Flora and Fauna

Motifs of Flora and Fauna have adorned Indian cloth throughout history. Borrowing from fields, gardens and forests, they appear variously as a small, repeating buta or the singular plant and shrub; bel or creepers and meanders; the jaal or all over patterns with foliage; or as the large Tree of Life; renowned for its bold forms in hand-painted and printed textiles for trade with Europe from the 17th to 19th centuries. The commissions which appear here represent various techniques through which the natural world is captured in Indian textiles, and show how elements from here became a constant source of inspiration and exploration for Vishwakarma through its various phases and iterations.