India, Coromandel Coast, mid-1800s
Parde (Curtain)
Mordant-dyed cotton, block printed and hand painted
100 x 37 inches
Gift of Ardith Rodale, 1986.
1986.030.004

Textile manufacturers on the Coromandel Coast of southeast India were famous for their carefully designed fabrics that were block-printed or painted with mordants (substances used to bond dyes to the fabric) in a complex process that required multiple dye baths. Customers for these textiles could be found in many parts of the world, and manufacturers often adapted designs to cater to the tastes of specific foreign markets. This parde, a decorative curtain intended for use as a room divider, was made in the middle of the nineteenth century for export to Persia (present-day Iran). The inscription in the four cartouches near the top of the piece is a Persian love poem written in Arabic script.