In 2015, The Indian Textile and Costume Gallery, the first in the city of Mumbai, was established at the CSMVS Museum. CSMVS has a modest but substantial collection of around a thousand textiles which can best be termed as an interesting mix of historical and representative textiles. Textile traditions of India have altered enormously in the past 150 years. Our lifestyle in cities no longer accommodates textile beyond comfort or fashion. However, the textiles preserved in museums provide a glance at ancestral Indian textiles. CSMVS’ textile collections reflect personal taste, signs of status and historic significance; the Museum also houses an institutional collection for research and study. The nucleus of the collection was formed with the purchase of the Sir Purshottam Mavji Collection in 1915. The oldest pieces in the assemblage are remarkable fragments of block-printed cloth, dating from the 9th to the 17th centuries CE, which were exported from Gujarat to Fustat in Egypt. The Museum’s collection has been built over the years through purchases and gifts and continues to evolve even today. Exhibited in a state-of-the-art climate-controlled gallery at CSMVS, these historical anthologies are among the most popular with CSMVS’ visitors.
The CSMVS Indian Textile and Costume gallery has been graciously adopted by the Rotary Club of Bombay for two years (2022 and 2023).
Time and Venue:On Tuesday, 7th June 2022, at 3 pm, at the Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSM-VS), 159–161 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Fort, Mumbai 400023.
The flow of events:3 pm: Meet and greet at the Coomaraswamy Hall, CSMVS, with Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director General, CSMVS, and Mrs Manisha Nene, Director (Galleries and General Administration), CSMVS.3.10 pm: Proceed to the Indian Textile and Costume Gallery for a guided walkthrough 3.30 pm: Regroup at the Coomaraswamy Hall for a short informal address by Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee, followed by Tea/Coffee.
