Prayer Arch Kalamkari

Kalamkari is a method of block printing. The registry, where the borders of the blocks meet, is most important as is the quality of the carving of the blocks and the numbers of colors used. Only natural dyes are used in kalamkari and it involves 23 steps. Many Iranian kalamkaris, as a matter of fact, the best of them, were actually produced in India, along the Coromandel Coast, and in Gujarat. Prayer arches were particularly popular and most common motifs were flowers, cypress trees, citadels, peacocks and lions, usually in a symmetrical composition. Better kalamkari may also have some painted details. It is lined with checked cotton.