Bed curtain

Object Type
This chintz (painted cotton) bed hanging was made in south-east India by unknown craftsmen in about 1700. It is a very fine example of the complex painting and dyeing processes for which this part of India was renowned. These fabrics successfully competed with crewel-work (an embroidery technique named for the crewel or worsted wool used); bed hangings were made in Britain using that technique from the late 17th century onwards.

Materials & Making
The processes involved in making chintzes are based on the ancient Indian skills of mordant-dyeing and resist-dyeing. Mordants allow certain dyestuffs to release their colours, and resists prevent others fixing to the fabric. The areas to be red in the finished piece are painted with an alum mordant, and the black areas with an iron mordant. These then react with the dyes to give fast colours and the unmordanted areas can be rinsed clean of excess dye. As the indigo dye does not require mordanting, it is necessary to protect (resist) those areas that are not to become blue. The entire cloth is then immersed in the dye vat, and the resist material (usually wax) can then be removed from the non-blue areas. Green is achieved by over-painting yellow dye onto indigo-dyed areas, and purple shades by combining red and blue dyes.

Design & Designing
The flowering tree pattern was the most popular design for chintz hangings and 'palampores' (a type of chintz bed cover formerly made in India) exported from India to Europe from the late 17th century. It is a hybrid design that evolved out of Islamic, Chinese and European sources, which had travelled back and forth through trade and diplomacy over the preceding centuries. In some cases the Indian chintz examples were faithful renditions of English crewel-work embroideries, which in turn drew on 'exotic' prototypes.