Influences of Indian Chintz on Dutch Textile, Yesterday and Today

My inner world is in a way connected to the textiles of my country, India. One such textile craft practiced is hand block printing, about which I have had a great interest and former understanding.

Chintz is an important textile of my country, and its ori gins have a historical link to the Netherlands during the 17th century, also known as the Dutch Golden Age.

Through the paper I will investigate the extent to which the parallel world in my country and the Netherlands existed and in what way both countries were impacted by the exchange.

Then chintz was high in demand amongst different social classes of Dutch society, from wealthy nobles to farmers, and slowly became an integral part of Dutch regional dress styles. Although Indian Chintz was an exotic textile, its vibrant colours and richly decorated motifs soon assimilated into Dutch regional clothing, which today is known as an icon of Dutch folklore.

This research elaborates the origins of Indian chintz, the evolution of its motifs and colours alongside a parallel study investigating the gradual infiltration and consolidation of this Indian craft into Dutch costumes and textiles. Finally, this research considers contemporary perceptions of the historical relationship and the extent to which the cross-influence between India and the Netherlands can still be seen in fashions and textile designs in both countries.

Textiles in India always have a value attached to them in the form of ancestral sentiments, where the pieces are passed on from one generation to another or even gifted as presents on ceremonial occasions. Since childhood, I have grown up surrounded by delicate and intricate textiles and have developed an understanding of them.

My country, India, has a rich past that fascinates me to observe the practice, technique, and evolution of fabrics over the centuries.

The place I have my ancestral roots in is the Rajasthan state in the northern part of the country. This region is known for the most iconic and recognized printing technique on fabrics known as Chintz.

As a child, I developed an urge to learn about the motifs of the Chintz printing technique. In the entire city, these beautifully majestic cotton printed fabrics are sold and worn by the residents of that place. It is so popular that even tourists from other countries visit in a quest to purchase the printed Chintz.

As part of my surface and textile design education, I have studied the creative process of printing and have gained proper technical knowledge of its details in my country as well as through this master course.

This thesis aims to investigate the origin of the craft of printing practiced in India and question why a piece of printed textile is still celebrated in my world today. As in the past also today its enormous importance is linked to its high appreciation in many other countries.

Colonialism has been a part of my country’s history and has had a major impact not only on social behaviours but has significantly shaped India in all its aspects as it is known today. In this thesis I will concentrate on both positive and negative aspects of colonialism as regards textile production. Many scholars and historians have discovered that colonialism not only affected India but has led to major changes in some countries in the west such as the United Kingdom and particularly the Netherlands, too. Through this paper, I will attempt to find out why people relate so much to the Chintz textile in my country as well as in parallel worlds, i.e., the Netherlands. It will investigate the existing connection between these two worlds in the past and today and how it has affected the production of Chintz in India and the Netherlands in terms of motifs, colours, and technique.

Through the findings of my research, I hope not only to fuel my creative activity with new aesthetic and technical inspiration but to integrate these into my future design projects. I have observed that the fine techniques of Indian handicrafts when converted into slightly contemporary designs have the possibility of being recognized and appreciated globally. If this has worked in the past, it may as well happen again today.

Much of my research has been informed by secondary sources including literature such as “How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles”, 1500-1850”, edited by Giorgio Riello (University of Warwick) and Tirthankar Roy, “Crill R (2008), Chintz- Indian textiles for the West”, V & A Publishing, “Gillow J & A; Barnard N,(2008), Indian Textiles”, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London and archives in museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Fries Museum Leeuwarden, Rijksmuseum Foundation, the Zuiderzee Museum, Enkhuizen, the Netherlands along with references to research papers like “Stories of Chintz” by Ching-Ling Wang. The research on “ contemporary textiles has been supported largely by information provided by Textiel Factorij Org, an ongoing project by the government”, as well as primary research based on conversations with contemporaries in India and the Netherlands.

04. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON CHINTZ

The textile trade between India and therefore the Netherlands and its influence on the Dutch textile in terms of colour, design, motives and patterns befell roughly within the 17th and 18th century. During the 17th century there was an active trade route between India and therefore the Netherlands. Especially the Indian state Gujarat and the Coromandel coast were important areas, where the Dutch East Indies Company, also referred to as the Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie' (VOC), had founded trading posts and factories for the trade of cotton, indigo and silk 1

Business profits led the Dutch East Indies Company or ‘Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie' to the Coromandel coast. The years from 1606 to 1610 were progressive for the Dutch as they set up around four workshops in many parts of the Coromandel.

