Indian Chintz in English Interiors
- Louise Booyens
- Feb 24, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 9
" Of all the remarkable textile traditions that India has bestowed on the world, its printed and painted cotton textiles, popularly known as chintz, have arguably had the longest and greatest global impact."
- Sarah Fee
The word chintz - from the Hindi word chint, meaning spotted, speckled or variegated - has had different meanings. From 1497, the Portuguese word pintado was used to describe the painted and printed Indian cottons but it was replaced by the word ‘chintz’ or 'chints' from 1600 when the Dutch and English took over from the Portuguese as the main handlers of Indian cotton. It referred to cotton fabric decorated with wooden printed blocks or a kalam pen. During the 18th century the term was used to refer to industrially printed cottons and during the 19th century it came to be associated with glazed fabrics with floral designs, ivy and cascading ribbons.
"Contrary to what many think, chintz does not necessarily have anything to do with glazed fabric, or even floral prints. Simply put, chintz is cotton to which substances called ‘mordants’ and ‘resists’ — used to help dyes adhere to it — have been applied."
- Joobin Bekhrad
The extraordinary story of chintz in Europe began in the 17th century when traders from the Dutch East India Company brought the first pieces of Indian chintz back to Europe.
They'd been using these cottons as currency, exchanging them for spices in Indonesia. When the European elite saw what the traders had brought home, they fell in love. Nothing like it existed in the West. English printed linens used insoluble colours that faded quickly. Indian artisans had mastered vegetable dyes combined with mordants and resists, producing exquisitely coloured fabrics that remained bright after washing. The cotton was soft, pliable, practical—and beautiful.
When the European elite first laid eyes on the pieces of Indian chintz brought home by the VOC traders, they quickly became obsessed with the new fabric with its silk-like lustre and exotic bright floral designs. Apart from the cotton being soft and pliable, it was extremely practical - washable and colour fast which added to its popularity. Specialised Indian artisans used mordants and resists to draw or paint patterns onto cotton fabric which they used as a canvas. Exquisitely coloured fade-proof fabrics were produced by combining the mordants and resists with vegetable dyes.
It is understandable that these bright, fade-proof fabrics were so popular as nothing of the sort had ever been seen in the West before. The painted and printed fabric produced in England at the time were mainly linen cloths to which insoluble colours were applied, and they couldn't compare to the bright colours of the Indian textiles.
“...it crept into our houses, our closets and bedchambers; curtains, cushions, chairs, and at last beds themselves were nothing but callicoes or Indian stuffs.”
- Edward Baines (18th century)
The directors of the East India Company realised very early that were they to make a profit from importing Indian chintz, the designs would have to conform to the “established taste” in England, a taste which already included a fashionable liking for anything Chinese and as early as 1643, they sent patterns and instructions to the Indian artists to adapt their designs to suit English taste. These patterns sent to India were based on English Crewelwork designs which already contained a strong Chinese influence.
The Chinese taste in England was at its height during the early 18th century and expeditions to the Orient led to a magnified interest in exotica, especially from East Asia and India.
From the 16th century Chinese items would arrive on ships from the East Indies and were subsequently sold in the fashionable ‘China shops’ in London. The typical Western consumer didn’t have a good understanding of geography and certainly didn’t recognise India as a separate part of the East Indies at the time. As a result, anything arriving from the East was simply labelled as ‘oriental’.
This new style that emerged, which was entirely invented by Europeans, became known as Chinoiserie, but it didn’t accurately portray Chinese motifs and designs, it grew out of a mixture of miscellaneous pieces from India to Japan, tales from the Orient and the European imagination of the exotic. Indian textiles were also included in chinoiserie and where these came from was “of little or no consequence to their consumers: Chinese wallpaper was referred to as ‘India paper’ and Chinese embroidery as ‘India work’” according to Dr. Rosemary Crill, a senior curator at the V&A Museum.
