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RARE Indian Chintz Robe
1790s made from 1720-40 fabric
The fabric was drawn and painted, resist and mordant dyed on the Coromandel coast, south-east India, taken to The Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company - VOC, where it would have been made up into this gown.
Provenance:The gown featured in an Amsterdam exhibition Het Costuum onzer Voorouders Amsterdam 1936, no 105 (see photos) which lists the owner as a Mrs Cannenburg 1889 - 1975) ,née Wittewaal. She loaned six items of dress to the exhibit. The wife of the director of Amsterdam’s Maritime Museum (Willem Voorbeijtel Cannenburg); they resided in Amsterdam. The organizer of the 1936 exhibition was an aristocratic woman, Carla de Jonge, who asked her friends to loan objects for the show, knowing that many old families had clothing in their possession.
Chintz garments were valuable enough for professionals to launder and reglaze the cotton and touch up faded colours*
Cataloguing
Hand painted, mordant and resist dyed, from the Coromondel Coast, a sewn in name tag label Cannenburg, the deep scoop neck with original rolled linen ties, the front opening extending to the top of the skirt, edged with linen tape, shaped long sleeves, lower cuff with three self covered buttons and embroidered buttonholes, the back with curving shaped seams from mid shoulder to the skiirt, full pleated skirt sewn at the front, the hem area originally made up of eleven pieces of same fabric.
Skirt 10ft 4 in; 325 cm
Back waist to hem 47 in; 120 cm; Shoulder to hem 58 in; 148 cm
Waist 27 in; 68 cm
Bust 34 in; 87 cm
There are three panels in the skirt. The first is 45 in; 1.14 m wide. The second is 84 cm but it is made up of two pieces with a horizontal join 76 cm from waist. The third panel is 45 in; 1.14 m. There is a 6 1/4 in; 16 m join to bottom of the skirt.
Condition
In remarkable condition still with a light glaze.
Travelling round the bodice, as you look at the robe in the photos, from left to the back to the front again: There is the slightest lightest brown markings to the closure, presumably from fingers tying the linen ties. Where the left hand front bodice meets to the skirt, there is the smallest frayed area, again presumably from closure. On the scoop neck there is a small hole, the size on the end of a pencil. The left hand sleeve has the slightest discolouration to the cuff area. The back is very good apart from a very small light brown break in the fabric. Under the bodice front right sleeve the linen lining has an underarm stain but this does not come through to the chintz fabric. The right hand sleeve has a 2 in; 5 cm tear, which could easily be supported. A small light hand mark to the cuff area.
The skirt: 15 in; 39 cm down at the front there is an original, I would say, perfect darn 1 x 1/4 in. You can hardly see it, it is so perfect. Little further down in a 1 x 1 in light tea coloured stain. The centre back hem area has another tea coloured stain of similar size. Also light staining to an area 9 x 4 in.
There is a 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 in; 12 x 4 cm L shaped tear 20 in; 52 cm from waist to side back. Clearly someone has applied iron on tape, but that has now been removed and just slight stickiness. 76 cm down from back waist join there is a small horizontal split. 12 cm wide 15 cm deep light yellowish stain to back hem.
Comments
* Interwoven Globe edited by Amelia Peck. p 200.
The Fabric of India Rosemary Crill p 48 to see the different stages of the chintz process.