At the beginning of the trade, the Dutch distributed moderately small numbers of Indian textiles to Europe (fig.1). Until 1660, majority of the VOC's acquisitions of Indian textiles were destined for the Asian markets. The expansion of trade was so vast that by the tip of the century quite a major amount was being sent to the Netherlands; with greater exposure and reduced prices, Europe slowly developed a preference and liking for these fabrics.

1 The Dutch arrived in Indonesia in the early decades of the seventeenth century looking for the exotic spices They soon discovered that Indian textiles were so valuable that they had traditionally been used as a form of currency.

Eventually it had been the English East India Company who slowly surpassed the Dutch during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on the Coromandel and other coastal trading centres in India. During this period, printed Indian silks and cotton-silks became so popular in Europe that in the 1700s the government in Britain banned their imports.

This further increased the demand for Indian cottons. Since European consumers preferred white backgrounds with floral and animal prints, fabrics referred to as Chintz–from the Hindi word ‘ chhint’ meaning spotted that was interpreted as print (fig.2)

Fig. 1. Shipyard and warehouses of the corporate in Amsterdam, around 1750.

Chintz was preferred as a cloth mainly because to the sturdiness and vibrance of its colour. These fabrics were difficult to supply because the process involved multiple dyeing techniques at different stages and consumed lots of time. Particularly Chintz Palampores was the common phrase accustomed with – bed spread (Fig.3)

– or furnishings due to the fact that they were in high demand. The fabric was also later used to make fashionable garments at the time.

Fig. 2. Chintz Fragment from 1720.

European consumers often requested specific designs and hues, which were sent to Indian manufacturers, together with drawings and pattern sheets. This gave rise to a hybrid style inspired by the preferences of the Mughal and Deccan courts and simultaneously appealing to the passion for nature that was a vital aspect of 19th century European Romanticism.

Fig. 3. Chintz Palampore bed cover

Textile exports were at the core of India's Indian Ocean trade and had a defining influence on global tastes (fig.4). While fragments of Indian fabrics are unearthed at various sites within the world as far back as 1800 BCE, it's from round the early centuries of the era, that a clearer pattern of a large-scale and diverse textile trade from the Indian subcontinent emerges.

The story of its growth and influence is surprising and is masked by the European dominance over Indians views of merchants. The east was one of the places where the global trade of textiles won peoples’ hearts.

Fig. 4. Map from the early 17th century depicting important Indian Ocean trade routes to the Netherlands.

Indian textiles - coarse cottons, fine printed cottons or luxurious silks together with the designs and production techniques were assimilated into the social and artistic fabric across Southeast Asia.

One example of this is often the ikat technique of tying the warp or weft yarns before dying, leading to a pattern; this method is found both in India and Southeast Asia. Textiles were coloured with techniques like bandhani or tying and sewing of the material before dying, to supply a sort of texture with a play of resist colour dyeing; these fabrics held nuances of luxury and status-marking within the region. Textiles had a profound significance of design motifs, both Indian and overseas.2

2 Designs adorned the stonepanels of the Javanese Loro Jonggrang (also known as Prambana) complex, the largest Hindu shrine of insular Southeast Asia dating back to the early decades of the tenth century.

05. THE MANUFACTURE OF CHINTZ IN INDIA: FABRICS AND TECHNIQUES

The word Chintz comes from the Hindi word “chint” or Persian “chitta” meaning “spotted” or “printed”. Originally an Indian hand-painted or hand-printed calico became popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th century, explained under the topic

‘Historical Perspective’ (fig.5)

The traditional techniques used in India to produce Chintz were intense and multifaceted, as each vegetable dye had to be bound to the fabric using a different chemical.

Fig. 5. Detail of palempore. Cotton, hand-painted and dyed using the chintz technique. India, 1700-1725.

It is worth noting, today the traditional process is nearly extinct.3

The very fine handwoven cotton fabric was thoroughly washed against a stone several times to remove starch and other impurities (fig.6)

Then it is put in boiling water for a few hours.4

It is placed in a solution of sheep compost and water for two days and exposed to sunlight afterwards, water was sprayed on the fabric repetitively in order to maintain the moisture.

This is repeated for 7-10 days.

