December 29, 2020
The rare book collection
The rare book collection, Puja says, is a set of 20 volumes containing 700
fabric samples from across India, titled Textile Manufactures of India by Dr
John Forbes Watson, where he meticulously collected rare cloth samples that were
sent to England from India in the 19th century. Male Attires Cashmere Shawls
Chogas, & c.Clothes have played an important role in the history of India —
khadi and Swadeshi Movement, for example. Mumbai Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum has
collaborated with over 180 cultural institutions across the globe for a part of
the extensive online project initiated by Google Arts & Culture.Find out
more on Google Art and Culture."Headgear was very much part of the fashion then.
‘The Textile Manufactures and Costumes of the People of India’ by Dr.270, Gold
and beetle wing embroidery, Madras, Vol VII Muslins, Plain and Embrodiered from
‘Textile Manufactures of India’ by Dr. John Forbes Watson.Plate 7.
The city
museum has participated with other renowned museums in this project such as the
British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
China National Silk Museum, Design Museum Denmark, Royal College of Art in
London, Parsons School of Design, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Italy, Les Arts
Decoratifs in France, Rijksmuseum in Netherlands, African Heritage House in
Kenya, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. But they could also help to study
the prevalent trends of caste and class."We have three exhibitions put together
— one explores how people from the Bombay Presidency dressed in the 19th
century, the second is on the history and role of Mumbai in the international
cotton trade, and the third is a rare book collection," says Puja Vaish, who led
the team in the museum to curate the exhibition. Published by the India Office:
London. There are also various embroideries and embellishments for the
elites."The exhibition helps us understand how cosmopolitan and eclectic the
city was during the 19th century.No.Medal - Exposition Universelle De MDCCCLXVII
a Paris (reverse), copper alloy, 1867, ParisInterestingly, many of these (the
book for example) are not exhibited in the museum due to the fragile state
they’re in.Did you know that beetle wings were used to embroider textiles? Or
that Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay) won a medal for its cotton at an exhibition in
Paris in the year 1867?These are few of the fascinating bits of history that you
could know at virtual exhibition. The same dhoti would be worn differently
depending on the individual’s association with the society. Now it’s only on
occasions that we find people wearing turbans.Cotton waiting to be ginned for
export, print, Indian Pictorial Education, 1930 All photos: Dr Bhau Daji Lad
MuseumWe Wear Culture was launched worldwide on June 8. Clothes could shed so
much on our national history," she adds. "Google had sent us a special art
cameras which took half an hour to capture each artefact," explains Puja. four way stretch fabric Obviously, we
haven’t been able to encapsulate the entire long and troubled history," she
adds. 1867.An exciting aspect of this largest online exhibition is that one can
zoom into the minute details of the fabric of the artefacts. John Forbes Watson,
published by India Office: London. 1860-67
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