Beschreibung:

317 by 210cm. approx.Condition reportIn very good condition overall, the silk embroidery remains clear and is finely worked with ivory silk wrapped with silver thread and couched in golden yellow silk highlights. Some very minor losses to the narrow red and blue outline of the inner guard at upper and right sides. Water mark in centre of upper half of field approximately 15-17cm in diameter, another in the top right hand corner, and lower left hand corner and between lower left spandrel and central plant at lower part of field with some associated colour run from the red in small plant. Surface discolouration across centre top. Minute scattered speckles. The textile might improve with a professional clean. Retaining original fringes which are slightly loose is some areas. Beautiful quality and extraordinarily fine quilting, with lovely clear colour.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."ProvenanceEx-collection George Matcham, E.I.C. resident at Baroche, Gujarat, 1771-85
(m. Kitty Nelson, sister of Admiral Lord Nelson, 1787).
Thence by descent to George Nelson Matcham
(m. Harriet Eyre, of New House, Redlynch, Salisbury, 1817).
Thence by descent to the present owners.Catalogue noteThis exceptionally fine floor spread or coverlet belongs to a group of embroideries produced in the port of Cambay in Gujarat. Gujarati embroideries of this quality were used within the Mughal court or exported to Europe from the sixteenth century onwards. Mughal miniatures often depict courtiers seated on silk embroidered textiles that were used during the summer months as a cooler alternative to the carpet. An early-eighteenth-century Mughal miniature by Dalchand in the Cynthia Polsky collection (see Topsfield 2004 p.326, no.144) depicts two ladies on a terrace seated on a similar embroidered summer carpet. 
A floor spread of similar quality and design is in the Victoria & Albert Museum (IS.34-1985, see Guy and Swallow 1990, p.105, no.86). Alexander Hamilton in the eighteenth century observed that the people of Cambay "embroider the best of any people in India, perhaps the world" (Barnes, Cohen & Crill 2002, p.100). These professional embroiders from Cambay are said to have been from the Mochi community.
The Portuguese were initially responsible for introducing these fine embroidered textiles to Europe with the trade continuing into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries under the supervision of the East India Company. Company records indicate that factors were given instructions to source "quilts and carpets of all sorts made about Cambaya and other places" (I.O. Archives, Factory Records Miscellaneous, vol.25, p.19). Materials were recorded as "callicoe embroidered with sundrie silks."
It is likely that this beautiful embroidery was commissioned by George Matcham, an East India Company officer resident in Baroche, Gujarat from 1771-85 and has remained with the same family ever since. It is rare to find a floorspread of such quality, provenance and condition.
Floor spreads with similar designs are found in the Louvre (see Labrusse, 2007, p.206, no.222) and published in HALI (see Synge 2001, p.89).