Cotton textile fragment, printed and mordant- and resist-dyed, possibly made in Gujarat or Coromandel Coast. 17th century. Victoria & Albert Museum.
Cotton kalamkari mat, with natural dyes. 20th century. Museum of Art & Photography.
Cotton Dorukha kalamkari prayer mat, with natural dyes, for Iranian market. 20th century. Museum of Art & Photograpy.
Cotton kalamkari mat, with natural dyes. 20th century. Museum of Art & Photograpy.
Rectangular hanging or palampore of painted and resist-dyed cotton chintz. 1750—1775. Victoria & Albert Museum.

Reign of the Paisley

These images show the paisley in its most familiar form. A far cry from the lotuses, floral imagery, and cypresses that its design can be traced to, this paisley consists of a rounded, bulging base, with a tapered swirl at the top. Sometimes, it is recognized Indian audiences as a motif relating to the mango, considered the Raja of the fruit kingdom—it is unclear which emerged first. Often, the lack of contour lines delineating the edges of the paisley, meant that it became a sort of bubble, encompassing various other motifs and patterns. Instead of grounding paisleys in a larger environment (as with the earlier cypress piece), it existed almost entirely as a design element: to be peppered throughout a work or to border it. This is then mirrored in the introduction of almost shapeless curved, curled, tapered, or jagged forms that were repeated throughout to imply a pattern without necessarily having to have recognizable imagery throughout a work.