A partnership between Gawthorpe Textiles Collection and Dr Rohini Arora to give an in depth look at two rare and precious examples of embroidery from the Chamba region of India.
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The four Tapestries situated in the Drawing Room of Astley Hall date from the mid-17th Century and depict the mythological story of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. They were made in Flanders (Northern part of Belgium) and according to the records of the Victoria and Albert Museum there are only two other […]
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A commercial sample of a furnishing weight cotton chintz with an Art Nouveau style pattern designed by Samuel Rowe and printed by Turnbull & Stockdale Ltd. The stylised, intricate and sinuous forms of the flowers in this design are typical of the evolving styles at the end of the 19th century, when Arts & Crafts […]
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This sample of glazed cotton cretonne furnishing fabric was designed by Lewis Foreman Day (b.1845 d.1910). Day was an influential designer, critic and artist who combined the design principles of the Arts & Crafts Movement with industrial production methods. From the 1870s to his death in 1910 he was Artistic Director of the printing firm […]
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Lightweight cotton furnishing fabric called ‘Salangore’, designed by Thomas Wardle for Liberty. The Victoria & Albert Museum has a sample of this design in blue, printed onto tussah silk hand-woven in India, which was exhibited in the British India Pavilion of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878. One of six Indian-inspired patterns at the exhibition, […]
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This piece of Turkey Red dyed cotton has been crudely made up into a curtain with a simple drawstring along the top edge, probably not the original intended use for the fabric and more likely a way of making use of a leftover piece of dress fabric. The print used on the fabric is a […]
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A number of print methods are evident on this piece, which was likely created in India or Iran for the European market. The central square of the front is block printed with a deep red background and boteh motifs, while the surrounding intricate floral border is created with resist dyeing and either block printing or […]
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The front of this cloth features a heavily patterned floral central square surrounded by several narrower borders and an intricate edging of ‘Paisley’ boteh or buta motifs. These heavily stylised teardrop or pinecone shapes originated in Persian design but also became popular in India, particularly in Kashmiri shawls. The English term for the pattern comes […]
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Patchwork and appliqué cot coverlet made by Nancy Horsfall in 1834. White linen ground with appliqué motifs including stylised leaves or branches, six pointed stars and a four leaf clover like design in the very centre. Around this is a dog tooth or Vandyke border, then a border of pieced patchwork triangles surrounding lozenges arranged […]
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Patchwork and appliqué coverlet made from printed cottons by Nancy Horsfall for her wedding in 1833. The design uses a typical early 19th century frame layout with a central section of finer, smaller scale piecing and appliqué that would have been the most visible part on the flat top of the bed. The edges are […]
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A Chamba rumal of cotton muslin embroidered in colourful silk threads with a design depicting four figures on horseback and floral borders. Chamba rumal embroideries take the first part of their name from the small town of Chamba in the Himachal Pradesh region of India and began being produced there in the 17th century. The […]
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