Tent Hanging

Fragment of a block-printed and mordant-dyed plain-weave cotton portable screen (qanat). The cotton fabric is soaked in a myrobalan (plant-derived) solution before it is printed and dyed, giving it an ochre color. The design consists of three registers: the top having an ornamental niche design featuring tripartite floral motifs; the middle a narrative frieze of a shikargah (hunting scene) featuring Sikh soldiers, antelope, elephants, camels, birds, and tigers; the lowest and main being divided into a series of architectural niches of the Mughal qanat (tent hanging) format. Within the niches are Mughal-style floral designs. This style continued to be popular for commercially produced urban textiles into the late 19th century, when this type of qanat was used as a moveable partition to create spaces for public events (as it still is today).