Sylvia Houghteling, "The Art of Cloth in Mughal India," (Princeton University Press, 2022)

A richly illustrated history of textiles in the Mughal EmpireIn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a vast array of textiles circulated throughout the Mughal Empire. Made from rare fibers and crafted using virtuosic techniques, these exquisite objects animated early modern experience, from the intimate, sensory pleasure of garments to the monumentality of imperial tents. The Art of Cloth in Mughal India tells the story of textiles crafted and collected across South Asia and beyond, illuminating how cloth participated in political negotiations, social conversations, and the shared seasonal rhythms of the year.Drawing on small-scale paintings, popular poetry, chronicle histories, and royal inventory records, Sylvia Houghteling charts the travels of textiles from the Mughal imperial court to the kingdoms of Rajasthan, the Deccan sultanates, and the British Isles. She shows how the “art of cloth” encompassed both the making of textiles as well as their creative uses. Houghteling asks what cloth made its wearers feel, how it acted in space, and what images and memories it conjured in the mind. She reveals how woven objects began to evoke the natural environment, convey political and personal meaning, and span the distance between faraway people and places. Beautifully illustrated, The Art of Cloth in Mughal India offers an incomparable account of the aesthetics and techniques of cloth and cloth making and the ways that textiles shaped the social, political, religious, and aesthetic life of early modern South Asia. Mughal Empire textiles The Art of Cloth in Mughal India Sylvia Houghteling textiles history Mughal-era cloth techniques South Asian textile history Imperial textiles of Mughal India Textiles and politics in Mughal India Mughal cloth trade and production Early modern South Asian art Mughal Empire garments and tents Woven art in Mughal India Textile aesthetics in the Mughal period South Asian textile techniques Royal inventory records Mughal textiles Poetry and textiles in Mughal India Textile history in the Deccan sultanates Rajasthan textile traditions in the Mughal era Imperial court textiles in India Textile symbolism in Mughal India Mughal clothing and sensory experience Early modern textile trade routes Political meaning of Mughal textiles Textiles and natural environment in India Aesthetic life of early modern South Asia South Asian Studies Podcast Indian Art History Mughal India