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Article: English penwork and the Indian connection.
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- September 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The relationship between penwork, a form of painted decoration on wood practiced primarily by amateurs between about 1820 and 1850, and the furniture and textiles of British India is an intriguing one and touches upon the many exchanges of artistic influence between Europe and the Orient over the course of two centuries.
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In June 1810 Rudolph Ackermann's stylish, and style-influencing, periodical, the Repository of Arts, referred to decoration "on a black ground, in imitation of Indian ivory inlaid work," (1) and this appears to be the earliest reference to the technique we now call penwork. In December 1816 the magazine offered the ...