An English embroidered floral ‘palampore’ bed hanging panel, 18th century, with unworked initials SA, and date 1712

This panel is probably English, inspired by the Indian palampores and chintz designs, and then Chinese influences on textiles in the 18^th century. Embroidered Gujarati textiles were identified as among the most lucrative goods for export, as soon as European trade with India picked up in the early 17^th century. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter this market, but most surviving Gujarati embroideries relate to trade with England, which increased in the early seventeenth century. The Gujarati embroiderers adjusted motifs and colours for the pieces produced for the English market. The use of chain stitch was an Indian technique. The English and European embroideries were used as inspiration for the embroidered and chintz panels making it back to Europe from India, the European pieces having also been influenced from further afield. There were therefore a variety of motifs interpreted in and derived from European and Asian sources, and designs therefore included fantastical combinations of foliage and animals within the same compositions. For the present panel, based on the linen ground, use of wool and detailing of knots, it is probably English as opposed to being Indian, Gujarat, for the Western market.

For a wall hanging with similar motifs, including the butterflies, cherries and amongst the various flowers, tulips, made in Gujarat, India, for the European market, late 17th century, see Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (Acc.no. IS.152-1953). For a fragment from a bed cover or wall hanging, India, Gujarat, 17^th century, embroidered and originally quilted, with similar compositional inspiration, see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Acc.no.68.61). In addition for two comparable panels from Gujarat, India, late 17th century, see the Fine Art Museum, Boston, for a wide panel of hand-painted, mordant and resist-dyed, with flowers, birds and stylised rocky landscape with various animals (Acc.no. 53.2201), and a similar embroidered silk interpretation of a similar design (Acc.no. 53.2202). All four of the cited Museum examples have a provenance of the Earls of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Battle, Sussex, inherited in 1924 by Lady Catherine Ashburnham (b. 1890 - d. 1953), Ashburnham Place.

For comprehensive discussion of this fascinating textile genre, see Sarah Fee, Cloth that changed the world: The art and fashion of Indian Chintz, Yale University Press, 2019.