Thereafter the cloth is placed in myrobalan (a solution of tannin-containing fruit) overnight. It is then boiled and rinsed various times.

3 One of the most thorough and comprehensive descriptions of the process of calico printing at the end of the eighteenth century can be found in J. Lettice, Letters on a Tour Through Various Parts of Scotland, in the Year 1792 (London, 1794), pp. 192-7.

4 Cit. in J. Irwin, ‘Indian textile trade in the seventeenth century. II. Coromandel coast’, Journal of Indian Textile History, 2 (1956).

Fig. 6. A man beating the fabric against stones to remove impurities.

The next day, the cloth is saturated in a mixture of myrobalan and buffalo milk, and the fabric is rubbed thoroughly well with this mixture (fig.7) It is then squeezed numerous times in changed directions to allow the milk and myrobalan to infiltrate the fabric evenly.

Following the cloth is then spread under the sun for the fat substance of the buffalo milk infiltrates into the cloth, which serves as a chemical reaction allowing the colour to be applied and absorbed on the fabric without spreading. The myrobalan treatment gives the fabric a beige tone

After that the cloth is rubbed thoroughly so the fibres are flattened, and the surface is smooth for the mordants to be painted. The design is traced or drawn with free hand on the cloth with wood coal, later it is removed.

Afterwards the drawing and painting can begin, at first the outlines, which are drawn with iron and alum fixative(fig.8).

Fig. 7 A piece of cloth being soaked in myrobalan and buffalo milk mixture.

Then the fabric is placed in a dyebath with ‘ saya wera’ organic solution, the outlines change into black and red but the rest of the fabric to which no fixative has been a pplied is slightly coloured but not properly (fig.9).

After that the bleaching follows (stage 2).

For about a week, it is put in a solution of buffalo or goat compost and is bleached under the sun in daytime (fig.10). (stage 3)

Fig. 8 Chintz fragment with initial design outlines.

Fig. 9 Chintz outlines turned black (iron mordant) and red (alum) post madder treatment.

In stage 4 the fabric is again covered with a mixture of myrobalan and buffalo milk, the outlines are painted with iron black, while the white lines are drawn with wax (fig.11).

In the next stage, the cloth is dyed again in bath with ‘ saya wera’, white reserved lines are evident and the background without mordant is dyed again but not thoroughly. The rest of the fabric is bleached, and the same process is applied again.

Fig. 10. Two women placing the fabrics to be bleached in the sun.

Fig. 11. Outlines in this fragment are filled with iron and white lines filled with wax

The stage is indigo for which there is no requirement of a fixative, the parts of design to be dyed blue are painted with wax (fig.12)

Then rest of the fabric will be covered with wax, apart from the areas to be dyed green

After this process, the fabric is placed in boiling water to force the wax layer out of the fabric (stage 9). Post the procedures, the fabric obtains the red, blue and black colours as per the design requirements (fig.13).

Fig. 12. Indigo bath for areas in design to be dyed blue.

The printers in Europe took more than a century’s time to learn the complex techniques with various stages of block printing – not painted – and to produce a textile as full of colour and resilient as the Chintz produced in India (fig.14).5

Fig. 13. Final Chintz design with desired red, blue and back colours.

5 MacIver, P., The Chintz Book, F.A. Stokes Company, New York, 1929

Fig. 14. A summary of various stages of Chintz printing in India as recorded by European printers.

PAINTING TO WOOD BLOCK PRINTING

The Indian Chintz was constantly growing more popular in the Netherlands which led the Dutch East India Company to increase production in the Coromandel coast. The Dutch even set up factories in different locations spanning the northern and southern parts of the Coromandel.

The VOC also used these fabrics as a means of compensation to the employees in Asia for their contribution of work done for the company 6 The fabrics sourced from the Coromandel coast were hand painted and took long procedures and time to be created and then imported by the Dutch (fig.15).

6 Based on the VOC’s records, historian Om Prakash has estimated that textiles made up nearly 84% of these merchants’ cargo in the year 1659 and the proportion remained similarly high in the following two decades. Book by the name, ‘The VOC's Trade in Indian Textiles with Burma’, by Wil O. Dijk, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Oct., 2002), pp. 495-515 (21 pages), Published By: Cambridge University Press.

Fig. 15. The procedure of hand painting of Chintz fabric in Coromandel coast.

