Tent Hanging
ca. 1640-1650 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This double-niched hanging would have formed part of a larger set of niches joined together to form a continuous screen or 'qanat'. Screens of this sort would be used either outside, to form an enclosure around a tent or encampment, or inside, to line a tent (hence the term 'tent-hanging') or to divide a larger hall. Something as highly decorated as this hanging would certainly have been used inside rather than be exposed to the elements.
The textile is decorated in the laborious techniques of dyeing with mordants and resists, processes that took many weeks to complete in the case of a complex design such as this. Coastal south-east India (the so-called Coromandel Coast) was the main centre for this type of work, which was produced for use in India as well as for export to the West and to South-east Asia. This remarkable design of a fierce, two-headed bird with elephants in its jaws suggests that it may have been made for use in southern India or Sri Lanka, where the two-headed bird ('bherunda') was a mythical figure often used in decoration.
The textile is decorated in the laborious techniques of dyeing with mordants and resists, processes that took many weeks to complete in the case of a complex design such as this. Coastal south-east India (the so-called Coromandel Coast) was the main centre for this type of work, which was produced for use in India as well as for export to the West and to South-east Asia. This remarkable design of a fierce, two-headed bird with elephants in its jaws suggests that it may have been made for use in southern India or Sri Lanka, where the two-headed bird ('bherunda') was a mythical figure often used in decoration.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Parts | This object consists of 40 parts.
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Materials and techniques | Cotton, mordant-dyed and resist-dyed |
Brief description | Tent hanging of mordant-dyed and resist-dyed cotton, made in South-East India, ca. 1640-50 |
Physical description | Tent hanging of mordant-dyed and resist-dyed cotton. With a pair of arched niches with palmette finials and floral spandrels, and with floral meander borders and a top border of merlon design. The left hand arch has a floral and bird design with an elaborate ogival medallion with a leaf design in the centre, and the right hand arch has a great two-headed bird pointing downwards with elephants in its jaws. Part of a longer series of niches which would have been joined together to form a 'qanat' or screen. |
Dimensions |
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Object history | Bought from New York dealer Gail Martin in 1989. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This double-niched hanging would have formed part of a larger set of niches joined together to form a continuous screen or 'qanat'. Screens of this sort would be used either outside, to form an enclosure around a tent or encampment, or inside, to line a tent (hence the term 'tent-hanging') or to divide a larger hall. Something as highly decorated as this hanging would certainly have been used inside rather than be exposed to the elements. The textile is decorated in the laborious techniques of dyeing with mordants and resists, processes that took many weeks to complete in the case of a complex design such as this. Coastal south-east India (the so-called Coromandel Coast) was the main centre for this type of work, which was produced for use in India as well as for export to the West and to South-east Asia. This remarkable design of a fierce, two-headed bird with elephants in its jaws suggests that it may have been made for use in southern India or Sri Lanka, where the two-headed bird ('bherunda') was a mythical figure often used in decoration. |
Bibliographic reference | Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700 : opulence and fantasy / Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar ; with contributions by John Robert Alderman [and 14 others]. Number: 9781588395665 (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1588395669 (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 9780300211108 (Yale University Press), 0300211104 (Yale University Press)
p. 276, cat. no. 165 |
Collection | |
Accession number | IS.19-1989 |
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Record created | December 23, 2003 |
Record URL |
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