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Sources.

Each collage on this site is made from works in open museum collections. Here is each one, with its sources and their licences.

An open bidri box with a veranda inside it, looking out over a moonlit bay, and a strip of indigo cloth spilling over the side.

DA.26.01

The Room We Carry

Collage after Hiroshige’s Moon-Viewing Promontory, a bidri paan box (c. 1700) and a textile fragment (1100s–1300s).

  1. The Moon-Viewing Promontory, from One Hundred Views of Famous Places in EdoUtagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Empty wooden architecture, green floor, blue sea and moon; text and figures omitted.
  2. Bidri Pandan with ChevronsArtist not recorded · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The black-and-silver chevron paan box, its base and lifted lid.
  3. FragmentUnknown · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: A frayed strip of indigo cloth.
A bound palm-leaf manuscript fanned open into eight leaves of palm leaf, red woven cloth and indigo cut paper, with a loose black cord.

DA.26.02

Eight Leaves

Collage after a Pali manuscript (1700s), a cut-paper album page (1625–50) and a peacock border (1600s).

  1. Pali ManuscriptArtist not identified in catalogue · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Monochrome palm-leaf book, ridged leaves and loose black binding thread; writing omitted.
  2. Album Page with Cut-Paper DecorationArtist not identified in museum catalogue · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Indigo botanical cut-paper surface and cream plant silhouettes; calligraphy omitted.
  3. Border with Peacock DesignUnknown · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Vermilion woven textile, black motif fragments and frayed edges.
A river runs between the two halves of a gold inlaid game board, under a papaya tree and storm clouds.

DA.26.04

The World Unfolds Sideways

Collage after an inlaid game board (1600s), a river at the forest’s edge (1700s) and a papaya tree (1790s).

  1. Painted and Inlaid Game BoardUnknown · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The two halves of the wooden board, with their floral squares and worn gold.
  2. Women Enjoying the River at the Forest’s Edge (recto)style of Hunhar II (Indian, active mid-1700s) · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: River, green banks and small cloud fragments, people omitted.
  3. Male Papaya TreeArtist not recorded · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Oversized papaya leaf canopy and clipped stem, paper background omitted.
A woman in a striped veil looks down; across a strip of kantha embroidery, a hand reaches towards her.

DA.26.07

The Distance of a Hand

Collage after a gouache of a courtesan at her hair, a watercolour of a woman with a pitcher and a Bengal kantha (1800s).

  1. A courtesan arranging a flower in her hair. Gouache painting by an Indian artist, 1800s.Unidentified Indian artist (catalogue attribution) · Wellcome Collection · Public Domain MarkUsed: The lowered gaze, curved eye and fine red mouth, blended into the face from the pitcher painting.
  2. A woman holding a pitcher. Watercolour.Artist not identified in catalogue · Wellcome Collection · CC BY 4.0Used: The face, the edge of the grey-black drapery and the open hand; pitcher omitted.
  3. KanthaArtist not recorded · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: An off-white kantha strip with patterned stitching, widened.
A half-drawn pencil arch over two black manuscript edges, with a small moon and a thin strip of blue sea.

DA.26.08

The Interval Before Dawn

Collage after Radha’s hair being dressed (c. 1795), a Pali manuscript (1700s) and Hiroshige’s Moon-Viewing Promontory.

  1. Radha's hair being dressedArtist not identified in museum catalogue · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Empty unfinished arch and architectural construction lines; every figure, face and writing omitted.
  2. Pali ManuscriptArtist not identified in catalogue · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Two black monochrome manuscript edges with binding holes and ridges, text omitted.
  3. The Moon-Viewing Promontory, from One Hundred Views of Famous Places in EdoUtagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Pale moon and thin blue horizon strip; room, people and labels omitted.
A large woman's profile in printed chintz and a small painted woman with her hand raised, joined by a red and blue flowering branch.

DA.26.09

A Branch Between Them

Collage after a Hikone chintz (1600s), a Tuti-nama page (c. 1560) and a palampore (1700s).

