Lot Essay
Cf Plate 155a, Cat No 185, The Origins of Chintz, Victoria & Albert and Royal Ontario Museums, 1970, for an altar frontal of identical format, with Armenian inscription.
This panel is inscribed in a similar manner to the above, but includes additional family members as follows:
To the memory of Der Hovhannes and his parent Michael, Keman and grandfather Yohan, Kakar and brothers Seth, Kapriel and his wife Azatlou and children Garabed, Bedros, Ohan, sister Kakar and my second mother Sisile and my grandfather Der Khachadour and children Der Stepanos and Der Havhannes and their children Ourmahal, Lelekhan and their grandmother.
This is the third of this format in a series of commissions by the Armenian community in India and is testament to the wealth and influence of this important merchant community. The provenance of this piece is not known, however, several Indian chintz altar frontals and other religious wall hangings of this date are known to have been commissioned as donations to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The most famous of these is probably the Ship Chintz, offered by Movses Haroutian, a Madras merchant, to the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1811. This chintz has been discussed by John Carswell, Hali no 46, August 1989, pp 14-15.
One of the patches used to repair this palampore is an earlier chintz, very similar to that illustrated on plate 157 of The Origins of Chintz (ibid). It shows the head of a female saint, probably Mary.
This panel is inscribed in a similar manner to the above, but includes additional family members as follows:
To the memory of Der Hovhannes and his parent Michael, Keman and grandfather Yohan, Kakar and brothers Seth, Kapriel and his wife Azatlou and children Garabed, Bedros, Ohan, sister Kakar and my second mother Sisile and my grandfather Der Khachadour and children Der Stepanos and Der Havhannes and their children Ourmahal, Lelekhan and their grandmother.
This is the third of this format in a series of commissions by the Armenian community in India and is testament to the wealth and influence of this important merchant community. The provenance of this piece is not known, however, several Indian chintz altar frontals and other religious wall hangings of this date are known to have been commissioned as donations to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The most famous of these is probably the Ship Chintz, offered by Movses Haroutian, a Madras merchant, to the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1811. This chintz has been discussed by John Carswell, Hali no 46, August 1989, pp 14-15.
One of the patches used to repair this palampore is an earlier chintz, very similar to that illustrated on plate 157 of The Origins of Chintz (ibid). It shows the head of a female saint, probably Mary.