Cotton Gallery

Interior of a Power-Loom factory, 1844. Creator: Unknown

Interior of a Power-Loom factory, 1844. We are persuaded that the annexed engraving will be interesting to our readers, in connection with the great question of "The Factory Bill," which has just been disposed of by the Legislature.
The power-loom is now generally used in the cotton manufacture, for the weaving of plain cloth, and for the various kinds of twilled and figured goods; and Dr. Cooke Taylor considers that manual labour, at least for the coarser kinds of goods, must rapidly fall into disuse. In one respect, the power-loom has a very obvious advantage over the hand-loom...the lathe is easily adjusted to give a certain steady blow...power-loom cloth is always of a more equable and regular texture than that woven by hand'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Waist Cloth (Kain Panjeng), 1800s - early 1900s. Creator: Unknown

Waist Cloth (Kain Panjeng), 1800s - early 1900s. Unlike the Chinese and sometimes European motifs of Northern Javanese batiks, the motifs represented on the batiks of central Java are indigenous. However, due to the influence of Islam, they are represented in a very abstract, stylized fashion. In this batik, a celestial scene--probably signifying the ritual renewal of community life and prosperity--is repeated against a background of small filling motifs. The scene consists of a ship (represented as a divided bow and stern) bearing a Tree of Life, which signifies the community's passage to renewed life; on either side of the ship is a winged pavilion; and above is a sacred mountain, the abode of the gods, with a shrine

© Heritage Art/Heritage Images

South American textile design, 1951. Creator: Shirley Markham

South American textile design, 1951. Panel of Peruvian (Huacho) cotton woven as double cloth, late Chimu period (before c1470), in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Shirley Markham (1931-1999) studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central School of Art in London from 1950-1952. The writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was one of her tutors, and her style of drawing was also influenced by other British illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone, Quentin Blake and Edward Bawden. Markham spent time in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, and also visited Rome, sketching classical buildings. After graduating from Central, she worked as a graphic designer, producing book illustrations, cartoons for comics, menus and programmes. She gave up her promising career however when she got married in 1957. Middle-class women at that time were expected to devote their energies to bringing up children and running the home, and despite her obvious talent, she lacked the confidence to return to illustration. Her portfolio remained in the family attic for many years, but now her work is published here for the first time

© Shirley Markham Collection / Heritage-Images