‘The fullest account of the vast Asian trade in Indian textiles to have been produced so far … accessible yet authoritative’ – Textile History

'Accessible and intricately researched … groundbreaking' – The Art Newspaper

‘One of the great stories of Asian design history … The text is supported by beautiful photography, vivid first-hand descriptions and historic images’ – Embroidery

The dazzlingly varied cloths presented in this book are the visual record of one of the great stories of Asian design history.

John Guy has produced a brilliant account of the Indian textile trade in examining the cloth-for-spices trade, focusing on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the thousand-year-old trade was at its peak.

With beautiful photographs of the textiles themselves (outstanding among them the famous cotton chintzes and tie-and-dye silks), illuminating images of people and places, and vivid first-hand descriptions by travellers and merchants, this is both an indispensible resource and a visual feast for students and lovers of textiles.

Contents
    Textiles, Culture and Spices
    Techniques and Production Centres
    Indian Cloth and International Trade
    The Asian Trade before European Intervention
    The Malay World
    Indonesia
    'Cloths in the Fashion of Siam'
    China
    'Strange Painteinges': The Japan Trade
    Notes
    Bibliography
    Radiocarbon-Dated Indian Textiles
    Glossary
    Illustration Credits and Notes
    Index

Originally published under the title
Woven Cargoes: Indian Textiles in the East

John Guy, FSA, is curator of South and Southeast Asian Art in the Department of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and was formerly Senior Curator of the Asian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Also of interest
Indian Textiles
The Book of Silk