Bandhani Panel

This bandhani panel was made in India in the early 20th century. It is made out of cotton that has been tie-dyed in diagonal stripes.

Bandhani, or tie-dye, is a technique that textile artists have been using in India for 5000 years. The East India Company exported bandhani textiles from India to Europe, where they became incredibly popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. These colorful cloths became a regular component of European wardrobes, and are the reason we have the English word “bandanna,” which is a corruption of the Hindi-Urdu word for this dye process, “bandhani.”

The Cooper Hewitt and Victoria and Albert Museum both have examples of this kind of dye technique in their collections.