Collections: Asian Art: Wall Hanging (Kalamkari)

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Wall Hanging (Kalamkari)

• Medium: Painted resist and mordants, dyed cotton
• Possible Place Made: Pulicat, Madras, India
• Dates: ca. 1610-1620
• Dimensions: 108 1/4 x 37 3/4 in. (275 x 95.9 cm) Frame: 116 1/16 x 46 1/8 in. (294.8 x 117.2 cm) (show scale)

• Collections:Asian Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 14.719.2
• Credit Line: Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund
• Rights Statement: No known copyright restrictions

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• Caption: Wall Hanging (Kalamkari), ca. 1610-1620. Painted resist and mordants, dyed cotton, 108 1/4 x 37 3/4 in. (275 x 95.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund, 14.719.2
• Image: overall, 14.719.2_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

  "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don't yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

Wall Hanging (Kalamkari), ca. 1610-1620. Painted resist and mordants, dyed cotton, 108 1/4 x 37 3/4 in. (275 x 95.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1913-1914, Museum Collection Fund, 14.719.2 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 14.719.2_SL1.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: 1 of 7 panels Plain cloth weave textile similar in general design to others in the series, having main figural divided into four horizontal bands within the mihrab. General color scheme same as preceding panel. Band I- (from left to right) Two standing male figures dressed in generalized European costume with full looped up pants, short coats, and ruffs around the neck. The sleeves of the coat are short and have second inner sleeves, which cover the forearm. The hats resemble those worn by the Dutch or Portuguese of the period, but are not accurate versions. On their feet they wear tied on sandals and tasseled garters at their knees. Both figures carry krises suspended from a looped cord. A figure seated in royal ease on a bed similar to those in the other panels is dressed in the same fashion as those about him, but wears a more elaborate coat and looks toward the first two standing figures. To the right, in the back of the bed, stands a female figure wearing a long skirt patterned in tie dye design over which is worn a short peplum coat with a narrow ruff around her neck. Her head is unornamented. To the right leaning on a second bed and dressed like the other, stands a male figure. On this second bed sits a mustached figure in tailor fashion, dressed as the others with the addition of a scarf about his neck and a cane on which he leans with hands crossed. To the extreme right are three standing male figures the first of which is wearing a short sleeved coat, the other wearing costumes similar to those worn by the other male figures. The features of most of the figures are Eastern with an attempt to depict European faces in the seated figures. All pattern is tie-dyed on the clothes. Band II At the extreme left are two standing figures wearing elaborate coats with striped epaulettes and shoes tied about the ankle similar to those worn in the above band by the three standing figures. He wears a hat, but the figure next to him is bareheaded and holds a small ball as he leans against a bed on which is seated a figure with distinctly European features and a blonde moustache and goatee. In the center stands two figures, one looking to the left, the other to the right at the second seated figure who is bearded, has side burns and heavier features than those in the rest of the panel, and wears an elaborate coat with large striped shoulder pads. He rests one hand on along stick. To the extreme right stand two male figures, the one on the inside is bareheaded. Band III At the left stands a female figure dressed as the female figure in Band I, but wears a jeweled circlet fastened to a topknot with little jeweled drops suspended from it that completely cover the head. She looks to standing male figure in quasi-European dress, who carries an elaborate dagger in his belt and wears a kris suspended in the front as he leans on a long cane with his hands crossed on its head. In the center stand two female figures dressed as is the first and one male figure bareheaded, with European features. Seated on the bed, in an elaborately patterned costume of the same quasi-European style, is a figure holding a small ball, and to his right stand two similarly costumed male figures with krises suspended in front. Band IV Three full size female figures stand behind two smaller ones wearing identical costumes with different patterns. In the center holding a suckling child is seated a female figure with a red sari swathing the child, coming around her head and down the side (this is not unlike many of the European Madonna pictures). Opposite her also seated, is a richly attired male figure holding a fan. There is jeweled embroidery on his sleeves and a small dancing figure (a child or dwarf), dressed in the same European style with a kris suspended from his side. A the extreme right, all wearing European costumes, stand two tall figures behind a smaller figure.
• Record Completeness: Good (74%)

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