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Petticoat Piece-Goods

3rd quarter 18th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This bed-cover has been adapted from a length of fabric originally intended to be made into a skirt. The arcades enclosing European figures are a variation on the typical petticoat design of the mid-18th century. The fabric was apparently never made up as a skirt but converted into a flat bedspread, in which the arcaded border would hang down around the sides of the bed, and the borderless top end would be tucked in at the bed-head.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Painted and dyed cotton chintz
Brief description
Bedspread made out of a petticoat of painted and dyed cotton chintz, South Coromandel Coast, 3rd quarter of 18th century
Physical description
Bedspread made out of a petticoat length of painted and dyed cotton chintz. Decorated with floral garlands. Border decorated with scenes with figures and animals.

Four scenes repeat alternately: a promenade with umbrella and lute, two figures seated at a gateleg table arranging flowers, two figures seated beneath a chandelier with one playing a dulcimer and the other a flute, and two figures seated at a gateleg table taking refreshments. At the selvage edges is a blue band. There are 13 short brocaded shots of red cotton indicating where the design begins.

The bedspread is composed of two long petticoat pieces joined down the centre. The end border is composed of a carefully applied piece from another section of the petticoat's border.
Dimensions
  • Top edge width: 2170mm
  • Bottom edge width: 2142mm
  • Proper right length: 2570mm
  • Proper left length: 2546mm
  • Weighed on roller weight: 14kg
Credit line
Given by G. P. Baker
Object history
Intended for the patterned underskirts worn with open robes of the period, the fabric was made in India, probably under Dutch patronage. Later converted into a bedspread.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This bed-cover has been adapted from a length of fabric originally intended to be made into a skirt. The arcades enclosing European figures are a variation on the typical petticoat design of the mid-18th century. The fabric was apparently never made up as a skirt but converted into a flat bedspread, in which the arcaded border would hang down around the sides of the bed, and the borderless top end would be tucked in at the bed-head.
Bibliographic references
  • Swallow, Deborah and John Guy eds. Arts of India: 1550-1900. text by Rosemary Crill, John Guy, Veronica Murphy, Susan Stronge and Deborah Swallow. London : V&A Publications, 1990. 240 p., ill. ISBN 1851770224, p.168, pl.145
  • Crill, Rosemary, Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West, London, 2008. Plate 68, pp. 115 and 144
  • Irwin, John and Katherine Brett, Origins of Chintz, London, 1970. With a catalogue of Indo-European cotton-paintings in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. ISBN 112900534. p. 110, cat. no. 108, pl. 99
  • Irwin, John , Art & the East India Trade; Victoria & Albert Museum,, HMSO, London, 1970 No. 8
Collection
Accession number
IS.42-1950

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
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