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The Tranquebar Palampore: Trade, Diplomacy, and "a little amusement" in an Early Modern Indo-Danish Textile
- Eighteenth-Century Studies
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 52, Number 1, Fall 2018
- pp. 69-92
- 10.1353/ecs.2018.0027
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
This article focuses on an Indian trade textile, the Tranquebar Palampore, painted in Tamil Nadu around 1730–1740. The textile illustrates the broader context of diplomatic relations between the Indian Maratha court of Thanjavur and the Danish Asiatic Company at the time of Ekoji II of Thanjavur's coronation. By viewing the artefact as a transcultural gift intended for both local and international visual consumption, the article seeks to provide a stronger understanding of the importance of (transient) local consumption in the moment of gift-giving and to provide a glimpse into the material culture and circulation of images and practices in early modern south Asia.