Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 119
A large silk embroidered Coverlet made for the Portuguese market Bengal, early 19th Century
6 October 2015, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £3,750 inc. premium
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A large silk embroidered Coverlet made for the Portuguese market
Bengal, early 19th Century
Bengal, early 19th Century
pastel green plain weave silk embroidered with floss silk chain stitch in yellow, pink, dark rose and white; decorated with an overall design of stylised leaves and flowers, surrounded by a similarly decorated wide border
216 x 297 cm.; (including fringe) 260 x 362 cm.
216 x 297 cm.; (including fringe) 260 x 362 cm.
Footnotes
Another coverlet of this type on a dark blue silk ground is in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon (inv. no. 837).
These particular trade embroideries, made in Bengal for the Portuguese market, are usually profusely decorated in brilliant colours with floral and foliate decoration around a central coat of arms or escutcheon where the Indian embroideries often interpret the original European design. Earlier 17th Century examples include figures in contemporary Portuguese dress as can be seen in an embroidered bedcover with personifications of the Five Senses in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc.no. 1988-7-4).