As the seventeenth century unfolded, the VOC expanded its reach to control textile production and supply across Gujarat and Rajasthan.

fabrics were printed using wooden blocks, usage of naturally sourced dyes was carried out but overall, the imprinting of designs on fabric was much faster (fig.16).

The process for hand block printing takes place in basic six phases.7

7 Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol 7(1), January 2008, pp 93-97

Fig. 16. Chintz being created using hand block printing technique

Step 1: The design is first carved out using various tools on a wooden block (fig.17).

Fig. 17. Chintz design being carved on a wooden block.

Step 2: The fabric to be printed is soaked and then washed in a nearby water body. This improves the quality and colour of prints. (fig.18).

Step 2: The cloth is left in

solution.8 It is then spread out and placed under direct sunlight to make it ready for printing (fig.19).

Step 3: The wooden block is pushed against the surface of the colour tray which serves as a soft base (fig.20).

Fig. 18. Fabric being washed by a printer in a river.

‘harad’

Fig. 19. Fabric being soaked in ‘harad’ solution.

8 Harad is extracted from a plant in nature, usually found in the forests of India.

Step 4: The printing on the fabric starts from left to right. The first block is meant for the outline of the design and is immersed into the colour

Step 5: When the block is applied to the fabric, it is slammed hard with the fist on the back of the handle so that a good impression may register. If it is a multiple colour design, the second block is dipped in colour again and printed on top of the outline made by the first block (fig.21).

The third colour if needed is printed in the same manner, accurately positioning the block each time. Quality printing requires skill-based printers since the colours need to merge into the design naturally to make it a compound whole

Step 6: The fabric is sun-dried, which is part of the colour-fixing process (fig.22).

Fig. 20. Wooden block pressed against the pigment to be printed.

Fig. 21. Wooden block pressed against the pigment to be printed.

It is rolled in portions of newspapers to prevent the dye from clinging to other layers. After searing, the material is rinsed thoroughly in enormous amounts of water and dried under the sun, after which it is finished by ironing out one by one due to which the colour would fix permanently (fig.23).

Fig. 22. A man sun drying the printed fabrics

Fig. 23. Fabrics being placed in an iron vessel for the steaming process

06. THE INDIAN

CHINTZ MAKER’S EFFORTS TO PLEASE DIFFERENT IDEAS OF BEAUTY IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO WIN OVER THE WORLD MARKET

European consumers preferred white backgrounds with floral and animal prints as they were more durable in colour and printing as these fabrics were produced by a complicated process involving multiple dyeing techniques at different stages of production (fig.24).

As already noted above Europeans often requested customized designs, which were sent to the manufacturers in India. This was observed by textile historians as a new, to style inspired by the earlier use of Chintz during the Mughal era. This form created an new export industry in India which was a necessary characteristic of 18th century European coustume.

Fig. 24. Image here shows different processes in India in production of Chintz.

Initially these fabrics were used for curtains, furnishing fabrics, bed hangings and covers (fig.25)

It has been suggested that wearing them as clothes began when these were replaced and given to maid servants, who made them into dresses (fig.26).

Fig. 25 Chintz bed hangings at Houghton Hall.

Fig. 26. A maid servant in 17th century Europe sewing fabric into dress.

The process whereby European stylistic elements were absorbed into Indian chintz design was complicated and prolonged. Continuous exchange and response produced a singular style that was the merchandise of both Europe and India, the results of an extended conversation. Pattern books, designs, musters, and sample cloths all circulated, fuelling this process (fig.27).

Many such sample books with coordinating designs were discovered when the preservation of costume and culture began in Europe (fig.28 & 29).

Fig. 27. A pattern book containing Chintz design sample.

Fig. 28. A pattern book containing Chintz design sample coordinating with dress made

Fig. 29 Dress made in the Netherlands with Chintz fabric

In the history of Indian trade-textile, Chintz is the most documented textile till date mainly because it was customised according to the demands of the market in Europe (fig.30 & 31).

The Design

The European nature of the look argues for its being produced with the expectation of supplying clients within the Netherlands, France, or England. it's dominated by boldly elaborated pictogram strap work motifs, which interlock to create a repeat pattern in a very symmetrical grid. Finely drawn infill of flowers and leaves are depicted in complex tonalities of red, purple, yellow and blue. The stems and leaves are uniformly in variegated greens, with the flower varieties carefully distinguished by leaf structure and

Fig. 30. & 31. A pattern book containing Chintz design sample.

colour. They reflect an awareness of European botanical specimen painting, widely accessible in hand-coloured engravings in botanical compendiums.

