Indian, Andhra Pradesh, Picchwai, late 18th century, cotton with pigments, gold and silver paint, 74 × 52 in. (188 × 132.1 cm), Banoo and Jeevak Parpia Collection.

Woven Wonders: Indian Textiles from the Parpia Collection

June 10-September 4, 2023

The Parpia Collection is one of the most significant private collections of Indian textiles outside of India and one of the most important in the United States. Woven Wonders: Indian Textiles from the Parpia Collection brings this extraordinary collection to Houston audiences for the first time.

Assembled to reflect India’s myriad range of regional traditions, the Parpia Collection includes singular pieces that showcase the extraordinary aesthetic and technical diversity of Indian textiles. From folk textiles to the most sophisticated court textiles, produced from the 14th to early 20th centuries, the collection illustrates the preeminence of textile arts produced in India with examples of hand-painted and hand-block-printed cotton, embroidery, ikat, tie-dye, brocade, and tapestry.

Woven Wonders: Indian Textiles from the Parpia Collection is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and co-curated by Amy Poster, Consulting Curator, MFAH, and Rosemary Crill, former Senior Curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Ithaca, New York–based collectors Banoo and Jeevak Parpia have been collecting textiles from India since the 1980’s. They have been involved with the Museum since 2018, first as guest speakers on India’s global textile traditions, and then as experts to help survey and review selections from the Museum’s Annette Finnigan Collection.

For more information about the exhibition and related events, click here.