Panel c. 19th century

This is a panel, likely from the 18th or 19th century, printed with dye on cotton, though the artist who made it is unknown to us. The images on the fabric depict scenes of leisure and pastoral life, presenting an idyllic view of the world. Woven into this panel are complex histories of trade, labor, and cultural exchange. Cotton production, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, was deeply connected to colonialism, slavery, and the exploitation of labor in the Americas and India. Panels such as this one played a role in shaping perceptions of wealth, taste, and social status. The color, the imagery, the textile itself, all speak to the circulation of goods and the intertwined histories of Europe and the rest of the world. This panel reminds us to consider the unseen hands that produced the goods we consume, and the stories they tell.