Woven Cargoes: Indian Textiles in the East
Guy, curator of the Indian and South-East Asia Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), has written extensively on Indian and Southeast Asian culture as reflected in textiles, ceramics, and sculpture. Here, concentrating on the 17th and 18th centuries, he uses historical images of people and places as well as other art to examine the history of Indian cloth and to provide a context for studying its design. This research focuses on the trade of Indian cloth with the East, with chapters outlining the Asian trade before European intervention, the Malay world, Indonesia, Thailand, China, and Japan. The text discusses both the fine and coarsely painted and printed dyed cotton chintzes and patola, the double-ikat silk cloth, that were created for special markets and traded for the spices of the East by Asian, Arab, and European merchants. This beautifully photographed history of design and trade is for academic and specialized collections.AJudith Yankeilun Lind, Roseland Free P.L., NJCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.