Flower studies were routinely reproduced in printed design manuals that circulated widely during this period (fig.32).

In the Netherlands, tulips were the prominent design observed on the then popular Delftware that were a significant VOC export porcelain from the mid-17th century.

Fig. 32. Sketch of flower studies, "Fleurs Naturelles et Artificielles composes".

These have been copied by Indian artists with a vibrancy that is a remarkable instance of trade and style transfer9 (fig.33 & 34).

Indian craftsmen produced Chintzes especially for the Dutch market with colours in numerous hues. These were inexpensive compared to the colourful Chintzes, preferred by the Dutch traders. The ‘red on white’ designs were created using alum fixative and ‘black on white’ using the iron fixative, followed by immersion in the ‘saya wera’ dye bath. For creating the ‘blue on white’ chintz it meant the waxing of most of the fabric, a time-consuming work, before the indigo dye bath. This meant that first the contours of the design were made with iron mordant followed by the rest of the process.

Fig. 33 & 34. Exotic varieties of Dutch tulip, possibly intended to represent the "Violetten" or the "Viseroii”, among the most prized tulips in the Netherlands.

9 Chintz fragment, cotton cloth, HALI 203, Indian rugs, Karun Thakar Collection

07. THE DUTCH CONNECTION AND ITS MANY DIFFERENT FASHIONS

The clothing style of Dutch within the 16th century was divided based on class and occupation. The patterns mostly consisted of plain colours with elaborate and splendid heavy fabrics like damask and silk woven fabrics imported from suggestive England and later translated by seamstress within the Netherlands (fig.35 & 36).

Fig. 35 Portrait of a woman, possibly Nicolaes Hasselaer (1594-1667).

Fig. 36 Catherina Hooft and her Nurse, 1619–20

In the lower sections of society, chances were that girls were making their kirtles, a typical Dutch headdress, and gowns at home (fig.37)

At that time in time women “contributed to the family’s income by a separate occupation” and “there were skilled women contributing to the economy” 10

Dressing oneself may be a modern convenience and ideal. the ladies within the market paintings likely had someone around, be it a spouse, child, or sibling to assist them (fig.38)

10 Deceulaer, Harald. Entrepreneuers in the Guilds: Ready-to-Wear Clothing and Subcontracting in late Sixteenth- and early Seventeenth-century Antwerp. Textile History Volume 31 (2000): 133-149. Print.

Fig. 37 A Dutch maid washing hands with the help of the other maid.

By the start of the 17th century, the India-Dutch trade began to flourish, and this resulted in import of Indian Chintz textiles as elaborated in chapter 4 , ‘historical perspective on Chintz’. Slowly this also reflected within the clothing kind of nation, especially the Hindeloopen people (fig.39).

Fig. 38. Dutch villagers going to the market, market painting by Pieter Aertsen,1565.

Fig. 39. A summary depicting Indian Chintz integrated in various costumes of Hindeloopen people.

The notoriety of this particular Dutch dress was so great that already in 1887

Hindeloopen women’s costumes with their Indian Chintz gowns were shown as samples of ‘traditional Dutch costume’ at the World Exhibition in Paris.

Henceforth, the Hindeloopen Chintz costumes don't seem to be only conserved in Friesland but are valued and kept by many other museums everywhere in the world. Their use and origins, however, are sometimes misunderstood.11 Majority of the standard costumes within the Netherlands today are the remainders of clothes from the sooner centuries. Significantly of what has been conserved to the current day from those periods of times, one can find within the collections of the Fries (Frisian) Museum, in Amsterdam. they're among the simplest to symbolize the historic culture of Friesland, one amongst the former Seven United Netherlands (Provinces) of the ‘Dutch Republic’ (1581-1795).

07.01.WHO ARE THE HINDELOOPEN: THE ARCHIVED

11 A book by the name ‘Cotton, The Fabric that made the modern world’ by Giorgio Riello (2013).

TALES OF THE HINDELOOPEN CULTURE

Hindeloopen is a townsh ip located at the verge of the Zuiderzee, now Ijsselmeer which is a shallow bay of the North Sea, in the southwestern part of Friesland in the Netherlands (fig.40).