Female consumers’ desire for the exotic played an important role in the popularity of Indian chintz and it was often used in bedrooms, closets and dressing rooms. As an alternative to the ceremoniousness of the formal reception rooms, these spaces became venues for elegant relaxation during the 18th century and it is understandable that women wanted to decorate their more private rooms in a slightly less formal way. Chintz, as a softer, more informal fabric suited these feminine spaces perfectly.
Also, as the Picturesque movement during the Regency period promoted a growing taste for freedom and irregularity in landscape views, people stared to adopt a more relaxed way of life and the naturalistic floral designs of the Indian fabrics complemented the new trend for informal interiors.
Many of the earliest Indian chintzes were intended as bed hangings rather than wall hangings and together with quilts were ordered in large quantities during the boom in England in the late 17th century.
The Chintz Crisis
Indian chintzes became politically contentious almost immediately. English woollen and silk manufacturers felt threatened. They rioted. They protested. They attacked ships carrying Indian cottons.
The first Calico Act of 1701 prohibited importing genuine Indian fabrics. The intention was to protect English manufacturers, but plain fabrics could still be imported and printed domestically—which only encouraged the English cotton printing industry to grow.
It wasn't enough. Printed calicos were still being smuggled into the country. So Parliament passed the second Calico Act in 1720, prohibiting the household use and wearing of imported chintz. You could produce chintz in England for export. You could import Indian chintz for re-export. But you couldn't hang it in your own bedroom.
The Acts weren't repealed until 1774. By then, mechanical inventions in England made it possible to produce cheap cotton fabric that could finally compete with Indian imports. A slow decline of the Indian industry followed—undermined by competition from British goods that had, ironically, copied Indian techniques.
Block printing in India nearly disappeared after British competition decimated local production. But craft revival programmes after Indian independence in 1947 raised awareness, developed new products for urban and overseas markets, and created retail outlets for traditional goods.
The industry has grown again since the 20th century. Indian block prints are now widely used in soft furnishings, and many historic designs are being reinvented for contemporary interiors.
Today, many of the Indian designs are being re-invented and when used as curtains or other soft furnishings, the inherent history of these fabrics can add a tremendous amount to a room.
Aleta Fabrics is a fabric studio based in London who specialises in bespoke, hand-produced artisan textiles inspired by the decorative arts and designs of 17th and 18th century India.
The beautiful Palampore fabric from Warner House is available as a linen fabric and wallpaper. The design is based on the famous tree of life design of the 17th century Indian chintzes.
Jannah is another design from Warner House adapted from the tree of life patterns so popular during the 18th century. Their reinterpretation has been modified to suit the taste and interior settings of the modern decorator, and is printed in seven striking colourways.
Using Chintz Today
We associate chintz with the English Country House style—those layered, faded interiors of 19th-century manor houses. But the fabric's history runs far deeper than any single aesthetic.
When you use chintz as curtains or upholstery, you're bringing three centuries of history into the room: trade routes, craft traditions, smuggling, colonial economics, and survival. The fabric carries all of it.
A few thoughts on how to use it:
As a statement. Chintz works beautifully on a single armchair, a headboard, or a set of curtains. One strong piece in a room is often enough.
Alongside solids and textures. The florals sing against plain linens, natural weaves, and earthy neutrals. Checked fabric will give chintz something solid to push against. Stripes add a slightly more masculine edge.
In private rooms. Following its historical purpose, chintz feels most at home in bedrooms and dressing rooms—spaces meant for comfort rather than ceremony.
Mixed with other prints. Chintz can hold its own against ikat, block prints, and kilims for a layered, collected look. The key is varying scale—combine larger florals with smaller geometric patterns.
The inherent history of these fabrics adds depth to any room. If you add chintz to a room, you're not just adding a pattern, you're choosing a story that began on ships from the East Indies over four hundred years ago.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and as always, if you need help with interior design ideas for your period home, please do get in touch or read more about how you could work with me here.
Further Reading
Royal Ontario Museum website
Fee, S. (2019) The Cloth that Changed the World: India’s Painted and Printed Cottons. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Porter, D. (2010) The Chinese Taste in Eighteenth-Century England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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