ARTS OF INDIA

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AN IMPRESSIVE AND FINE MUGHAL TENT
PANEL (QANAT)
RAJASTHAN, MUGHAL INDIA, 18TH CENTURY
Painted, block-printed and mordant-dyed cotton,
decorated with a fowering three rising to a mihrab
arch, with foral spandrels and borders
15ft. 9in x 3ft. (480 x 91cm.)
£60,000-80,000 $86,000-110,000
€75,000-100,000
This tent panel, or qanat, is part of a well-known series
of chintzes, examples of which are held by important
museums worldwide. The largest, which forms the
interior of a tent is to be found in the Tapi Collection
in India (Ruth Barnes, Steven Cohen, Rosemary Crill,
Trade, Temple & Court, Indian Textiles from the Tapi
Collection, Mumbai, 2002, cat.62, pp.160-161). That
example is composed of six vertical panels, two of
which are border panels identical to the present
piece and at 450cm long are the longest of all. In the
discussion of this panel, it is noted that they could
only have been made for the interior decoration of a
spectacular, royal tent. Another panel from the series
sold at Christie’s South Kensington, 13 October 2000,
lot 72 (illustrated on back cover). A further related
example from a private collection was exhibited in
the Victoria & Albert Museum, 21 April-22 August
1981, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, ‘The
Indian Heritage, Court life and Arts under Moghal
Rule’, no. 212, p85. AEDTA ‘Le Motif Floral dans
les Tissus Moghuls’ - plate 3 shows a qanat from
what appears to be the same set, of smaller size.
Another panel is in Musée Guimet, Krishna Riboud
Collection (Mattiebelle Gittinger, Master Dyers to
the World, Washington, 1982, cat.72, p.82). See also
a foorspread cotton decorated with poppies in red
on beige colour background in the Calico Museum,
catalogued as Rajasthan or Khandesh, 17th or 18th
century (Treasures of Indian Textiles, Calico Museum,
Ahmedabad, 1980, fg.7, front and back cover).
The Mughal Imperial court was a peripatetic court
which travelled regularly. The Court’s audience rooms,
workshops and private apartments were all to be
found under canvas, waterproof on the outside and
hung with rich fabrics, velvets and chintzes of high
quality inside. The tents would refect the royal wealth
and the majesty of the imperial presence. Designs
of this strength and scale were certainly meant to
impress courtiers visiting the emperor.
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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF JOHN ROBERT
ALDERMAN AND THE LATE DR. MARK ZEBROWSKI
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A FINELY CARVED MUGHAL WHITE MARBLE
PANEL
NORTH INDIA, 17TH CENTURY OR LATER
Of rectangular form, the carved decoration consisting
of an elegant foral spray with butterfies
31 x 19in. (78.8 x 48.4cm.)
£8,000-12,000 $12,000-17,000
€10,000-15,000
PROVENANCE:
Christie’s South Kensington, 8 August 1991, lot 5
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