Antique Indian Chintz Painted Cotton Fabric 18th C.

• ~*~Hello and thank you for looking~*~
•  

 ~*~ This textile is a rare and beautiful piece of 18th century hand-painted Indian cotton ~ chintz~

Rare and beautiful~ my favorite textiles of all time~  hand painted Indian Chintz...........

Steeped in history.......This beautiful piece would have once been part of a larger hanging and dates from the later part of the 18th century. Chintz has come to mean any floral printed furnishing fabric, that is often glazed. However, the word Chintz, come from northern India derived from the word Chint, meaning to sprinkle or spray. ~ The process of producing this piece was complicated and very time consuming and is described beautifully in Rosemary Crill's fascinating book Chintz Indian Textiles for the West. Another wonderful reference book is Origins of Chintz by John Irwin and Katherine Brett. A brief summary of the process: The cotton would have been produced in the North Western area of India, and then woven in one of the weaving villages near the Coromandel coast of India. First would have been bleaching the cotton in water, buffalo milk and myrabolan fruit, next the fabric would have been dried and smoothed and beaten with wooden mallet and the design would have been drawn on the smooth surface with charcoal. This piece has both red and black outlines ~ the areas of the outline that would have been colored red in the finished textile were then painted in alum mordant solution using a bamboo pen called a Kalam and those that were meant to be black, would have been outlined using an iron mordant. The iron mordant reacted with the myrboln to produce the black outlines, and the alum reacted with the chay ( a root used in the dying process) to produce the red outlines. ~ The next step in the process was to prepare the cloth to take the red dye. It was washed and bleached repeatedly . Wax was applied to any areas that were meant to remain white on the finished textile. The cloth would have been immersed in a vat containing a hot solution of red dye from the chay root that would then color only the areas that had the alum mordant applied previously. The cloth was removed and washed, bleached and washed again over  4 day period. The cloth would have been prepared to take the blue dye next ( indigo). All areas that needed to be protected from becoming blue, would have been covered in beeswax and then left in the sun to warm the wax so that it fully penetrated  the cloth. The indigo dying left to a specialist indigo dyer and the cloth would have been immersed in hot indigo dye for and hour and a half to produce the blue areas. ( although sometimes the blue was applied by penciling) . The wax was removed by boiling the cloth in water. When all of the stages of painting and dying the cotton were completed, the fabric would have been prepared for sale by starching, beetling and polishing with shell to create a glossy surface.

Chintz textiles first began to appear in areas of Europe in the early 1600's were initially used mostly as bed curtains and wall-hangings ( larger scale designs)  and later became popular for fashionable women's dress ( tended to be made from small scale designs)  ~ often the fabric, once well worn or used for furnishing, were then reused by servants to make clothing for their children. In the late 1600's chintz become highly fashionable; throughout the 18th century it continued to dominate fashion both in dress and furnishing. There are some spectacular examples of garments made from chintz at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London~ currently their collection is the worlds largest with approx. 100 Chintz pieces.  Indian  Chintz( and Indian cotton) became so popular that it  threatened domestic trade in wool, silk and linen there were bans on the import and even wearing of these textiles . ~ these pieces are extremely rare and difficult to find today~ any textile collection would not be complete without a piece! ~*~

 ~ This piece is a panel of 18th century Chintz that was used at a later date to create seat, or cushion cover. It would have been taken from a larger hanging ~.  The panel is painted on to a hand-woven , natural cotton ground with tabby weave. This piece shows a quite rare design, as you can see that the field of this chintz  had a very subtle vermicular ( or seaweed design) that would have been produced with very week mordant on its own, which gave a pale and barely perceptible background pattern~ quite rare to find.   This  piece shows designs attempting to appel the European market; floral bouquet and ribbon, most likely taken from Western paintings and prints or embroideries. ~     ~   The colors in this piece include: Indigo blue, soft  purples, dusty reds and pale reds, beautiful antique pinks~  

The panel of chintz on this cover, measures 16.5 inches wide by 20 inches long  ~ The fabric is in lovely condition, with a couple of very very small holes near the bow~ otherwise lovely! ~*~ perfect for framing ~

. ~ Please see my other Antique French fabric auctions by clicking View Sellers Other Items~*~

~*~Please see my   other items for more textile treasures~*~

~*~For weekly updates, please add me to your favorites list!~*

~*~Important information~*~ 100% Customer satisfaction is extremely important to me! If you are not satisfied with your purchase please contact me immediately~*~ I would always endeavor to solve any problems together with my customer. I am a very friendly ebayer and simply determined to bring beautiful textiles to the world! I strive for both a 100% positive rating and 5 STAR services ratings so please contact me immediately if you feel I did not meet your expectations in any way. I take a great deal of care and pride in describing each textile very accurately. I also use many photographs to show the textiles also as I feel it is very important to see the exact condition, colors, texture, size etc of each textile. If ever you feel that I have missed anything, please contact me immediately as it would have been an oversight, never an intentional omission!~*~ I always post quickly; every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I always combine shipping charges to save my customers money on postage. You will always get the most economical postage rates from Loodylady~*~ this is important to me! If there is a discrepancy of more than $1.00 between what you paid and the actual postage charge, please email as it would have only been a mistake on my part and you will be refunded immediately. ~*~ All of my textiles are wrapped in acid free tissue and sent in water tight wrapping, at no extra charge to my customers. I sell many items therefore I must state that the buyer assumes all risk of lost post. To avoid possible disappointment, I strongly recommend insuring your parcel. I always retain proof of postage. In the unlikely event, 100% of recovered compensation goes to the buyer~*~ politely request that all items be paid for within 7 days. The individual condition will be described to the best of my ability however, often flaws are inherent in vintage and antique textiles. Please email me if condition is vital to your purchase and we can discuss condition in detail. When describing my textiles, I use my best judgment, knowledge and experience to estimate their age. I have had many years of research and hands on experience with these wonderful textiles. I describe items as Antique if I estimate the age to be 100 years of age or greater. EBay currently define an antique as dating to 1930 or earlier. I describe items as Vintage, as per the dictionary definition, if I feel the textile has age, or is outdated or old-fashioned, dating from the past. If I use both Antique/Vintage when describing a textile, it is because I feel the textile is most likely 100 years of age or greater, but may fall just short of that date. I often work in collaboration with other colleagues and textile specialists to ascertain the approximate age of my textiles, however ultimately any statement of age is a matter of best judgment only~*~I also use my best professional judgment to ascertain the fiber content of my textiles, using sight and feel and where possible historical information and context to help me to identify plants used in a particular era. However, because my textiles are old, any statement of fiber content is again always only my best professional assessment. ~*~ I feel privileged and honored to bring these textiles to you, I sincerely thank you for your interest ~*~