AN APPLIQUÉ AND GILT METAL THREAD EMBROIDERED SHAMIANA (TENT CANOPY) FROM THE CLOTH OF GOLD SUITE OF FABRIC USED BY TIPU SULTAN IN THE ROYAL TOSHKHANA OR HALL OF PUBLIC AUDIENCE, SERINGAPATAM, CIRCA 1790

the ground worked with laid and couched gilt metal thread and wire over heavy paper padding, appliquéd in rose coloured and brown-black silk velvet with a design of a central lobed floral medallion with overall pattern of tiger stripes (bubris) forming a trellis enclosing flowerheads, arched spandrels enclosing poppy plants, within a border of arabesque vine interlace and poppies, decorated in gilt metal thread chain stitch and with spangles, rope ties, originally wrapped in magenta silk thread (some abrasion to metal thread couchwork, rose silk velvet rubbed, brown-black velvet appliqué later, red cotton backing)

EXHIBITED

The Tiger and the Thistle. Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1999, cat. no. 1, pl. 24 (A. Buddle, P. Rohatgi and I.G. Brown)

Tigers around the Throne. The Court of Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), Zamana Gallery, London, 1990, pp.34-35

CATALOGUE NOTE

This magnificent cloth would have been suspended as a sumptuous canopy above a throne of cushions (musnud) and was "almost certainly associated with Tipu's throne" (Buddle, A. Tigers around the Throne. The Court of Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), London, 1990, p.34). At each corner is a large leather cloth-covered washer strengthened to hold the spikes of the four canopy poles.

The technique of embriodering with gold and silver thread originates in Gujarat, but was disseminated to the south by members of the Saurashtrika caste, more commonly called the Patnuli or 'Weavers of Silk'. It is Haider Ali who is credited with forcibly transporting twenty five members of this caste from Tanjore to Mysore (ibid., p.34).