Old Pond Lotus — Nantong Printed Homespun Cotton
A bright lotus-pond print on substantial handwoven cotton, combining the texture of older Jiangnan homespun with a multicolour domestic print associated with harmony, rootedness and continued blooming.
- Object ID
- TA-NT-0011
- Origin
- Nantong · Likely Nantong / Haimen, Jiangsu, China
- Period
- c. late 1960s–1970s
- Dating confidence
- probable
- Material
- Handspun cotton
- Dimensions
- Approx. 246 × 45 cm total available length
- Technique
- Handwoven cotton ground · Multicolour folk printing
- Pattern
- Lotus pond · Lotus flower · Reed-like grasses
- Colours
- Soft white · Green · Blue · Pink · Yellow
- Washed
- Yes
Object condition
Good vintage reclaimed condition overall. Expect softened print edges, slight fading and colour variation, old fold lines, raw edges, loose fibres and weaving irregularities consistent with an older household textile.
Identification notes
The lotus pattern is printed on the handwoven cotton ground rather than woven into the structure.
Large leaves, pink lotus flowers, buds and reed-like grasses create an all-over pond composition in green, blue, pink and yellow on a soft white ground.
The current listing is sold by one metre to preserve the scale of the large motif; two units correspond to the full remaining continuous piece of approximately 246 cm.
The working attribution is Nantong / Haimen and late 1960s–1970s, based on structure, print style and household-textile character rather than a surviving maker label.
A printed pond over a handwoven ground
The object shows how older handwoven cotton continued to serve as a base for colourful printed household cloth, combining rural weaving texture with a more pictorial surface treatment.
Lotus imagery brings associations of purity, harmony and family wellbeing, while the plant forms give the cloth a sense of continuity and everyday resilience.
