Description

This Persian Kalamkari was made towards the end of the 19th century.

It is a quilted example of a textile that would originally have most likely been used as a soffreh, a cloth laid out on the floor in a Persian house to serve as a “tablecloth” on which food was spread out.

It is slightly reduced in size with an almost invisible seam down the middle and would have been of somewhat squarer proportions.

These textiles are commonly produced through a mix of painting (kalam means pen) and block printing on fine cotton cloth. The design is a classic arrangement of birds, including peacocks, amongst a rich distribution of flower heads on tendrils which form structures much like arabesques throughout the field. A main border with a chevron design ornamented by little flowers and several minor borders with floral patterns frame the field on a white ground of undyed cotton.

The backing of the textile (see additional image) is of printed cotton in a repeating pattern, framed by a band of bias cut, indigo dyed blue cotton.

The kalamkari soffreh is slightly stained but otherwise in good condition.