Inside the Story · No. 20 · Monday 2 November 2026 · Craft · South Asia and Western

Pen and Mordant: the Burhanpur Niche

This flowering tree in a scalloped niche was painted on cotton, mordant by mordant, at Burhanpur in the Deccan between 1725 and 1750, for the lining of a tent.

The inside story of a design inspired by a painted cotton tent lining from Burhanpur, 1725 to 1750.

Panel from a Tent Lining, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The source

Panel from a Tent LiningCotton; plain weave, mordant-painted and dyed, resist-dyed · India, Burhanpur, 1725 to 1750 (API objectDate 1725 to 50; objectBeginDate 1700, objectEndDate 1775) · H. 51 9/16 in. (131 cm), W. 36 5/8 in. (93 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Panel from a Tent Lining, 1725 to 50. India, Burhanpur. Cotton; plain weave, mordant-painted and dyed, resist-dyed; 131 x 93 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 2011, 2011.528. Public domain (CC0). · object The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 2011.528 (web object 457755, never printed on screen) · CC0View at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ↗

The Met attributes the panel to Burhanpur, in the northern Deccan, which it believes was an important centre of production in the eighteenth century. Panels like this, with a tall flowering plant in a niche under a border of scrolling vines, are known in sets; the Met's description names one that belonged to Tipu Sultan of Mysore. The V and A, on a related panel, says continuous cloth panels like these were used as screens around an encampment, decorated on the inner face and plain red outside.

What we saw

Five parts, traced from the photograph

1The big bloomsFirst, the big blooms. Twelve on the tree: two peonies, two fringed carnations, two scaled heads, two daisies with dark-blue hearts, two with a dark ring, and two small ruffled ones.

2The serrated frondsThen the serrated fronds. Six big ones at the base, three a side, and the same serrated leaf all over the tree.

3The side vineDown each side, a vine. Eight red heads with an indigo heart and four blue buds a side, with small serrated leaves between.

4The top band and the spandrelsAlong the top, a narrow band of small flowers and buds. Above the arch, an ochre ground with sprigs and two big rosettes.

5The nicheAnd the niche itself. A scalloped arch, and at its foot a blue-and-red vase the whole tree grows from.

5 prints, each from a different part

Each print starts from a part of the source

From this partThe big blooms

Print 1 · All-over

Niche Garden

For the first print, I took the big blooms and the fronds together.

Six different blooms, three fronds sweeping between them, leaves and buds in the gaps, in a half-drop on the cloth's cream. Dress material.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 3070 × 2362 px · 52 × 40 cm
Made for: Surat, Ahmedabad and Jaipur dress-material processors; boutique labels selling painted-cotton florals for the wedding season; the indigo colourway for AW ranges
Why it sells: Seven-centimetre blooms of six kinds in a half-drop with 15 cm fronds between read as a full-coverage floral at kurta distance, cut any way, and the indigo swap gives a second sellable colourway from the same screens.

Women's dress material and dupattas110 cm width7 coloursdigital pigment or reactive on cotton cambricrayon or georgetteSeven colours

From this partThe side vine

Print 2 · All-over

Carnation Trellis

Then the side vine, remade.

Its red heads at the nodes of an ogee trellis I drew, a blue bud in every cell, its own leaves along the lines. A men's kurta.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 2126 × 2480 px · 36 × 42 cm
Made for: Menswear ethnic brands (festive kurtas) and shirting mills; also co-ord sets
Why it sells: A 9 x 14 cm ogee with a 4.5 cm head at each node is the classic kurta trellis: small, even, directional only in the lattice, and five flat colours print cleanly on cambric.

Men's kurta and shirting150 cm width5 coloursrotary or digital on cotton cambric and linen blendsFive colours

From this partThe serrated fronds

Print 3 · All-over

Frond and Sprig Ditsy

Then the small serrated leaves with the sprigs from above the arch.

Tossed every way in two colours, indigo and madder on cream. A shirting ditsy.

Repeat: Straight repeat · tile 2362 × 2362 px · 40 × 40 cm
Made for: Shirting mills running two-colour ditsy ranges; kidswear and blouse labels; a cheap companion print to A for co-ords
Why it sells: A 2 cm leaf and sprig toss in two screens is the lowest-cost print of the five and reads as a plain-looking texture at arm's length, which is what shirting buyers want.

Shirting and kidswear150 cm width2 coloursrotary on cotton poplin or voileTwo colours

Source detail: The top band and the spandrels

From this partThe top band and the spandrels

Print 4 · Border

Niche Border

Then the two borders of the cloth, with a row of blooms between.

The top band, then a carnation, a daisy and a ring bloom with leaves, then the side vine turned along the hem. A saree border, twenty-three centimetres deep.

Repeat: Border repeat · tile 3496 × 1417 px · 59.2 × 24 cm
Made for: Surat saree process houses for festive georgette and crepe; dupatta printers selling body-plus-border sets with A or C as the body
Why it sells: Two real painted bands with a row of 6 cm blooms between give a deep, finished border at hem distance with a 30 cm repeat, and it pairs with A as a coordinated set.

Saree and dupatta border23.5 cm deep8 coloursdigital along the selvedge (also lehenga hems and curtain hems)the vine row alone is a 7.6 cm borderEight colours

From this partThe niche

Print 5 · Placement

The Niche

And last, the whole tree in its niche, as it is.

Every line of it on a clean cream, at true size. A placement for a pallu, or a wall hanging.

Repeat: Placement print, not a repeat
Made for: Saree labels that engineer pallus; home-textile brands for wall hangings and quilt tops; boutique labels for a kurta back panel at reduced size
Why it sells: The tree in its niche is already a finished composition at 60 x 117 cm; printed as one placement it needs no repeat and carries the whole story on one pallu.

Saree pallu or dupatta end panel (117 cm deepengineered)and wall hangings or a bed-cover centre8 coloursdigital on cottonlinen or georgetteEight colours

The palette

Every colour here was already in the source.

#E2C3A1Unbleached cotton cream · from the source

#913D34Madder red · from the source

#CE6C54Light madder · from the source

#83625CAubergine purple · from the source

#BF8F61Ochre · from the source

#445461Indigo blue · from the source

#3D4344Frond indigo (near black, with a teal cast) · from the source

#323030Pen line · from the source

Why now

Madder, indigo and cream painted florals for the wedding-season ranges: dress material, a men's kurta trellis, a two-colour shirting, a saree border and a pallu panel from one cloth.

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Source: Panel from a Tent Lining, India, Burhanpur, 1725 to 1750 (API objectDate 1725 to 50; objectBeginDate 1700, objectEndDate 1775), Cotton; plain weave, mordant-painted and dyed, resist-dyed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Panel from a Tent Lining, 1725 to 50. India, Burhanpur. Cotton; plain weave, mordant-painted and dyed, resist-dyed; 131 x 93 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 2011, 2011.528. Public domain (CC0)., object The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 2011.528 (web object 457755, never printed on screen). CC0. View the object.

Facts from: metmuseum.org, metmuseum.org.