Indian Block-Printed Textiles in Egypt: The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
A catalogue of Newberry's block-printed textiles by Ruth Barnes (published Oxford, 1997).
Publications online: 269 objects
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Textile fragment with stems, leaves, and blossoms
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Literature notes
Ornate floral design, of a curving stem with leaves, tendrils, and blossoms emerging. Two of the leaves are filled with small dots. In addition there are three narrow bands: a central one, of six- and eight-petalled rosettes in a single row, is flanked by two identical rows of dots and small arches, as in Cat. no. 74 [EA1990.82]. The resist defines the design, the background is blue.
The pattern is repeated after 12 cm.; a slight irregularity in the border design coincides with this measurement. However, border and main design were resist-printed separately, as the block borders do not coincide. The dye analysis has shown that the colorant used was indigotin, as was to be expected. In the Indian context, the source would have come from a variety of the indigo plant. -
Details
- Associated place
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Asia › India › west India › Gujarat (place of creation)
- Date
- 2nd half of the 13th century - 1st half of the 14th century
- Material and technique
- cotton, block-printed with resist, and dyed blue
- Dimensions
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33.5 x 13 cm (length x width)
block 12 cm (length)
along length/width 20 / 19 threads/cm (thread count)
- Material index
- Technique index
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woven › plain woven,assembled › woven › plain woven,coloured › dyed › resist dyed,
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Presented by Professor Percy Newberry, 1941.
- Accession no.
- EA1990.140
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Further reading
Barnes, Ruth, Indian Block-Printed Textiles in Egypt: The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), no. 132 on pp. 35-36 (vol. ii), illus. vol. ii p. 35 fig. 132 & vol. i pl. 1
Pfister, R., Les toiles imprimées de Fostat et l'Hindoustan (Paris: Les Éditions d'Art et d'Histoire, 1938), cat. pls IV a & VI a, illus. 38-39
Barnes, Ruth, Indian Block-Printed Cotton Fragments in the Kelsey Museum: The University of Michigan, viii, Kelsey Museum Studies, 8 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993), cat. 31, illus. 63
Bérinstain, Valérie, ‘Early Indian Textiles Discovered in Egypt’, Marg, 40/3, (1989), cat. figs 5 & 8, illus. 20 & 21
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
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Publications online
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Indian Block-Printed Textiles in Egypt: The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Ornate floral design, of a curving stem with leaves, tendrils, and blossoms emerging. Two of the leaves are filled with small dots. In addition there are three narrow bands: a central one, of six- and eight-petalled rosettes in a single row, is flanked by two identical rows of dots and small arches, as in Cat. no. 74 [EA1990.82]. The resist defines the design, the background is blue.
The pattern is repeated after 12 cm.; a slight irregularity in the border design coincides with this measurement. However, border and main design were resist-printed separately, as the block borders do not coincide. The dye analysis has shown that the colorant used was indigotin, as was to be expected. In the Indian context, the source would have come from a variety of the indigo plant.
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