Embroidered border fragment with birds and flowers

Huge, vivacious blooms with deep pink petals and rainbow-colored birds with perky crests and long, dramatic tails decorate this sumptuous embroidery from Gujarat in western India. The vibrant motifs are connected by a continuous vine interspersed with serrated leaves, leading the gaze along its sinuous thread. This fragment is from the outer border of a set of bed hangings formerly in Ashburnham House in Sussex, England. Several other fragments, dispersed in various museums and private collections, have been identified. The set is considered one of the earliest and finest surviving examples of Gujarati embroidery produced by the local Mochi community. Bed hangings of this kind were made for use in Europe, where such embroideries were greatly desired. Covered with a profusion of birds and flowers, the original set of hangings would have brought the Indian subtropical garden to a country house on the southeastern coast of England.