Inside the Story · No. 08 · Monday 5 October 2026 · Craft · South Asia

The Forest That Sailed to Sulawesi

This madder-and-indigo star butti comes from a five-metre Gujarati cotton, printed and dyed around 1400 for buyers in Indonesia.

The inside story of a design inspired by a Gujarati cotton printed for Indonesia around 1400.

Textile with a Forested Landscape, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The source

Textile with a Forested LandscapeCotton, painted resist and block-printed mordant, dyed · India (Gujarat), for the Indonesian market, late 14th to early 15th century · H (weft) 98.7 cm (38 7/8 in.) x W (warp) 494.5 cm (194 11/16 in.)The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Textile with a Forested Landscape, India (Gujarat), for the Indonesian market, late 14th to early 15th century. Cotton, painted resist and block-printed mordant, dyed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2005, 2005.407. Public domain (CC0). · object Met object 72747, accession 2005.407 · CC0View at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ↗

Cloths like this were printed and dyed in Gujarat for the islands of Indonesia. The Met dates this one to the late 14th or early 15th century, which shows the trade was well established long before the Portuguese arrived. The Toraja of highland Sulawesi, who kept such cloths, call them maa'.

What we saw

Five parts, traced from the photograph

1The trefoil medallionFirst, a medallion with three lobes. Indigo inside, a band of cream dots around it, and three five-petal flowers on one stem.

2The star flowerBeside it, a star flower. Nine indigo points around a cream disc with ten madder petals, and dotted wedges between the points.

3The tree of ringsThen a tree. Nine ringed roundels on one cream stem, with fan-shaped leaves between them.

4The roundel borderAlong the long edge, an indigo band. Madder roundels take turns: seven cream dots, then an eight-spoked star.

5The end panelAnd at the end: plain madder, then a band of dotted triangles with spikes, then two rows of small squares.

5 prints, each from a different part

Each print starts from a part of the source

From this partThe trefoil medallion

Print 1 · All-over

Trefoil Medallion All-over

What if we kept only the medallion? The three-lobed frame with its flowers.

Every lobe, flower and dot as printed. Turned in every other column, so the cloth can be cut either way.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 2844 × 2960 px · 48.2 × 50.1 cm
Made for: Surat and Jaipur dress-material processors; boutique ethnic labels selling indigo-and-madder kurtas
Why it sells: A 12 cm medallion on a dark ground, two-way, in four flat colours reads as a bold all-over at kurta scale and cuts without direction waste.

Women's dress material and kurta fabric110 cm width4 coloursrotary screen or digital pigment on cotton cambric or rayonFour colours

From this partThe star flower

Print 2 · Buta

Star Flower Butti

Then the star flower, on its own.

Nine points, lifted whole. A small one in every gap, on indigo.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 2688 × 3064 px · 45.5 × 51.9 cm
Made for: Menswear ethnic brands (festive kurtas) and shirting mills running indigo discharge ranges
Why it sells: A spaced 6.5 cm butti with a 2.6 cm filler on dark indigo is a standard kurta and shirt layout, and its madder rim reads cleanly in discharge.

Men's kurta and shirting140 to 150 cm width4 coloursdischarge or pigment on indigo-dyed cotton or linen blendFour colours

From this partThe tree of rings

Print 3 · All-over

Roundel Forest

Next, the tree. The one that makes this cloth a forest.

Nine rings on a stem, as printed. Planted in rows, until it is a forest again.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 2658 × 2490 px · 45 × 42.2 cm
Made for: Home-textile brands and exporters (cushions, table linen); dupatta makers wanting a block-print look
Why it sells: A dense 14 cm upright tree in half-drop on madder holds up on a cushion face or a curtain drop and needs no border to look finished.

Home textile: cushion coverstable linen and curtains140 cm width4 coloursrotary or digital on cotton canvas or duckalso dupattasFour colours

From this partThe roundel border

Print 4 · Border

Roundel Border

Now the border. It runs along the cloth's long edge.

Dot rosette, spoked star, dot rosette. Every roundel is a real one, used once, at its true size.

Repeat: Border repeat · tile 2953 × 757 px · 50 × 12.8 cm
Made for: Surat saree process houses and dupatta printers selling body-plus-border sets
Why it sells: A 12.8 cm one-way band with an 8.3 cm repeat runs endlessly along a selvedge and pairs with A or B as a coordinated border.

Saree and dupatta border12.8 cm deep4 coloursprinted along the selvedge (also lehenga hems and kurta daman)Four colours

From this partThe end panel

Print 5 · Border

End Panel

Last, the end of the cloth, where the pattern stops.

Plain madder, a line, dotted triangles, two rows of squares. As deep as on the cloth.

Repeat: Border repeat · tile 2611 × 2395 px · 44.2 × 40.6 cm
Made for: Saree and dupatta labels that engineer pallus; home-textile brands for table runners and bed-cover ends
Why it sells: A 40 cm stripe panel ending in plain madder is a ready-made pallu or runner end, and it repeats along its length every 44 cm.

Saree pallu or dupatta end paneland table-runner ends40.6 cm deep4 coloursengineered (placement) printFour colours

The palette

Every colour here was already in the source.

#A78E70Unbleached cotton cream · from the source

#7A4539Madder red · from the source

#30454EIndigo blue · from the source

#3B2F30Madder-under-indigo brown-black · from the source

Why now

Indigo and madder, in the cloth's own four colours, for festive kurtas, saree borders and pallus, and home textiles.

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Source: Textile with a Forested Landscape, India (Gujarat), for the Indonesian market, late 14th to early 15th century, Cotton, painted resist and block-printed mordant, dyed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Textile with a Forested Landscape, India (Gujarat), for the Indonesian market, late 14th to early 15th century. Cotton, painted resist and block-printed mordant, dyed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2005, 2005.407. Public domain (CC0)., object Met object 72747, accession 2005.407. CC0. View the object.

Facts from: metmuseum.org, roots.gov.sg.