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Lot Essay
In order to meet the needs of the peripatetic way of life within the Mughal courts, fine Indian textiles were employed in quantities, produced to adorn courts and palaces and for costume. This bountiful production of Indian embroideries led to textiles which held a cosmopolitan appeal, especially to European markets.
The introduction of Indian textiles to Europe is said to be from Portuguese traders who brought fine embroideries from their trading posts in Bengal. Such textiles eventually became so popular and influential in England that ladies would try to emulate to their chain stitch designs in their own households (Synge, 2001, pp. 89-90). This textile was most likely made for the English market which largely favoured elegant, floral designs on Indian textiles such as the repeated, single-colour floral bouquets adorning the present coverlet. The floral meander borders and repeated flowers on our coverlet are also found on a similar quilted floor spread in the Tapi collection, probably produced in Gujarat (Barnes, Cohen and Crill, 2002, p. 168, no. 66). For further, similarly embroidered textiles, see an eighteenth century coverlet in the Louvre (inv.no. D 916, Labrusse, 2007, p. 206, no. 222) and a late seventeenth coverlet published in HALI (see Synge, 2001, p. 89).
The introduction of Indian textiles to Europe is said to be from Portuguese traders who brought fine embroideries from their trading posts in Bengal. Such textiles eventually became so popular and influential in England that ladies would try to emulate to their chain stitch designs in their own households (Synge, 2001, pp. 89-90). This textile was most likely made for the English market which largely favoured elegant, floral designs on Indian textiles such as the repeated, single-colour floral bouquets adorning the present coverlet. The floral meander borders and repeated flowers on our coverlet are also found on a similar quilted floor spread in the Tapi collection, probably produced in Gujarat (Barnes, Cohen and Crill, 2002, p. 168, no. 66). For further, similarly embroidered textiles, see an eighteenth century coverlet in the Louvre (inv.no. D 916, Labrusse, 2007, p. 206, no. 222) and a late seventeenth coverlet published in HALI (see Synge, 2001, p. 89).