum Collection and the private collection of Karun Thakar, this major exhibition and accompanying publication showcase court weavings, folk embroideries and other fabrics from the eighth through the early 20th centuries.

The Indian subcontinent is home to some of the world’s most ancient and illustrious textile traditions. Over the centuries, Indian textile artists have developed an enduring design vocabulary – from simply woven stripes to floral motifs to complex narrative scenes. Indian Textiles: 1,000 Years of Art and Design presents a stunning array of fabrics patterned with India’s most distinctive designs: abstract, floral and figurative. 

Some of the region’s oldest known textiles feature abstract patterns such as circles, stripes and zigzags. Examples in the exhibition range from a fragment of a block-printed cloth traded to Egypt around the 15th century to intricately embroidered dresses made in present-day Pakistan’s Swat Valley in the 1800s and 1900s. 

Floral patterns in Indian textiles became increasingly widespread in the 13th century, and artists excelled in adapting them for global markets. Embroidered caps from Bengal, for example, were fashionable “at home” wear in 18th-century Europe; a man would often don one in the evening after removing his wig. 

Figurative patterns provide a window into different religious beliefs across South Asia. A 15th-century narrative cloth from Gujarat depicts deities and other figures central to the Jain religion. A shrine cloth from Uttar Pradesh honors Sayyid Salar Mas’ud, a Muslim warrior-saint venerated by Muslims and Hindus alike.

 
 
 

Click the image below to watch a tour of Indian Textiles: 1,000 Years of Art and Design.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Exhibition Preview

 

Detail of shawl or waist-cloth, Maharashtra, early 18th century, 6.315
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Fragment of chintz (detail), coastal southeast India, made for the Dutch market, 1700-1730, T-2864
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Hanging, southeast India, 17th/18th century, Karun Thakar Collection, London
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Choga embroidered with figurative scenes (detail), Kashmir, c. 1830. Karun Thakar Collection, London.
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Shrine cloth, Uttar Pradesh, early 20th century, Karun Thakar Collection, London
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Shawl or waist-cloth, Maharashtra, early 18th century, 6.315
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Fragment of a chintz textile, coastal southeast India, c. late 17th/early 18th century, 6.41.
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Handkerchief, India, Himachal Pradesh, 18th century-19th century, 6.318
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Carpet fragment, Northern India, Fatehpur Sikri, c.1580-1585, R63.00.20B
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Coverlet, Coromandel Coast, 18th century, 2017.14.1
Courtesy of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum