A strikingly patterned antique indigo textile that has been used as a curtain. This is in incredible condition with no noticeable faded areas or repairs. The indigo has a wonderful depth of colour, contrasting boldly with the pale ecru ground.
Size: 125cm vertical hang x 187cm horizontal width, excluding the rings. There's a deep 14cm hem so the length could be increased.
Our values and this specific product:
- Natural materials
- One off/limited edition
It seems to be a fine, compact cotton fabric with a subtle texture. Two lengths have been joined with a beautifully finished handsewn seam to create the generous width. There's an embroidered word, or perhaps initials at the top of this seam, as shown in the pictures. We think that it says 'IHNA'. Fine metal rings are attached along the top edge, with faded blue webbing tape that's been knotted, folded and handstitched to the curtain. It's obviously beautiful as a curtain, but this fabric could so easily be repurposed in to any other sort of home textile or even turned in to clothing.
History: We bought this as a 19th-century fabric from Marken Island, which is a really interesting and unique location in the Netherlands. In the 13th century, Marken became separated from the mainland by a storm. Through centuries of isolation from the mainland the population developed their own folkloric style and tradition of crafts, and those traditions are still very much alive and treasured today. Their style of dress is wonderfully unique, featuring layers of mixed pattern and combinations of textiles. There is a tradition of using patterned cloth from Indonesia, which has a rich history of indigo textiles, but these are usually batik style designs, and this curtain has a resist dyed design.
That led us to consider that it is either Chinese nankeen or Japanese katazome, both of which are a resist dying technique using natural, organic pastes applied to the fabric using paper or wooden stencils. When the resist has dried the fabric is then dipped repeatedly into indigo dye until the desired depth of colour is achieved. These techniques date back as far as the 7th century.
NB whilst we have done our utmost to highlight and marks or imperfections, there may be some additional, very minor defects that we have missed.