Richness and character of this town were mainly determined by trade and its location by the Zuiderzee. Sailors from Hindeloopen sailed to the Baltic States and sold products their local like gin and woollen fabrics for their survival Transportation of wood from the Baltic Sea to Amsterdam and the Zaan region was carried out by the

Fig. 40. Map showing Hindeloopen town’s location in the Netherlands.

Hindeloopen people. This constant exchange later strongly influenced the Hindeloopen culture.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the Hindeloopen people encountered Chintz fabrics from India, brought to Amsterdam by the VOC. They were so attracted to these colourful fabrics that they started creating their traditional costumes using it (fig.41).

paintwork also originated in the same period 1650-1790, inspired by from the fabrics. As the prosperous times waned, and oak could no longer be afforded, furniture and panelling were made with simpler and less expensive woods. These were hand painted by the locals to replicate the intricate carving of the oaken pieces. Thus, the now famous Hindeloopen decorative style evolved (fig.42)

Fig. 41. A picture depicting Hindeloopen woman wearing a jacket made using Indian Chintz. Hindeloopen

Indian Chintzes have been conserved all over Friesland as a souvenir along with a depiction of the Frisian culture. It is also the reason that textiles made of Chintz have survived in Friesland. The female costumes of Hindeloopen are particularly a major part of the great and essential collection of Indian Chintz garments and fabrics in the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden.

Fig. 42 Elaborately painted wood panel and furniture of Hindeloopen people.

07.02. HINDELOOPEN CULTURE AND FASHIONS BEFORE THE DUTCH-INDIA TRADE

In the fifteenth century and before, most of the male inhabitants of the Hindeloopen were involved in the Baltic trades to Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic states. The harbour for their commercial vessels was Amsterdam, because the sea around Hindeloopen was too shallow. Hence, Amsterdam was the most significant harbour The trade from the Hindeloopen was not so major in the 1500s or before. The culture in the area was simple and the costumes were like the ones that were worn all over the Netherlands.

Women wore wide skirts, often over a hoop petticoat, as can still be seen in wedding dresses today. The old fabrics were too delicate, and the clothes restricted movement. The extremely wide long skirt made her waist appear long and slender Under the bodice, the woman wore a skirt with an apron over it (fig.43).

Fig. 43. Hindeloopen women wearing long skirts as traditional costume in 1500s.

The jacket worn has sagging shoulders, widening sleeves and an assembled skirt. The ‘oorijzer’ is an accessory usually made of gold, concealed with a bobbin lace cap and is decorated with gold cap pins.

Married women wear a fôrflechter, a headdress in the shape of a cylinder, with the top facing forward. It was made of cardboard, lined with red cloth and covered with a room cloth . After the first period of their marriage, they wrapped a suncloth around this usually white hat, which was folded from a square piece of cloth.

Unmarried women only wear this chequered sun cloth. In addition, women have a gold forehead needle and they wear locks of hair. A flip was worn at the ears.

The hair was not visible. The woman did wear a few false locks of hair on her forehead. The hair was braided together with strips of cloth and draped on the head in a spiral. It is said that the Hindeloopen women never cut their hair and had long braids (fig.44).

Fig. 44. Hindeloopen women braiding their hair possibly in the 1600s.

A kerchief is worn around the neck, often made of silk. A married woman inserts it into the body on the left. That symbolizes the fact that her heart is occupied. An unmarried woman puts it in the right side of the body. This neckerchief is a later addition to the dress.

In Hindeloopen, the long garments or wentkes were first referred in 1626, created with pure linen or woollen fabric in red, blue, white and black colours (fig.45)

Majority of the woollen wentkes are difficult to locate that were worn in those times A lightweight fabric of silk and fine wool termed as ‘borato’ was used to make the wenkte. For the warp bourette silk was used.

Fig. 45. Two women and a child in Hindelopen wenkte along with regional dress, 1600.

07.03. HINDELOOPEN CULTURE AND FASHIONS AFTER THE DUTCH-INDIA TRADE

In the late sixteenth century, the trade between Hindeloopen and Amsterdam flourished. The marketplace for goods like porcelain from China and cotton fabrics from India, brought by the VOC began to increase in demand. The exotic colourful hand painted cotton fabric had slowly made its way into Europe, but only became fashionable within the eighteenth century. Hindeloopen women discovered in Amsterdam the colourful Indian Chintzes. Little by little these women began to include the cotton fabrics in their traditional costumes rather than wool and linen, the lightweight plain-woven cotton fabric, typically checked in white and a bold colour. Only the adults used Chintz as a fabric in their clothing whereas the children still wore the plain and chequered pattern clothing (fig.46).

