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Costume and Textiles

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

Made in West Bengal, India, Asia
or Bangladesh, Asia
Made in Undivided Bengal, Asia

Second half of 19th century

Artist/maker unknown, Bengali

Cotton plain weave with cotton embroidery in back, darning, satin, running, eye, arrowhead, and fern stitches
32 x 31 3/4 inches (81.3 x 80.6 cm)

Currently not on view

1994-148-687

Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994

Label

At bottom right, a monstrous goddess Kali (Durga's fierce form) raises four massive arms, one blithely swinging a severed head. Her body, with a distinctive double-block torso, is outlined in red and filled with blue stitches. The corpse of the god Shiva below her feet is yellow outlined in green and an adjacent blue elephant holds a second yellow-and-green figure, perhaps the living Shiva. The top quadrant contains a triangular shrine housing a Shiva linga. Pairs of exuberant floral trees to the left and right grow in opposite directions from a floating "ground" of border motif, rather like reflections in water, although each tree is different.

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Additional information:
  • PublicationKantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal

    Pairs of exuberant floral trees to the left and right grow in opposite directions from a floating “ground” of border motif, rather like reflections in water, although each tree is different. The corner kalkas are equally imaginative in that their interiors do not follow the outlines of their exteriors. The top quadrant holds a lively red horse and a triangular shrine housing a Shiva linga. At bottom a monstrous goddess Kali raises four massive arms, one blithely swinging a severed head. Her body, with its distinctive double-block torso, is outlined in red and filled with blue stitches. The corpse below her feet is yellow outlined in green, and an adjacent blue elephant holds a second yellow-and-green figure, perhaps the living Shiva. Darielle Mason, from Kantha: The Embroidered Quilts of Bengal (2009), p. 198.