From Muse to Machines: Indian Cotton Textiles and British Industrialisation

从缪斯到机器：印度棉纺织品和英国工业化

• 批准号: ES/X006786/1
• 负责人: Alka Raman
• 金额: $ 14.36万
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FX006786%2F1
• 关键词: Muse; Machines; Indian; Cotton; Textiles

'From Muse to Machines' will consolidate the work I have undertaken during my doctoral and post-thesis research periods, produce tangible outputs in the form of publications (two papers and one book), generate impact-oriented public engagement events, gain university teaching training, and develop the funding plans for my next substantial research project.My doctoral research has assessed the impact of the imitation of pre-industrial Indian cotton textiles on the technological trajectory of mechanisation and industrialisation in the British cotton industry during the 18th and 19th centuries. Using a material evidence and digital, scientific experiments-based approach, I demonstrate that the introduction of Indian cottons into Britain and Western Europe stimulated and intensified the evolutionary process of technological change, guided by the quest to match the cloth and print quality of Indian cottons. This change materialised via knowledge transfer through the benchmark product itself, which contained the knowledge necessary for its replication, setting the course of mechanisation along a specific trajectory, and triggering modern economic growth through the first industrial revolution.In my post-thesis research, funded by the Economic History Society for the year 2021-22, I ask two further questions that emerged from my doctoral research. The first question asks whether Indian textile patterns and designs influenced the growth of the British calico printing industry. I use a combination of qualitative and quantitative perspectives to answer this question. Qualitatively, I examine the creative outputs of two well-known British textile designers, Anna Maria Garthwaite (1689-1763) and William Morris (1834-1896), to assess the impact of Indian patterns and motifs on their designs. Quantitatively, I compile a database of over 7000 British textile prints and use deep neural-network based machine vision to track the occurrence and evolution of one Indian motif (paisley) over time. I am collaborating with the V&A, the University of Surrey and Adobe Research for this project.The second question pertains to developing a historical reconstruction experiment to determine the pre-industrial Indian technique of painting directly on cloth with indigo. Existing literature holds that direct painting with indigo on cloth began around 1738 with the English discovery of the arsenic technique for re-oxidation reduction of indigo to allow painting. This view contradicts material evidence from the surviving pre-1738 Indian textiles in museums around the world, where the indigo is deemed painted, rather than resist-dyed, by curators. In the absence of any written records related to how Indian artisans may have painted with indigo, the current historiography persists. During my doctoral research, I organised, in collaboration with the Winterthur Museum, investigations using Raman Spectrometry, X-Ray Fluorescence and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry on select Indian textiles, where the blue was deemed painted. Results showed that the blue was indeed indigo but did not contain any arsenic residue. In June-July 2022, I again have the very fortunate opportunity to collaborate with the Winterthur Museum to organise a reconstructive experiment in the museum laboratory to re-create Indian methods of reducing indigo for the purpose of printing and dyeing. I experiment with different carbohydrates such as gums, starch, sugar and cellulose, and proteins such as hide glue, fish glue, egg-white, and other comparable animal products which would have been locally available to Indian artisans, to test for their efficacy in acting as re-oxidation reducing agents enabling painting with indigo. The experiment is being conducted with the help of scientists, curators and conservation experts at the museum and is also funded by the Winterthur Museum. Both investigations will be completed by the end of September 2022.

《从缪斯到机器》将巩固我在博士和论文后研究期间所做的工作，以出版物的形式产生切实的成果(两篇论文和一本书)，产生以影响为导向的公共参与活动，获得大学教学培训，并为我的下一个重大研究项目制定资金计划。我的博士研究评估了18世纪和19世纪模仿工业化前的印度棉织品对英国棉花行业机械化和工业化的技术轨迹的影响。我使用实物证据和基于数字的科学实验方法，证明了印度棉花引入英国和西欧刺激和加强了技术变革的进化过程，其指导思想是寻求与印度棉花的布料和印花质量相匹配。这一变化是通过基准产品本身的知识转移实现的，该产品包含复制基准产品所需的知识，沿着特定的轨道设定机械化进程，并通过第一次工业革命触发现代经济增长。在我的论文后研究中，我问了两个从我的博士研究中出现的问题。第一个问题是印度的纺织图案和设计是否影响了英国印花业的发展。我用定性和定量相结合的观点来回答这个问题。定性地，我考察了两位著名的英国纺织品设计师安娜·玛丽亚·加思韦特(Anna Maria Garthwaite)(1689-1763)和威廉·莫里斯(William Morris)(1834-1896)的创意成果，以评估印度图案和图案对他们设计的影响。在数量上，我编制了一个超过7000个英国纺织品印花的数据库，并使用基于深度神经网络的机器视觉来跟踪一个印度图案(佩斯利)随时间的发生和演变。我正在与维多利亚与阿尔卑斯大学、萨里大学和Adobe Research合作进行这个项目。第二个问题与开发一个历史重建实验有关，以确定工业化前印度直接在布料上用靛蓝作画的技术。现有文献认为，在布料上直接作画始于1738年左右，当时英国人发现了一种砷技术，可以将青蓝重新氧化还原，从而使绘画成为可能。这一观点与世界各地博物馆中1738年前幸存的印度纺织品的物证相矛盾，在博物馆里，博物馆认为青蓝是由策展人绘制的，而不是抗染的。由于没有任何有关印度工匠如何用青蓝作画的文字记录，目前的史学仍然存在。在我的博士研究期间，我与温特图尔博物馆合作，利用拉曼光谱、X射线荧光和气相色谱-质谱仪对精选的印度纺织品进行了调查，蓝色被认为是在这些纺织品上绘制的。结果表明，该蓝色确实是蓝色，但不含任何砷残留物。2022年6月至7月，我再次有幸与温特图尔博物馆合作，在博物馆实验室组织了一次重建实验，以重新创造用于印染目的的印度还原青蓝的方法。我用不同的碳水化合物(如口香糖、淀粉、糖和纤维素)和蛋白质(如皮胶、鱼胶、蛋清和其他类似的动物产品)进行实验，这些产品本来是印度工匠在当地可以买到的，以测试它们作为再氧化还原剂的作用是否有效，使人们能够用蓝色绘画。这项实验是在博物馆的科学家、策展人和保护专家的帮助下进行的，也得到了温特图尔博物馆的资助。这两项调查都将在2022年9月底之前完成。