The Fabric of India

About this book

This is the first truly comprehensive book on Indian textiles featuring stunning examples from all over the country. Lavishly illustrated it begins with an in-depth exploration of the different materials techniques and dyeing processes used in the creation of these sumptuous fabrics before exploring the central importance of cloth to Indian life and culture from ancient times to the present day. Special features focus on objects of historical importance including a Kashmir map shawl Tipu Sultans tent and a remarkable 18th-century temple hanging from South India. While many are familiar with Mughal velvets western-market chintzes or rural embroideries for example this book will surprise inspire delight and inform with an extraordinary range of material much of it new. Along with presenting great historical masterpieces the importance and variety of the basic fiberssilk cotton woolfrom which Indian textiles are traditionally made is emphasized and the remarkable techniques of weaving printing dyeing and embroidery that have made them prized across the world are illustrated in specially taken photographs.