A rare group of seven 18th-century lengths of cotton ‘chintz’ or ‘sits’

India, Coromandel Coast, possibly Paliacatta, for export market, probably circa 1775

Flowered ‘sits’ with blue edge
Printed cotton, approximately 96 x 242 cm (37.8 x 95.3 inch)
Handwritten label attached with pin ‘Dit Zits van Broekers / kost 4 5/8 gls de el is / lang 3 ½ } 3 ¾ } 7 ¼ el f 343:10:10. / 1783’.¹

Flowered ‘sits’ with blue edge
Printed cotton, approximately 109 x 126 cm (42.9 x 49.6 inch)
Handwritten label attached with pin ‘Dit Sitz uyt het boelgoed / van Olyvier kost f 4 ¾ gls / is Lang 3 3/8 Ellen / voor f 16:8-:10. / Novemb 1793.’²

Flowered ‘sits’ with blue edge
Printed cotton, approximately 93 x 95 cm (36.6 x 37.4 inch)

Flowered ‘sits’ with blue edge
Printed cotton, approximately 110 x 130 cm (43.3 x 51.2 inch)

Flowered ‘sits’
Printed cotton, approximately 110 x 135 cm (43.3 x 53.2 inch)

Flowered ‘sits’
Printed cotton, approximately 117 x 54 cm (46.1 x 21.3 inch)

Provenance
By descent in the family of the Barons Van Harinxma thoe Slooten until 2024

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Crisp cotton chintzes or ‘sitses’, as they were known in Dutch, brought the brilliant colours of South Asia to upper-middle-class European homes.³ Probably imported by the VOC Company, these Indian textiles boast gloriously bold, decorative designs, executed in the type of painted cotton cloth manufacturers in Europe tried for decades to emulate in vain. From the 1650s onwards, these ‘chintzes’ (anglicizing ‘chint’, the Hindi word for ‘speckled’) made for the European market were such sought-after commodities that Britain eventually criminalized their import in an attempt to protect local printed-cotton industries.

These seven pieces in superb unused condition descended for centuries within the same Dutch aristocratic family. Interestingly, two of the pieces have manuscript labels pinned onto them with inscriptions about prices and lengths, a dealer where they could be obtained, and possibly about a family member or relation who owned the samples. Two other pieces from the same family collection are in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which can be found here and here, both also with handwritten labels dated to 1773⁴ and 1783.⁵ Together with the two pieces in the Rijksmuseum, this unique group offers valuable insights into the dating, trade and reception of these iconic fabrics. The Barons Van Harinxma thoe Slooten, who owned these fabrics for generations, possibly since the eighteenth century, were based in Friesland, in the North-East of the Netherlands, where such richly ornamented chintzes were particularly appreciated. The Fries Museum in Leeuwarden has a large collection of historic garments made from similar chintzes.

SOLD TO THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM, SALEM, USA

1. ‘This Chintz from Broekers / costs 4 5/8 guilders per yard, is / long 3 ½ } 3 ¾ } 7 ¼ yard florins 343:10:10. / 1783’.
2. ‘This Chints from the estate (?) of Olyvier costs florins 4 ¾ guilders / is long 3 3/8 yards / for florins 16:8-:10. / November 1793’.
3. For such chintzes, see Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis, Sits: Oost-West relaties in textiel, Zwolle 1987 and Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis, Sitsen uit India: Indian Chintzes, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1994.
4. Inv. no. BK-1976-136, 91.5 x 76 cm; donated by E.A.H. Baroness van Harinxma thoe Slooten and C.L. Baron van Harinxma thoe Slooten. This piece is also accompanied by a contemporary handwritten label, ‘Van Abraham Ruuds kost de el // f 5:15:- is 1 ¼ el [] komt op 7:3:12 // 1773 (?).' (‘From Abraham Ruuds costs per yard // florins 5:15:- is 1 ¼ yards [] comes to 7:3:12 // 1773 (?)’. 
5. Inv. no. BK-1976-137, 94.5 x 28.5 cm; donated by E.A.H. Baroness van Harinxma thoe Slooten and C.L. Baron van Harinxma thoe Slooten. This piece is also accompanied by a contemporary handwritten label ‘Deze lap uyt het boelgoed / van Abr: Ruuds kost 34 st / 1783’ and ‘Van Wijtze de Vries/ 11/16 E1 Zits a 6 GL f 4 - 2 - 11/1775 Augs: 1’ and ‘W 38/ 34 st’. (‘This piece of fabric comes from the estate / of Abr: Ruuds costs 34 stuivers / 1783’ and ‘From Wijtze de Vries/ 11/16 yards Chintz at 6 guilders floris 4 - 2 - 11/1775 Augustus: 1’ and ‘Width 38/ 34 stuivers’.