A Palampore for all Seasons

I have been learning new names for old textiles, reading up about the wonderful hangings and shawls known as Palampores, originally designed and painted chintz, created on the Coromandel Coast of India - they owe much to other Eastern lands -Persia, Siam and China, because they were exported to Europe from the 16th C. and new patterns and designs were in great demand for the following centuries. They were often based on Persian flowered fabrics, and the Tree of Life features often with fruit, flowers, animals, birds and insects. They were exported to Europe by the East India Companies along the trade routes and reached ports in France, Holland and England, where they were received with great enthusiasm by the fashionable and rich. In fact they had such a bad effect on European trade that they were banned for a time with very severe penalties, which made them all the more desirable! I went to a stunning exhibition of these rarities at Port Louis in Brittany several years ago, and thought it the most exciting display of textiles I had ever seen.   They are now extremely valuable and make news at the top London auction houses.More in another Post, while I get my breath back!