Chasuble

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This glorious painted resist and mordant dyed hand-woven cotton can be attributed to the talented specialist painters, called Kalamkari, active in south-eastern India. Called "Chintz", from the Hindi "chint" meaning "speckled", late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europeans adored these textiles, exporting them in great numbers. Here, lengths from one chintz, or perhaps two separate, differently patterned chintzes, have been carefully repurposed, patched together and used to create a Roman Catholic priest's chasuble– the tabard-like tunic worn whilst conducting church services.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art