From Muse to Machines: Indian Cotton Textiles and British Industrialisation

“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产出（两篇论文和一本书），产生以影响为导向的公众参与活动，获得大学教学培训，并为我的下一个实质性研究项目制定资助计划。我的博士研究评估了模仿工业化前的印度棉纺织品对18世纪和19世纪英国棉花工业机械化和工业化技术轨迹的影响。我使用物证和数字科学实验为基础的方法，证明了印度棉花进入英国和西欧刺激和加强了技术变革的进化过程，在寻求与印度棉花的布料和印花质量相匹配的指导下。这种变化是通过基准产品本身的知识转移实现的，基准产品本身包含了复制所需的知识，沿着特定的轨迹设定了机械化的过程，并通过第一次工业革命引发了现代经济增长。在由经济史学会资助的2021- 2022年的论文研究中，我提出了从我的博士研究中得出的另外两个问题。第一个问题是印度纺织品的图案和设计是否影响了英国印花布印刷业的发展。我将结合定性和定量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·加斯韦特（Anna Maria Garthwaite, 1689-1763）和威廉·莫里斯（William Morris, 1834-1896）的创作成果，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种印度图案（佩斯利纹）的发生和演变。我正在与V&A博物馆、萨里大学和Adobe研究中心合作这个项目。第二个问题与发展历史重建实验有关，以确定工业前印度直接用靛蓝在布上作画的技术。现有文献认为，大约在1738年，英国人发现了砷技术，可以将靛蓝再氧化还原，从而可以在布上直接作画。这种观点与世界各地博物馆现存的1738年前的印度纺织品的材料证据相矛盾，在那里，策展人认为靛蓝是涂上去的，而不是抗染的。在没有任何关于印度工匠如何用靛蓝作画的书面记录的情况下，目前的历史编纂仍然存在。在我的博士研究期间，我与温特图尔博物馆合作，组织了使用拉曼光谱法，x射线荧光和气相色谱-质谱法对选定的印度纺织品进行调查，其中蓝色被认为是涂上的。结果表明，蓝色确实是靛蓝，但不含任何砷残留。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一次重建实验，重现印度印染靛蓝的方法。我试验了不同的碳水化合物，如树胶、淀粉、糖和纤维素，以及蛋白质，如兽皮胶、鱼胶、蛋清和其他类似的动物产品，这些都是印度工匠在当地可以获得的，以测试它们作为靛蓝绘画再氧化还原剂的功效。这项实验是在博物馆的科学家、馆长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。这两项调查将于2022年9月底完成。

'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.