  1. Chintz (Hikone Chintz) with a Woman with a Bird on Her HandUnknown · Tokyo National Museum · CC BY 4.0Used: The large salmon-pink profile with its patterned veil; bird and body omitted.
  2. The parrot addresses Khujasta at the beginning of the fifty-second night, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifty-second NightArtist not identified in museum catalogue · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: A small woman's profile and raised hand; cage, architecture and calligraphy omitted.
  3. PalamporeArtist not recorded · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: A red and blue flowering branch, extended to run across both figures.
A woman's profile cut into three bands, crossed by an orchid branch, above a curved piece of bidri metal.

DA.26.12

A Face in Three Bands

Collage after a princess on a terrace at night (c. 1760), a bidri paan box (c. 1700) and Zain al-Din’s thrush and moth (1778).

  1. A Princess on a Terrace with Attendants at Night (recto)Artist not identified in museum catalogue · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The princess's head in profile, cut into three bands; other figures and setting omitted.
  2. Bidri Pandan with ChevronsArtist not recorded · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: A curved piece of the black-and-silver chevron metal.
  3. An Orange-Headed Ground Thrush and a Death's-Head Moth on a Purple Ebony Orchid BranchShaikh Zain al–Din · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Slender orchid branch and two pale pink blooms, bird, moth and labels omitted.
A musician in a red shawl tips his head back; the neck of a lute runs from his lips up to a small palace balcony.

DA.26.14

Up to the Balcony

Collage after a Krishna on a palace balcony (1770s), a taus (1800s) and a peacock border (1600s).

  1. Krishna and Consort on a Palace Balcony with Musicians: Vukharo Ragaputra of Bhairav, from the “Boston Ragamala”Artist not identified in museum catalogue · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Foreground musician's upturned head and small empty balcony arch fragment, lettering and other figures omitted.
  2. Taūs (mayuri)Artist not recorded · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The lacquered neck, strings and pegs, and a small blue fragment.
  3. Border with Peacock DesignUnknown · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Red woven textile shoulder fragment with frayed edges and black motifs.
A woman looks down at two open hands holding an orchid branch over a strip of embroidered cloth.

DA.26.15

Room for the First Thought

Collage after a princess on a terrace at night (c. 1760), Zain al-Din’s thrush and moth (1778) and a ceremonial kantha (1800s).

  1. A Princess on a Terrace with Attendants at Night (recto)Artist not identified in museum catalogue · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The far-right yellow-clad musician's tilted face, and the central woman's raised hands, enlarged at different scales.
  2. An Orange-Headed Ground Thrush and a Death's-Head Moth on a Purple Ebony Orchid BranchShaikh Zain al–Din · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Orchid flowers, curved branch and green leaf as separate cut paper fragments.
  3. Kantha (Ceremonial Quilt)Artist not recorded · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Narrow frayed strips of embroidered cloth with their red, indigo and yellow stitches.
A woman in a green dress holds out a small red card to a green parrot.

DA.26.17

A Word Takes Wing

Collage after a woman with seven documents (1800s) and a green parrot (c. 1820).

  1. A Woman with Seven Documents, Number Seven of the Barat (Document) Suit, Playing Card from a Mughal Ganjifa SetUnknown · Los Angeles County Museum of Art · Public domain — LACMA unrestricted downloadUsed: Painted female profile, teal clothing, jewellery, extended hand and one vermilion document rectangle; enlarged and rearranged, original circle and all writing omitted.
  2. Green ParrotArtist not recorded · Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The green parrot and its blue tail, redrawn holding the edge of the red card; tree, labels and paper omitted.
A large painted eye on a scrap of flowered cloth looks along a tightrope, where a tiny figure walks towards a stair and an open doorway.

DA.26.19

A Window Went Walking

Collage after four paintings in the Auckland Museum, Paul Klee’s Tightrope Walker and Radha’s hair being dressed (c. 1795).

  1. paintings (4)Unidentified · Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira · CC BY 2.0Used: Large eye and adjacent pink, blue and yellow flowers on a frayed pale textile fragment; original figures, banners and writing omitted.
  2. Tightrope WalkerPaul Klee (German, 1879–1940) · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: The fine black lines and the tiny balancing figure, redrawn as a crooked stair to the doorway; paper ground and signature omitted.
  3. Radha's hair being dressedArtist not identified in museum catalogue · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 1.0Used: Open doorway, narrow architectural fragment and partial arched construction lines; people and writing omitted.

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