Inside the Story · No. 17 · Thursday 29 October 2026 · Craft · South Asia

Red Velvet, Gold Poppies

This gold poppy buta comes from a tent wall more than five and a half metres long: crimson silk velvet with gold leaf pressed into it, attributed to India and dated by the Met to about 1635.

The inside story of a design inspired by a crimson velvet tent panel with gold-leaf poppies, India, about 1635.

Floral Tent Panel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The source

Floral Tent PanelSilk, gold; cut velvet, painted · Attributed to India, ca. 1635 (API range 1610 to 1660) · Textile: L. 105 3/4 in. (268.6 cm) x W. 221 1/4 in. (562 cm); tube: L. 120 in. (304.8 cm) x W. 20 in. (50.8 cm)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Floral Tent Panel, ca. 1635. Attributed to India. Silk, gold; cut velvet, painted; textile 268.6 x 562 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Bequest of Helen W. D. Mileham, by exchange, Wendy Findlay Gift, and funds from various donors, 1981, 1981.321. Public domain (CC0). · object Met object 453054, accession 1981.321 · CC0View at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ↗

The Met says that in the lavish encampments used by Indian rulers when travelling, tents were lined with beautiful textiles, and that this panel comes from the interior of a tent complex probably made for Raja Jai Singh I of Amber. The gold was laid on an adhesive, covered with gold leaf, beaten into the surface and burnished.

What we saw

Five parts, traced from the photograph

1The poppy plant under its archFirst, the plant. One poppy plant under a cusped arch, in each of the five compartments, with scrolls in the spandrels.

2The poppy headThen the heads. Twelve on every plant: a gold disc with five slits round a crimson dot, about fifteen centimetres across.

3The serrated leafThen the serrated leaves that spring from the stem, each one a different cut of gold.

4The cypress and plant rowAlong the top and the bottom, a row of cypresses and flowering plants taking turns. Sixteen of each along the top.

5The vine bandAnd between the rows and the compartments, a band of scrolling vine between two gold rules.

5 prints, each from a different part

Each print starts from a part of the source

From this partThe poppy head

Print 1 · Buta

Poppy Buta and Band

For the first print, I took a head with two leaves, and the vine band.

A buta in rows, half-dropped, with the real vine chain running between the rows. Gold on crimson, and the same in crimson on cream. For festive dress material.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 3802 × 1982 px · 64.4 × 33.6 cm
Made for: Surat saree and dress-material process houses printing festive foil ranges for Diwali and the wedding season; boutique ethnic labels wanting a red-and-gold kurta set
Why it sells: A 7 cm gold buta in half-dropped rows with a vine band between is a classic festive layout in two colours, cheap to engrave and strong in foil; the cream colourway sells the same screens for daywear.

Women's festive dress material and dupattas110 cm width2 colours (gold pigment or foil on crimsonthe cream colourway in 2 pigment colours)rotary screen or digital on georgettecrepe or silk-look polyesterTwo colours

Source detail: The cypress and plant row

From this partThe cypress and plant row

Print 2 · All-over

Cypress All-over

Then the border row, turned into an all-over.

Cypress, plant, cypress, plant, in brick rows at under half their size. For dress material and kurtas.

Repeat: Mirror repeat · tile 3213 × 2646 px · 54.4 × 44.8 cm
Made for: Jaipur and Surat dress-material printers; ethnic menswear brands wanting a gold-on-red festive buta; home-textile brands for cushion fronts
Why it sells: A 9 to 10 cm cypress and plant in brick rows is the standard Indian buta all-over, two colours, no direction waste beyond the upright, and it reads from across a room.

Men's and women's kurta fabric and dress material110 to 140 cm width2 coloursrotary screen or digital on cotton cambricrayon or chanderi-look polyesterTwo colours

From this partThe poppy head

Print 3 · All-over

Poppy Ditsy

Then the head again, small, with single scrolls from the band and little leaves.

Tossed at about a fifth of their size, every way up. A ditsy for shirting.

Repeat: Mirror repeat · tile 2480 × 2480 px · 42 × 42 cm
Made for: Shirting mills and festive menswear brands; blouse-piece printers pairing it with the saree border D
Why it sells: A 3 cm head with 2 cm scrolls and leaves tossed every way is a classic two-colour ditsy at shirt distance, no direction, and the gold-on-crimson makes it a festive shirt or blouse piece.

Shirting and women's blouse fabric150 cm width2 coloursrotary or digital on cotton poplinvoile or satinTwo colours

From this partThe cypress and plant row

Print 4 · Border

Saree Border

Then the cypress row, the vine band and a row of poppy heads together.

Stacked between thin gold rules, the real band in the middle. A wide saree border.

Repeat: Border repeat · tile 2852 × 1486 px · 48.3 × 25.2 cm
Made for: Surat saree process houses for festive georgette and crepe; dupatta printers selling body-plus-border sets with print A or C as the body
Why it sells: A 25 cm one-way border of cypresses, the real vine band and 6 cm poppy heads in two colours repeats every 48 cm along a selvedge and carries the whole tent in one band.

Saree and dupatta border25.2 cm deep2 coloursprinted along the selvedge or as a separate border screenalso a lehenga hem or a curtain hemTwo colours

Source detail: The poppy plant under its arch

From this partThe poppy plant under its arch

Print 5 · Placement

Pallu Panel

And last, one plant in its arch, as it is.

With the band above and below, at half size. A placement for a pallu or a kurta front.

Repeat: Placement print, not a repeat
Made for: Saree and dupatta labels that engineer pallus; boutique labels for an engineered kurta front; home-textile brands for a velvet wall panel or bed runner
Why it sells: A 91.1 cm panel of one gold plant under its arch is a ready pallu at half the tent size, two colours, no repeat to match, and its arch gives the pallu its own frame.

Saree palludupatta end panel and engineered kurta front2 coloursdigital or engineered rotary on georgettecrepe or velvet-look polyesteralso a wall hangingTwo colours

The palette

Every colour here was already in the source.

#D2A066Gold leaf · from the source

#7A1C24Crimson velvet · from the source

#72111FDeep crimson (the pile in shadow) · from the source

#744739Worn gold (the crackle) · from the source

#B0957ALining cream · from the source

Why now

Diwali is 8 November 2026 and the wedding season follows: red and gold, in the velvet's own two colours, for festive dress material, saree borders and pallus; the cream colourway for daywear.

Previous storyFlower Work, Counted From the Back Next storyIndian Red on an English Block

Source: Floral Tent Panel, Attributed to India, ca. 1635 (API range 1610 to 1660), Silk, gold; cut velvet, painted. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Floral Tent Panel, ca. 1635. Attributed to India. Silk, gold; cut velvet, painted; textile 268.6 x 562 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Bequest of Helen W. D. Mileham, by exchange, Wendy Findlay Gift, and funds from various donors, 1981, 1981.321. Public domain (CC0)., object Met object 453054, accession 1981.321. CC0. View the object.

Facts from: metmuseum.org, metmuseum.org.