Fig. 46 2 women and a toddler in Hindeloopen costume 1700 - 1800

From the seventeenth century, the costume worn in Hindeloopen was distinctive than the remainder of Friesland 12

That made an enormous change in the attractiveness of the Hindeloopen costumes. In the beginning, Chintz was considered suitable in the unofficial atmosphere like in homes, for bedspreads and wall hangings (fig.47).

The Chintz were imported but turned into a luxury possession within the Netherlands as a comfortable textile

12 In 1775, the Dutch publicist, physician Johannes Le Francq van Berkhey (1729-1812) stated in his historical magnum opus Natuurlijke Historie van Holland, that the traditional dress of Hindeloopen exemplifies the historical Dutch or historical Frisian dress.

Fig. 47 Indian Chintz used as furnishings at the Cotton in Bloom Exhibition, Fashion & Textile Museum, London.

In terms of clothing, the wentke as a garment transformed into an extended, fitted coat, created out of colourful Chintz. This long coat was only worn on special occasions, such as Sundays.

Usually the jacket was black, but also red or blue (fig.48).

The later wentkes of chintz were only closed with a hook and eye at the waist.

In the summer the wentkes and cobblestones were not worn because of the warmth

The fabric of worn wentkes or cobblestones were reused as bed jackets.

Fig. 48 Hindeloopen wentke made out of Chintz, c. 1750-1775.

Some of these have ended up in museums (fig.49 & 50).13

With the inclusion of economical Chintz, the wentke slowly became a luxury dress for celebrated occasions. 14 The dress became a trendy fashion garment during the second half of 17th century and the Hindeloopen women had their own distinctive variety (fig.51).

13 The first reference to a Chintz wentke is to be found in 1754 in the Hindeloopen inventories, so it had possibly been in use some twenty or thirty years before (Arnolliand Wille-Engelsma 1990, 34).

Only in Nuremberg Museum the wentke is shown as part of the Hindeloopen traditional costume. Everywhere else the wentkes are preserved because of the beauty of the Indian chintzes, in their bright colours as well as in plain black or blue on white.

14 The shorter jacket of the same design was known as ‘kassekijntje’.The name was derived from the French casaquin, a jacket, which is associated with working-class or peasant women. Arnolli, Gieneke, and Sytske WilleEngelsma. 1990. Sits: exotisch textiel in Friesland. Vol. 1. Zwolle: Waanders.

Fig. 49 & 50 Woman's wenkte, part of Hindeloopen woman costume. Cotton, dyed chintz, India, 17251750.

17. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 1. Shipyard and warehouses of the company in Amsterdam, around 1750. Courtesy Fries Scheepvaart Museum, Sneek, The Netherlands.

Fig. 2. Chintz Fragment from 1720. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O475490/chintz-fragment/

Fig. 3. Chintz Palampore bed cover https://www.waterlandvanfriesland.nl/en/hindeloopen/overnight-stay-inhindeloopen/3801193338/hylperhuis

Fig. 4. Map from the early 17th century depicting important Indian Ocean trade routes to the Netherlands. https://bartelegallery.com/product/antique-map-east-indies-by-visscher-c-1760-sold/

Fig. 5. Detail of palempore. Cotton, hand-painted and dyed using the chintz technique. India, 1700-1725. Courtesy Fries Museum Leeuwarden.

Fig. 6. A man beating the fabric against stones to remove impurities. https://www.dsource.in/resource/block-prints-bagh/process/washing

Fig. 7. A piece of cloth being soaked in myrobalan and buffalo milk mixture. https://maiwahandprints.blogspot.com/2013/03/natural-dyes-myrobalan.html

Fig. 8. Chintz fragment with initial design outlines. https://ateliernostalgia.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/chintz/

Fig. 9. Chintz outlines turned black (iron mordant) and red (alum) post madder treatment. https://ateliernostalgia.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/chintz/

Fig. 10. Two women placing the fabrics to be bleached in the sun. https://www.nipagandhi.com/pages/process

Fig. 11. Outlines in this fragment are filled with iron and white lines filled with wax.

