Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

Currently not on view

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

Late 19th century

Artist/maker unknown, Bengali

The process of making a kantha began with gathering pieces of used, unstitched cotton cloth, especially saris and dhotis (women's and men's garments respectively). Carefully placed and layered fragments-sometimes as many as two dozen-were then stitched together. Kanthas could be created with as few as two and as many as seven layers of cloth. The enigmatic imagery here includes a man embracing a hookah-smoking woman on an armchair, his unfinished lower body sketched onto the cloth. Four horsemen (the top of the fourth visible only in underdrawing) seem to battle a nest of cobras and perhaps also the nearby crab. At top may be the parable of the blind men and the elephant, a story that originated in South Asia.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt)

Date:

Late 19th century

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Bengali

Medium:

Cotton plain weave with cotton embroidery in back, buttonhole, darning, running, dot, eye, and arrowhead stitches

Dimensions:

32 1/4 x 33 inches (81.9 x 83.8 cm)

Classification:

Textiles

Credit Line:

Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1968

Accession Number:

1968-184-11

Geography:

Made in Undivided Bengal, Asia Possibly made in Faridpur District, Bangladesh, Asia Possibly made in West Bengal, India, Asia

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Currently not on view