One of the ancient handicrafts of the Deccan that was becoming famous in India is the process of dye making and block printing. The process is both intricate and subtle and there are only a few places in India where this art still survives. The printing methods are classified as
1. Block prints
2. Block printed and Hand painted &
3. Hand painted
Dye blocks are used to print textiles. It is applied on all fabrics on which a pattern is produced subsequent to the weaving of the cloth, by the application of dye stuff or pigment to the surface of the fabric. The Indian dyer expresses in his art, the Indian women's love of colour.
The direct or application process implies the use of the wooden block directly on the fabric & is commonly known as the Block printing method. The art of using pigments to ornament fabrics has an ancient origin. The discovery of a fragment of madder-dyed fabric at Mohenjo-Daro, sticking to a silver vase, would lead us to believe that the mordant process of dyeing cloth was known in India five thousand years. The Block-printing centers of South India are at Erode, Tirupur. Kumbakonam, Mangalore and Masulipatnam. The decorative motifs of the block vary from floral, faunal, geometric, rings, dots and zigzag arrangement. The Peepul leaf (Ficus religiosa) seems to be the common theme. Building structure, creeper, climber designs, lotus flower, and peacocks is also found in the textile blocks.
The textile block collections of Government Museum, Chennai are a century old. One hundred and twenty eight textile blocks photographs have been provided in this album to enjoy the beauty and artisan work involved in the blocks for the first time. I definitely hope that this would fulfill the needs of the textile designers and others who are interested in the field of Block designing.
I would like to place on record my deep sense of gratitude to the Commissioner of Museums Thiru. S.S.Jawahar, LA.S., for having permitted me to bring out this album.
Government Museum, Chennai is well renowned for its collections since its inception in 1851. The Botany Section has a unique collection of carved wood print blocks amongst its various collections. This collection is now brought out for the first time as a Photographic album for the benefit of the visitors.
The use of wooden blocks has been in vogue since the 18" century. Block printing is ancient, and is referred to in the Mahabharata. The most famous printed textiles are the old Calicoes of Masulipatnam. Different designs are used for a multiple representations of floral and faunal motifs. The block stamps are used to print the traditional fabrics. The print blocks are carved out of wood, copper or a combination of both.
Many fragments of resist-dyed cloths have been discovered from the tombs at Fostat in Egypt, which dates back to 12th century. It is stated that probably China was the inventor of block printing.
Government Museum, Chennai has the textile block collections numbering to more than hundreds. Since the designs are very intricate and nicely executed it was decided to bring it out as a photographic album for reference to people of all walks of life.
In this regard Tmt.M.N.Pushpa Curator for Botany has done an excellent work of documentation in describing these textile blocks. I congratulate her for the meticulous work in preparing the collection of textile blocks as a photographic album to be published as the Museum publication.
This album on Textile Blocks is the first of its kind and it depicts one hundred and twenty eight wood blocks of various motifs. I earnestly hope that this photographic album would serve the needs of the designers, researchers, scholars and interested visitors in the field of textiles.
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