26 
House & Garden 
CHINTZES OLD AND NEW for DECORATION 
A Footnote on Their History Together with Sundry Suggestions on 
Their Use in Boudoirs and Morning Rooms 
MARY H. NORTHEND 
An American 
glazed chintz of 
good design with 
yellow and black 
predominating 
French print of a 
bull fight scene, 
red and white on 
a grayish b a c k- 
ground 
below is a French 
print of an al¬ 
legorical scene 
worked out in red 
and white 
N O one questions the 
value of chintzes for 
interior decorating. They 
give a distinctive note that 
can be filled by nothing else. 
Today we find them in all 
grades and prices, showing 
colors that will fit into the 
color scheme of any room. 
Imported and Native Prints 
The standard of imported 
fabrics—English and French 
—has never been questioned. 
Both their color schemes and 
their wearing durability have 
made them a first choice where 
price w a s no consideration. 
But there is a danger, now that 
their importation has been 
limited and the Government 
has imposed a high duty on 
fabrics, that when the pres¬ 
ent supply of foreign goods is 
exhausted there will be a de¬ 
cided shortage until after the 
war. Moreover, their manu¬ 
facture in France and Eng¬ 
land has been reduced to a 
minimum. It is well to re¬ 
member these facts when the 
salesman or decorator quotes 
a figure greatly in advance of 
pre-war prices. On the 
other hand, if your heart is 
set on an imported fabric and 
your purse permits, you may 
just as well pay the price. 
Nothing so much gives a 
woman peace of mind as get¬ 
ting exactly what she wants, 
irrespective of what it costs. 
Later on we will speak of 
the decorative value of chintzes; in the mean¬ 
time, it may add to their value if you know 
what chintz is and where it came from. 
Where Chintzes Came From 
Where did these chintzes come from and 
how did they derive their name? “Chint” is 
a Hindoo word, meaning spotted or variegated. 
It was first applied to a stained or spotted 
calico produced in India. Changed in spelling 
and pronunciation, it now designates a highly 
glazed printed calico, commonly made in sev¬ 
eral colors on a light ground and used for 
hangings, furniture coverings, curtains, etc. 
The use of cotton originated in Central Asia 
and flourished in India at a very early day. 
Masulipatam, a seaport of British India, the 
earliest English settlement on the Coronandel 
coast, had in former years a great reputation 
for its wonderful chintzes, which were remark¬ 
able for the freshness and permanency of their 
dyes. As early as 1611 an agency of the 
crown was established here, although during 
the wars of Carnatic the English were tempo¬ 
rarily expelled from the town, and it was held 
by the French for many years. A large part 
of the population comprised weavers, special¬ 
ists not only in weaving, but in printing, 
bleaching, washing, and 
dressing. It was a popular 
fabric with the peasant, while 
the wealthier classes used 
finer silks and satins. 
The vogue for printed cot¬ 
ton from India was so great 
in the 17th Century that it 
drove the cotton operators of 
England to desperate meas- 
u r e s . Withstanding the 
strain in later years, they 
carried the war into their ene¬ 
mies’ camps so successfully 
that the product of t'he Man¬ 
chester cotton mills sold in 
India for a much less price 
than the native India prints. 
Chintz came into vogue 
during Queen Anne’s time, 
replacing the word “Chint,” 
derived from the Sanscrit. 
It meant, as did the Hindoo 
word, either spotted or varie¬ 
gated, and was applied to all 
gaily printed cottons in use. 
The artistic consciences of 
Europe and America were not 
slow in appreciating the 
beauty and value of these 
hand-printed fabrics. To¬ 
day this honorable old craft 
has, through the edict of fash¬ 
ion, returned to its own, tak¬ 
ing a prominent place in the 
world of interior decoration. 
In the golden days when 
cotton printing was at its 
height, one artist designed a 
pattern and prepared the 
wood block required, mixing 
his own pigment or dyestuff 
and then printing the cotton 
himself, a long, tedious process but resulting in 
the wondeiful fabrics shown here—works rep¬ 
resenting years of hard labor and careful per¬ 
fection of each detail, not only in pattern but 
in coloring also. 
Machine-made Chintzes 
Today a great deal of this work is done by 
machinery, but there is no difficulty in being 
able to distinguish between the modern ma¬ 
chine-made fabrics and the old-fashioned 
handwork, so different in weave and finish. 
When the fabric under investigation shows a 
very fine and open impression with detail 
broadly cut, then one is safe in assuming that 
it was produced by the old-fashioned hand¬ 
printed process, which gave it a distinctive 
tone. If, however, the printed cotton show’s 
edging very clearly and sharply defined, we 
may know that the print has been made ex¬ 
clusively by machinery. 
Some of these fabrics are very beautiful, such 
as the glazed chintz where yellow and black 
predominate bringing out the background of 
foliage, and illustrating baskets artistically ar¬ 
ranged with fruit. The French pieces have a 
pleasing range of pattern. Some of them pic¬ 
ture old prints, such as the realistic bull fight 
