Textile with alternating roundels and eight-pointed motifs

For centuries, towns along the southeastern coast of India produced painted and printed cotton textiles that were in demand all over Southeast Asia as well as in Persia and Europe. Indian artisans were fully aware of the sorts of designs favored in different places, and must have had access to pattern books brought from Siam and elsewhere.

Many of the textiles produced for the Siamese market were of very high quality, and these must have been expensive in their day. Their designs and patterns echo those found in Siamese decorative painting, woodwork, gilded lacquer, and other mediums. Cloths such as this functioned as wall hangings, curtains, and covers for thrones and platforms. Mural paintings and illustrated manuscripts depicting such interior decorations provide evidence of this use.

While many of the motifs on this cloth seem typically Siamese, some, such as the chains of loops alternating with motifs with stylized four-petaled flowers that encircle the medallions, must ultimately be related to eighteenth-century European designs.