https://ateliernostalgia.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/chintz/

Fig. 12. Indigo bath for areas in design to be dyed blue

https://www.ichcha.com/blog/block- printing- process/

Fig. 14. A summary of various stages of Chintz printing in India as recorded by European printers.

https://twitter.com/fashiontextile/status/1398246045398835200?lang=ar

Fig. 15. The procedure of hand painting of Chintz fabric in Coromandel coast.

https://www.vervemagazine.in/arts-and-culture/renuka-reddy-on-her-mission-to-restore-handmadechintz-to-its-past-glory

Fig. 16. Chintz being created using hand block printing technique.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/42ytkhQXjTsvfp6XbMyb32G/meticulous-motifs-why-theexquisite-craft-of-indian-block-printing-endures

Fig. 17. Fabric being washed by a printer in a river.

https://30stades.com/2020/08/09/soaking-boiling-dyeing-washing-the-creation-of-madhya-pradeshs-baghprint-in-pictures/

Fig. 18. Chintz design being carved on a wooden block. https://adventure.com/rajasthani-block-printing-traditions/

Fig. 19. Fabric being soaked in ‘harad’ solution.

https://30stades.com/2020/08/09/soaking-boiling-dyeing-washing-the-creation-of-madhya-pradeshsbaghrint-in-pictures/

Fig. 20. Wooden block pressed against the pigment to be printed.

https://marigoldliving.com/blog/discover-heritage-of-indian-hand-block-printed-textiles/ Source: Alamy Stock Photo.

Fig. 41. A picture depicting Hindeloopen woman wearing a jacket made using Indian Chintz. Courtesy of Rijksmuseum Foundation the Zuiderzee Museum.

Fig. 42 Elaborately painted wood panel and furniture of Hindeloopen people. http://skutsjezonderzorg.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-visit-to-hindeloopen.html

Fig. 43 Women wearing long skirts as traditional costume in 1500s.

https://geheugen.delpher.nl/nl/geheugen/view?coll=ngvn&identifier=NOMA01:PR10680

Fig. 43. Hindeloopen women braiding their hair possibly in the 1600s.

https://geheugen.delpher.nl/nl/geheugen/view?coll=ngvn&identifier=NOMA01:PR15269

Fig. 45. Two women and a child in Hindelopen wenkte along with regional dress, 1600.

Source: Regional Costumes in the Netherlands, Dutch Open Air Museum

https://geheugen.delpher.nl/nl/geheugen/view/twee-vrouwen-kind-hindeloper-streekdrachthuppes?coll=ngvn&maxperpage=36&page=1&query=costume+1600&identifier=NOMA01%3APR15262

Fig. 46 2 women and a child in Hindeloopen costu me 1700 - 1800 Collection Regional Costumes in the Netherlands, Dutch Open Air Museum

Source: Regional Costumes in the Netherlands, Dutch Open Air Museum

https://geheugen.delpher.nl/nl/geheugen/view/vrouwen-kind-hindelooper-kleederdracht huppes?coll=ngvn&maxperpage=36&page=1&query=costume+1700&identifier=NOMA01%3APR15237

Fig. 47. Indian chintz bed hanging, and bed covers at the Cotton in Bloom Exhibition, Fashion & Textile Museum, London

https://www.louisebooyens.com/post/indian-chintz-in-english-interiors

Fig. 48. Hindeloopen costume with Chintz wentke, c. 1750-1775. Collection Fries Museum Leeuwarden.

Fig. 49 & 50 Woman's wenkte, part of Hindeloopen woman costume. Cotton, dyed chintz, India, 17251750.

Fries Museum Leeuwarden - Koninklijk Fries Genootschap Collection.

Fig. 51 Woman’s jacket ‘kassekijntje’ or the casaquin with millefleur pattern, below a hand-painted girl’s chintz petticoat; cotton, painted and dyed using the chintz technique; India, 1725–75; jacket about 1760. Courtesy of Fries Museum Leeuwarden; photo Studio Noorderblik.

Fig. 52 A Hindeloopen man wearing a colourful inner jacket (wòlhimd) of chintz along with a woman in traditional Chintz regional dress. https://geheugen.delpher.nl/nl/geheugen/view?coll=ngvn&identifier=NOMA01:B00168-15

Fig. 53 Picture depicting various different coloured dresses of Hindeloopen women. Collection Fries Museum Leeuwarden.