Pomegranate and indigo vines coil across an ivory ground, distributed openly enough that the background remains visible between motifs. At a distance the pattern reads as a warm-and-cool scatter: pomegranate red and terracotta as the dominant tones, indigo and blackcurrant as the structural darks, honey and eucalyptus where the stems turn. Up close the embroidery’s layered construction emerges—flax as the lightest thread, blackcurrant and terracotta in the shadowed folds of each volute.
A fragment of a tambour-embroidered coverlet, held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (accession BK-1980-773-B), is the source for this design. The fragment was worked in Gujarat c. 1720 – c. 1740, using a hooked needle pulled through twill-woven cotton to build up silk chain-stitch in continuous curving lines. The object measures 173 cm in height; its width was not recorded. What survived is a field of volutes and stylized flowers worked in polychrome silk on a cotton ground. Printed to order.
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The Source
Great pattern doesn’t ask for permission; it stops you. In Art Objects, Jeanette Winterson described a painting with “more power to stop me than I had power to walk on.”
The source object—worked in Gujarat c. 1720 – c. 1740—demands that same attention. An embroiderer stretched cotton twill across a frame and pulled silk thread through the ground with a fine hooked needle, building continuous chain stitches line by line. What survived of that coverlet is a single 173 cm fragment, gifted to the Rijksmuseum in 1980 by the Stichting Twickel.
The original object is silk worked into cotton; the printed product is ink. Ink isn’t silk, but the line and the spacing translate directly. The colour is ours — the colorways are built from the Vintage Botanica palette, not sampled from the object.
(Catalogued under Rijksmuseum accession BK-1980-773-B. Published in Asian Splendour: Company Art in the Rijksmuseum, p. 57, fig. 35. Public domain.)
The Specifications
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Source: Fragment of an embroidered coverlet. Cotton twill with silk embroidery. Gujarat, c. 1720 – c. 1740.
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Holding institution: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Accession BK-1980-773-B.
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Maker: Anonymous. Recorded maker role: embroiderer.
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Technique: Tambour embroidery, worked with a hooked needle. Twill ground.
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Dimensions: Height 173 cm. Width not recorded.
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Acquisition: Gift of the Stichting Twickel, 1980.
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Rights: Public domain.
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Repeat: 24 in. × 38.3 in.
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Layout: Straight repeat.
The Fabric
Decor Chenille
A short, dense pile with a velvet-like surface on a firm woven ground. Fine striations catch the light as it moves across the room, deepening the colour. Substantial weight keeps a clean line on upholstery and gives tailored drapery a decisive fall.
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Composition: 100% polyester
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Width: 56 in printable (57 in full)
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Weight: 400 gsm
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For: Upholstery, cushions, headboards, heavy drapery
Cotton Linen
A fine, even linen-cotton weave. Colour prints cleanly while the woven surface remains visible, keeping solid grounds from going flat without softening fine linework. Light in the hand, it falls in narrow, supple folds and filters light rather than blocking it.
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Composition: 55% linen, 45% cotton
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Width: 54 in printable
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Weight: 250 gsm
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For: Upholstery, curtains, table linens, pillows
